If it isn’t in the Oxford dictionary, it should be.

Adulting: (noun participle). when a person tries to or successfully navigates some task or problem that is perceived as something only an adult could or would do. 

It seems this word is all over my social media feeds. Various friends make use of it regularly, referring to tasks or problems they face in their daily lives. Being successful at whatever it is means they have been an adult, and now can return to their regularly scheduled lives, which somehow don’t include being a full-time adult.

Perhaps this is part of the adultism issue I wrote about in February. When people perceive being an adult as something to overcome, do we have a problem?

Maybe, maybe not.

To be fair, I’ve scrunched up my face, set my shoulders and proceeded to do things I don’t like to do. Made phone calls to financial or medical centers to resolve an issue. Cleaned my home (yes, this is an adulting task, most children don’t regularly vacuum, dust, wash floors or do laundry). Had conversations with hubby about hard choices. But doing all this doesn’t mean that I am less of an adult when I am not doing these things, does it?

What does it take to be a successful adult in this world? A job/career with good trajectory? A home of one’s own? Children of one’s own? What makes an adult a viable human being?

Adulting 101. Meanwhile, I’m gonna take up residence in my pillow-fort with a glass of wine.