I was reading this article thinking "Yeeeeaaaah that's me."
I haven't hit any of the milestones of adulthood except moving out and that's only been for a month. It wasn't really by choice, either. Honestly, I could be saving money living there instead of here, but what I saved monetarily, I'd pay in sanity.
I'm not yet complete with school, nowhere near having my own family, and I have a job albeit not very unsteady. But I'm never going back to that house and no longer call it home. That is a step forward and one that I really wanted to take but didn't feel stable enough to take it till, one day, I just had to. However, I have always wanted to take full responsibility as an adult. My parents have alway paid for everything and didn't want me to work in college. But I couldn't live like that, just always taking from them. I got a job and started paying my own expenses against their wishes (how backwards is that?). After graduation, I got rid of the credit card they gave me and got one in my own name (and use it responsibly so that I'm not in debt). I take care of my own car and am in the process of moving the title into my name. I pay all my own bills and am getting off my parents' cell phone plan and onto my own. They'll always be there to help, but I'll be 25 this month. So maybe I'm not as stable as I could be, but I
have to take care of myself; it's part of feeling strong and secure in who I am. I can't have my own identity when half my life is in my parents' pockets.