Ask Lemmy

I don't know about feeling like an adult, but I don't feel like a kid, that's for sure.

Last night I ate two bowls of knock-off cinnamon crunch at 23 o’clock, simply because I hadn’t had cereal in a while. My parents would have sure been like “why? Just wait for breakfast.”

I’m 40.

No one ever truely grows up, some people are just better at hiding it.

I feel like an adult, but I feel like very few others actually are

As someone pushing 40, this thread is full of people who sound like fun.

In my experience the only defining trait of being an adult is that you suddenly start to like getting socks as a present.

Never really have. Around 8 or 9, I stopped wanting to get any older and since then I've always felt like I was pretending to be my age rather than being it.

I understand that a lot of other adults are also pretending, but I've all but ceased to be able to keep up the charade.

For example, I own a house, and even managed to look after things for a while, but that was a struggle and there's no way current me is up to any of that.

I envy others' strength and ability.

Fake it til you make it

I just realized the other day that one sure fire mark of adulthood is buying a vacuum. Nobody makes you buy a vacuum and you're not going to die without one. Nobody really wants to buy a vacuum. It's just something you have to do at some point. It's a willful decision to spend your hard earned money on something that's essentially a chore. Because that's what a responsible adult does.

Just pretend you know what you're doing. Eventually you'll forget you're pretending.

Yep. At least partially. Never been able to achieve any of the milestones of adulthood. Marriage, home ownership, kids, etc. Could never afford anything.

My body reminds me I'm an adult every day.

46. I have adult aches and adult bills and sometimes adult hopes I won’t wake up in the morning… but I’ll still laugh at fart jokes.

idk, i do a lot of joking around, but i pay all my bills on time

I'm almost 30 and just starting to feel like a kid.

I've had to be an adult since I was 10 but getting sober and having my first kid really brought me back to life. We play with a hotwheels track that we call car thing, we wrestle everyday, we have jam sessions where we switch instruments so for half of it I'm playing a tiny piano. When I buy clothes I let him help me pick stuff out and most of it's from thrift stores so my outfits have gotten very funky.

He also makes doing adult things more fun, we do everything together so he helps me with house work. There's the shark vacuum, the carpet cleaner turns the floor into lava, laundry basketball, we cook dinner together. My favorite is making pizza dough with him, it takes longer to clean up than it does to make the pizza but it's a blast.

Feel still like a kid.

Sometimes feel like a 10 year old in the body of an adult

I'm about to hit 49. We're just older kids, that's all.

OP: What do you consider 'adult'? I am trying to be a responsible parent to two children, and I pay the bills on time. I have a decent paying job while still being able to care for the children. As the father I do most of the cooking and cleaning and in the weekends I perform the upkeep of our home. But the best moment I had with my kids were doing 'immature' things together, like playing with Lego or loudly singing along with 80s goth music, or occasionally both at the same time. I also play board games and computer games (instead of passively sitting in front of the television, I might add).

On the other hand, I saw parents at the playground who were working on spreadsheets and totally ignoring their children. If that is being an 'adult', I do not want to be one.

I don't feel any different than I did in high school. Mentally or physically.

Well in some ways yes, and in some ways no. I never seem to get jaded, silly things still make me laugh. I still can read and shut out the world like when I was a kid.

But I am so competent in some ways? Can cook and hold a job, raised kids, gardens finally grow for me. All those seem adult qualities. And I have made so many mistakes and have been hurt so much, do feel the weight of experience. And while nothing hurts, and I can still cartwheel and do yoga, I have no bounce - can't run well, can't jump.