Tag: adulthood

Being “Grown”

I was in the Dollar Store today and the cashier was an excited 21 year old. “I’m grown“, she boasted. “I pay my own bills and don’t need for nothing.” That sparked a thought:

Don’t be in such a hurry to talk about how “grown” you are because there’s a difference between “being grown” and being an adult. Grown people are those who have reached an age level that gives them permission to buy liquor, finally get into the clubs (legally), and buy cigarettes. Grown people usually boast about paying their own bills, driving their own cars, and not having to overall depend on anyone else financially. They just moved out the house yesterday and already they’re ready for the world. Adults however are those who do not have to keep reminding everyone how grown they are. They may or may not depend on someone else financially, may or may not pay their own bills. That’s because the level of their maturity is not based on such futility, but adults are people whose mentality is beyond the mind of a child. If you are well off financially that’s great, but it is not what defines adulthood. Not throwing stones, just something to think about the next time you have to tell someone how grown you are, which in the case you have to say it, you probably aren’t.

Embracing Change

Children have a tendency to think under the realm of simplicity. For this reason, we are encouraged to be in our mentality as a child, so that we maintain the humility necessary to receive the discipline of wisdom. Especially since there’s been awhile since many of us were children, so we have to be reminded of this kind of meekness, and to understand that most of the answers to the questions we look for are right here before us, but that we miss seeking “profundity”. Indeed, some of us need to seriously regress back into childhood and understand how simple things really are. But children also have a tendency to be unstable in their ways. They are more apt to move from place to place easily, despite danger. But as adults who have gained a certain level of experience, we cannot afford to be led astray by the elementary matters of childhood, in which we continue to trip over the same mistakes over and over again before we attempt to change them.

 
Change itself is difficult, for it is buried under years of routine and tradition. However embracing change when it is occupied by truth can cause great discipline, and create a greater understanding for the individual who is willing to grow up. It is a light that comes with maturity, illuminating the path of the elder. But not everyone of age is wise, for many of us are still easily led astray and stuck in our ways; plagued by the unchanging traditions of our youth. (There are countless old fools) And as some children are afraid of the dark, so are we who have yet to put off the instability of childhood; still heavier than darkness are we to ourselves. We can remove this burden however, if only we are willing to embrace change, and all of the gifts that come with it.

Coffee and Car Keys

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Two things always made me think of adulthood when I was a kid: Coffee and Car Keys.
I always loved holding the keys in my hand after returning from some car visit I was sent to by relatives. It made me feel adult, as if I was actually the one driving. I think mentally I associated it with adulthood because every time adults came around they had car keys in their hand! Or maybe it was because it gave them the freedom to come and go. In any event, I came to hold my head up a little higher whenever I could walk around with those keys.

Coffee also reminded me of adulthood. It seemed that it was something that only grown-ups were allowed to do. If they weren’t drinking coffee they were drinking liquor lol. All this represented adulthood for me.

 
Feel free to list some of the things that reminded you of adulthood when you were a kid.

 

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Grown Enough

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Photo by Pixabay
pexels-pixabay-248021
Photo by Pixabay

She has a secret

that she just does not want to grow up

If she could just make it to 21

drink her liver half-dead

and tell Hennessy he’s the one

he makes her forget she’s had too much

but maybe she just hasn’t had enough

to make her realize that her friends are gone 

when nothing’s left

and the taste she feels on her tongue

is the Similac on her breath

telling her stomach to cough up the dance 

she just had with death 

Look sis, I know you think it cool

but your stomach’s not fit for this kind of food

and that boy on the corner ain’t in love with you

You are just a lot more convenient than McDonald’s

cause he can have his way with you

and you’re probably just hearing this for the first time

cause nobody’s ever told you it always hurts the first time

This

grown-up stuff

She said she just wants to be

grown enough

Her ambition is for time to sit still

Never reaching the point of crazy debt 

and large bills

If she could always stay somewhere between 

Dora the Explorer and pink heels

maybe this lump in her throat she would’ve never had to feel

If someone could have just told her that growing up is over-rated

And in this world without YAH you’re a nobody 

who’s never made it

Your childhood crying away cause you played it

Cause you rushed yourself into a place 

that’s not so puffed up

Trust little girl when I tell you

You’ll never quite be just

grown enough