Adulting

Adulting is a colloquial term that refers to the process of becoming an adult and taking on the responsibilities and tasks typically associated with adulthood. Adulting encompasses various aspects of life, such as financial independence, self-sufficiency, decision-making, and taking care of one’s own well-being. Adulting often involves activities like paying bills, managing finances, maintaining a home, cooking meals, holding a job, and making important life choices.

Adulting is often used humorously or ironically to highlight the challenges and sometimes overwhelming nature of transitioning from adolescence or young adulthood into full-fledged adulthood. It acknowledges that becoming an adult can be a complex and sometimes daunting journey that requires learning and adapting to new responsibilities and expectations.

Adulting captures the idea of taking on the roles and responsibilities of an adult and learning how to navigate the complexities of life independently. Adulting is a term that has gained popularity in recent years, especially in discussions about the challenges faced by young adults as they transition into adulthood.

Christine runs a blog called Department of Adulting I catch up with her and talk about her blog, and how she makes a difference in the lives of other people.

Christine a pleasure to interview you. You are the first on Four Columns with a Ph.D. Tell me something about you.

Thank you so much for taking the time to interview me! As you mentioned, I have my Ph.D. in Sociology. I pursued Sociology because I’ve always been driven to try to make the world a better place. Sociology is all about understanding how the society we live in shapes our lives, opportunities, and interactions. So, I’ve spent my education and career trying to write, teach, and do research on topics that will help improve people’s lives and access to opportunities. I’ve done research on everything from gun violence’s impact on mental health to the ways that moving across the country can impact our economic well-being.

Aside from that, I grew up in Seattle and still live there with my partner. When I’m not writing and researching, I’m running, rock climbing, hiking, and walking everywhere. I hate driving and love being active so being an avid walker is a win-win for me.

What is your blog adulting all about? Why should we read it?

As I mentioned above, I’m really passionate about doing work that will improve people’s lives and opportunities. One thing I’ve noticed from the students I’ve taught and my own experience is that we don’t get a lot of formal education in many of the areas that have a foundational impact on our lives. For example, very few people are taught how to invest, develop a budget, and ask for a promotion. Similarly, we’re not really taught how to develop a fitness plan and manage our mental health and self-esteem.

My blog, Department of Adulting, is all about teaching those lessons that we wished we had learned in school in a fun, accessible, and fact-driven way. I believe that Department of Adulting offers readers lots of fun, practical advice that can improve their lives. No matter your interests, there’s probably a post that can help you out, whether it’s how to boost fertility in your 30s and 40s to how to house hack.

Walk me through how I can get my 10-year-old involved in personal finance, and budgeting and to become wise in that area with their money.

Great question! One of my favorite ways to do this is with an allowance. Some parents decide to give their children an allowance for chores or finishing homework and some don’t. However, the key is to provide children with a regular allowance instead of purchasing them whatever they want when you’re at the store. Having children purchase what they want from their allowance helps teach them the value of money and how to save for things they really want. Many kids experience buyer’s regret in the early days of having an allowance. But it’s better to experience that with $20 when you’re 10 years old than $200 or more when you’re an adult.

Aside from that, I love giving kids the opportunity to help plan trips and family outings. Give kids a budget and tell them to plan food and activities for an afternoon or a day. It’s a fun way of teaching kids how to manage money and understand the cost of activities. You might also involve kids in money discussions about the household budget.

Why is it important to have a household budget?

A household budget is a great tool for making sure you’re spending money on things that are meaningful to you and that you’re on track for your savings goals. A lot of people think about a budget as being restrictive. I actually think it’s the opposite if we do it right. Many of us spend tons of money on things that don’t matter that much to us. It might be a streaming service we never watch or clothes we didn’t need. When we create a budget, it gives us a chance to identify the expenses that don’t really matter to us and cut those so that we have more money for the things that are important.

And one of those things is our savings goals. Many of us have things we are saving for (or dreaming of!) By creating a budget, we can make sure we are putting money towards our dreams so that we can eventually make them a reality.

Help me understand a holistic approach to health, where we eat well, sleep well, exercise well, and focus on self-care and mental health.

 In Western society, we tend to think about health in a very limited way. We mainly understand it in terms of physical health, and we mainly understand physical health in terms of what we can see, like body shape. This means we can look at a very skinny person and think that they are the epitome of health, when really they may be underweight, sleep poorly, or be under a lot of stress. All of these things are very harmful to health. This also means that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and others to look a certain way, even if that comes at the expense of our mental and physical health.

To be healthy we do need to have a nutritious diet and move our bodies regularly. However, we also need to support our mental health, have strong social relationships, get enough sleep, and engage in activities that make us feel full and alive. Optimal health will look different for each of us because we’ll each have different needs in these areas.

Social media makes us feel inadequate and gives us JOMO. Talk to me about the negative impact of social media and how to deal with JOMO.

