If you are still stuck to teenage days where responsibility just means finishing college, well, I would say those days will be over. Adulting means so much more than having a degree and landing a job so here are my take on what is it really like to be an adult.
1. Mondays are the most rant about day of the week
There are a lot of reasons why a person hates the situation he/she is in right now, but I think that being an adult means, no matter how horrible the situation you are into right now, you still decide to wake up and show up and get that money you need.
That is most certainly true when it comes to Filipino’s where the odd’s can be more than the letter on the alphabet like for example it’s hard to switch jobs, no savings, badly need to consistently support the family and the list goes on.
Mondays’ are hard but you need to show up because challenges will always be present in any situation, but for sure it will be better if you work smart enough in life. (that is why you read this post! There is wisdom behind all these heartfelt social media posts)
#adulting hates Monday’s but still deals with it anyway
2. If you are still poor at 35 you deserve it
Familiar with the quote? Yes, it is from Jack Ma and has been posted all over social media countless times but why it is so popular?
This quote is so popular because a huge number of Filipino’s, count me in, are looking for financial freedom. Financial freedom might vary from person to person. For me personally I just need the right amount of money to retire early, can afford to travel whenever I wanted to ( I want to travel maybe just once a year is more than enough for me already), have a secure investment or business, give back to my parents and be able to do my hobbies on the side while working, it may be for a company or for myself.
So how do you do it?
If you are 30 like me it doesn’t matter of what age you started realizing that you should work smart, more than working hard or course, as long as you realize it the sooner the better.
Growing your money is hard but it is achievable, so as early as you realize you need your money to work for you, start making it happen by saving!
Follow it by emergency fund and then find a way to get another source of income while you still have your usual job. Some people swear by investing in the stock market but really it can be anything you are comfortable with as long as you are confident and well knowledgeable in it. Be smart, don’t let your hard earned savings go to waste just because your neighbour tells you can get 200% income when you invest in here or there.
The deal here is that as early as 20 or even younger, the earlier you work smart and hard the easier it is to achieve financial freedom upon reaching 35. Or if you are 30 or older it doesn’t matter it is better late than never.
#adulting means achieving financial freedom at the age of 35
3. Life is too short for the wrong job
Burnout is real, especially when you are living payday after payday. I think one of the reasons for exhaustion at work is that you can’t do anything else from your salary other than paying bills and eating in a fancy meal once a month (one sanggeupsal a month and that’s it, horrible!). You are feeling that after working long hours at work a.k.a 9-5 you can’t see any progress going on in your life.
Too sad.
So, should you just quit?
Yes, life is too short for the wrong job but don’t just quit right away feeling empowered after seeing this post.
Better yet plan ahead, save as much as you could and switch to another job fast (don’t let yourself be jobless for months trust me you will lose quite a lot of money if you do that).
Make a plan for your life; remember I tell you to work smart? So be smart enough by having a concrete plan for your life, where you can clearly see your goal and how you will achieve them step by step.
Look at the blog Savings Pinay, I am always inspired by how she plans her way to financial freedom. I am inspired by her and jealous at the same time because she is so intelligent, she started planning her financial journey I think earlier than 20 years old. OMG! Her blog is relatable too because her earnings are not like a doctor or a bank manager, she started as a simple employee just like the most of us, so I really look up to her when it comes to financial advice.
#adulting means working on a job that truly matters for you
4. When it rains it pours
I remember posting this quote twice on my wall and you probably guess what it means. Sometimes in life, you will get a challenge so hard that you thought you wouldn’t be able to surpass it. But fear not, there is light after darkness and for sure better days will come. One of the things that made me through tough challenges is my Faith (please refer to this post wherein I elaborate more about Faith).
#adulting means challenges will be thrown at you more than what you can handle and you can’t make it stop, you just have to solve it one by one
5. Saving now will save you later
True! A lot of people encourage us to save but do not forget that saving money is just the beginning. You have to save, build an emergency fund and save more for investment (or anything that will give you earnings while you are doing your usual 9-5 job). When your investment doesn’t yield as much money as you need to live for the day, continue to work hard until you reach it.
#adulting means saving a lot of money and make money work for you
6. OFW Life – What my family and friends think about my salary as an OFW?
Filipino family if not all have at least one OFW so maybe that is the reason why this post is so popular around social media.
I personally attest to this quote because I am an OFW for three years. Truth is, converting an OFW salary to Philippine money might seem high but you have to understand that a big part of it is spent on rent, grocery and utility bills, the said expenses are so high that there is little left to sent back home and save for yourself.
So as much as we would like to be Manny Pacquiao throwing money after a fight to all of our relatives especially our immediate family, we just can’t do it.
So please the next time you see an OFW, please don’t ask for a luxurious lunch treat or gifts because an OFW’s money is so hard to earn that it deserves to be kept for a good cause (like investment or savings). Also be thankful for every single item in the balikbayan box because it is not that easy to fill that up for sure.
#adulting means being an OFW is not a ticket to becoming successful because there is still chance for an OFW to fail if the hard-earned dollars is not spent or invested wisely
7. Stuck between “I need to save money” and “I only live once”.
Spending your hard earned savings is the happiest feeling of all. Where finally you can feel comfort and financial security for a short period of time?. But is it really worth it? When after you reach your goals of travelling to Europe or Korea you will have to go back working your usual 9 to 5 job and save again.
Temptations will lure your left and right, but be sure not to be deceived. The goal is to make your money work for you and not spend all your savings on a luxurious trip to Paris and go back to the starting point of the race to financial freedom.
Just saying but you do you!
My suggestion is to make two goals. One is for investing (or business) and the other one is for travelling (of course emergency fund should be secure already).
#adulting means pampering yourself from time to time but not at the expense of jeopardising your journey to financial freedom
Ps. These posts acquired so much attention thru social media (whether it may be on likes, comments or shares), I guess that these posts are relatable to a lot of people and from it we can get a hint of what life really is, what adulting truly means?
Adulting in my personal opinion means doing a lot of challenging things in the beginning.
For sure none of us is prepared for it so, hard times will come and we have to embrace them with perseverance, excellence and gratitude. This will greatly improve you as a person.
One I am truly grateful for is my faith, my faith has become tremendously strong given all the challenges I went thru. Now I have a better perspective upon facing difficult times of my life.
The word struggle was changed into a challenge, the difference you might ask?,
Struggle means barely scraping by and the situation is perceived by the mind as a point of no escape while a challenge is just another problem that needs to be solved. Challenge has a certain solution I just have to figure things out and work it. It is very important to work it, because if not you will not move anywhere where you are located from.
Being an adult means I begin to understand the value of knowledge, excellence, practical information and becoming wise in terms of money.
Believe me, the older you will thank yourself later if you will successfully decode all these rants and quotes in social media and apply it to your life. So that is it on how to be an adult as popularized by social media (Facebook) #adulting.
Please share if it makes sense.
Thanks again for reading all the way!
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