Why other adults don’t give you the attention you grave no matter what you do?

Firstly, you’re an adult. As such, you are not special the same way as every child is, simply because children are children for about 10 years, and after that, they’ll start morphing into the general mass of everyone else. In that regard you are not special, and any attention you want from here on in, you have to earn somehow, not just troll for it.

Adulthood makes you accountable for your actions and responsible for the outcome of your actions. You cannot just wish you weren’t over 18 yet, but you are, so here’s the deal:

You are no longer eligible for free (unconditional) love and attention. (Unconditional in the sense that it doesn’t matter if you shit your pants or throw random tantrums at people etc. There are limits for adults.)

You are no longer entitled to throwing tantrums over nothing.

Your personal quirks are no longer lovable in the eyes of everyone around you. (Your fans, TrEmoRs, and Precious Soulmates are an exception.

Your more capable friends and family members are not responsible for you or your survival. They are not replacements for your mommy and daddy.

You are now responsible for the way you look and dress, and it should express a reasonable level of respect toward other people. (Or disrespect if it’s intentional.)

If you need help, you need to ask for it. You can’t just cry like a baby, or throw a tantrum, you need to use your words to express what you need, and if the answer is “no” you have to accept it before you piss that person off. Go ask someone else.

It is no longer OK to force others to GUESS how you feel, think, or what you need, like you did as an infant; use your words to express yourself.

You can no longer expect things for free just because you breathe. (Unless you’re talking about your basic human rights.)

You shouldn’t think that rules or regulations don’t apply to you somehow. You’re an adult; they apply both your rights and your limits, regardless of how you feel about it.

You are expected to regulate your emotions so you don’t just blurt out every thought that occurs to you. You are no longer entitled to saying the darnedest things, unless you intend it as comedy and your delivery is good enough.

You can no longer assume you are the center of everyone’s attention. If their attention shifts, you’re supposed to handle yourself on your own.

You must keep yourself safe, you can no longer do (really) stupid shit expecting mommy and daddy or your older siblings to have your back, let alone expecting strangers or your friends to keep treating you like ‘the baby of the family’. (The youngest child of a large family can often get away with this a bit longer than others, but if you only have one or two siblings close to your own age, you’re going to run out of favors pretty fast.)

You will try people’s patience if you ask more for yourself than anybody else without also DOING more than others to earn it. The patience is not going to run out instantly, but you ALWAYS have limits, and you should do yourself a favor and keep well within the safe limits. Err on the side of personal loss rather than insist on personal gain every time.

Remember, you are no longer cute. Stop acting as if you were.

Subscribe to get a Daily Message