At what point do we grow up – or do we ever?

As a child, you often look up at those big, old adults with almost a fearful respect. They are so full of wisdom. They have an answer to everything and always seem to know what to do in every situation. Every year you grow older, you wait for that epiphany - that moment when you too become that all-knowing adult.

You turn 13, you think you are there. Then 18, you no longer care as you are just living in the moment. Then 21, but just as you are celebrating your new ability to legally drink you suddenly find yourself thrown into the real world. 

I will never forget that moment; walking to work through the San Francisco financial district on my first day wearing a business skirt, uncomfortably hiked up around my waist, a tucked in collared shirt and black pointy-toe pumps. This outfit being in stark contrast to my usual attire of flips flops, jeans and a tank top. I felt like I had dressed up as a business woman on Halloween. All I could think about was that I was way too young to suddenly be thrown into the suited up business world.

Now here I am with seven years of work experience and finishing up an MBA. Does this mean I am full of wisdom or know all the right answers? No. In my somewhat chaotic personal and professional life, I have realized two things: (1) The wisdom I have gained might not be the same words of advice someone else might want to follow and (2) While I now have a lot more answers, I have come to realize that, with age, I only now have even more questions.

As children we listen to what adults say and as teenagers we do the opposite. But as adults, suddenly with the power to make our own choice, we, instead of searching within, look out. We look toward society and what we are supposed to do. For many this works, for others it does not.

Being single and 30, people often wonder when you are going to grow up and ‘settle down’, but is that being grown up? Others take that path laid out for them only to look back 5, 10, 30 years down the road and think “I wish I had done it differently.” To that I always respond with the fact that you should never regret a decision made or an opportunity not realized because you don’t know what really would have happened if events had played out another way.

I am always saddened by people desperately looking for the right way to live, as if life is a checklist waiting to be ticked. Life is not black and white. Nobody has all the answers. As children we became so enamored by those omniscient adults that we think that we should become one. But we can’t. They don’t exist. We never grow up. Life is more fun being a kid anyway.