What trivial thing has made you feel more grown up?

[Joal 555]

I'm sure that many of us feel like we are not very good at doing certain things and look at other people and conclude that they are so much "better at life" than we are.

I know that I do that all the time, but then occasionally, I do something completely trivial, which somehow makes me feel a paid up member of the human race.

Examples from today - I filled up with petrol and also paid for a parking ticket using the electronic machine in the car park. Yes, these are things that most people can do without a moment's thought, but to me, anything I do is a problem waiting to happen and could potentially go wrong.

So i thought it might be a fun topic for people to post about what they have done that makes them feel a little more grown up. It could be a 13 year old who did something that makes them realise they are not 6 anymore, or it might be an "adult" who did something that makes them feel a little bit more mature i.e. it's not an age restricted topic........

......and the more trivial the better!

[NoV]

Good topic

When I used to work in retail I remember a child was messing around with one of the displays and his mum warned 'you better stop that or the man will tell you off'. I was actually looking around for who this man was until I realised she was talking about me...

Sudden realisation that people are no longer seeing you as a child!

[Aranea]

For me it's when I'm watching something - a movie, a TV show, or reading a book that's geared towards teenagers and start thinking "Where are their parents?" Or "Please call an adult," or "You are a child." When you start to realize you are much more capable of taking care of things than a 16 year old, and would rather them come to you for help then try to handle it on their own...Well then clearly you are somewhat grown up.

Also: when I realized that not only my mom was right about everything she told me when I was 16, but that I was just like her. That was a weird one.

[Marshmallow Peep]

When my knees crack whenever I tie my shoes.

It'd have to be the day my mother suggested movies for us to watch while my grandparents were out of town. I was 18 but still somehow surprised by the fact she was actually suggesting movies she had never let me watch before. This being the woman who convinced me the phrase "shut up" was the most obscene thing to ever be said on the planet.

[Sawyer]

Oh, I love this topic! I think about these all the time!

For me, there are a lot of little things... like going grocery shopping, or picking up household necessities (toilet paper, cleaning solution, etc.) because it's a sure sign that I'm living totally and completely on my own. I love mundane errands, even if I'm tagging along with a friend instead of shopping for myself.

Even asking myself, "What am I doing for dinner tonight?" or waking up next to my boyfriend every morning reminds me that finally, I'm an adult! I'm in control! It's a really cool feeling, but I'm only 22 (and moved out when I was 20), so I wonder when all of the novelty and excitement will wear off!

[Sitruuna]

It's not exactly something I did but when my mother asked me if I'd like to someday take my niece to children's opera. It was definitely one of those "oh fuck I actually am a legal adult and people are ready to trust their(/other people's) kids with me".

Actually I did feel very adult last christmas when I bought my niece a present and organised the whole getting-the-present-to-my-brother-in-seacret (as the presents are obviously not from friends and family but from santa, lol).

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Grocery shopping and not buying candy too. That makes me feel like a semi-responsible adult.

Also dealing with things on my own. Paying tax for the first time definitely made me feel mature (and annoyed. ), though not sure the government will agree with listing it under trivial.

Oh, and when I bought a vacuum cleaner / got my first screwdriver when I moved out / got to travel 1st class on the train.

[bloom]

I couldn't think of anything to ask my mom for for my 21st birthday other than a nice vacuum. She bought it for me.

[Icarus Rex]

Aw, this is a nice topic.

Sometimes, I'll go for a walk/go to the store at night, just because I feel like it and it STILL feels nice to not have to ask anyone for permission, which I realize is silly.

I've been working on-and-off as an English tutor for a little while, and a few months ago, I found myself lecturing this one kid about how he couldn't text me at 6:00am to ask me to edit the paper he wrote the night before, but then I felt like I'd been too hard on him, and said something like, "Listen, it's okay, I understand: I WAS IN SCHOOL ONCE... " and it was just like, OH GOD where are my spectacles and sweater-vest, I feel I've finally earned them.

