“Youth was the time for happiness, its only season; young people, leading a lazy, carefree life, partially occupied by scarcely absorbing studies, were able to devote themselves unlimitedly to the liberated exultation of their bodies. They could play, dance, love, and multiply their pleasures. They could leave a party, in the early hours of the morning, in the company of sexual partners they had chosen, and contemplate the dreary line of employees going to work. They were the salt of the earth, and everything was given to them, everything was permitted for them, everything was possible. Later on, having started a family, having entered the adult world, they would be introduced to worry, work, responsibility, and the difficulties of existence” — Michel Houellebecq
Finances
Finances is a very wide and broad topic with so much to cover. We will go over the basics of finance to help boost your success in the money world. For example, how to set a budget. Why is this important? It is the back bone to adult-ing and will need to be used throughout the rest of your life. And if you want to follow your dreams, you’ll need to follow some rules of financing.
1) “When you’re starting out, budget planning can be challenging. Your income is probably low, you’re new at budgeting and you don’t have any assets. Yet, the basics of budgeting are the same for everyone whether you’re dealing with college textbook expenses, paying for your children’s braces or saving for later years.”
Budget Planning for 18 Year Olds
2) “Whether you choose to budget on a monthly, weekly or daily basis, a budget plan keeps you on track for long-term goals and prevents spending mistakes. Young adults frequently start out with a daily budget plan that they personalize based on needs and priorities.”
3) “Basic concepts Americans should know in order to manage their money well”
10 Things Everyone Should Know About Money
4) “As you’ve found, debt accumulates very quickly and can easily become an overwhelming burden. There are lots of products and services on the market that may promise temporary relief from your debt—and some of them can.”
5) “The best way to avoid never-ending pressure from creditors to repay overdue bills is to not let the bills become overdue in the first place — or better yet, to avoid getting into debt at all (to the extent possible). ”
6) “Some may say it is an old, technologically-outdated activity — after all, most people can or do bank online. But if your child does not understand how checkbook balancing works, he is at the mercy of his bank!”
7) “After every month, your bank will send you a checking account statement. The statement is the bank’s record of all activity that occurred with your checking account, including checks written, deposits, ATM withdrawals, fees, etc. ”
“Using this statement, and your checkbook, use the following steps to balance, or reconcile, your checkbook.”
8) “Owning a home is part of the traditional American dream, but some believe it’s a dream meant only for people with good credit or a significant income. Fortunately, that isn’t always the case. A few hiccups on your credit history don’t have to spell a lifetime of renting. You could still qualify for a mortgage.”
Do You Need Good Credit to Buy a House?
9) “. I hope to shed some detailed light on how you, too, can accomplish the seemingly impossible feat of moving out on your own. I won’t give you any unnecessary information and I’ll try not to lecture. I just want you to know everything I know now in hopes that you will be fully prepared for what is to come.”
Getting Your First Apartment–A Guide For Young Adults by a Young Adult
10) “If you’re thinking of leaving home, there’s a lot to consider. Much depends on whether you’re over or under 16 years old.”
“Leaving home means more independence and more freedom. It also means you need to be responsible for looking after yourself. You will have to find a place to live, learn how to manage on your own and start supporting yourself financially.”
Quote of the Day!
“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.” — Mark Twain
Housework :) ???
There’s always a few things we want to do less than housework an can agree that it might be on the list of least favourite things to do, even as a child we disliked it. But once you have you’re own place, you’d want to always have it clean, hopefully. Kudos to you, if you enjoy the “wax-on-wax-off” process. I’ve been alive long enough to realize how much teens my age can’t or won’t do around the house. With little concern on the fact that they live in the house, they would have a part to play in the operation of the household. Here are some helpful links and videos below!
1) Clean My Space is a YouTube page created by Melissa Maker who shares videos on how to clean “clean better, faster and get incredible results in the least amount of time.” All you can know about cleaning tools, DIY kits, and more! Check out her page and videos.
