Is it fun being an adult?

[Mr. Kaze]

Having a job with oodles of disposable income is fun. Relaxing after a rough day on the job with a nice hit of hard liquor and playing with toys that I couldn't afford at any other point in my life is fun. Having a wife who loves me for my mind, wit and body is fun.

Realizing that you're spending as much on your wife's art-school tuition as you are on your mortgage and that between the two you're not going to see any significant disposable income for the next two years and that your job won't be improving your disposable income for the next two years and that you really wish you could've just stayed in Australia instead of coming home from your honeymoon... ahhhhh... not so much.

Getting to "fun" as an adult is all about assessing your resources and aligning your priorities. Stick close to people with the same priorities as you and put distance between you and people with other priorities. (Don't marry somebody who wants kids, for example, if you consider children to be an 18-year loss of privacy and finances.) Then figure out how far down your list of priorities you can get with your resources and go for it.

What was that song line... "Can't complain but sometimes I still do"?

 

[Mr. Kaze]

Is it true that the more older you get, the more stress that you inflicted?

Absolutely. A 2-day old has inflicted twice as much stress as a 1-day old. Statistically, the rate of increase falls off pretty fast, but if we could focus the stress I've inflicted over my lifetime, I could probably cause hemorraging in a frog at 50 paces.

Other people cause stress. And the more living, breathing people you have to deal with and react to, the more stress you're likely to feel. Approximately 150 million people in the United States think that the other 150 million are pretty dumb, possibly delusional, and generally wrong -- and that's a lot of stress to be tossing out into the world.

::Kaze (notes that even being stung by a Portugese Man-of-War is better in Australia. See, over there, they call them "Bluebottles." Now, if I say to you, "I'm going to slap you with this venomous fish, would you prefer the Portugese Man-of-War or the Bluebottle?" you're going to say Bluebottle because it doesn't sound nearly so nasty. Technically it's the same thing, but that's not what's running through your mind when you're in the ocean and one of them wraps itself around your leg...)

 

[Mr. Kaze]

Last night alone I ate my dessert before my dinner, did whatever I wanted to do on the computer, stayed up far past what should have been my bed time, and got to snuggle with my girl without having to be sneaky about it.

Yes. Being an adult is quite fun.

Yeah, those are the times I turn to my wife and tell her that I enjoy being a grown-up with her.

Though the true test of adulthood is exercising fiscal responsibility by not buying the Ben & Jerry's unless it's on sale at 2/$5.

::Kaze (may be one in a million, but that just means that there are 6000 people in the world just like him -- and there's one right there!)

 

[Bartmanhomer]

Ever since I was little, I thought being an adult would give me much freedom. But then again the rules applies to same. I guess there no anarchy of being an adult. Just more rules to deal with. D'oh!

 

[Lazybones]

I've been at both ends represented in this thread. I was mostly miserable in my 20s; was poor as dirt, worked multiple jobs putting myself through college, grad school was insane, and I had virtually no success with the opposite sex.

Conversely, my 30s have been pretty gravy. The best was getting married; my wife and I both have professional degrees (payoff for those years of scrabbling for pennies in college and grad school) and make plenty of money, we don't have children and take several trips to fun and interesting places each year, and I can pretty much just go out and buy anything I want (although it's interesting, as others have already noted, I don't want as much, the older I get). My job isn't the one that I would have picked, but it's stable, allows me to set my own pace, and has great managers who just promoted me again. We have a good group of friends and live in a town that has great restaurants, theatres, music, libraries, and athletics facilities, all within easy bicycling distance of our house.

That last paragraph probably sounds like bragging. But I need to repeat that my life was so "unfun" in my 20s that I thought about cashing in at a few points. I just want people in the same situation to know that it can get better; when life is miserable and you think you can't get out of your situation, focus on the things you can change (education, job, friends, and if necessary, therapy), and keep going.

 

[Bartmanhomer]

Do you think being humor also affects of adulthood?

 

[DaveStebbins]

Absolutely! A good sense of humor is an integral part of a good attitude, which the most important ingredient in a happy life (IMO). A sense of humor helps you gain a positive perspective on life, even if you are a cynic (like me).

 

[Psionicist]

Edit: Wrong quote.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

it has its good points and bad.

Seems like there is a lot fewer hours in the day now than there was 20 years ago. I've got a lot more freedom now, but I don't use it.