After a dismally hard and sucky day at work where many heavy/difficult decisions had to be made, and I felt bone tired, uninspired and about to put in a Dr Oetker Pizza in the semi-preheated oven – I realised this thing called adulting sometimes seriously, over the moon, to the stars, beyond the galaxy in the black hole, categorically, unequivocally and absolutely SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS. I am not saying I am super grateful and like the popular social media hashtag super #blessed. But sometimes making those hard decisions, dealing with conflict and embracing adulthood sucks more than tickling the top of your palate with your finger, brain freeze, paper cuts and realising someone else ate your leftover pizza/Chinese food/fettuccine alfredo.

Here are 5 Sucky Things About Being An Adult!

 

#1 Bills and Taxes

 

 

Benjamin Franklin so eloquently put: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. Although you may agree with Mr Benjamin,  you could possibly suggest that he add bills to the mix. There are so many different types and hey, if you are an accountant you can expand on this. No matter; it sure would be nice if someone can pay your bills. Vet bills, doctor bills, accounts, stop orders and more bills, bills, bills.

And after those bills are paid as an adult you cry:

 

 

Taxes – well, enough said. So, bills and taxes are the reasons this thing called adulting sucks.

 

#2 Choosing the Responsible Choice

 

As youngsters your parents guided you along the way – you didn’t always have to think for yourself.

• “Mom, can I have another cookie?”

• “No, do you want to get fat like Uncle X…”

Dialogue ends.

But as an adult that cookie jar is within your reach. There is no soap for when you say the F-word, B-word, S-Word etc… No one forcing you, like in school, to do PE or sport. No adult really forcing you to apologise or reprimanding you for gossiping. No timeout for bad behaviour, tantrums or losing your temper. No one guiding you how to use your pocket money (also no pocket money unless you have a #blesser). And no one forcing you to make the bed, wash the dishes, bath or clean the house.

Nope. Nada. Not here. As an adult, you need to decide to put that choc-chip cookie away (and not in your stomach “away”); you must exercise self-control not to swear, gossip, lie and say stuff you regret in anger. You must decide to exercise or not. The onus is on you, how you’ll spend that money flowing in and out of your bank account. Dishes, making the bed, having a clean house and your hygiene (siesssss) are all optional – so you need to make the right choice and do all of them (ESPECIALLY the hygiene one) by and for yourself.

Choosing the responsible choice is hard and another reason adulting sucks.

 

 

#3 Being Honest with People But It’s Awkward

 

 

When you were a youngster, you were either honest and didn’t care because you didn’t understand the implications, or you learnt to lie. An example of the former one…

 

A little boy walking up to a supersized relative at a funeral/wake and loudly but innocently asking: “Why are you so fat?” And all the adults cringe. The mom of the little boy has an epileptic fit from the shock and embarrassment and pulls the lad aside and says and hisses through gritted teeth: “Never ever are we allowed to use the word fat again.” Meanwhile, the dad moonwalks out of the room to avoid laughing and having to deal with the awkwardness…

 

 

Then there is an enlightenment period. Plus-minus during your teens when you discover it’s easier to lie and spare your friend’s feelings than, to be honest.

• “Does he like me…”

• “Of course, friend; I am sure of it!”

When the bestie is very much aware “he” doesn’t even know that “she” exists.

 

Everyone looks good in their jeans. Nobody has picked up weight. Everyone should enter Idols. Nobody looks like Bobo the Clown with their makeup on. Sure, your biceps have grown. Yes, I can see you are growing a beard. Everyone’s cupcakes are delicious, and no one can tell or taste that they are burnt. Lies, lies, lies.

 

As an adult, however, you find yourself in a Catch-22 scenario. You understand that lying is the easy way out because frankly, it’s awkward to be honest and possibly embarrass, enrage, upset the person you are being honest with; but on the other hand you know that you are not doing the person, colleague, friend, family member or employee in front of you any favours by not being honest with them.

 

As a side note: It’s always astounded me while watching idols (when I still did etc.) that someone that really, really, really can’t sing confidently enters the competition with the blessing of their loved ones and absolutely sucks! And they didn’t enter the Wooden Mic awards or do it as a joke. Could someone not have told this poor soul “Don’t enter idols you suck” before they made a fool of themselves in front of millions of people!

 

 

Anyway, whether you give into the temptation to lie or stick to your guns, suck it up and tell the truth – adulting in both these scenarios suck.

 

#4 General Tiredness

 

 

Don’t you wish you took more naps as a kid or at least didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to watch K.TV or cartoons? SOoooo many wasted hours of rest :-(.

Parents and cat-parents have it really bad in the general tiredness department. Being woken up every few hours for random, inconsequential things suck big time. No parent minds getting up if their child or fur-kid is sick – but being woken up for a snack or a drink of water (that you know they don’t need) or for “sommer” really adds to the already yucky adult tiredness.

 

Gone are the carefree energetic days of your youth. The adulting exhaustion is #real and #sucks.

 

 

#5 Grocery Shopping

 

 

Ahhhh! Nothing sucks more than having to buy bread, milk and stock your cupboards for the week or month. It feels like a millstone is around your neck. Especially with everything getting so expensive. Having to buy cleaning products (kitchen/bathroom/tile cleaner, Jik, toilet spray, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, Sta-soft) – sadness; stocking those food cupboards and planning – sigh. And yes, yes… you know it’s a privilege to be able to afford all these items. But after a long day of work, dragging yourself to the shops and walking down the aisles just doesn’t make any adult jump for joy. And then it’s the business of unloading the trolley at the till, getting the packets back in the trolley, in the car, out of the car, in the house; at this point your household is AWOL; so you unpack by yourself. Siggggghhhhhhh… Can’t your rather lie on your couch and watch Rizzoli and Isles instead :-(?

 

 

 

What are some of the things you hate about adult life? The type of scenarios that make you want to crawl into a hole and put up a sign “closed until further notice!”

 

Please share your stories and comments below or on social media. And give the blog a share if you are feeling extra generous 🙂

 

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P.S. The featured image is taken by the awesome Delia Herberg Photography.