2) “Remember that mowing is pruning. Proper mowing increases the density of the lawn, which in turn decreases weeds. Each type of grass has a recommended mowing height. Find out which type of grass is in your lawn (you may have more than one) and mow at the proper height.”
3) “Snow shoveling isn’t fun, but it’s often unavoidable. In my part of the world (New England, U.S.), it’s ill-advised to allow even the most meager snowfall to go unshoveled in your driveway, lest it later melt and refreeze.”
4) “One of the marks of Molly Maid’s professional cleaning service is that we clean your home with a game plan in mind. A strategy that takes on cleaning in a systematic, organized way (while having the flexibility to incorporate your custom wishes).”
5) ” I’ve met a few people who grew up with dish washers, and weren’t really sure how to do this when they got their first cheap apartment without one. I thought I’d write this for other people in the same boat. If nothing else, it may save a few roommate relationships.”
6) “But while scrubbing the dishes and dusting the shelves can seem like an inconvenient chore, a new study has revealed just how important they are to well-being.”
Quote of the day!
“Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others.” — Virginia Woolf
Quote of the day!
“The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don’t have to pay taxes — naturally, no one wants to live any other way.” — Judith Martin
Stress! Stress! Stress!
What I’ve learned within the past 4 weeks of trying to “adult” is that the only characteristics shared between modern adults is stress and responsibility. I mean, by the hand fulls! And what room do we have for the daily burdens that come with our relationships, careers, or family? I’ve had to deal with the stresses of budgeting, school, work, and a relationship. And I’m sure you all can check at least two of those boxes down. So how do we relieve ourselves of the grown-up angst? There are multiple ways to lessen the weight of your worlds. Let me share with you, what I’ve researched and read. Finding these pages worth the eye-balling.
1) “But why “play” and not “explore?” Adult creativity is closer to childhood play than you might think and also “exploration” still uses our adult rules with built in mindsets.”
Adult Creativity: Why We Should Make Time for Play
2) Though, this article has little to o with lessening stress, its content of art is related to de-stressing to the public. I think art is an must-have in one’s life no the matter the age or type of art you concern yourself in. It is art when it comes from all of you.
“A new study from Michigan State University found that childhood participation in arts and crafts leads to innovation, patents, and increases the odds of starting a business as an adult. The researchers found that people who own businesses or patents received up to eight times more exposure to the arts as children than the general public.”
Childhood Creativity Leads to Innovation in Adulthood
3) “Self-care is less an organized industry than it is an emerging (and maddeningly vague) philosophy of life that is gaining ever larger numbers of devotees, especially online.”
Self-Care and the Disappearance of the Adult
4) “Coloring is an activity that we tend to associate with children. As we grow older, we put aside our crayons and colored pencils in favor of more respectable writing utensils like pens and highlighters. However, it turns out coloring can be beneficial for adults — namely for its de-stressing power.”
Coloring Isn’t Just For Kids. It Can Actually Help Adults Combat Stress.
5) “Stress can be an awful, seemingly endless cycle. Too much work, not enough time, too many things to do, too much pressure. If stress seems like too much for you to handle on your own, you may want to seek additional help.”
6) “You’re an adult now, and the time for playing and having fun is over, right? Wrong! Adults can, and should, play and have fun. In fact, there are studies that show the many benefits of playing for adults, which include increased creativity, productivity, and feelings of well-being.”
Adults Need Play – 10 Ways to Have More Fun and Play More as Adults
7) “So many grown-ups have lost the ability to have fun and enjoy their lives, but with a few simple changes anyone can recreate their love of games, and rediscover their childhood happiness.”
7 Ways for Adults to Enjoy Their Adulthood
8) “You can’t always control the circumstances that life throws your way, but you can control how well you take care of yourself. Taking proper care of your body, soul and mind can keep you in optimum shape for handling stress, which gives you as much resilience as possible to help you manage those uncontrollable things in life.”