Also, I've always had really bad phone-anxiety, so any time I successfully complete a phone call, I feel like a Supreme Adult Human: Capable of All Things.

[Seniorstatus14]

Oooo! I love this topic! My roommates and I talk about a lot about if we've done something "adult-y" recently because it's a big deal to us as 19yr olds who don't live at home but 3 months out of the year.

Hmmm...today I bought strawberries and meat and stuff to make actual meals today at the grocery store (yes I also bought cookie dough and dinosaur egg oatmeal, but that's besides the point )

Also, today I was trying to hand wash a strawberry slice because I don't have a dishwasher and when I sliced my finger I had to go apply first aid all by myself. Not a big deal I mean I just needed a bandaid with Neosporin, but still. Or even every time I have to make a doctors/dentist appt. or even go to said appointment by myself I'm like "Wow, that is just so adult like when did I grow up?!?!"

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Uh when I successfully order food for myself at the mall,which rarely happens, so I get a friend to do that.

-Realizing that I can't go in the play place at McDonald's anymore and look like a convincing child. No i'm 16, I do not look ten and I have to stop.

-Not being given the kids menu at restaurants anymore

-When my mum leaves me alone with the dentist, like no mum don't leave me with this monster

uhh ya. I don't know if it's considered trivial.

[Juto]

Hahaha I already love this thread... I remember sitting at my wedding, glancing nervously at the door, expecting the authorities to burst through any second to stop the ceremony. I felt much to young to be allowed to get married. It wasn't until after the ceremony that I realised that since I WAS 25, maybe it was sorta okay and that I could get away with it!

After 5 years of marriage, they still haven't arrested me... So I'm thinking... Maybe they let this one slide?!

[MaiMai]

One thing that really made me feel grown up (weirdly) was going clubbing for the first time. I spent the first half of the night feeling like a complete child amongst all of these partying adults and expecting to be thrown out at any second. After a few hours I got over it, and then it was like...I'm one of these adults. I'm not a child in comparison to them, and they're not seeing me as a child, just another adult.

It was a very strange experience.

[TwinklingStars053]

- hearing kids outside and wondering why they're not in school, then I remember that it's Saturday

- ^ same goes for summer and winter breaks

- Waking up next to my husband

- When a friend invited me to go to a casino and I almost said that I wasn't old enough to go

- drinking alcohol in front of my parents and they don't mind

[Sitruuna]

I remembered some more.

When someone else than my own parents offered me beer, lol. Buying beer/vodka/what ever? Näh. That never had that whoa-I'm-an-adult-now feeling. But when someone over twice my age included beer as an option when asking what I'd like to drink it was definitely one of those moments.

This next one actually happened when I was 15 or 16. My uncle came to visit us once and his daughter kind of picked me as the "adult" to spend time with. I had to read a book for her.

[Chanel_no5]

This is going to make me sound like I come from a completely desolated area, but what the hell. When I was six and got my first "Swiss army knife" (of course it didn't have as many tools as one of those, but it had six or seven. Two knives, a small saw, can opener, and some other that I can't remember now). Ever since I could walk my grandparents and my uncles had taught me what to do if I got lost in the woods, which sounds hilarious nowadays when almost all trees around my home village have been taken down, but back in the 80's and 90's if you took ten steps from the backyard and turned around you would never imagine there was a street with houses just there. And I played a lot in those woods.

So, since my grandparents had taught me how to build a makeshift shelter, they thought I should have my own knife so I could cut off some branches to do it. In retrospect it must have looked ridiculous; the entire family gathered around the firstborn when she got her first tool, and tell her their warnings and their experiences. But I was so proud, I felt like a BIG GIRL who could be TRUSTED.

I never did find out how my mom really felt about this, though, but I guess she must have been okay with it... though grandma didn't always ask for her permission before giving me a responsibility.

