Real talk, things are just easier when we're kids. We can get hurt and bounce right back the next day. We can stay up late and hardly feel it the next day. We can break up and it's hard for a few days, but we don't need to rearrange our entire lives. We can go to concerts without ear protection and not have our ears ringing for four days afterwards. Psh. Try any of that after you're 30 and see how that goes.
Hint: It Won't End Well
One Reddit user asked:
What adult problem did nobody prepare you for?
Here are some of the responses that we felt deep in our achy, dehydrated, bones. (Side note: When was the last time you drank some water? Hydrate, gurl. Hydrate.)
1. Pools Are A Pain
I tell everyone I know, "You don't want a swimming pool. You want a friend with a swimming pool." I have a huge inground pool in my backyard that's been sitting unused for the last 19 years. It's not like we don't want to use it, it's just too expensive to maintain and we don't have that kind of money. It sucks because my friends are always telling me to get it fixed but there's not much I can do.
2. Breakups... Adult Breakups.
You're not just losing the other person, you're losing a whole version of your life that will never take place. All the plans you had, where you were willing to live, what career choices you would make with them, all gone.
3. Time
How fast time would start moving. What do you mean I'm almost 30?? I feel like I just graduated college but then I think about it and it was already 5 years ago. My wife asked me if I was going to my high schools 10th reunion but that couldn't have possibly been 10 years ago already.
4. So Unfair
That life can be unfair no matter the effort you put in. Just need to roll with the punches. As a male who is probably a little more emotionally in touch with his feelings than the average male, this was a hard lesson to lesson to learn. The fact that I would put so much effort into something I love, pouring my heart and soul into it, only to have it shafted by life or just other people in general was gut-wrenching.
My advice when that happens is before you get too upset, don't forget to harvest the fruits of your failures. What did you learn from this experience? If attempted again, what could you do differently to get closer to the desired outcome? However unfair life may be, it usually will provide you with a learning experience. You just gotta be open and ready to see it when it presents itself.
5. I'm The Adult?
Having younger people ask for advice and realizing that I'm actually the adult in the room. Scary. Parenting is like that. When you realize you're now the one wholly in charge of another person. Who thought that was a good idea?
6. Good Job. You're Fired.
Being good at a job and still being let go. Silver lining to this is it taught me early that companies show no loyalty so I don't need to either. My first job out of college was great; it was in my home state, good salary, good benefits. Hell, I even had a pension. I had dreams of working my way up and staying there for the long haul. After all, they hired me fresh out of school, I owe them so much, right? Nope. Laid off after two years. Now I have no problem going to the highest bidder, f--- loyalty in the corporate world
7. Immaturity
That a ton of adults are just as immature as kids and having to deal with them. First you are bullied at school, then you are bullied at work. They are everywhere and they don't grow up. At worst, they end up being your bosses or your spouses relatives. Hooray. It never ends. And the worst part about this is bc they are adults they think it's ok that they're immature and you can't say anything about it... because dang it they're a grown (wo)man! 😒
8. Love Bites
That love is out of your control, you could be dating someone and love that someone with all your heart and they could just lose interest, and there is nothing you can do about it. I used to LOVE falling head over heels in love with someone and now I think I'm starting to feel jaded.... I try and shut that shit right down if I start feeling feelings. Or worse, having to break up with someone you really love because you know it's the best move for you both.
9. Cost Of Maintenance
How your body falls apart. The cost of maintenance of one's body and how fragile it seems to be. Look after yourselves folks! I'm trying to get into good exercise habits and good eating habits while I'm in my 30s but my body is already falling apart. I'm terrified for my 40s.
10. Seeing Your Parents Clearly
When you can finally see your parents for how petty and flawed they can be in a big picture sense. I don't mean teenage angst about parents thinking they know best. I mean that point where you can relate to your parent as an equal in a meaningful way which also means you can see the depth of their limitations.
Watching my parents become human, and speaking them on a deep level of shared mental illness (anxiety, depression) and their fears has just terrified me; realizing that they're just as flawed, scared, and there is no way I can rely on them in a meaningful way, well, it was what I consider the 'true death' of my childhood.
