What's one sign that you've "become an adult"

Having the opportunity to buy cake whenever you want, having enough money to buy cake whenever you want, and choosing to not buy cake whenever you want.
- choosing to not buy cake whenever you want
  That's past adult and goes into senior territory.
  
  No, wait, I'm not that old yet right?? Right???

Too many adults are absolutely clueless https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/04/10/too-many-adults-are-absolutely-clueless From The Economist

You start saving boxes. You think, this looks like a good box.
- The opposite for me. I think all this useless crap needs to go.
- I keep mine thinking i might need it in case i need to send the thing back for warranty service. Still have boxes for stuff years out of their warranty periods.

I was in my late 20s and two of my uncle was having a heated argument over politics. Everyone else was quiet, afraid to say anything. I spoke out in a normal tone, not raising my voice, "that's enough". They stopped immediately. It was fairly surreal.

When I truly internalized that I don't have to prove my worth to anyone, even if I don't always know what I'm doing.
Looking back, that sense of self-worth and confidence is what I probably saw in all of the adults around me that made them seem so incredible as a child.
So when I felt that, I thought "huh, so this is what being an adult feels like."
- I know, we are awesome, right?! And I can wear a Pom hat, joggers and crocs, and I don’t give two shits what anyone might think.

You find yourself in a hardware or furniture store and everything looks cool.

I got towels, cast iron pans, and a new knife for Christmas and couldn't have been happier.
I'm still a bed by the wall person though. when me and my partner get a house that will probably change, but for now I like having a corner to sit up against.
- I got a cheap sharpener that works absolutely fantastically! I love it so much.

You find yourself compulsively drawn to woodworking.
- I have been working my wood ever since I became a man
- I just finished my third and fourth cutting board this week.

You pass by a business with an "Established X" sign; where X is any year past your high-school graduation year.

Being jealous of other people's wooden floors
- I spent years installing hardwood floors. Now when I see them, all I can see are the flaws. It's maddening.
  
  I am so tempted to post a picture...

Finding joy in having a clean kitchen

You are done with the wonders and joys of life, and just want to work the rest away until you are dead.
When people offer you opportunities, you reject them, knowing full well you can't afford such attempts.
Safety is all that matters.
- If this is the case I hope I never become an adult
  
  It’s probably a possibility, but it’s definitely not the inevitable outcome. If possible, find a well paying job that you find fulfilling and rewarding. I realize how difficult this is for most people though, (because it took me decades to find one), and that makes me sad.

"Its a great day to hang out clothes"

Your body starts betraying you.
More specific to becoming a middle aged man, I started finding any sport enjoyable regardless of what it was. Additionally I started listening to history podcasts. Not sure these are gendered activities but there is definitely a stereotype that men start getting more involved in sport and history.

I still have mine against the side because of space issues. I like my open space, especially since I have lived in a couple of rooms where having the bed against the wall gave me extra floor space to move around.
But to answer the question, various things have definitely made me feel it. Though I'm definitely gonna say the stereotypical "All Kids Are Annoying" as my answer. Definitely how I've felt for years, despite not even being that old.
I was recently on a public bus that ended up stopping at a stop by the local museum and because of a youth ride free program, what looked like a whole class of elementary school kids got on the bus. They were loud and annoying and wouldn't shut up. Thankfully I had my headphones so I could listen to music to try and ignore them to the best of my abilities. 0/10, would not recommend.
Similar things happen when I get in around the time highschool gets out, but at least the teens have the ability to shut up and use their inside voices on a public bus. So they at least get a pass for not being super loud and obnoxious.

When throwing away a perfectly good box is a well thought out decision after the box has been in a staging area for some time while you think about it.
- Most of my boxes are cat scratchers. Some of them are to paint on. A couple are in a closet in case I have to return the expensive thing that it housed.

I'm choosing a light fixture right now and I'm trying to decide which one looks best with all the natural fibers I plan to place in the same room, and the fact that I'm choosing to spend real hours on this self-created homework when I could instead be playing video games should tell you all you need to know.

Being around kids and being seen just like I remember seeing adults when I was little. Assumed authority and decision making power and the answer to every problem or wish.

The #1 sign of adulting has to be paying for your own stuff.
- Mine was paying for an airbrush, and i was in my 40's by this point, but the realisation i could buy a completely superflous, but expensive, thing for myself was a bit if a wow. But yeah house bills also lol

Being excited for a dump truck of free mulch

You get excited about a pillow
- I love my cervical spine memory foam pillow so much…
- Or new socks
  
  A new pair of exactly the same New Balance

Celebrities (especially politicians) younger than me existing.
- Still trying to figure out who this bbno$ character is...
  
  I hear he's a preacher of Jesus Christ.
  
  "I-M-H-I-M the Gen Z Eminem"
- Ahhh, see mine is but even being aware of who counts as celebrities these days
- How dare they, frankly. Tell them to get off my lawn.

When your empathy extends to people you don't even like.
- Damn, I was born old.
- "They are angry because they are suffering."

One big sign is when you stop demanding to be treated like an adult and just start being one.
Being an adult is just a decision you make one day.
Years ago my older brother was on the phone complaining to me because our mom found out he bought a motorcycle and was mad at him and my dad (who helped him pick it out).
He wanted to know why my mom thought she could treat him like a child.
I pointed out that when he decided to get a motorcycle and kept it secret from our mom, he was acting like a child and enabling her to treat him like one.
I have no interest in ever owning a motorcycle. However, if I ever did, it would never occur to me to keep it secret from anybody, because I'm an adult in charge of my own life. Everyone else can have opinions, but I get to decide whose opinions matter to me.

