ok, going on 24 I don't think I felt as an adult until this september when I started my first job, a job that I enjoy and feel a singificant ammount of pride for even if many people would turn up their noses at it.
What gives me that pride is that I'm standing on my own two feet, there is noone there telling me what to do, and when I need guidance or help, I better ask for it and I might get it, but if I don't, nobody is going to give a damn.
Living life isn't about having everything served to you on a silver platter. Life is about making choises and take the consequences, good and bad, and every single choise has both.
The spring after I had turned 18, I reported for my period of compulsory military service, it lasted 10 months and I enjoyed most of it. The best lessons I learned during those months was the following:
1) I learned to work as part of a group with people, some of which I didn't like without making a fuss about it.
2) I learned how resilent and capable I really am if I put my mind to it.
3) I learned that helping others as soon as I'm done with my own stuff will often bring nice returns in some way or another later on. If not possible to find useful immediately then perhaps in the shape of friendship, something that in the long run is even more useful.
One thing it didn't do was to make me an adult, a more responsible adolecent, sure but not adult.
The time I spent in higher education the following three years, living alone, hundreds of miles from any relatives and meeting my first and second(current) girlfriend did a lot more towards that milestone.
Finally, becoming an adult doesn't mean that you loose your inner child, it only means you have learned when to keep that inner child tucked away and when you can give it free reins.
