I was recently listening to Candice King & Kayla Ewell’s podcast (I’ve been getting into podcasts & I love) and they were chatting about the pressure to always be available and the expectations of sending that text back. I've always been an advocate of technology; it keep us moving forward & there can be a lot of good in it. But with that good also comes the assumption that we will always be there to post on social media and answer texts and phone calls and be ~on~ 24/7. 

ON FRIENDSHIP.

I won't tell you how much Friends trivia I know in order to know that the original pitch for the show included the line "[it's] about friendship because when you're single and in the city, your friends are your family." From the time I first properly watched the show at sixteen, I longed for friendships like that with girls I could call my very best friends. Not long after, Pretty Little Liars came onto the scene, & I longed for a strong group of a girl gang even more deeply. (Only minus the friend who faked her own death and the whole A thing) Sometimes it seems silly to relate television so much to real life, but there's a reason it resonates so deeply with people. It might be fictional, but the emotions and stories are real.

Dating & The Twentysomething.

A popular conversation topic between my friends & me is the disastrous state of dating. I'm a big believer in defending my generation, but dating is one thing we've gotten painfully wrong. Between the apps, the whole 'talking' thing, (DOES ANYONE EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS?) casual dating.... it's all just so, blase.
Whatever happened to the real stuff? & why have we become so obsessed with dating or being in a relationship? Obviously there are times when I long for it, & then there's the times when I momentarily freak out, just knowing I'll be alone forever. Since when did we become that? Society has made us feel like there's something wrong with singleness, like we're missing a part of us, even if we have a fulfilling career, friends, etc etc... it's always "are you dating?" or "I know the PERFECT guy for you!"
To which you smile & shake your head, but in your mind you're thinking 'uh, I WOULD be dating if it weren't for the fact that the guys with a shred of decency instead of 'wyd' texts have hidden away in some far away land.'
Maybe it's you. Maybe it's them. The only thing for certain is that somewhere along the way, we screwed up. We let society tell us that we MUST BE DATING so do anything for it. Settle if you have to. Conform. & now we're left with a generation of people wondering 'what's wrong with me' & thinking they're less than.
We need to do better.
Growing up I thought dating would just fall into my lap. I'd befriend someone & we'd fall in love cory & topanga style, the rest being history.
If only.
xo,

Adulting.

The process started out seemingly slow enough, like a lazy summer afternoon, which was perfectly fine with me. Then, all of a sudden, things were speeding up & it hit me just as suddenly that WOAH. 
I'm an adult.
How did it happen? And in the words of the wise Meredith Grey, HOW DO WE MAKE IT STOP? Although I'm not sure we can, knowing we're all wandering through this thing together makes it feel a little less alone. Is this why we coined the term adulting? Who knows. Who knows if it was coined ironically or jokingly or in a totally serious way. What I do know is that this is our life, & now there's an article circulating on why we should just shut up about "adulting" already.
It warns us that it makes us look like we believe we're living in a fantasy, which, if you pay attention to anything at all going on in the world, I think you'll be well aware that life in 2016 is not a fantasy, and it also (in a well-meaning attempt to point out our inequality) ends up belittling millennial women, since we apparently joke about doing grown up things more than our male counterparts. 
A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS:
1// Why is the response to what young girls & women do with their lives one of such rage? Shouldn't that rage be directed towards, I don't know, racism? Sexism? Humans killing humans? I guess we're an easy target.
2// We're kind of just thrown into the world, expected to automatically know how to do everything. Family & consumer science courses are no longer required high school credit. There is no '101' college class on filing taxes or money management or how to change tires. Maybe searching through the #adulting tag on twitter is our way of learning. 
Why should that be a bad thing?
I'm a big believer in the notion that we're all in this together, (cue high school musical) and if helping each other get through this so called "adulting" thing, then there ya go. Maybe the word is getting a little overused, but the thought behind it & the meaning of it will always be relevant. The article got one thing right, the art of adulting is simply the art of existing in an adult world. But it's existing in our adult world, where the unknown is everywhere & all we have is each other. 
Hey! I adulted today.
xo,