Eating a meal that is mostly vegetables.

How does that means that you're an adult? You arrange furniture based on a lot of factors.
- Be quiet
  
  Pfft no.

When you stop caring if something is a childish thing or not. Some people never get there.

Waking up at 7 on a Saturday for no fucking reason
- I wake up at 5:30 on Saturday because it's the best time to be awake

You empty the dishwasher immediately, as it is the only time during the day you have the time to do it.
You wash your sheets, because of the calendar notification popping up.
you vacuum the flat on saturday at 8 AM, as that is the time to vacuum the flat in your planner.
- The most exciting thing in my life right now is the spreadsheet I just made to track chores.
  
  I would be very interested in a copy of your chore sheet, if possible!
  
  My budgeting spreadsheet is a delight

Buying and cooking your own food. Reading the nutritional info on labels.

Taking responsibility for your own actions.
Not just mistakes, but being proactive about positive things without needing to be prompted.
- A bit of both for me. Whenever I dropped a bollock in work or whereever, my head used to go down and I'd be waiting for the hairdryer treatment like I was waiting outside the headmaster's office.
  Now, if some cockwomble decides to mass-email someone with a passive aggressive email about "could the person who..." and it's quite clearly my mistake, I take great pleasure in absolutely owning it, smashing that reply-all button, and explaining in painful detail how yes it was my fuck up; yes I did do it with good intentions but hey things go sideways sometimes; and yes abso-fucking-lutely thank you for your shitty email that has had all the effect of a silent fart.
  I think the best part of adulting is that you can make no mistakes and still lose (yeah Picard boiiii), and realising that nobody's going to care about it in a week's time.
- I'd point out that taking responsibility for your actions doesn't necessarily mean fixing them on your own.
  It's often more difficult (and more adult) to acknowledge that you've dug a hole for yourself that you can't escape from on your own and ask for help.
  Saying this as the parent of young adult children that are adulting well, but still need to ask for help. Also as the old adult child of my parents who must still force himself to ask them for help.

Being able to just go and buy coconut bread without having to ask my parents and them telling me: "Only if you put it on your bread"
- what is coconut bread and why are you putting it on bread
  
  Coconut bread are slices of coconut, starch, Sirup and sugar (I believe), that you can put on a slice of bread. We sell it in The Netherlands! But I believe originally it was a condiment (is that the word? Things like peanut butter, cheese, jam, stuff you put on bread)

Getting a new kitchen appliance is exciting. I was so amazed when I first got an air fryer. Also, getting socks as a gift is pretty good.
- Na, I want an entire draw of the same sock design, so I don't have to worry about pairing them.
  My mum got me a mug for Christmas and internally I was like damn, I was going to throw all mine out to get a matching set.
- Problem with the socks is that I also just enjoy getting myself socks, so now I own an absurd amount of socks
  
  Bombas are a party on my feet

Realizing capitalism sorta sucks
- Insert Winston Churchill quote here.

The wiry black hair that grows halfway up the length of my penis for some reason

I posted a gif of Ray Liotta laughing in Goodfellas a few days ago. Someone replied telling me the gif was perfect, and asking what was it from?
- Oh shit, I think that was me on my feddit account.
  I'm 40 years young, I was just never into Mafia films. Still never seen Scarface.
  
  Skip Scarface, I'll give you a quick synopsis. Robert De Niro sells cocaine, business is booming, life is great, he's the best and smartest criminal in history, what a good life! I guess on top of selling all the coke he should also be doing all the coke, wow, this is even better than before! He's a genius! Oh shit, the feds found out about his operation, no problem he's a badass, he'll just take em' all it with his AK! Oh, wow that plan did not go well at all... The end.
  Now watch Goodfellas instead. And try to figure out if any of the characters (including the narrator) are "good guys".

When you see your parents as people and stop blaming them for everything.
- That is a big one
- Also when you realise that not only do they not know everything, they actually know close to nothing.

You wash all your dinner dishes before you go to bed.

basically means you can watch adult movies and commit this thing called adultery. ezpz.
kidding aside, i think a good sign for me is following through with my decisions, and, if i decided not to, acknowledge my mistake and learn from it.

Sounds mundane but a few days ago, for the first time I bought myself a jacket. I am 28. My grandma loves to gift clothes for christmas especially stuff like jackets, so I didn't really need to buy one until now. On the way back from the shop I felt weirdly adult. I bought most of my other clothes myself for around 10 years, but never a jacket

Owning a proper lawn-momer like the one my dad had. A proper petrol, cylinder mower like this one:
I bought a refurbished on from eBay. Sadly my lawn is too shitty and bumpy to use it, so I just use a Honda IZY which does a perfectly good job but it's not like the one my dad had.
- Lawns. One of the most wasteful things in modern society.
  
  Parking lots are about the only thing more wasteful in terms of land usage
  
  Fuck off you sanctimonious prick. I’m rewilding.

Starting to remember the good reasons why you DIDN'T like something in the past and trusting your past judgment.
- Coming around and disagreeing with your younger self hits pretty hard
  
  That happens first, then one more time you will be faced with the same choice, and you will remember that happened and that you were already wiser once.

You start to wonder, “when am I going to feel like an adult?”

When I got a well-paying job, earning me about 10 times as much as I did while working as a teaching assistant at uni. I realized I could afford more than renting a student apartment and cheap food. Buying furniture, an apartment, having kids, tech toys. A car.
Makes me feel independent and in control of my life, I guess.

For me it was the moment I bought my first lawnmower.

Not as important as what has already been said but actually making a call when you really need something done. You'd be impressed how much more quickly your problems can get fixed when you talk to a human being.