11. Friends?
Making friends after college. I'm almost 30 and no matter how many meetups I go to, what app I use, or where I volunteer, I can't seem to make a connection with someone who has similar interests as me in person. I've made connections with people who we share interests, but they live either in a different country or on the other side of the country.
12. You Might Be Mediocre
Mediocrity. When you're a kid you might not necessarily believe that you will actually be an astronaut or president or whatever, but there is an assumption you will succeed to a degree; have a good house and a decent job. No one sits you down and prepares you for the possibility that you'll just stagger through life doing the motions.
13. You Have To
Not wanting to go to work but knowing you have to. When I was in school, if I was sick staying home was always an option. Sometimes you just have to pound some DayQuil and go to work.
14. It Never Feels Settled
That there is no such thing as feeling like a grown up. I'm 42 and even my friends in their 60s are still subject to the same insecurity and immature processes as a 16-year-old, most of the time. I thought by this point in my life, I'd have no questions, no insecurities, and I'd be so suave and sophisticated.
15. Learn To Fix A Toilet
Sometimes, the toilet breaks and it doesn't matter what you had planned--your plans are now to try to learn how to fix a toilet. It's a race against your bowels! It's amazing how a household repair can take your entire day by storm. Thank goodness for Youtube and Home Depot, is all I can say.
16. Options
The difficulty of choosing between two good choices, like two good job opportunities or two decent places to live.
Growing up, it seemed like my parents only ever had two bad choices to make and would often have to choose between the lesser of two evils. I remember the first time I had to make a life decision, between two jobs and thinking, "if I do this, my life will be this; if I do that, my life will be that." There wasn't necessarily a "wrong" decision, but a decision that was going to significantly impact my life and where I lived. It was really the first crossroad I came to and realized that depending on the decision I made, my life would be vastly different had I chosen the other.
17. Planning Never Stops
It's not really one specific problem- but just the amount of planning. It's kind of exhausting.
You plan your weekdays, plan your outings, plan your weekends. You plan for meals then you have to plan your grocery shopping and list, then plan for when you'll cook. Plan your chores, plan your fixer-upper lists, plan your budget, plan your bills.... Every single thing you do, watch, read, buy, eat... YOUR choice, YOUR responsibility. Sounds amazing at first and it is nice to have that freedom, but it's actually pretty tiring day after day after day. I LOVE going on a family vacation where my aunt and uncle are in charge and they plan the meals and the outings and I can just sit back and help out with the actual cooking or cleaning up. It's nice to be a passenger every once in a while.
18. The Treadmill
The crisis when you realize you'll likely work 40 hours a week for a looooong time; the fact that you're on a treadmill that never stops. It's not going fast, but it never stops. I always realized I'd be working full time, but never really thought about it and how in order to make more money you need to have more responsibility, which means more hours, more time on-call, plus take into account driving to and from work, you pretty much do nothing but work for your entire adult life. Yikes
19. "Do What You Love"
The 'do what you love' stuff gets hyped too much. If you turn what you love into a job, you won't love it much longer. You should do what you're good at and don't hate doing. Keep your passions as pure as you can.
20. The End Is NOT Near
I was raised as Jehovah's Witness and was repeatedly told that "the end is right around the corner." JW's believe that those that survive Armageddon will live forever on Paradise earth, with a select 144,000 ruling in heaven. Even better, all your dead loved ones would be resurrected too.
I never expected to have to grow old and see my loved ones die.
Higher education is discouraged in the cult, because what's the point? The end is near, and you should be out in the ministry instead. So I'm decades behind my peers in terms of financial stability as well.
I "woke up" from the cult a few years ago and it has been difficult coming to grips with realities that most people have dealt with much younger.
H/T: Reddit
Wanna jump off the bandwagon? Then keep reading!
U/lit3rallyuseless asked: What doesn't deserve the hate it gets?
​Film and media are probably the biggest contender for being hated on randomly. It may seem harmless, but not always deserved.
