When did you consider yourself an adult?

When I got my apartment, and was paying my bills. I loved paying the bills, because it made me feel self-sufficient.

When I was 16 I had to commit to going onto a medication I could never stop taking (as long as it continued to work for me, because you become allergic to it once you stop taking it). This medication also has never been tested on pregnant women. So at 16 I was deciding to give up on having kids. I was so angry, kept thinking “I’m too young for this shit.” But that shit doesn’t care how old you are. I felt like an adult then.

Now I’m 24 and I don’t take that medication anymore. Nowadays I only feel like an adult when I go through medical problems. It’s the only thing I know how to handle gracefully.

I finally felt like an adult when I was closing escrow an a house at age 35.

Am I even one? I’m 25 now and sometimes I can’t believe it, but adult still seems a weird label to apply to me. I would say that after college, when I actually began to pull in enough money to live on my own, I felt “okay, now I’m not just a glorified kid.” But much about me is not as “adult” as it could (should?) be.

I felt grown up around my 25th birthday. I remember thinking about age and how different I was compared to when I was 20. That was a bit of a pivotal moment from youth into adulthood.

I also remember when I decided I wanted to have children (@Mariah I do feel fortunate to have the luxury of that decision). I had split up with a man who already had children and didn’t want any more. I realised that my feelings had changed and I was ready to have children. That was another moment when I felt my outlook had become more adult. Up to that point, I hadn’t wanted the responsibility of children.

I don’t think that it is necessarily a tumultuous change – more like when you look back, you see how you have changed and developed and this gives you a new perspective.

I think when I start using my oven on a regular basis as opposed to just the stove top, that’s when I’ll know I’m an adult.