Intususseption

Life on your own brings challenges, successes

I am an adult. It is somewhat hard to believe this as I am sitting here wearing my raspberry lip gloss and my hair in double braids. I'm grooving to pop star Teddy Gieger and the teen magazine I've been flipping through is open to the story about boys.

I am an adult, though. These past few months have made me grow up faster than ever. Perhaps it's because Mom is almost 1,500 miles away and can't take care of me the way she used to. She always was there to lean on when it came to responsibility, and I always was scared of having to take over my life completely after moving away from home.


But I have managed to do it all on my own since January and I must admit it's been quite the experience.

Setting up the electricity and Internet service in my name was a big step. I even had to fight with the phone company because they charged me more than they had initially promised. The fight didn't end up in my favor. They won, but offered me 50 percent off my first month's bill. It's a good lesson -- you probably can't win against big corporations, but if you're persistent enough, you might get something out of it.

Paying rent every month is another thing I have had to get used to. This is my very first real apartment. (I lived in on-campus apartments in college, so this is a bit different.) Rent comes out of my pocket now and I have to remember to pay it at the first of the month instead of with tuition like in my previous experience. It's working out and there's nothing better than walking into your apartment knowing you worked for it.

During my full-time job hunt I have managed to get full-time freelance work with multiple publications. With this, I've learned the art of negotiation. Many offers for freelance work have come my way (exciting, right?!), so some of them have had to be turned down because of lack of time. I used this opportunity to ask for a pay increase for my hourly rate, and with a confident pitch, my wish was granted! It's nice to be in the adult-world where hard work literally pays off.

With no full-time job, though, I had to find insurance on my own, which is kind of scary. But I found there are a lot of programs that companies offer for people right out of college (be sure to research all of them if this is your situation too). Choosing a primary-care physician is kind of exciting, though. This is when it really hits that you are in the grown-up world.

So, with all this new-found responsibility, instead of calling Mom and asking her what to do, I'm actually calling her to tell her of my adulthood successes. Does this mean I'm actually looking forward to doing taxes and worrying about my 401k? Well, as long as I still feel young at heart, then bring it on.

posted by Intussusception Medical Care Amateur - @ Intususseption: Life on your own brings challenges, successes