Actors are people too!
Actors who played characters that people didn't like.
Really if you hated the character then the actor did a good job (assuming that was the role).
The best cartoons.
nice day summer GIF by PBS KIDSGiphyChild cartoons. Some are actually really good, even as an adult.
I feel like watching cartoons aimed at generally a younger audience allows for you to be reminded of some life lessons, I know I forget some things, or didn't realise others, or it at least partially renews my awareness of something I should still like or appreciate
This doesn't deserve awards, it's just my opinion that is apparently shared by many.
This man did nothing wrong.
Guy Fieri, he literally is the nicest person in the world but since he looks like he was electrocuted by mountain dew people want to saw his head off.
Even before that, I was witness to his other charitable work. A few years back, Santa Rosa was hit by some terrible fires and he showed up at a few shelters and personally cooked up and served some killer buffet food. No cameras, no massive team of PR, just a dude with an assistant to keep him on schedule to hit up other shelters in the area. Guy Fieri legit earned a lot of respect in my book for that.
You know who DEFINITELY doesn’t deserve hate? Animals. They’re just living their best lives, and need to be left alone.​
The best cats.
Black cats.
We got a black cat for the first time last year. I've since formulated the theory that black cats might get some of their reputation from the fact that people can't see them well in the dark and so they seemingly appear out of nowhere and they might be instinctually cautious because they know people have a tendency to kick them while walking in the dark. Our black cat is the sweetest cat I've ever known.
They get a bad rep.
Discovery Sharks GIF by Shark WeekGiphySharks. They are beautiful, complex creatures, deserving of respect and, like any wild animal should be left alone in their natural habitat, but they get this reputation as vicious bloodthirsty monsters. This is only because every shark attack is news, and only then because they are so rare. More people are killed EVERY DAY by mosquitoes than sharks kill in a year.
Any apex predator that has remained evolutionarily unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, whose existance predates TREES, is deserving or our respect and admiration. Shine on, you crazy cartlaginous fish, shine on.
So cute too!
Opossums. They're neat little critters. They eat tons of ticks that carry Lyme disease, (mostly) don't carry rabies because their body temp is too low, and they're the only marsupial native to North America! They get a bad rap because their first defense is to hiss and bare teeth, but failing that, they just play dead.
If you don't have the predisposition to hate them, you'll find they're pretty cute too.
E: this is about /opossums/, the north American species.
Kiwis, I feel for you, but this comment isn't about your possums.
​Hating on other people for just living their lives also seems to be a big contender for things that don’t deserve to be hated on.
This is so true.
Unemployed people. A lot of people genuinely are looking for work and did not want to lose their last job/it was beyond their control (like a layoff) but they get so much hate and called lazy by most people. I know too many unemployed people that are actually really trying hard. They definitely aren't lazy. (Not saying lazy unemployed people don't exist, but to be fair, so do lazy employed people too lol)
Leave the weather man alone!
Fox Raining GIF by Family GuyGiphyMeteorologists. They try their best to predict the weather based on patterns, models, and data. They're not perfect because predicting the weather is insanely difficult. When they get it wrong, I think we should go easy on them. It was probably an outlier result almost no one could have foreseen.
I've seen people get angry over the meteorologists for getting it right. Like they control the weather - it is their fault we are having rain, that kind of BS. Never made sense to me, but hey, I have plenty of relatives I clashed with growing up.
Please stop being d*cks to these people.
Customer service associates.
I hate when customers think that I, the minimum wage person forced to sit there and listen to them yell, am personally responsible for every policy they disagree with. Like, ma'am, if I had that much power and influence, I wouldn't be sitting here on a Saturday evening serving you.
Wholesome and necessary.
People don't deserve hate they give themselves when they are not doing too good at the moment.
I'm in a weird place and I didn't know I needed to read this. Thanks buddy.
If you haven't heard it from anyone else today, I'm proud of you.
It seems like people hate on things simply because they think they're meant to hate them. But you can always be the change and make an effort to stop being an a**hole about certain things.
No matter what though, sometimes haters gonna hate