IT’S FASHIONABLE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF ‘ADULTING’, SOMETHING HIS & HERS HAS CERTAINLY DONE ON OCCASION!
However, every once in a while it’s worth digging deep and rather than channelling your inner child, getting in touch with your inner adult to do the stuff your future self will thank you for.
Here are His & Hers’ tips for being a proper grown-up:
Read the Manual!
Yes, we like to think we have an intuitive grasp of how to assemble flat-pack furniture, but every single brush with an Ikea flat-pack indicates that we have all massively over-estimated our abilities in this arena. As a result, the removals expert I enlisted to help with a recent house move shook his head sadly at several of my storage units and explained with the level of sympathy that I imagine is usually reserved for breaking bad news at hospital bedsides that they were unlikely to survive the (very short) journey.
The lesson here is that even when your heart’s telling you that you’re some kind of a flat-pack wizard who has no need of manuals where you’re going, your heart, on this occasion is wrong. Now all we need is for manufacturers to start enlisting experts like those at Manualise (who specialise in making multilingual illustrated manuals) so that we can simply flick to the English language section of our manual, thus no longer needing to attempt to learn a second language while juggling with assorted furniture parts!
Start packing your suitcase earlier than you think you need to
Most of us have moments when the idea of being the kind of spontaneous character who strolls into an airport and books a flight on the spot appeals. Could packing your suitcase at the eleventh hour make you feel like this kind of laid-back traveller? Possibly. However, you’ll pretty swiftly discover that there’s no sense of laid-back cool to be found in arriving at your hotel without your ‘phone charger, travel adaptor or whichever hair tool is able to prevent at all costs your hair’s desire to let loose and do its own thing when on holiday. By starting the packing process early you’ll have a chance to think properly about what you’ll need on your travels, resulting in fewer airport purchases and maximum convenience when you arrive.
Embrace Planning
Generally, it’s tempting to leave upcoming events for future you to worry about. And the urge to see the stuff we really ought to plan for as being so far off in the future that it’s barely even worth thinking about can be strong. However, speaking as someone who’s not a natural planner and has been massively converted in recent years, trust me when I say that so many things turn out to be cheaper and easier when tackled early – from booking train tickets to tackling that niggling tooth ache before it progresses from irritating to agonising. Will the prospect of planning fill your heart with joy? Almost certainly not. Will the process of planning make your life easier and better? Almost certainly. Glamorous it’s not, but the art of planning is one of those stealthy adult superpowers which can have a surprisingly big impact.
This post was sponsored by the experts in Manualise, who make technical documentation and manuals user-friendly and accessible, but the words of advice are all my own. Of course if you happen to have any more tips on being a grown-up, I’d love to hear them (and will almost certainly give them a try).
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