I had already made quite an entrance click-clacking on the insanely clean floor and giving a probably-too-excited hello to the smiling faces surrounding reception. There was a moment where I unzipped my purse to see if I could sneakily remove my heels and swap them out for the comfort of my black flats instead.

The risk of getting caught barefoot by an executive of the company left me in my leopard print heels and I let out a sigh to myself when the clacking ceased as my feet met low-pile khaki carpet. Low-pile, low-profile.

The space was as you might expect for an office furniture dealer – airy, clean, modern, fresh and comfortably efficient. There was even a chair in my bathroom stall. You could use it if you wanted to. As I was waiting for the elevator on my way out, I saw my favorite chair of the day. You could not sit in it if you wanted to. The juxtaposition of a sign containing a symbol of a chair, crossed out taped to a chair made me giggle a bit as the elevator brought me back down to sea-level where I could finally sink into my flats.

Enter me, trying to navigate the adult world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m doing this whole adult thing pretty well, if I do say so myself. Emerging from a room still in boxes, scrambling to find my high-waited pants and sweater, deciding against jewelry because it’s still in said boxes, matching lipstick, rushing for the train, doing some commute-research on the company and culture, wanting to sit in the chairs I cannot and not sit in the ones I can, struggling with 2.5″ heels and debating on where to place my water cup all make me question where I fall on the adult scale.

Do we ever really land on one end of the scale or another? Are we constantly oscillating between the two? Is it healthy? Is it detrimental?

I think being an adult is all about knowing when to not be one too. It’s about the balance between responsibility and being carefree. When to crack-down and be serious and when to lighten up and let it go. Being an adult means you have the collective experience of being a kid, a teenager and a young adult. You take what you learned from all of those parts of life and bring them into one combined super-dult. Yeah, feel free to use that one.

There’s a difference between adult-ness and maturity. I think maturity implies a level of appropriateness. It’s knowing what’s socially appropriate and when, it’s knowing yourself and your surroundings to best gauge and act in a situation. Adult-ness comes inevitably with time and experience. It can bring maturity along for the ride, but sometimes it’s simply the issues, questions, situations and themes of being around for a bit.

The kid in me still wanted to sit on the chair I couldn’t sit in. The adult in me kept the heels on. The teenager questioned why there was an expensive chair in a bathroom stall. All valid. They are my super-dult.