30 Adult Life Facts That Hit Harder Than They Should
Being an adult is harder than some teenagers realize.
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A lot of teenagers imagine adult life as being carefree with lots of money and time to spend on your favorite hobbies and activities. However, the reality is much different than that. In fact, sometimes it's completely the opposite, and you often don't even realize it until you find yourself stuck in a situation like that. And if you're still a teenager, you're in luck because today we have prepared you some facts about the harsh reality of adult life, shared by real adults.
Recently, one Reddit user asked others to share some things about adult life that most teenagers don't realize, and the answers they received are painfully relatable. Aching bodies, doing your own laundry, never-ending bills, and much more - check out some bitter reality facts about adult life that every teen should know in the gallery below!
More info: Reddit
Image source: MelG146
Planning dinner every damn night.
Image source: Hemenucha
For me it's watching my parents get old.
As a teenager I thought they were all about keeping me restricted and controlled. Now I realize they're just two people who never had a kid before, did the best they knew how, and fu**ed up at times like all other humans on the planet.
I never realized how much I needed them emotionally until I saw my father through his open heart surgery, and saw Parkinson's take my mother's independence.
So here I am still feeling like a teenager on the inside, staring down the barrel of 50, wondering what the hell happened.
Image source: Hollowman212
You are always cleaning the kitchen
Image source: Pontus_Pilates
You don't fundamentally change, you are still you, even if you are older. It's the same you, you just need to survive in the adult world.
You don't gain adult powers, you just have to do adult things.
Image source: lightskinkanye
You come home from work and you're tired and if you don't feel like making dinner, then you're not eating dinner.
Image source: HilariousDisaster
Being lonely. Making friends as an adult is difficult, sometimes verging on impossible. You don't see people in your age group who are doing the same things you are every day anymore.
Image source: [deleted]
You can do whatever you want, but most of the time you either have commitments that prevent it, or you can't afford it.
Image source: TinyBig_Jar0fPickles
The repetition makes you lose time. Having the same job, workout regimen, schedule in general makes days blend into one another
Edit. Thanks for all the replies. I just want to point out I didn't mean life becomes boring. I was just talking about lack of those major separators we had as children like summer vacation, new school, your first kiss, etc. Due to those major separators missing I don't recall if I did something a year ago or 3 years ago. It's a little blurry if something happened 2 weeks ago or 4 months ago. This is because once you have a career and a home you're doing a lot of similar things most days(work, chores, cooking, hobbies, etc). This is why the days start to blend into one another, at least in your memory.
Image source: MostProbablyWrong
Life revolves around grocery shopping, preparing food, washing dishes, doing laundry, vacuuming and tidying up. It does not stop, don't let it pile up for the weekends or else you waste your weekends stuck indoors.
Alcohol is not your friend, it does not have the answers you are looking for, and usually gets you in even more trouble. Drink with friends to celebrate, don't drink alone in silence.
Image source: LeicaM6guy
One day your body will betray you.
Image source: GiraffeMother
There’s never enough time for all the things you need to do. Definitely not enough time for the things you want to do
Image source: mswoodie
When something goes wrong or something unexpected happens, there’s no one else to deal with it.
Plugged toilet? You gotta clear it.
Car outta gas? You gotta fill it.
Run out of clean undies? You gotta do laundry.
From small things to massive things, there’s no one to make it go away but you.
Image source: [deleted]
Dental care. It’s so damn expensive if you let your teeth degrade. Please floss my dudes.
Image source: ecitruoc
A $1000 pay check isn’t nearly as exciting as an adult
Image source: SmokeyFlannel
When all the cliches that used to piss you off start making sense and meaning something, but you can’t explain it to younger people because they haven’t lived that life experience yet.
Image source: soundecember
That ordering food is actually expensive and your parents weren’t lying to you
Image source: BoomChocolateLatkes
That you had no idea what you were talking about when you were a teenager
Image source: PmMeYourHotA**
People expect you to know what you're doing.
Image source: AmericanExpat76
You know all those things you thought you would do when you were out on your own? They cost money, and you have to work for it...
Image source: magicatom_87
Forgetting your age is a real problem. The only people who remind me how old I am are my kids, and i often have to double check. I used to ask my parents how old they were and they always "cant remember" or said "21" and it confused me. I get it now.
Image source: goingrogueatwork
Each day is desperately short. Work consumes 75% of the time you’re awake. And the time you’re free is spent doing chores and being tired. Hobbies slowly cease to exist and you just start to look for quick escapes.
Image source: OneMorePotion
The adult part.
The moment you need to pay for everything and the realization that fresh food spoils faster than you ever noticed before was eye opening
Image source: MontiBurns
The importance and scarcity of time. Your "you time" gets seriously reduced as you get older and your other responsibilities mount up. I used to think that spending half an hour cleaning 3 times a week was the worst thing ever. Now I spend about an hour cleaning pretty much every day. Between work, maintaining a house, and raising kids, the amount of you time gets reduced to.minutes a day. Anything else you want to do means sacrificing sleep.
