When I was 15, 26 seemed like a really long way off. I figured by the time that I got to that ripe old age I would definitely be married, have a child, and own a house.
Adulthood isn’t what I expected.
I thought that I would feel like all the women I saw on the train in the morning; poised and well put together, with matching underwear sets for each day of the week and a perfectly organised handbag full of all the daily essentials that one might need, and be able to organise my way through daily life without a hair out of place.
The reality is rather more sobering. Some days I get to work and realise that I have my underwear on inside out (this actually happens more often than you would think!), and if my bra matches me knickers then it has to be a major league event, like the Diamond Jubilee. Sometimes I can’t even find a pair of socks, let alone a pair that match. My makeup is done in the morning through a bleary smog, and by the time I get to work, having negotiated the intricate labyrinth system that we refer to as the tube, it has worn off in patches, leaving me resembling a giraffe. And don’t even get me started on the days that I have to wear tights, which normally results in me putting my toe through them and having to rush to the shops to buy a new pair.
I didn’t think I’d be still waking up on a Sunday morning with last night’s makeup on, hair all over the place and bedroom looking like a tornado had swept through, lamenting that vodka isn’t my friend and what the hell happened to everything in moderation? And my wallet, for that matter.
I didn’t think I would still warble at the top of my voice when I thought that no one else was listening, to show tunes or cartoons. Sure, it used to be a whole new world, and now its tunes from Wicked, but Defying Gravity is still hollered through my house while I am doing the hoovering.
I didn’t think that I would still be calling my mother on a regular basis with any medical emergency (or non emergency) that happens. I think ill be all grown up, and then I get a rash on my arm and I check Web MD, freak out that I have meningitis and call my mother, who calms me, tells me to roll a glass on it and concludes ‘ive probably come into contact with something scratchy. Thanks Ma!
What are you finding different to how you imagined?
*thanks to Fibronomy Awesome for inspiring this post. You can read hers here*
Don’t worry about matching your socks. Apparently it is all the rage to wear mismatched ones. They even sell them that way. Or maybe it’s just an American thing… Be bold. Start a trend.
What am I finding differnt than I expected? All of it. Everything. I’m actually thinking about asking for a refund.
It doesn’t get better, you just surrender to the fact that everyone is a hot mess.
thank you Tinkerbelle..that has really made me think and I am going to try to answer y our last question on my blog post
Well I’m not’ Mother Superior’ for nothing!!
Whoa. I barely knew they MADE matching underwear sets. (Or was I just too drunk to notice??)
The thing about getting older that’s been scary/different than what I was expecting is the realization that NO ONE knows what the fudge they’re doing. Which is why I try not to think too much about people with jobs my life depends on. You know. Like pilots. And people who fix bridges.
When I was 15 I was almost certain I’d never get married or have children. I was wrong about the first about and very right about the second.
My daughter just turned 15… yep, I am trying to make her understand all that you’ve written here. But, as I bet you know, no 15 yr old will believe it… it’s not until we hit adulthood that we learn it’s not all it’s cracked up to be! What would adult-you have told grown-up-you if you could’ve? Maybe that will help my girl enjoy life now, while it’s more fun
Thank god we are all the same, seriously, things I was sure I would outgrow, have just got worse…embrace it love…it’s all good!!!!
I thought that when my kids would go to college that I could finally relax! I have never been so busy!
Enjoy it!
Brilliant post! I’m not sure anyone ever really feels like an adult, even people like the matchy lady are just pretending…
Hmmm… I never thought I’d end up a schizophrenic struggling author, but now I’m pounding the keys like a good ‘un!
Let’s pray it actually works out…
Love and hugs!
Prenin.
Everything. Not one thing I thought would happen has… But I suppose if there is someone else we would rather be we should change something we are doing on a daily basis and make it so
Were you snooping inside my head while writing this darlin’??? I think you must have been! Being grown up is oh so silly and overrated. I’ll take our non-grown up state of mind any day! xoxo
Its not only with women but surely men also see things to be different in future but when they don’t turn out to be what you had anticipated we just slow down our pace and let the time take us through….BTW a nice post i must say
If it makes you feel any better, I realised AFTER I had been to the physio the other day that I had my nickers on back to front. Don’t ask. Embarrassing.
Inside-out I have never done, that I recall.
Being a grown-up sucks if you ask me – I want to go back to being 13.
So true! The older I get the more I realize the less I know! I thought at 25 i’d be settled in a serious relationship, rolling in money and in some high powered career.
I’m nowhere near figuring that out but I do now know all the lyrics to pretty much every Disney song ever produced!
And that’s all we can hope for
2 things:
1) Don’t EVER go on Web MD. It’ll only serve to freak you out and make you believe whatever you have is life threatening and excruciatingly painful.
2) Being an adult is definitely not easy. Compliments to my parents for making it all look so easy!
I thought I would feel OLD. I am, but I still feel young. That is what surprises me.