Top Self Care Strategies for Overall Stress Reduction
9) “For healthy, consenting adults, sex can be great or even mind-blowing. But getting busy with a partner can also have some legit benefits beyond our brainwaves. Read on for more reasons to get it on (as if we needed ‘em)!”
Medical!
Before my diligent research, I knew basically nothing of medical care. The more I clicked and read, the more I understood what an imperative role medical care plays in generally everything. How does one successfully apply for medical insurance? How does payment work with my health insurance and medical expenses? How do I keep a good physical health? You need to know all this just as much as I do. So take a look at these links below (Don’t be afraid to look within the recommended links on these websites as well):
1) “Enrolling in health care is complicated, and according to research, most of us are making the wrong selections — and taking a significant financial hit as a result.” (HEADS-UP! This website has terms and definitions PLUS examples that any savvy health insurance consumer would need to know. Read them and take note!)
Everything You Need To Know About Choosing Health Insurance
2) “When both you and your health insurance company pay part of your medical expense, it’s called cost sharing. Deductibles, coinsurance and copays are all examples. Understanding how they work will help you know when and how much you have to pay for care.”
How do Deductibles, Coinsurance and Copays Work?
3) “However, now that you’re considered an adult (even though you may not feel like one), gone are the carefree days of not keeping track of your last physical or dental cleaning. You’re in charge of your own well-being — and it’s important to keep tabs on each component in order to maintain a healthy body and mind.”
13 Things To Know About Your Health By The Time You’re An Adult
4) A Medical Encyclopedia at your finger tips. You can use this website for your DIY medical care for things like cuts, health topics, drugs and supplements, and videos or tools related to managing your medical needs and information.
5) “There are four categories of things that affect physical health. You can not always control the things that affect your physical body. But, you can do your best to prevent injury and help you body to function at well.”
Physical Health: Take Care of Your Body
6) “My doctor says that with medication it takes seven days to cure the common cold and without it, it’ll take a week to get better. The only cure is time. Sorry. There are, however, a lot of remedies that will provide some comfort, and I’d like to share my favorites in case you are under the weather.”
19 Things That Can Help Us Feel Better When We’re Sick.
7) “Achooo! Is it a cold? Is it the flu? You may not know what you have, but you know you feel terrible.”
8) Knowing the signs an symptoms of dehydration is important to everyone, no matter one’s age.
Dehydration (Adults) Causes, Symptoms, Treatments
9) “You wake up in the morning and you’re not feeling so great. Maybe sneezing is your No. 1 problem. Or you’ve got a doozy of a headache. Whatever is bothering you, you’ve got a decision to make: Stay home or head to work?”
Common Cold: Stay Home or Go to Work?
10) Website that contains physical self-care information for adults that include back pain, chest infections, urinary tract infections, and temperature checks.
The First Step
Always in your lifetime, there are some things you just need to be told. Whether it’d be your fly needing to be adjusted or that everything will be okay. You’ll need to taste both the sweet and bitter truths of adulthood before entering it yourself. Take a look into the links below (Article No.7 is a must-read if you are planning on moving out on your own!)
1) “There are so many things I wish I had known while growing up. No one ever tells you the hard truths of life. Maybe it’s because they can’t stomach it, or maybe it’s because they think it’s just something you have to experience firsthand to understand.”
20 Things Nobody Told You While Growing Up
2) “Why adulthood has never looked less appealing”
7 Lessons From the History of Adulthood
3) LOVE No. 17 “…maybe we should just give up on the concept of “dream jobs” altogether. A job is a job; some are just better than others.”
22 Things No One Told You About Life After Graduation
4) “Teenagers are running toward the years of adulthood and these years are a perfect time to use as a primer for adult life.”
50+ Tasks for Teens/ Adulthood Prep.
5) “As young adults, we are stuck somewhere between the world of hormonally challenged teenagers that think they know everything and the world of grown-ups that actually seem to know what they’re doing.”
How To Adult: 5 Tips To Help Prepare You For Adulthood
6) “Before moving out of your parents’ house and heading off to school (or out into the real world if you’re a recent graduate), there are a few things you must know how to do.”
