adulthood

In my Families in Canada course, we study the life course from adolescence 'til death. As a beginning-of-unit activity, I often have my students define adulthood but rarely do I share my answer...Based on my current realities and observations, here are my thoughts. So far, it has been a complex myriad of emotions, events and growing pains.

Recently, I bought a beautiful cake to my discipleship group gathering to celebrate some of the major events in our respective lives. We were celebrating three of their birthdays, one's engagement, another who passed her gestational diabetes test, one who is listing her home and another who just finished her maid of honour duties. We happily took pictures and had our three birthday ladies cut the cake. As we ate the delicious dessert, it did not take long for the conversation to shift, as we began sharing about our worries, stresses and prayer requests. As we lifted each other's requests to God in prayer, I thought this whole meet-up was a very accurate representation of adulthood. Adulthood is a combination of wonderful milestones and life changes, mixed with a never-ending list of worries and uncertainty. Beneath all the smiles and social media posts, adulthood is *still* trying to figure out who you are professionally and personally. It is less about figuring out a career path (although some are), but what type of colleague and professional you want to be. With an understanding of the fragility of life, it is wanting to be present for those in your family whilst pursuing personal dreams. It is learning to mature as an individual, but juggling the role of being a supportive partner and parent. In many ways, it is truly navigating for the first time what it means to be independent and form your own pattern/rhythm of life.

In adulthood, time is paradoxical. On some days, my coworkers and I spend time counting the days until the next break, yet months fly by and we somehow reach the end of another semester. As a teacher, I cannot believe that I have been a teacher for almost 4 years. I have been working for eight semesters, which means that I have taught over 600 students! At this point, there are moments where I feel quite confident as an educator, but there are also days where I lose my bearings and am at a lost for words. However, for the most part, I think time is fleeting as I watch many of my close friends become moms for the first time. While I am teaching away and travel around the world, their bellies are quietly growing and before I know it...we have strategically scheduled hangouts and quiet meet ups at home. Perhaps, the busyness of adulthood and the feeling of being pulled everywhere and wanting to do everything does not give us the chance to watch the hand of the clock move. The colourful calendar tabs on our phone have us focused on plans for the week (and the next) without noticing the month of the year. For some of us, our excitement for significant milestones—and the next champagne toast—blurs our concept of time. 

This is adulthood.

We are a little less emotional than our adolescent days, but it is still equally as chaotic. 

While some may argue that uncertainty diminishes, I would debate and say it manifests itself in a different way. 

As I enjoy a few more years of cakes and champagne, paired with prayer requests and honest conversations, I hope to enjoy it knowing that this life stage will not last forever.

~cho