I’ve been thinking about how I am growing up into an adult. In November I’ll be 26, beginning the slide into 30. But it’s not just may actual age, but how my life has changed and evolved each year.

People really depend on me to make things happen. My cell phone died while I was on vacation last week. There were 14 messages waiting for me when I got back into town. Most of them were adults wanting to talk about big projects. It was exciting to click through the messages. I’ve put myself in a place where people expect a lot from me.

I expect a lot of myself. I have a lot of personal websites I am working to make excellent. It’s not the same as it was when I launched this site five years ago. Now I do it with confidence and certainty.

I have a real-life house with a real life yard. I am determined to make it more beautiful than any other house in my neighborhood. I am 25 and competing with guys twice may age.

My personal life has evolved too. Candyce and I have become an autonomous couple. We don’t push ourselves away from other people, but we spend our free time together because our lives fit together. Whatever the day holds, we are able to do it together. Ironically, I still feel independent.

My ‘Real World’ life is always changing. It’s been almost four years since my show first aired. Yet people still stop me around town all the time. I have no illusion that this will last forever, and that is fine.

Going on the show was a freak situation; rarely can someone attain fame and influence with such little work or credibility. My MTV bigness was built on years of hard work from the production company. Authors have to write for years. Artists have to paint fervently. Musicians spend night after night in the studio.

I know that I will have to earn my way back up to that level of influence, and I am excited about that journey. That’s the good life as an adult.