The Accidental Adult: Essays and Advice for the Reluctantly Responsible and Marginally Mature

Accidental Adult (n.): an individual whose age indicates maturity, but whose actions indicate otherwise.

Those carefree days of post-college life went away in the blink of an eye. Now you spend your money on mortgage payments and Saturdays at dance recitals. The mixtapes you blasted out of your two-door coupe went the same way as the car, traded in—for a sliding-door minivan with a complimentary Wiggles CD.

If life's the ultimate road trip, it's time to stop listening to the GPS of responsibl...