Adult Aspies...when did you first feel like an adult?

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Now I'm not saying "socially mature", but like a self-sufficient,responsible non-child.

Most NT's get it around 14-15, from what I've noticed.

I've had "moments" since about 3-4 months ago, but I'm still developing it and probably will to much later than NT's.

I still don't to be honest..I think. How do you define "Adult"?

I'm 31 and still don't. I probably fool many/most outside observers, but I feel like a child, most of the time.

To be honest (and give myself credit, I suppose), I have matured some: enough to hold down a job, pay bills and a mortgage, stay out of trouble, etc.

I haven't needed my parents to bail me out, literally or figuratively, in some time.

But, I still feel like I'm trying to figure out things that "everyone else" did when they were a teenager/young adult.

I suppose I am as mature as my dad........ who also has (undiagnosed) AS, acts like damned kid, treats his wife/my mother as his own surrogate mom--as opposed to a partner (something I'm starting to acknowledge in my wife and I's relationship more and more, too), and so forth.

Good topic. Thanks.

Shoot! I'll be 50 tomorrow and I still feel like a kid.

i never became an adult. and probably never will.

i have absolutely nothing in common whit ppl my real age.

Once I started living on my own. I have to clean, groom everything including my cat. I have to make financial mistakes, lose and gain jobs - apply for lots of things, fill out a plethora of paper work all by myself. I have to deal with individuals in authoritative positions - by myself. Once I have to do things, by myself, I feel adult. Once I realized I had a responsibility to myself and the rest of society, I became an adult. Once I realized I can't always wake up to the podcast I love so much every morning, and I have to get up for work and put on a uniform - I became an adult.

• One who does not have the mannerisms of a child -Failed in that one
• knows exactly what they're doing -Failed on this aswell
• awareness of society and themselves -Ahh, I fit this one actually

Now that I think about it, having jobs sure didn't make me feel grown up. In fact, everyday I was at work I felt I was trespassing.

I'm 23 and I don't feel like an adult, although I'm a responsible person and have lots of responsibilities. People say that I still have a lot of child-like traits, however.

Oh, not maturity level? Okay, that changes my answer.

I started to feel like an adult when I lived on my own for university. It took me a couple of years to adjust, and I still am like a kid with my own procrastination on chores and things like that. But I've come a long way.

Also, I always wanted to be an independent woman, and my parents were willing to help me only in emergencies. So I guess I was itching for self-sufficiency, and wasn't too far away already.

Are your parents very protective of you, muslimmetalhead, or do they keep a distance? In some ways I wish I had parents who would be overly concerned for my well-being.

I guess I had times where I felt like that in college. "Moments" you could say more or less. When I moved out of the province away from my family, that's when I felt the most mature and self sufficient.

I feel I have been mature enough to hold down a job for close to two years now. I feel like an adult because I have to pay a lot of bills such as car insurance, cellphone, TV, internet, utilities and rent. I pay for this with the money I earn and without begging and borrowing. I of course share a house with 3 other roommates. Honestly, I prefer my independence from my family over being dependent.

I'd say about 21, I figured out about then why your allowed to start drinking legally then, My HS relationship came to an end, my mom was diagnosed with cancer, died a few months later, and my closest friends at the time abandoned me, then a repressed memory of a sexual assault came up and i had to get counseling for that. That left me picking up the pieces to a broken existence. I am still working on it, but i guess to get back to what you asked... I think you REALLY become and adult, when you realize life sucks and you cant just stop because its not easy anymore. I think adulthood is standing up and pushing through life even when all you want to do is sit down and scream out "FOUL!! !"