Time to Get Serious

Are you resisting the start of the school year? Are you hanging on to the last sunny days and long nights of Summer?

You’re not alone. The mood shifts in the Fall. What happens?

It’s time to get serious.

That can be a hard thing in our society. There’s even a joke about it – “adulting,” as in, “I don’t want to adult today.” People laugh about hanging out in blanket forts and being mad they have to wear pants.

But have we gone too far? In the September series, Welcome to Adulting, we’ll look at all the Good that can come from being a grown-up.

First things first: it’s cool to be a kid. You don’t have to worry about paying a mortgage. Or making dinner. Or spending 8 hours with a boss you don’t like.

However, here’s the surprising part. Being an adult can be fun. I mean really, really fun. Why? A lot of reasons like:

• Kids hope that adults agree with their priorities. But usually the grocery store cart is filled with vegetables, not candy bars.
• Kids are dependent on adults to do things for their benefit, like take them places. If Mom or Dad aren’t going your way, you’re walking to the library, not getting a ride.
• Kids often try to convince adults to do whatever they are interested in. Yet most parents don’t have the time or inclination to spend every school holiday at Disneyland.

Hmm… When you put it that way, staying a kid doesn’t seem like such a good idea.

This was a truth Chris Rock found out the hard way. As he entered high school, his crew changed. They weren’t exactly a rough crowd; they just weren’t every parent’s dream.

His Mom made a casual comment or two which he let go in one ear and out the other. All that mattered to teen-age Chris was having fun.

You can imagine the look on his face when she sat him down for a heart-to-heart. Her perspective was simple – the choices he was made today created his tomorrows. That meant his choices needed to change. Immediately.

No more asking or joking about his friends. Her directive was clear: Stop hanging out with those guys who sit on the front stoop. You’re going places. They’re not.

Rock quietly acquiesced, even though he disagreed.

Fast forward to five years later. Rock was now a movie star and stand-up comic. In a private town car on the way home from a job, he asked the driver to take him through his old neighborhood, just for kicks.

Guess who was sitting on the front stoop of his childhood apartment building? The same group of guys! Just like Mama said!

This week, decide that you’re a grown-up. What’s more, decide that you’re going to love it. Because adults get to make conscious, independent choices. They know what to invest in; they’re not hanging out on the front porch, hoping their hopes and dreams show up on their block.

That’s real freedom.