The other thing is how true "time=money" actually is. Simply existing and breathing costs money. Food, rent, bills, transport cost money. Often the difference between happiness and unhappiness for me was comfortably making it to my next paycheck.
Image source: whycantifindmyname
Even though February is the shortest month, the rent is still the same
Image source: hamhead
The pain. Bodies start breaking down.
Image source: PoorCorrelation
Adult acne. It doesn’t magically go away when you turn 18
Image source: dartblaze
You're at a time in your life when you see your friends almost every day at school. That should be cherished, because it's vastly simpler than maintaining friendships as you enter adulthood and you don't have that constant contact.
Life as an adult is change, most of it outside of your control. People change, circumstances shift...all of that work you put into your adult friendships can vanish in an instant, and you just have to adapt and move on.
Image source: beefyboi6996
Metabolism does not go brrrrrrr
Image source: HollyHobbyOxenfree
You need to be mentally prepared for the "benchmarks" in your life to not happen or for them to not happen on the right schedule. The big events in your life up to now have been driven and put into place largely by governments and parents and teachers. This is by design - to slowly teach you the relationship between efforts and results. The accomplishments you have laid out as an adult in front of you are largely up to you, and your place in society has a lot more to do with luck than you'd probably like to think.
As a teenager you tend to think "I will get married at 28, have a kid at 30 and 33, but only after I've graduated from the elite engineering program of my choice." You may not achieve any of those things, and the obsession with delivering them on schedule will cause you deep frustration or even grief. You may not find a spouse, or have a child, or own a house, or even remain relatively healthy.
Learn to give yourself a break now before you spend years of your life grieving the future you believe you screwed yourself out of.
Image source: stupidlyugly
Forty eight here
Bills don't stop or go away. Ever.
Work sucks. That's why they pay you to do it because nobody's doing that bullsh*t for free. Think of it as a means to your life and avoid it becoming your identity.
The term "work life balance" is HR code for "We own you. You're at our disposal 24/7/365"
Nobody owes you a damn thing and ain't nobody gonna give you nothing for free. They're much more likely to try to take what you have.
If not married, we're pretty sexually promiscuous and don't always adhere to the strict rules that we put on you - except that we're generally better with birth control and usually more fastidious about STD status.
You can choose one of two paths - shi**y life now or shi**y life later. The one thing I'd change about everything is to choose the shi**y life early on. Living life all YOLO or whatever you kids say when I was in my twenties came with consequences that persisted for decades and will likely render me unable to ever retire.
Time accelerates. Forty is but a blink away. So seize the opportunity you have today because it'll be gone in an instant.
#1
Image source: MelG146
Planning dinner every damn night.
#2
Image source: Hemenucha
For me it's watching my parents get old.
As a teenager I thought they were all about keeping me restricted and controlled. Now I realize they're just two people who never had a kid before, did the best they knew how, and fu**ed up at times like all other humans on the planet.
I never realized how much I needed them emotionally until I saw my father through his open heart surgery, and saw Parkinson's take my mother's independence.
So here I am still feeling like a teenager on the inside, staring down the barrel of 50, wondering what the hell happened.
#3
Image source: Hollowman212
You are always cleaning the kitchen
#4
Image source: Pontus_Pilates
You don't fundamentally change, you are still you, even if you are older. It's the same you, you just need to survive in the adult world.
You don't gain adult powers, you just have to do adult things.
#5
Image source: lightskinkanye
You come home from work and you're tired and if you don't feel like making dinner, then you're not eating dinner.
#6
Image source: HilariousDisaster
Being lonely. Making friends as an adult is difficult, sometimes verging on impossible. You don't see people in your age group who are doing the same things you are every day anymore.
#7
Image source: [deleted]
You can do whatever you want, but most of the time you either have commitments that prevent it, or you can't afford it.
#8
Image source: TinyBig_Jar0fPickles
The repetition makes you lose time. Having the same job, workout regimen, schedule in general makes days blend into one another
Edit. Thanks for all the replies. I just want to point out I didn't mean life becomes boring. I was just talking about lack of those major separators we had as children like summer vacation, new school, your first kiss, etc. Due to those major separators missing I don't recall if I did something a year ago or 3 years ago. It's a little blurry if something happened 2 weeks ago or 4 months ago. This is because once you have a career and a home you're doing a lot of similar things most days(work, chores, cooking, hobbies, etc). This is why the days start to blend into one another, at least in your memory.
#9
Image source: MostProbablyWrong
Life revolves around grocery shopping, preparing food, washing dishes, doing laundry, vacuuming and tidying up. It does not stop, don't let it pile up for the weekends or else you waste your weekends stuck indoors.
Alcohol is not your friend, it does not have the answers you are looking for, and usually gets you in even more trouble. Drink with friends to celebrate, don't drink alone in silence.
