Being a young adult in Ramaphosa’s economy is heartbreaking

I I’ve never seen a bigger scam than being an adult. Being a young adult in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economy is simultaneously the funniest and most heartbreaking thing one could ever endure.

This is definitely not what I ordered when I wished to become an adult. I knew it came with paying bills, but in my head it was also accompanied by getting a house and car at 25, finish school at 17, go to university and then get a job and buy whatever you want. Or so I thought.

As a nation we’ve been through the most, every year on the 1st we make New Year resolutions, but we can never prepare ourselves for whatever is to come, because every year it gets worse.

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From the protests, to the poor service delivery and load shedding – just to name a few – you just need to find the humour in it all and laugh – otherwise you’ll cry about it in therapy.

The other day I went grocery shopping, and with every item passing through the till, I couldn’t help but hold my chin and let out a slight yoh looking at the increasing total… That yoh come with the realisation that I might just have to return a few items. And not because you didn’t draw up a budget or you blindly went into a shop to buy a few items.

Comparing prices on various catalogues, having a needs and wants list or even getting loyalty and discount cards like you were taught doesn’t help.

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Despite the budget, which now seems pointless because everything is expensive, getting to the till is always overwhelming, even though you, through the whole process, calculated everything – but it still doesn’t match what comes up when you’re at the till.

First it was the cooking oil; we cried a little. Then came the bread and milk and now it’s every little thing, even the dishwashing soap. I laughed so hard when I saw how the brand I use went up from R21.99 to R47.99 in just a year.

How did we get here?

According to Statistics South Africa, even maize meal, cereal, ready-mix and cake flour all registered large price increases. Your fish and chips may have become more expensive, too, because the other food category that recorded a sharp rise was fish, increasing by 2.3% between January and February.

Within this category, tinned fish – excluding tuna – and frozen fish fingers recorded the largest increases.

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I honestly think as taxpayers we need a grant. Not the R350, but an “I’m-working-but-alwaysbroke” allowance that will get us through the month. Especially after the 15th because that’s really where the mampara week, the week before payday, begins.

Maybe even propose a minister of underpaid employees, poverty, inequality, potholes, streetlights. We’ve already started with the minister of electricity.

To the 13-year-old me who wished she was older then: “Girl, didn’t you see the movie 13 Going on 30? That movie mastered the art of capturing this particular feeling”.

A literal meaning of be careful what you wish for…

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We’ve all wished at some point to be older so we could do anything we want – until we’re dealt the harsh realities of life as adults because it isn’t always what we expected.

But when it comes full circle, you crave for that carefree, innocent and nostalgic childhood, which you basically wished away.

Most part, it taught me to cherish everything and now, especially my twenties, because they are going by just as fast. And it gets even worse when you’re a parent.

Not only are your years going by fast, but the children are also growing up quicker, if not twice as quick. Today, they are learning how to crawl and tomorrow they’re running through the house getting ready for their first interview.