Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easyish Steps

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They are also able to guide you on things such as retirement and health savings plans (IRA, 401K, HSA).

Last but not least… cleaning. A clean and tidy home is so important for your physical and mental well-being. The bank account is where you’ll keep your money and pay bills from. It will control your budget. It’s the center of everything. Clean major appliances monthly. Most ovens and dishwashers have a self clean feature. Also remember the refrigerator – empty it out and use clorox wipes on the shelvesMore than anything else, I felt like some sort of protective safety net that existed in undergrad and grad school had disappeared, and I was somehow on my own. I desperately wanted a campus, a common room, a student center, anything. I desperately wanted to be ambiently seeing people and running into people all the time, without having to proactively make plans. But this era was behind me. I’ve come to realize that this was not a function of COVID; it’s more a fact of adult living, at least here in North America. All around me, people are talking about crumbling care infrastructures and the loneliness that accompanies family care work. For the “sandwich generation,” adulthood has been marked by figuring out how to juggle the competing needs of their children and aging parents. Mutual aid became a practice not just for activist communities but for neighborhoods struggling with exploding housing and food prices, which acutely impacts younger adults. She admits this may be a little complicated for today’s young people because of helicopter parenting. Many parents of millennial kids hovered too much, she writes, meaning those children had everything taken care of. There’s no manual to being an adult — one day you wake up expected to know whether bitcoins are a good investment and how to feed yourself three times a day.

I think I’d have a chapter on how you keep moving forward when you so deeply don’t feel like you can,” she said. “Which is a question that I think all of us have in one way or another had to grapple with over the last couple years.” But it was hard not to like her. She smoked cigarettes and was a good hang, always up for some gossip. It’s just true that some people shine bright and also aren’t villains. I think it’s taken me the better part of the past decade to realize that, myself. I didn’t work with Kelly for very long, but I didn’t forget about her. In 2013, when Adulting came out with her face on its cover, I was not surprised. It’s also ok to think about what’s really important to you. Property amenities and tenant demographics, for example, can mean a lot to someone just starting out.If you are renting a place for the first time, chances are there is a building supervisor or maintenance person whose job it is to take care of minor home repairs. And if it’s something they can’t do, they will contract it out to someone who can… at the building owner’s expense. Instead, you can head outside. Maybe find a running partner or somebody to bike with. Or join a community sports league or hiking club to meet new people. Do you need a car to get to work? Or will public transportation and UBER suffice? Maybe biking? Electric bikes have grown in popularity, especially in cities.

To you’re struggling to find fulfillment, deeply reflect on what you’re skilled at and what you love, she says. She suggests also asking yourself where you feel safe, connected and belonged. Slow cookers are another great option, especially if you’re working outside the home for 8+ hours a day. Most of these recipes involve little prep time and zero watching. I very much believe in the power of our personal stories to help others feel less alone and more seen and supported.’ And why would you want to pay someone for minor fixes? It’s a waste of money, which is a big no-no in adulting 101.In the wake of the book’s success, Brown had, as she put it, a doozy of a time. The book’s premise didn’t help. “When bad things happened, which they did, it became something more — if I ask for help and tell people I’m not okay, am I undermining the central point of my whole career?” Going through this book has been the perfect balance of uncomfortable and loving,” says Michelle Goldring, ’10, MA, ’11, who is part of a group of alumni who began discussing advance copies of Your Turn on Zoom this winter. A corporate attorney who recently shifted into the HR side of law, Goldring didn’t personally know “Dean Julie” at Stanford—they embraced once in White Plaza when Goldring was giving out “free hugs”—but the voice in the book feels intensely familiar to her. “Reading this book sounds like sitting down in her office or sitting with my favorite people who I knew at Stanford who kind of set me straight.”