When you know you are an adult?

Lets see, considering the relatively unconventional life I've led so far I believe I can call myself an adult, but individual circumstances and definitions vary. I feel I became an adult not when I joined the Army (without reading the contract because I was a stupid kid that thought "ADVENTURE! To hell with the consequences!"), but actually after I was discharged (bad surgery, long story) I was out in the world without any money (I partied it all away because I was young, a soldier and I could've at any moment been deployed, so why not live it up while living on post? Quite the stupid choice), no one to support me and no assets to speak of outside of a car I bought, repaired and registered with my last Army paycheck, and no job. I wasn't allowed to move in with my Mom because I joined without her consent and how dare I do that, and my Dad and I ended up first fighting that ended in him and I literally at each other's throats. So there I was alone with nowhere to go and no money to get there even if I had somewhere in mind. I ended up working, wandering around the United States following any good opportunities and the civilian friends I had from my postings. I traveled across the nation from Florida to Texas, to Washington state, to Northern Virginia, then back to Florida. I met a lot of people, lived in some odd places, tasted homelessness, experienced living in absolute poverty, had to abandon a car with all of my possessions in it, flipped a car, and many other things. Although my travels haven't yielded much financially, and my standard of living has just recently stabilized, I feel as if I've earned manhood through all of that. Facing impossible odds I made it on my own with literally nothing to start out and no help.

When you. in your own mind.. have a clear definition of who you are, what you want, how you plan to get it, and what you're going to do when you have it. When the only opinion that matters is your own, and the only guidance you need is within. When you can fully trust yourself, and believe that no matter what, you will find a way to thrive, with or without outside assistance.

I think it's more a state of mind, than a state of being.

You're finally an adult when you back out of something because you're too mature for it, be it sex with some stranger, eating 100 Chicken McNuggets because you think you can, or staying up all night with a bottle of whiskey just to test yourself.

An adult is someone who no longer feels the need to do ridiculous things to find boundaries; it knows who it is, and it is satisfied with that.

When you stop depending on your parents.
Age is just a number. Then again this is just my opinion though.

When you finally understand everything your parents have told to do or not to do with your life.

After I left home and went to college working and applying for a job in my major, balancing work, classwork/studying and relax time.

Legally: 18
Socially: 16-20
Mentally: Late 20's
Personally(looking back): probably mid 20's to 30's

The truth of the matter is because everyone matures at different rates you need a concrete definition of Adult in order to classify anyone as one.

Adult is just a concept and ideal made up by society. It makes you easily controllable, always minding what others think about you.

To be able to go off on your own, without a leash. To support oneself in life.

You're an adult when you start relying on yourself more then relying on others. That being said, that makes me a child. >_

my parents constantly tell me how immature i am and i agree. i want to be a little immature right now. i couldnt afford that when i was growing up. things were very complicated at home and with the family business so i had to be the adult in my life sometimes. but even as i was growing up i wasnt totally ok with the situation around me and most of all i hated being alone (because of my parents job). i know what it means to be an adult but i am not mature- you cant lash out just because things dont go your way, you cant get back at life. im pissed at myself for that and it will not happen again but i havent overcome my selfishness..... im very ashamed to admit that there was a period not long ago when i allowed myself to drown in self-pity. i tried to write it off as depression and so did my parents but i know what it was. adulthood "sucks"- responsibilities and selflessness and being self-sufficient... but there is one thing that sucks more and thats hurting your family and the people you love just because you are not man or woman enough to get over your bad self. its really hard to grow up and sometimes its terrifying to leave that little rag doll that is you as a child behind; knowing that when you turn your back on it there will be noone to kiss its boo boos better. how sad. life is a bitch... i am too. you dont have to be but it helps.


edit: wowwwuh this is terrible but its basically the opposite of mature so i guess it kind of works
Your post did not meet the basic intelligence requirement for this forum.

Personally I think the main quality of "adults" is the idea of maturity, and although this is not a dictionary definition I always found maturity as the quality to take serious things seriously. Now of course this is also flawed in the fact that most adults are not only mature but hold some sort of responsibility, if not for one's self than for more, but it's a pretty good start.

The real test is what would you do after all of this and what do you learned from this, right? because no matter your shitty (not refering to yours personally) past or what you have been through your life, being like yours or like mine (pretty much normal and full of warm family love and security) is trying to not let that get the best of you and learn and grow up.

I've learned more than anyone would care to read in a single post, however I'm still on the road to recovering from my bad luck. I'm working on going to college and getting myself in a better place in life, however my point wasn't that hardships make adults, but responsibility and personal sacrifice, as well as determination. It takes balls for lack of a better term to best situations like the ones I've been handed and grit to take responsibility for yourself.

Well there's that and the fact that I always have the best bar stories with the life I've led.

When do you fully grow up? I would say never. As no matter what age you are, there will always be that dormant child in you that still wants to have fun and do something irresponsible.

But I feel that you are an adult when you can take care of yourself and not rely on another person very heavily and has the full capacity of being able to critically think and analyze. So physiologically it would have to be some age after 21 and not before IN MOST CASES. There have been cases where orphans have been known to physiologically faster than their non-orphan counterparts due to their hardships.

so i would say that its not completely limited by age but in most cases i would say it is affected by age.

On a sidenote, i am not, nor do i really want to be. i still want to be irresponsible and do something fun always. Majority of my beliefs are from autobiographies, and observations in my own life. FYI im only 19 :3

Read this a couple days ago but thought about it for quite awhile before putting in my two cents. So here it is, you will know when you are a adult, when you can take responsibility for you and what is yours, when you can be Unjudging even though you want to judge them so badly, and when you can prioritize all that needs to be done in a responsible and mature manner,

from a guy who learned the hard way.

When you become a parent. that's not the same as just having kids. i mean when you take responsability for the life you created. when you put that life above your own. when your first instinct and reaction is to defend and protect that life even at the costs of your own.

I guess nowadays you can say its when a daily routine gets tiring.
Not bored, its completely different.