20 Things You Must Know Before Moving Out Of Your Parents’ House
7) “So you’ve come to the place in life where you feel it’s time to strike out on your own and to that I say, go for it, I’m all for independence! However, before you take that momentous leap, take some time to ask yourself these 5 crucial questions just to make sure you’ve covered all your bases:”
Biology in being an Adult
What does it mean to be an adult? Is it when you can finally sleep without a night light? Or when you’ve watched the hour and a half long film titled Adulthood? Those could be considered accomplishments in a small world but unfortunately none qualify for the real world.
Biologically we are all considered an adult at a younger age than 18 which is, by law, a legal adult. We all go through human development or “the process of growth and change that takes place between birth and maturity” (James M. Tanner, Britannica, 2010). Our entire lives we experience a somatic roller coaster. There are ups and downs, then more ups and once you hit adulthood it just goes down from there on.
Our starting point in when we become sexually mature, or in this case puberty rises over us like the red sun in Lord of the Rings. We experience a swift increase in many things like our physique, shape and composition in our body along with faster development of the gonads or your sex glands (Oh! Trust me, we’ll go over what those do later). The reproduction organs signal one’s sexual maturity.
Adulthood would commonly be ages 20 or 21 years, which to many would be deemed the party years. The middle ages would be around one’s 40’s where the mid-life crisis is passed around like the flu. Though, it is a time to develop generativity, or the desire to expand in one’s societal and family influences and commitments. A time where things can slow down a bit, and that’s very okay. Our older ages of adulthood would be around 60 years or older.
It is all fun and games until you wander into your middle age years, leaving behind your youthful vibrancy of limitless energy and enthusiasm. Know that after you late 20’s or so, is marked by gradual declines in physical and mental functioning. And this will accelerate the older you get. After the age 30, generally, things like muscle and skeletal mass, heart muscles, cholesterol, production of hormones, and sadly even your sexual activity in both male in females is bound to fall.
Adults don’t just physically fall apart, but intellectual and mental, involving the speed of responses and reactions and behavior. Again, the older you get the more you’ll show a tendency towards a dwindle of learning, memory, and other psychological functions in the execution of various but related tasks.
There have been studies on how different the activity in children’s brains are versus adult brains. Steven E. Petersen of the Washington University said, “The workings of children’s neural connections are more governed by proximity to one another than is the case in adult brains.” Your brain is approximately 95 percent of its adult size by the age of seven. In an adult brain involves tight linked connections between several physically distant brain regions, but not so much for children whose brains are a bit the opposite. Most of a child’s tightest brain connections are between regions that are physically close to each other. So a child’s brain is not more disorganized than an adult brain, just organized differently. But is at least as capable as an adult brain.
Though, there most certainly will be some form a biological pressure when on your way to adulthood, other factors will play an imperative role to one’s instructed steps to growing-up. Weather it’d be a social pressure or something more personal, there is more to being an adult than biology.
1) “From the biological side of things to how we’re nurtured, a lot of what goes on in childhood influences how we turn out as adults.”
30 scientific ways your childhood affects your success as an adult
2) “Kay Hymowitz’s assault on men who seem incapable of growing up is well aimed, but her recourse to human biology as the source of adulthood makes for miserable reading.”
Also look into ” Kay Hymowitz’s work Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys, is the observation that both men and women are experiencing more freedom than ever before.”
As Kay says, “‘financially and sexually independent, both men and women have escaped dating rituals, rules and gender roles. They’re free to do whatever they want, and their opportunities for pursuing happiness on their own terms are like none before in human experience.’”
There’s More to Being an Adult than Biology
3) “…the period in the human lifespan in which full physical and intellectual maturity have been attained. Adulthood is commonly thought of as beginning at age 20 or 21 years. Middle age, commencing at about 40 years, is followed by old age about 60 years.”
4) “Kids’ brains are organized differently than those of adults, scientists have learned through a series of brain scans.”
Walking Into Adulthood 