That’s what Sarah Said

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Welcome back everyone. The summer has passed. For some it felt like an eternity and a half, and for some it felt like you woke up the day after you left Lynchburg and you were right back in your dorm bed.

For me, it’s somewhere in between. After a hard summer of a full-time internship, I had the chance to experience the new phenomenon that is sweeping the young adult generation. The phenomenon of #adulting.

You’ve seen it on Facebook and Twitter — young adults posting about menial tasks they’ve accomplished and yet are so proud about it. And I succumbed to this over the summer.

But through my experiences, I had a revelation as well.

This summer, after driving in Charlotte, North Carolina traffic each day, working in a cubicle for 40 hours a week, living away from my family in a new city, I felt like I was #adulting.

#Adulting is great, but the young adult generation can’t be overjoyed when they accomplish a basic task they should know how to accomplish. I’ve been guilty of it, especially this summer, but we can’t expect our elders to teach us everything we need to know.

Instead, we need to take the initiative to ask those smarter and wiser than us to teach us what we need to know in order tackle the world ahead of us.

During my “grown-up” summer adventure and the weeks following, I had to get work done on my car — of which I was very unprepared.

I wasn’t unprepared because my parents had failed in their parenting by not teaching me these skills, but really it was because I had failed to take the initiative to ask about it. But at least I have some great stories now.

Finally, after a few months of getting prepared for future life, my perspective has changed.

I’m no longer content to write off my lack of skills as the older generation failing to help me #adult. But rather I’m going to learn from those who have learned the hard lessons before me.

This year is a time to start over. This year is a time to take the initiative and ask someone to teach you the essential #adulting skills we all need to learn.

Good luck #adulting. And we’ll all suffer through these young adult years together, hopefully coming out of them with a little more wisdom and a few more practical skills in our repertoire.

Rodriguez is the editor-in-chief.

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