Newsflash: There’s a difference between loving life or having fun and being childish AF. If you’re childish, you lack emotional maturity and can put people off with your dramatics. You might even get a reputation for being immature, which can be off-putting for people who want to be a part of your life. Don’t worry, though – there are some easy ways you can stop being childish and start adulting. Here are 10 to start practicing.
1. Take Responsibility, for goodness’ sake.
There’s nothing worse than someone who gets into bad situations but doesn’t take responsibility for anything. Instead, they try to shift the blame onto other people or play the victim card to get sympathy. Ugh. It takes a mature person to stand up and admit they made a mistake, and this also helps them to grow from it.
2. Learn How To Be Patient.
Do you lose your cool when you’re waiting for a friend to arrive at the bar or you’re left on hold during a phone call with your bank? Do you shout at people or throw a tantrum? Eek. It’s really embarrassing and here’s the thing: it won’t do anything to help the world move faster. It might actually make things take longer to get sorted because you’ll waste time by losing your sh*t.
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4. Stop Being So Reckless.
Look, there’s a difference between having fun and being reckless AF. The former doesn’t put your life or anyone else’s life in danger. Recklessness can get you in trouble: think drinking and driving or throwing a punch at someone who upsets you. Yikes. It’s so much drama you don’t need. Learn how to manage your emotions by talking to a friend or psychologist, and try to be more mindful before doing something impulsive.
5. Grab Some Self-Awareness.
Part of being an adult is being able to turn the mirror onto yourself and look at yourself objectively, such as by looking at your emotional flaws and realizing your part in situations around you. You’re not just thrashing your way through the world while wearing a blindfold. Self-awareness keeps you in check and helps you to learn from experiences. When you can see yourself from others’ perspective, this makes you more emotionally intelligent.
6. Be Someone Others Can Count On.
You don’t want to be the immature person of your social group who’s never punctual or never around when other people need you. Even though people might just laugh and roll your eyes at your antics, in time you’ll gain the reputation of being selfish AF and childish, and no one will trust you with any responsibility out of fear that you’ll just let them down. That sucks. You don’t want to carry that around with you.
7. Pick Up After Yourself.
Once you hit adulthood, you should be able to look after yourself instead of being needy, such as by paying your bills, saving your money, eating healthy food and knowing what to do in an emergency. It’s called adulting, honey! You don’t want loved ones to think that you can’t do anything for yourself or that you need someone to remind you to shower or water your plants. FFS.
8. Stop Demanding Attention.
A childish person will want to hog the spotlight, sort of like a kid who does mischievous things to get their parent’s attention. If you’re out with people and you’re not getting all the attention, do you start making insulting jokes because negative attention is better than none? Yikes. Or, do you sulk because you feel left out? Realize that you don’t need to have the attention all the time. Give other people a chance.
9. Never Resort To Name Calling.
During an argument with a friend or partner, you might find yourself calling them names. This can be a childish tactic to try to win, even if it means hurting the other person. But it’s a toxic fighting style that can cost you your relationships because on one wants to be with someone who resorts to manipulative AF tactics. Name calling can also be a sign of not knowing how to fight smart. Sorry, not sorry.
10. Work On Your Self-Discipline.
Everyone struggles with self-discipline at some point. If you’ve got childish tendencies, you might live in clutter or be super disorganized, or even feel out of control of your own life. It can help you to create some healthy habits in your life that you can practice daily. Examples include setting goals to achieve, being aware of your weaknesses, and finding ways to stay motivated.
11. Stop Lying To Get Out Of Sticky Situations.
An emotionally mature person will deal with tricky or difficult situations by being honest and taking responsibility. This helps them to turn things around and overcome obstacles in life. By comparison, a person with childish tendencies might resort to lying to get out of difficult situations, whether that involves blaming someone else or pretending they don’t understand what happened. Honestly, people can see through it!
