This week, Reddit user u/Frequent-Pilot5243 posed the question, "What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for?"
And there were so many relatable answers! Here are some of the top-voted responses:
1. "Lack of purpose. All your young life, you are given purpose, like passing exams and learning. Then all of a sudden, you are thrown into the world and told to find your own meaning."
2. "How expensive everything is. I always thought that as an adult, I would be able to afford the things I wanted, but it turns out that's not always the case! I've had to learn how to budget and save up for the things I want, and it's been a difficult process."
3. "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."
4. "Not having a lot of free time or time by myself."
"It’s all kids and work, and then any free time I have at night goes to sleeping. I think I have a half hour a day to myself."
5. "Networking for jobs. My parents had the same jobs since I was born. I never saw them look for one, 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. It was baffling to me for a long time."
6. "Having to make dinner. Every. Fucking. Day."
"When I was a kid, I loved making dinner for everyone. Now, I still like cooking, but damn if it’s not way nicer to make a meal on your day off rather than scrape something together quickly after getting home from a 13-hour day just because food is required to continue living."
7. "Handling the decline and death of your parents."
"The care of an elderly, sick parent is draining. My husband and I never had any children. This is the most responsibility we have ever had. Unlike a child, who becomes more and more independent each day, the infirmed need more care as the days go by."
8. "$5,000 is a lot to owe, but not a lot to have."
9. "The intricacies of workplace politics."
"When you're in school, you think that you won't have to deal with gossiping and bullying once you leave school. Unfortunately, that is not true."
10. "Figuring out what makes you happy. Everyone keeps trying to get you to do things you're good at, or that make you money. But they never encourage you to pursue what you enjoy."
"'Productivity' is a curse word in so many ways."
11. "You can stay up as late as you want. But you shouldn't."
12. "Almost all of your friends won't be lifelong. No one really talks about how common it is to lose touch with people or grow apart."
13. "Being asked why I'm single and have no kids like I'm some sort of alien."
"I’m a 43-year-old unmarried woman with no kids. I confuse the hell out of new people. A lot of people don’t know what to talk about if they can’t discuss kids."
14. "The more life you’ve lived, the faster time seems to go."
15. "Why the fuck does my back hurt all the fucking time? And why do my nose and ears have hair?"
16. "Getting burnt out."
17. And finally, "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. Sometimes, you just have to accept a figurative bowl full of shit because you can't afford to blow up your life."
What's an adult problem you wish someone had warned you about? LMK in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.