#10
Image source: LeicaM6guy
One day your body will betray you.
#11
Image source: GiraffeMother
There’s never enough time for all the things you need to do. Definitely not enough time for the things you want to do
#12
Image source: mswoodie
When something goes wrong or something unexpected happens, there’s no one else to deal with it.
Plugged toilet? You gotta clear it.
Car outta gas? You gotta fill it.
Run out of clean undies? You gotta do laundry.
From small things to massive things, there’s no one to make it go away but you.
#13
Image source: [deleted]
Dental care. It’s so damn expensive if you let your teeth degrade. Please floss my dudes.
#14
Image source: ecitruoc
A $1000 pay check isn’t nearly as exciting as an adult
#15
Image source: SmokeyFlannel
When all the cliches that used to piss you off start making sense and meaning something, but you can’t explain it to younger people because they haven’t lived that life experience yet.
#16
Image source: soundecember
That ordering food is actually expensive and your parents weren’t lying to you
#17
Image source: BoomChocolateLatkes
That you had no idea what you were talking about when you were a teenager
#18
Image source: PmMeYourHotA**
People expect you to know what you're doing.
#19
Image source: AmericanExpat76
You know all those things you thought you would do when you were out on your own? They cost money, and you have to work for it...
#20
Image source: magicatom_87
Forgetting your age is a real problem. The only people who remind me how old I am are my kids, and i often have to double check. I used to ask my parents how old they were and they always "cant remember" or said "21" and it confused me. I get it now.
#21
Image source: goingrogueatwork
Each day is desperately short. Work consumes 75% of the time you’re awake. And the time you’re free is spent doing chores and being tired. Hobbies slowly cease to exist and you just start to look for quick escapes.
#22
Image source: OneMorePotion
The adult part.
The moment you need to pay for everything and the realization that fresh food spoils faster than you ever noticed before was eye opening
#23
Image source: MontiBurns
The importance and scarcity of time. Your "you time" gets seriously reduced as you get older and your other responsibilities mount up. I used to think that spending half an hour cleaning 3 times a week was the worst thing ever. Now I spend about an hour cleaning pretty much every day. Between work, maintaining a house, and raising kids, the amount of you time gets reduced to.minutes a day. Anything else you want to do means sacrificing sleep.
The other thing is how true "time=money" actually is. Simply existing and breathing costs money. Food, rent, bills, transport cost money. Often the difference between happiness and unhappiness for me was comfortably making it to my next paycheck.
#24
Image source: whycantifindmyname
Even though February is the shortest month, the rent is still the same
#25
Image source: hamhead
The pain. Bodies start breaking down.
#26
Image source: PoorCorrelation
Adult acne. It doesn’t magically go away when you turn 18
#27
Image source: dartblaze
You're at a time in your life when you see your friends almost every day at school. That should be cherished, because it's vastly simpler than maintaining friendships as you enter adulthood and you don't have that constant contact.
Life as an adult is change, most of it outside of your control. People change, circumstances shift...all of that work you put into your adult friendships can vanish in an instant, and you just have to adapt and move on.
#28
Image source: beefyboi6996
Metabolism does not go brrrrrrr
#29
Image source: HollyHobbyOxenfree
You need to be mentally prepared for the "benchmarks" in your life to not happen or for them to not happen on the right schedule. The big events in your life up to now have been driven and put into place largely by governments and parents and teachers. This is by design - to slowly teach you the relationship between efforts and results. The accomplishments you have laid out as an adult in front of you are largely up to you, and your place in society has a lot more to do with luck than you'd probably like to think.
As a teenager you tend to think "I will get married at 28, have a kid at 30 and 33, but only after I've graduated from the elite engineering program of my choice." You may not achieve any of those things, and the obsession with delivering them on schedule will cause you deep frustration or even grief. You may not find a spouse, or have a child, or own a house, or even remain relatively healthy.
Learn to give yourself a break now before you spend years of your life grieving the future you believe you screwed yourself out of.
#30
Image source: stupidlyugly
Forty eight here
Bills don't stop or go away. Ever.
Work sucks. That's why they pay you to do it because nobody's doing that bullsh*t for free. Think of it as a means to your life and avoid it becoming your identity.
The term "work life balance" is HR code for "We own you. You're at our disposal 24/7/365"
Nobody owes you a damn thing and ain't nobody gonna give you nothing for free. They're much more likely to try to take what you have.
If not married, we're pretty sexually promiscuous and don't always adhere to the strict rules that we put on you - except that we're generally better with birth control and usually more fastidious about STD status.
You can choose one of two paths - shi**y life now or shi**y life later. The one thing I'd change about everything is to choose the shi**y life early on. Living life all YOLO or whatever you kids say when I was in my twenties came with consequences that persisted for decades and will likely render me unable to ever retire.
Time accelerates. Forty is but a blink away. So seize the opportunity you have today because it'll be gone in an instant.DE
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