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Being a grown-up is not just about taking care of yourself; it's also about considering how your actions affect the people around you. I like to think of it as juggling heavy dumbbells while riding a broken unicycle on a weak tightrope above a savage fire. Fun, right?
To learn which parts of this 'performance' people find the hardest, Redditor u/Frequent-Pilot5243 recently made a post on the platform, asking other users the following question: "What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for?" Turns out, a lot. From personal finance to relationships, continue scrolling to check out some of the most popular answers.
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We managed to get in contact with u/Frequent-Pilot5243 and they were kind enough to have a little chat with us about their viral post.
"It indeed is a good question and people replied with a lot of honesty," the Redditor told Bored Panda.
"As much as I would like to take the credit this isn't an original post. It is a repost; somebody had asked this question a year or year and a half ago."
#4
Life is all about maintenance. Your body, your house, your relationships, everything requires constant never ending maintenance.
#5
Didn't know that other adults have the emotional intelligence of teenagers and its almost impossible to deal with logically
Indeed, even we covered a thread that virtually asks the same question.
But the answers that this one has received make it a totally new discussion.
"I didn't expect it to blow up like this," u/Frequent-Pilot5243 said.
But some of these issues probably wouldn't even arise if paid more attention to their roots. Approximately 3 in 4 adult or young adult children who experienced a mental health challenge indicated at least some of the challenges occurred before the age of 18, and approximately half of them said that their parents never sought treatment for them, while approximately three quarters said that they wished their parents had done so.
Of these folks, approximately 67% said it was because they would not have suffered so much during their teenage years, approximately 66% said that they would be better equipped to handle their current problems, and approximately 64% said it would have better prepared them for adulthood.
So problems begin early on in our personal journeys. “Transitioning into adulthood is enough of a struggle. No one should have to battle their mental health at the same time,” Debbie Thomas, EdD, APRN, based in Louisville, Kentucky, explained the numbers in a statement.
If only we were better at noticing them...
#6
Almost all of your friends wont be life long. No one really talks about how common it is to lose touch with people or grow apart. Most of your life will be spent either making new friends while losing old ones or being alone.
#10
How easy it is to feel stuck in a bad situation (job, relationship, etc) just because the cost and effort of getting out can seem daunting. And sometimes you just have to accept a figurative bowl full of s**t because you can't afford to blow up your life.
#12
How prevalent depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation is. At this point I think every adult has been through it at some point in their lives.
#13
Lack of purpose. All your young life you are given purpose of passing exams and learning, then all of a sudden you are thrown into the world and told to find your own meaning.
#15
Figuring out what makes you happy. Everyone keeps trying to get you to do things you're good at, or that makes you money, but never to pursue what you enjoy
#17
Adult life being basically a permanent to-do list that just keeps on getting bigger and bigger
#19
Daughter with behavioral and mental issues. Then she got pregnant at 16. It was a roller coaster ride…very trying and about kicked my [b**t]. My husband had esophageal cancer and then 9 years later had 14 brain lesions. Both times his survival rate was low, but he’s still here. Feel like I’ve been in survival mode for years and years. I’m kinda tired now.
#21
Being 60 years old and still having to deal with people that act we’re still in high school. I can’t stand back biting and temper tantrums, and it seems even worse from 50 and 60 year olds. It’s embarrassing and I thought it would end, but apparently drama never ends
#23
This may just be because I’m on the spectrum but networking for jobs. My parents had the same jobs since I was born so I never saw them or anyone else look for one that wasn’t a temporary job for a college student so I didn’t know. I thought hard work would basically show employers I was worth hiring and despite burning myself out I still lost out to people with half my ability because they were more sociable was baffling to me for a long time.
#24
I'm close to 50. Would have been nice to be better prepared for some of the ways your body starts to change that don't normally get talked about. For instance, your teeth will start to shift from the general aging of your gums
#25
I’ll say this: as a kid you think adults have it all together. Turns out we are just winging it.
#26
My dad killed himself 3 days after my 31st birthday. And I still had to wake up and be a mother and a functional human being. Still have to. There is no preparing for that.
#27
That people will actively work against their own interests and/or the interests of society. Growing up, you look at well adjusted adults and think “wow, these people know what’s going on and will help us all get to a better place.” Now? You realize there are a bunch of really stupid folk out there.
#30
That once you are "stable" your life is f*****g groundhog's day. Every day is basically the same. Same person I already married, same house I already have and already decorated, same job every day, same foods over and over. Same [darn] shows and movies and songs... Boring and sometimes I have a crazy spell because I just can't stand it... dysphoria [is bad].
#32
You can clearly see the systems that are in place to prevent you from advancing, but they're effective in preventing you from advancing.
#35
As a kid, I was taught, if you work hard, you can buy a house and move out once you’re 18. I wish I could tell little me that isn’t gonna happen anytime soon haha
#36
Feeling like I’ve already seen every plot known to man and so movies are very predictable and not as enjoyable as they were when I was younger.
#38
How to handle existential crisis and the looming thought of my own end and the losses of those around me.
#39
Imposter syndrome. And then realizing that likely every expert or professional you’ve ever really trusted also probably has imposter syndrome and knows much less than you think they do. This became very apparent to me during the pandemic when I realized that our governments and our medical professionals don’t have all the answers and we’re all just figuring things out as we go.
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