So, um, somewhere along the way, I seem to have turned into a Responsible Adult (according to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine's poll.
I can find a job if I lost mine - or, at least, formulate ways to get money, I can work out what to do in a crisis, I can pay bills and keep a house moderately clean (well, clean enough for me to live in, which may not say much), lay hands on paperwork and finance things according to the phases of the moon (ie. sometimes it's a bitch, sometimes it's a breeze), care for a cat, arrange to get my car to the mechanic's, my cat to the vet, my bod to the doctor's, and my teeth to the dentist - with me attached, naturally.
If you handed me a dead body that just had to be hidden, I could probably come up with a way to dispose of it. Does that make me a Responsible Adult? Or possibly just a Closet Sociopath? Actually, I wouldn't be a sociopath, because I would feel sincerely guilty and regretful that I had to break the law, but I'd still do it if I thought the need was great enough. Is there a word for that?
(Yes, I have considered how to dispose of a dead body before. Don't go poking in any of my compost heaps; do you really want to know where the skeletons are buried? Oh, wait. NOW YOU DO.)
From the viewpoint of a(n alleged) Responsible Adult, I don't know. I still don't feel 'grown up'.
Does it change when you develop a long-term partnership? Does it change when you have a child? I mean, I have a full-time job, a house, an investment property, a car, a cat, two sisters, a household, medical insurance, a mobile phone, two non-maxed credit cards, a savings account, I plan holidays and weekends, return my books on time (except for when I rack up $17 in library fees), and occasionally clean my room without either my mother or my sisters harassing me...
Maybe it's just a different level of bar, but my life doesn't feel particularly responsible to me. I'm not sure what Responsible Adults do in the imaginary overlay that lies on top of my reality, but...somehow what I do doesn't count towards Responsible Adult status. It just...doesn't.
Also, is the alternative to Responsible Adulthood, Irresponsible Adulthood, or Responsible Childhood, or Irresponsible Childhood, or something else? One can certainly be an adult and irresponsible....
...finally, I am kind of worried that I am one of five people who checked the "I don't. Not ever. For $700, you can take my seminar and you too will ALWAYS BE A WINNER at adulthood!" ticky box for the question When you fail at adulthood, what do you do? (I did it for the LULZ! And because, hey, if 355 people would pay me $700 to ALWAYS BE A WINNER, I could go on that trip to Europe next year - FORWARD PLANNING AND CUNNING THINKING, I HAS IT. Oh, God, I think I may be a Responsible Adult! *flails*)
thefourthvine's poll.I can find a job if I lost mine - or, at least, formulate ways to get money, I can work out what to do in a crisis, I can pay bills and keep a house moderately clean (well, clean enough for me to live in, which may not say much), lay hands on paperwork and finance things according to the phases of the moon (ie. sometimes it's a bitch, sometimes it's a breeze), care for a cat, arrange to get my car to the mechanic's, my cat to the vet, my bod to the doctor's, and my teeth to the dentist - with me attached, naturally.
If you handed me a dead body that just had to be hidden, I could probably come up with a way to dispose of it. Does that make me a Responsible Adult? Or possibly just a Closet Sociopath? Actually, I wouldn't be a sociopath, because I would feel sincerely guilty and regretful that I had to break the law, but I'd still do it if I thought the need was great enough. Is there a word for that?
(Yes, I have considered how to dispose of a dead body before. Don't go poking in any of my compost heaps; do you really want to know where the skeletons are buried? Oh, wait. NOW YOU DO.)
From the viewpoint of a(n alleged) Responsible Adult, I don't know. I still don't feel 'grown up'.
Does it change when you develop a long-term partnership? Does it change when you have a child? I mean, I have a full-time job, a house, an investment property, a car, a cat, two sisters, a household, medical insurance, a mobile phone, two non-maxed credit cards, a savings account, I plan holidays and weekends, return my books on time (except for when I rack up $17 in library fees), and occasionally clean my room without either my mother or my sisters harassing me...
Maybe it's just a different level of bar, but my life doesn't feel particularly responsible to me. I'm not sure what Responsible Adults do in the imaginary overlay that lies on top of my reality, but...somehow what I do doesn't count towards Responsible Adult status. It just...doesn't.
Also, is the alternative to Responsible Adulthood, Irresponsible Adulthood, or Responsible Childhood, or Irresponsible Childhood, or something else? One can certainly be an adult and irresponsible....
...finally, I am kind of worried that I am one of five people who checked the "I don't. Not ever. For $700, you can take my seminar and you too will ALWAYS BE A WINNER at adulthood!" ticky box for the question When you fail at adulthood, what do you do? (I did it for the LULZ! And because, hey, if 355 people would pay me $700 to ALWAYS BE A WINNER, I could go on that trip to Europe next year - FORWARD PLANNING AND CUNNING THINKING, I HAS IT. Oh, God, I think I may be a Responsible Adult! *flails*)
no subject
I also find it weird that no one thinks that part of being a responsible adult is if you don't know what to do, you either fake it, google it, or ask someone who knows. Responsible Adults TM aren't also psychic.
no subject
That's an interesting point. (And I'm sorry I haven't responded until now.)
I don't think I ever felt trapped as a kid, or that I particularly wanted to grow up. Growing up just happened - it wasn't like you could stop it. And I suspect that even at an early age, I knew I had it good.
So...
Maybe people who got to be Irresponsible Children find it harder to make the switch to feeling like Responsible Adults?