Click. Click. Click. Click. Click
WHOOOSH!
I had a long time to click up this ride slowly, anticipating the plunge that was inevitable. The plummet into adulthood taunted me seemingly just out of reach.
I worked, but wasn’t full time. I saved for retirement, but not aggressively. I went to bed when I felt like it.
But all of that has changed.
I am now riding the log flume plunge directly into adulthood. I would have considered myself mature before. I wasn’t stuck in college life for the past decade, but life has changed. I plan for the future in all new ways. I’ve spent the last several months consumed with thoughts of health insurance, 401K’s, and flexible spending accounts. When I was offered and accepted my current position, a friend of mine began calling it my “big girl job” because it was official, full time, and steady. I worked nearly 40 hours a week on the neuro team, but it was just different, more flexible, less certain, and most crucially, without benefits.
“Big girl” decisions have become commonplace over the past several months. Everything from packing my lunch to going to bed on time to buying stock. I’m realizing that I am an adult. I’m saving for retirement in new and exciting ways (if such a thing is possible). I did a little dance in my room when I sent in my last check for my private health insurance plan, knowing that I’d be saving money with my new found and ridiculously exciting benefits. I check my paycheck statement for this magical thing called PDO. These things are new and exciting and require oodles of decision making.
It’s been a wild ride. More rewarding and more challenging than I anticipated. I eagerly anticipate the next plummet on the log flume ride of life. And with my birthday just around the corner I shout, “Bring it on, Life! I’m ready!”
What about you? What exciting plunge are you anticipating in life?