Speaking of: "Adulting"

The word "adulting" always kind of rubs me the wrong way.

For starters, I think it's hard to identify a specific checkpoint where "adulting" starts. Many (if not most) students work full-time at some point before graduating, and I never found the skillset required for post-grad life drastically different than that required for schooling. You're now just getting paid for the labor rather than paying for it.

But I think the word is also intrinsically linked to imposter syndrome. Saying someone is now "adulting" sounds less like a person maturing and more like a person playing the role of "Adult" on the world's stage. It feels like a ploy to suck the reality out of maturing and write-off aging as a momentarily relapse from youth, often just because someone is filling out their taxes. It just seems like the word has two purposes: teasing someone for selling out to the inevitability of growing older, and giving verbal gold stars to people who are just doing whatever they need to get done in their life.

It's not a harmful word. It just feels insincere to me. If I'm 22 and I'm filling out my taxes, I'm not "adulting." I'm just filling out my taxes, as I'm required to do. I'm just being responsible.