[Sitruuna]

This is going to make me sound like I come from a completely desolated area, but what the hell. When I was six and got my first "Swiss army knife" (of course it didn't have as many tools as one of those, but it had six or seven. Two knives, a small saw, can opener, and some other that I can't remember now). Ever since I could walk my grandparents and my uncles had taught me what to do if I got lost in the woods, which sounds hilarious nowadays when almost all trees around my home village have been taken down, but back in the 80's and 90's if you took ten steps from the backyard and turned around you would never imagine there was a street with houses just there. And I played a lot in those woods.

So, since my grandparents had taught me how to build a makeshift shelter, they thought I should have my own knife so I could cut off some branches to do it. In retrospect it must have looked ridiculous; the entire family gathered around the firstborn when she got her first tool, and tell her their warnings and their experiences. But I was so proud, I felt like a BIG GIRL who could be TRUSTED.

I never did find out how my mom really felt about this, though, but I guess she must have been okay with it... though grandma didn't always ask for her permission before giving me a responsibility.

DEFINITELY THIS.

I still remember when I went to a hardware store(?? Or what ever the name is) with my father and he bought me my first own knife. I was maybe three or so but at that moment I definitely felt like I was a big boy/girl/what ever.

And of course helping my mother set up the tent or to make fire.

I suppose at that age (3-...8?) half the things I did made me feel like I was a trusted, responsible member of the "adult society". xD

[Nola]

I love this thread and have been trying to think of some concrete example to add for awhile now. I'm still not sure I have one, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

• Lots of things dealing with kids makes me feel like a grownup.
• When one of the brolas asks for my advice
• Listening to someone at an arbitrary age (say 16-22) talk about something and realizing that I used to feel similarly
• checking my oil or some other car related thing
• paying bills with my checkbook
• giving directions correctly!

[SleepingPhlox]

Not even gonna lie, for me its doing the stuff that Young Me swore she would do when she grew up. Buying cool stuff, eating ice cream for dinner? staying up till whenever...because Older Me can weigh the consequences of these actions and make the decision for herself. And I think that's the very definition of being grown up...not that I'm a big authority on that subject, mind.

[Nas]

Making my own food and washing my own dishes makes me feel grown-up to some extent. I did laundry for the first time the other day, and I thought wow, that actually wasn't that bad.

I also feel more grown-up whenever my sister (or any of her friends) asks me for advice, the definition of some slang word, or what high school is like. Also, driving (even though I'm terrible) makes me feel more like a young adult and less like an eight-year-old. Oh, and understanding the little dirty jokes, or just puns I missed when I was a kid, in TV shows/movies/cartoons makes me feel that way too.

[TouchOfGrey]

Not getting carded for alcohol always makes me feel like a boss!! I'm 24 but I've been told I could pass for 16... runs in the family. Definite confidence booster. I'm also a problem child who took forever to stop partying everyday and dicking around, so anytime I pay bills or otherwise successfully adult Lol!

[Joal 555]

Thanks for all the contributions so far - I've been enjoying reading everyone's comments.

Another one that occurred to me is when I first started getting correspondence at work with my name on the envelope.........like, omg, I'm actually a real person that people are addressing their letters to......eek!

[Dusty15]

I couldn't think of anything to ask my mom for for my 21st birthday other than a nice vacuum. She bought it for me.

same! I got a vacuum from Santa one year and then next year I got some money towards a new mattress and box spring!

[skater]

Well I still get asked if I want a kid's menu at restaurants. But now, instead of my family politely declining and forgetting about it, they say "No thanks - she actually drove here," and then make fun of me about it for the rest of the night

[Hawkeye]

• When I moved into an apartment for the first time last year, I went and picked out furniture at IKEA and felt very grown-up
• I recently made my first hotel reservation on my own! I feel like I lost some "adult points" because the hotel reservation is for when my sister and I go to comic-con, but hey.
• I work at a summer camp, and just listening to a lot of the conversations some of the kids have makes me feel OLD. I had a group of 6-year-olds one week and one of them was talking about how she was born in 2009 and I was like "what now?"
• Basically any time I travel by myself and am able to figure out airports and train stations and overall travel logistics without outside assistance

I know there's more!