Recipe

No, this is not a recipe for red velvet cupcake. Nor is this a recipe for chicken biryani. I wish I knew them though. This is a confused adult’s recipe to young adulthood. If you belong to the age group of 19-25, you are most likely to understand my views.

1. Happiness

So, you are 21. You are going abroad to do your higher education. Woohoo! Or, you just finished your undergraduate studies and you have got yourself a new job in a new city/country. Woohoo! The happiness of moving out of your home seems to be the number one bait that lures you into thinking this is the best thing to ever happen to you. You feel you are the hero of your own movie. You are all set to take on a new adventure, find your soulmate and fight some villains along the way and have a happily ever after. There’s nothing wrong with this thought, except this is not a Bollywood movie.

2. Power

Okay, so you have moved away. You are an adult (at least by definition) now. You do the many things you have never dared to do before. Because you feel like you finally have the power to cross off those things you marked in your bucket list that you made on a frustrated day when you were in High School, after watching a really aspiring movie.

3. Independence

Isn’t freedom directly tied to empowerment? Or so you thought. You are free to do what you want, whenever you want (please translate to “off-office hours / the hours not spent in a classroom or library doing assignments / whatever it is that fits your situation the best).

4. Laundry, dishes and bills

As someone who loves to put off doing the laundry until the last minute and then finding no new clothes to wear, I can swear it is annoying. But, nothing can compare to the frustration of doing your dishes. There have been many times I have put off cooking and just ordered off Dominos instead simply because the thought of doing the dishes did not make the task seem worthwhile. I’m sure there are many out there who are just like me. (Hey, fellow lazybones!).  And then there are bills. Phone bill, electricity bill, water bill, air bill, life bill, what not.

5. Confusion

“So, am I an adult? Am I still in the process of becoming one?” Such questions keep nagging my mind. It would be good to comment here that there have been times when I have literally said “We should ask an adult about it.” and then realized I’m one too. I know people younger than me look up at me and think I have it all figured out because I used to think the same about other adults when I was a kid. But, LOL.

Despite all this, and jokes apart, I think it’s okay for us young adults to feel like we are lost. It is okay to be a kidult – someone who is a kid but also an adult. At least I can put my hand up to say I’m one. Put your hand up, if you are one too.

Thanks for reading. Now, get back to your orderly chaos as I get back to mine.