MOST OF US have been led to believe that once we turned 18, we could consider ourselves full-fledged adults.

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Naturally, we played fast and loose with this assertion, and carried on behaving like overgrown adolescents for a few years after our first legal pint.

But once our twenties kicked into gear, we accepted that we were in fact part of the adult world.

Well, it turns out we were little too quick to consider ourselves card-carrying members of that particular community if recent research is anything to go by.

According to the BBC, Professor Peter Jones, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge, explained that the delineation between various life stages is somewhat questionable.

What we’re really saying is that to have a definition of when you move from childhood to adulthood looks increasingly absurd.

“It’s a much more nuanced transition that takes place over three decades,” he added. “There isn’t a childhood and then an adulthood. People are on a pathway, they’re on a trajectory.”

So, now that adult life and when it begins is open to interpretation, we thought it fitting to ask you guys at what point you decided you realised you had entered adulthood, and here’s what you had to say.

1. Can you say the same?

When I bought a mattress last year. Oh, and I now own stamps.

2. Yep, that’ll do it.

It was when I decided to care for a bunch of plants.

3. System’s flawed, man.

The first time I had to pay for the dentist. I was absolutely f*cking appalled at the price. I called my parents asking them to reimburse me. They told me to piss off. I have not been to the dentist since.

4. Seriously, no parade in our honour?

When I realised doing things on the phone (dealing with bills, booking appointments, talking to Revenue, all that lovely stuff) was completely normal for most people and I couldn’t pat myself on the back for not being ‘weird’ on the phone, cos that’s just what adults do. Like I used to legitimately be like ‘Phew, look at me go. I must text my mam to tell her I just sorted all that out over the phone. Well done me!” And now I’m like ‘Oh, this is normal… apparently.”

5. Yep, that’s peak adulting.

When I decided to give up my weekend nights out during my first internship. I really really wanted to be kept on, and I knew coming into work hungover was going to hold me back. So I gave up drink for an entire year, made sure I got at least eight hours sleep every night, and devoted myself to my internship.

6. And then there’s this…

When I realised that the thing I look forward to most on any night out now is getting home to my onesie and fluffy socks and watching Jonathan Creek on Netflix.

7. And this..

Mine was last summer. There was so much drying in the clothes!

8. Oh, and this…

It was the direct debit for my car insurance. Real world dollars gone from my big girl bank account at 21-years-old!

9. You’re on your own now, kid.

The first time I had to ring the Revenue was one of those, ‘you’re on your own now, kid’ moments. But also the first time I had to seek out a tradesman for my house. And when you no longer apply and interview for jobs but network your way around – it feels ‘real-lifey’.

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