Unspoken Rules of Growing Up: Things No One Warned Us About

"They told us to grow up, but they didn’t tell us this…"

Adulthood, the greatest scam of all time?

We spent our childhood dreaming about the freedom of adulthood; buying whatever we wanted, waking up whenever we wanted, eating with more than one meat, and making our own rules. However, what everyone failed to mention was the fine print.

The part about paying bills, emotional rollercoasters, and the art of pretending you have your life together. Growing up comes with a series of unspoken rules, lessons you don’t find in any handbook, yet somehow, we’re all expected to master.

1. The Price Tag that Comes with Adulthood 

Remember when you thought ₦1,000 was a fortune? Yeah, reality hit hard. No one prepared us for the number of things that cost money, things we never even considered before. You step into adulthood and suddenly, you’re paying for water (water?!), supposed free-trial subscriptions you forgot to cancel, and that random “urgent” expense that appears whenever you finally start saving- your savings saving you before you save it. The worst part? You now understand why your parents were so furious when you left the lights and fan on.

2. Making Friends as an Adult- Extreme Sport

As kids, making friends was easy: "I'm wearing pink? You're wearing pink! Boom, besties."

Now? Not so much. You enter adulthood, and suddenly, friendships require scheduling and effort. Then a deep understanding that ghosting isn't always personal, it’s just life happening. People get busy, friendships drift, and you might find yourself analyzing texts like it’s a law case just to decipher the emotion behind and meaning of the text.

3. Your Priorities Will Most definitely Shift

One day, you’re excited about birthday parties and a new episode of Henry Danger. The next, you’re thrilled about finding cheap but quality detergent. Who knew that getting a good night’s sleep could bring so much joy? Growing up means realizing that happiness isn’t always in grand moments; sometimes, it’s just having your electricity bill paid on time.

4. Fake It Till You Make It- A Survival Skill

Adulthood is just a long series of situations where you pretend to know what you’re doing until you actually do. From job interviews to fixing household issues, half of life is just acting confident while Googling and chatgpt-ing behind the scenes. Even the people who seem like they have it together? They’re just better at the act.

5. No One Really Has Everything Figured Out and That's Okay

There’s this idea that one day, you’ll wake up and suddenly everything will click, you’ll understand how tax works, career paths, and relationships. Spoiler alert: that day never comes. The truth is, we’re all just winging it, learning as we go, and pretending we don’t panic every time an unknown number calls us.

Growing up is weird, unpredictable, and sometimes absurd. But it’s also an uncommon adventure, one where we learn, laugh at our mistakes, and collect crazy yet valuable life lessons along the way.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I  have an urgent meeting with my budget… and by “budget,” I mean figuring out how I spent so much on data and food this month.