 There has been a lot of research in recent years showing that more time on social media is associated with worse mental health and self-esteem. Social media is filled with filtered and photoshopped images, not to mention images that were one of dozens or more pictures taken to find the perfect one. Social media also largely shows the highlights of people’s lives. By constantly seeing pictures of perfect-looking people having perfect-looking moments, we can feel like we don’t measure up. On top of that, social media gives us the illusion that we’re socializing, when we’re really not having healthy social interactions with people.

Consequently, it’s important to put limits on the time we spend on social media and the kinds of accounts we follow. It also means that we need to prioritize spending time in real life with friends and family. The joy of missing out (JOMO) has become really popular in recent years. But the long-term effects of missing out are, in fact, worse mental health because real-life socialization is key for our well-being.

You talk about loneliness, which I believe is endemic. Help my readers how to deal with it, how to make friends, and how to get involved in the community.

When we’re busy and stressed out, it makes sense that people would want to just spend time vegging at home. But the reality is that socializing, especially with close friends or family, is one of the best things we can do for our stress levels. Research shows time and again that those with close friendships live longer, happier lives. And, again, spending time on social media is no replacement for socializing. If you don’t have any close friends or you’re looking to make new ones, I recommend thinking about how you can capitalize on your interests. If you love animals, try volunteering at an animal shelter. If you love running, find a local running group. MeetUp is a great resource for finding local interest groups. Since you know you’ll have something in common with the people you meet, it makes for an easy icebreaker.

What do women deserve?

Society expects a lot of women. I think many women have a desire to be perfect—the perfect friend, employee, mother, daughter, etc. However, everyone deserves to make mistakes and not have those mistakes lead to an identity crisis. We can be great employees and sometimes screw up a deadline or be amazing moms that sometimes lose patience with our kids. Perfect means there’s only room for black and white. Either we achieved perfection or we didn’t. The reality is we can never achieve perfection and women deserve to let that ideal go.

Women also deserve to take up space and not diminish themselves. This means owning their personality and intelligence as well as advocating for what they want and need. Taking up space can mean asking for that promotion and raise, as well as standing confidently by the counter at Starbucks not constantly worrying if you’re in someone’s way. The latter is something I definitely need to work on.

I liked your post on boundaries. What is it and how can it make us better people?

We can set boundaries in both our professional and personal lives. With technology, we can now work at any time of the day or night if we choose to. However, is that really how we want to spend all our time? It’s important to put limits on the time we work or spend time on activities or people who drain our energy (looking at your social media!) And if you’re in a position of power, it’s important to model these kinds of boundaries for your employees as well. Having boundaries is kind of like having a budget. We have limited time just like we have limited money. Setting boundaries helps us determine what activities are not important to us and what we need to limit so that we have time for the things that really matter. Plus, having boundaries helps us achieve the kind of holistic health we discussed earlier. Boundaries give us more time and energy for exercise, cooking food, and socializing with loved ones by limiting our draining activities. 

Why is reading so important to us?

I believe that reading is one of the best ways of developing compassion for others and ourselves. The reality is that many of us live and interact with people who are similar to us in many ways. If you grew up in a middle-class family in the United States, for example, you’ll generally have little understanding of what it’s like for a woman who immigrated with her family from Syria to Europe. However, reading gives us the chance to put ourselves in the shoes of people we would probably never meet. These people can be real or fictional, but putting yourself in the mind of someone else helps give you an appreciation for both the diversity of humanity and the things that unite us.

I also love non-fiction books because they are such a great way of building curiosity and expanding your mind. For example, I love reading books about wildlife. It’s such a fun area to get curious about even though my career has nothing to do with animals.

Talk to me about the city you live in the food scene and why we should visit it.

I have lived in Seattle all my life and would never consider moving. It’s one of the most beautiful areas in the world. Seattle is surrounded by mountains, water, and trees. It’s a world-class place to visit if you love any kind of outdoor adventure. Plus, we’ve had so many people move here from other states and countries that there is a wide variety of cuisines. For example, we have a thriving Asian district in Seattle. So, if you love Japanese, Korean, Indian, and Vietnamese food, to name a few, we have so many great options. We also have incredible seafood all year round. And if you have any dietary restrictions, most restaurants will offer a lot of support and catering to support your needs. I have Celiac disease so I’m very appreciative that restaurants are often so supportive.

I want to know about a challenging situation in your life, how you dealt with it, and how you came across as victorious on the other side.

Five years ago, I became really sick with an undiagnosed illness that gave me a high fever, and swollen throat, and made me cough constantly. I saw many doctors and specialists and no one could figure out what I had. There was one point when I was in the hospital, fever spiking, getting a spinal tap to test whether I had leukemia or meningitis. Luckily the tests came back negative. However, I remember thinking at that moment that there was no way I was going to die from that illness. And that once I was out of the hospital I was going to do all the things I’d been too scared to do, like learn how to rock climb.

I finally got a diagnosis three months later and had a minor surgery to resolve the issue. But I stayed true to that promise and learned to rock climb, started hiking on my own, traveled solo to Peru, and embraced my life and my health.