A Totally Inadequate Guide to Adulting
From a very not-yet-grown-up middle-aged dude
Hello, Resistance Fighters!
Today’s post is for anyone who is entering the interstitial corridor between pre-adulting and post-adulting. You might be 18, you might be 58—age doesn’t really matter here.
The primary audience for this guide consists of my four children, one of whom graduates high school today (I’m so proud of you, K! You’re indomitable.), one of whom is now halfway done with high school (You’ve worked so hard, E! You are a badass.), one of whom is going to start high school in the fall (G—you’ve grown so much in terms of your maturity and scholastic aptitude! I want to be like you when I grow up.), one of whom is almost a teenager and is in the middle of middle school (T—you did some hard things this year, You’re going to slay next year.), and anyone else who is as uncertain as I am (age 47) about what it means to be an adult.
Looking back at my life, I’m confident that nobody should ever ask me for advice. So, I’m giving you a bunch of haiku comics that might contain some wisdom.
I’m confident you will find your own insights and make your own connections based on these scribblings. They will be here forever, as much as anything is really forever on the internet, for you to come back to you if you need a pep talk or a course correction.
Enjoy!
each incredible feat
was quite impossible
until it wasn’t
daring cobalt sky
I can do anything, but
can’t do everything
want to be happy?
live the impossible life
make love your lodestar
the only way to
discover new places is
to leave your old one
life is heavy, kid
carry the weight of the world
just lift with your knees
happiness is not
an outcome or a status
it’s a process
never spoil pleasure
by seeking an accounting
fun’s not efficient
poets are tour guides
to the forbidden places
lurking in our souls
some wait for a key
to unlock life’s mysteries
she became the key
productivity
is the lie that chains us to
other people’s dreams
in the end, we learn
life is a bot of heaven
and a bit of hell
confused mallard has
imposter syndrome watching
rubber duck parade
life philosophy?
the greatest dawns are the ones
you stay up to watch
for a life that’s more
than dandelion wishes
you must take action
connection to world
constrained by phone’s signal and
battery level
life is beautiful
sometimes ugly things happen
life is beautiful
caterpillar melts
inside secret chrysalis
goo to butterfly
ocean waves don’t ask,
”how much farther must I go?”
relentless movement
the sunflower dreams
of growing to touch the sky
not just getting by
when was the last time
you laid outside and listened
to sounds of your world?
life without detours
only means living someone
else’s plan for you
Be the poetry you want to see in the world!
Cheers,
Jason
P.S. If you loved these haiku comics, you might like these haiku comic collections, available in PDF or as physical books:
Wow! Where do I start? At 65, I look back at all the "impossible" things I've done simply by refusing to accept their impossibility.
These are all brilliant and so deep, Jason. Rubber ducks and imposter syndrome! What a great metaphor for how we compare our reality with the fantasy we believe is the perfection of others' lives.
Thank you for this wonderful collection of haiku. Reading them this morning was like a meditation!
What a generosity--a Feast! 🙏✨