Adulting is waking up the day after your last exam not knowing whether to go back to bed or do all the things you vowed you would once you were done with your studies.
It is knowing that you should look for a job but not knowing where to start.
It is looking for a job specifically in your area of study.
It is realizing that the job world is not that straight forward and being willing to try out new areas, roles you never thought you would apply for.
It is landing your first job and blowing your first salary.

It is navigating work politics you did not even know was a thing. Having to work under an out rightly mean boss and difficult to get along with colleagues.
It is getting your probation period extended and second-guessing whether you are really built for the career world.
It is moving onto another job and finally feeling like you are getting a hang of this work thing.
It is losing your job and looking for another without much success.
It is quitting your job to start your dream business only for things to go south and needing to get back into employment.
It is thinking you will never work again.
It is moving back into your parents’ house because life threw a curve ball your way.

Adulting is getting into a serious relationship.
It is going on all the dreamy dates you fantasized about.
It is getting married and finally moving out of your parents’ home.
It is starting a home of your own and furnishing it into a Pinterest-worthy space.
It is spending a lazy evening after work with your husband laughing until your belly hurts as you have popcorn for dinner.

It is having a huge argument with your husband and wondering why you ever got married in the first place.
It is staying married when the easiest thing to do would be not to.
It is having your marriage end in divorce even when you never ever dreamed it would.
It is still being single when the whole world has set a timeline on when you should have been married.
It is loving that you are single.
It is hating that you are single.

Adulting is missing your childhood.
It is watching your parent’s age.
It is having conversations with your parents that you could never have as a child.
It is getting to understand your parents and the decisions they made raising you and your siblings.
It is looking after your ailing parent and watching them waste away.
It is switching roles with your parents; becoming their provider, their care giver, worrying about them.
It is losing a parent and watching your world cave in.
It is navigating grief and loss and thinking you will die from it.
It is surviving loss and grief and picking yourself up.
It is finding a new normal when change you did not ask for comes your way.

Adulting is maintaining old friendships.
It is making new friends who grow closer than you expect.
It is losing friends simply because you are in different seasons of life.
It is reconnecting with old friends.
It is attending endless showers (not the kind whose purpose is personal hygiene) for your friends.

It is having a set budget for wedding contributions because all your friends are getting married at the same time.
It is navigating drama.
It is having death snatch your friend away.

Adulting is becoming a parent.
It is bringing a little human into this world.
It is celebrating your baby’s first birthday like it is a wedding because you managed to keep a little fragile human alive for a whole entire year.
It is working hard and taking workplace drama in stride because you have a little human depending on you for everything.
It is wanting to become a parent so bad but not having it happen.
It is having to explain to people why you are not yet a parent with a smile while on the inside you wish they would not ask.
It is being unsure about wanting children, but knowing you have a set window of time within which to decide.
It is being sure you don’t want children and laughing awkwardly when they say, “It’s just a phase, you’ll see.”

Adulting is finding your faith.
It is losing your faith because you cannot reconcile evil things that happen in this world, with the good God you were taught about in Sunday school.
It is finding your faith again because you know there is no way you could have survived everything on your own. There is definitely someone working all things for your good.
It is questioning what the purpose of life is.
It is finding life’s purpose.
It is continuing to live even when you do not know what the purpose is. Putting one foot ahead of the other.
It is realizing that life looks different for everyone and there is no manual on how to adult.

Adulting is realizing that you cannot keep spending your money on shoes and fancy gadgets.
It is buying your first car.
It is buying your first home.
It is building your house.
It is investing in and starting your business from scratch.
It is making bad financial decisions and losing everything you worked for.
It is learning from the bad decisions and starting up all over again.
It is refusing to give up.

Being an adult is like being on a rollercoaster. There are highs and there are lows. Life ebbs and flows. Adulting is filled with the good, the bad and the in-between.

Yunia Kazibwe

Yunia Kazibwe is the founder of Adulting Out Loud. She is a wife, and mother to an amazing little girl. When she is not writing for the blog or recording for the podcast, Yunia loves spending lazy days with family, watching movies and catching up on a good series. Though she doesn’t currently have one, she loves cats.

Yunia prefers texting to phone calls, enjoys taking walks, and her favourite snack is popcorn. She often plays pranks on people, and only stops laughing to catch a breath.