University! I remember it like it was yesterday... well, most of it anyway. I still have my friendship crew from twenty years ago. So, I can tell you that I too, was once a student, looking forward to living my best life.
As an "older" man - I now get a chance to quickly glance into the rearview mirror, I notice that adulting for me began the moment I stepped out of those hallowed halls of learning… and straight into my first job.
Adulting (add-ul-ting) - A noun turned into a verb, adulting is now an activity - similar to its cousin “parenting”. - The Memo Dictionary
Suddenly, I was no longer on my parents' medical aid - which was lit 🔥 (for all the wrong reasons). For the first time, I felt totally unprepared for what the future would hold. But, as that famous saying goes, life (and the show) must go on.
After buying my first car... and having insurance completely chow me, I learned how to manage my finances, and pulled through to each payday most of the times.
Does it get any easier?
I’d like to tell you that it does, but I’d be lying. With each new level comes a new level of challenges, but the silver lining here is that you learn each and every time.
You’ll never live long enough to repeat the mistakes of others…and learn from them.
Some of the tough lessons really taught me a thing or two about the unpredictability of life. And, adequately preparing me for it. One thing’s for certain, in all of these stressful, frantic, busy and wonderful lives we all lead, there’s one thing that you can never take for granted and that’s your health.
Here are 8 quick tips that they won't teach you in school
Interest-ing
Nobody told me about interest. Interest changes everything! A single percent added to your interest rate by your bank or car dealership can make thousands of rands of difference.
So read the document before you sign it, and always negotiate the interest rate down.
Hide and Seek
Every time I move house I lose ALL my health records... there's an app for that (shameless plug). Technology is here to help you and there's no reason why you shouldn't use it for your health as well.
There are tons of things you can do to catalogue the things that are important, take pictures of all your discharge summaries, blood results and x-ray reports. Know and save important health-related phone numbers.
If you are anything like me and you forget to take your medication - you should give the Memo app a try, you won't regret it!
Popcorn is Popcorn
Adulting means balancing all aspects of your life, and sometimes, it can get a bit difficult to do that. Always remember that when you are eating popcorn, not all the seeds popped at exactly the same time.
And that doesn't make them any less tasty (unless they didn't pop at all). So pop at your own pace, stay in your lane and compete with yourself - becoming the best version of you, is all you can really ask of yourself.
Sugar is the enemy
Once that belly comes... it ain't going nowhere! As you grow, your ability to get rid of that massive meal you just ate for no reason at all completely disappears! TRUST ME!
Nobody is saying don't eat chocolate cake, but make sure you watch yourself in this department.
Everybody is winging it (Even the people writing this blog)
Winging it through life and making it has earned a few some form of admiration. Their successes are often seen as a superhuman ability to ignore hard work and still manage to come out on top.
For us normal human beings, it's likely that we will have to sweat hard to get where we want to in life. Here's the thing, risk and change are good things. Your youth is the best time for that.
You can't know what will happen in the end and you can't wait to have all the answers before you take the first steps! Prepare yourself mentally for whatever may come up, be present in every moment and enjoy figuring it out as you go along.
Budget-ing... Expect the unexpected
You have to learn to roll with the punches. The guys from Rags To Reasonable said it best "You will screw up". Budgeting in the adulting world is no joke and it can make or break you.
While you were still studying and living under your parent's roof, all the unexpected things you didn't know about suddenly show up when you out here hustling for yourself. So make sure you get your budgeting right and you will be ok.
The School of Youtube is a real thing
You can learn literally anything! ANYTHING!
These days Youtube has become the go-to place to learn how things work. Admit that you don't know everything.. and then commit to learning it. There is a ton of stuff that you can learn off Youtube like: How to successfully cook your first meal without burning the house down.
As a result of how quickly life changes, a culture of lifelong learning is what may give you the edge, how is this for a powerful quote:
Listen to your body
It’s easy to push aside the little aches and pains, the little lumps and bumps that appear under your skin, and the tiredness is always attributed to stress. Remember, your wealth depends entirely on your health. With that being said, frequent visits to your local clinic for a check-up might be all that’s needed to get you back to optimal health again along with some exercise and a healthy diet of course.
