I Guess I’ll Grow Up: Adulting for Beginners

I was born middle-aged. I was always the kid that adults called an “old soul.” I was the responsible, dependable one, even though I was a middle child. Despite all that pressure (thanks, adults!), or maybe because of it, I’ve always prided myself on being hilariously spontaneous and incredibly forgetful when it comes to certain aspects of my life. The pressures and stresses of life have gotten to me recently, and because of that I’m making a pledge to take adulting more seriously.

Adulting, as described by Grammar Girl:

Adulting describes acting like an adult or engaging in activities usually associated with adulthood—often responsible or boring tasks. On Twitter, adulting often follows a sentence as a hashtag (#adulting) and can be used seriously or ironically.

Let’s start with the philosophical. Why Grow Up?: Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age by Susan Neiman really cuts through to the heart of what my generation is going through right now (the struggle is real, yo). While some people might react to the word philosophy like a curse, I’m always intrigued to think about human existence, thought, and behavior on a macro, rather than a micro level. Details can be great, but the bigger picture is usually more helpful to someone like me, especially when first getting to know a new topic. Even though the author of this book is a philosopher, she peppers her references with humor and understanding, making the reading material more accessible to little jokers like me.

I often have a difficult time finding something specific that I just know I have. Somewhere. Maybe. Hopefully? To the rescue comes The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. This has been one of the most-requested library books of the last year, and I can see why. I have friends who have read this book and swore that it changed their lives. I am holding out hope for myself: if I can train my brain, I can do it! And if that fails (or just takes longer than I want) there’s also the more hands-on book Keep This, Toss That: Unclutter Your Life to Save Time, Money, Space, and Sanity by Jamie Novak. Keep This has the same spirit of choice that’s reminiscent of the Eat This, Not That books. What really appeals to me most about this book is that you know, from the title alone, that you will be able to keep some things. Sure, I know I should probably ditch some junk I’ve been holding onto for who-knows-what reason, but I also don’t think I’m a compulsive hoarder. Some of these sections are no-brainers, like tossing clothes that don’t fit, are in bad repair, or are so out of fashion that I wouldn’t want to wear them anyway. When dealing with the basics of adulting, however, sometimes you gotta start with the obvious stuff and work your way up!

Going through “clutter” (aka artifacts of a geeky life well-lived) will definitely bring me back around to the fact that I am the de-facto family archivist. How to Archive Family Photos by Denise S. May-Levenick is a fantastic toolbox of techniques and options for digitizing and organizing all your family photos. I have literally boxes and boxes of old photographs, slides, and memorabilia. Right now I need the most help with photo organization, and ways to give far-flung family members easy access to them. But this book takes it a step further and offers up specific projects for your historic gems, including a photo quilt. A. Photo. Quilt! How awesome would that be?

Let’s not forget food. Eating and adulting really go hand-in-hand. I am guilty of often zapping a frozen meal and calling it my lunch. While I find it filling and fast, I do wonder if I end up depressing my colleagues in the lunch room, who all seem to find beautiful and delicious-looking options they create themselves, including one intrepid genius who makes beautiful mason jar salads. Luckily The Little Book of Lunch by Caroline Craig & Sophie Missing covers everything from salads to sandwiches, from quiches to cupcakes. There’s even a section on choosing the right food containers for the meal you’re cooking, and tips throughout designed to ensure your gorgeous feast doesn’t turn into a soggy mess. Dishes like these call to me: chorizo with couscous, roasted peppers & tomatoes, carrot & lentil soup, whole wheat pasta with broad beans & bacon (BACON!), parma ham & tomato pasta, orzo pasta salad…are you drooling yet? Quick: to the kitchen!

Have I not caught your interest yet? Think this is all child’s play? Looking for the nitty-gritty? Any other adulting topic is covered, at least briefly, in The Real Simple Guide to Real Life. Promising “adulthood made easy,” this book is published by my favorite magazine, Real Simple. It reads like the magazine, too, even including a snappy introduction by editor and adulting expert Kristin van Ogtrop. Everything is covered: health, money, keeping your casa spiffy, and even dealing with emotional dysfunctions that go along with being an adult out in the real world. Side note: if anyone finds passage to the “fake world,” please buy me a ticket.

Just in case you aren’t happy with the path your life has gone, I offer one more resource. Roadmap: the Get-It-Together Guide for Figuring Out What to Do with Your Life by the folks at Roadtrip Nation. This book is an easy-to-understand guide to figuring it all out–even if, at this point, it might be more honest to say you’re figuring it all out for the second, third, or even fourth time. Along the way you’ll be met with challenges, worksheets, and encouraging graphics such as this one, which I may just hang up over my desk at the library:

Since I am still struggling through immaturity on the path to adulting, I have to leave you with this disclaimer: I have not yet read these books. They sit atop my TBR (to-be-read pile), and will soon be read. Promise. Promise! Reading these books will represent my vow of taking adulting seriously.

In the meantime, I want to know: what books can you recommend for making the leap from immature adolescent thirty-something to full-blown (yet still fun) adult? The most helpful responses (or most witty, depending on how much I’ve matured) will be featured in a future blog post here on A Reading Life.