If you were lucky, you had a lovely childhood where things just made sense. Life seemed fair. Everyone was treated equally. Good behavior was encouraged and rewarded, and as long as you worked hard, respected others and tried your best, everything would just magically work out!
As adults, we’re well aware that that’s a very naïve way of looking at the world, but to avoid raising cynical, pessimistic children, we often allow little ones to view life through rose-colored glasses. “Eventually, they’ll figure out the truth for themselves,” we think. But unfortunately, even if someone is an adult when they receive a reality check, the harsh truths of life can be extremely challenging to accept.
Reddit users have been opening up about the brutal realities of life that hit them the hardest, so we’ve gathered some of their most eye-opening and heart-breaking responses below. If you’re struggling with any of these ideas too, know that you’re not alone, pandas. Remember to upvote the pills that have been particularly hard for you to swallow as well, and keep reading to also find an interview with Louisa Davis, editor for The Mind's Journal. Then if you’re interested in diving even deeper into this topic, you can find another Bored Panda article featuring a similar discussion right here!
#41
My soon to be ex wife is a lying, cheating, narcissist. I literally had two years of depression including a suicide attempt. Once I figured out that she didn't care about anyone but herself, my mental health improved quickly.
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55points
#42
Life isn’t fair
We watch films, read books, listen to music where the good guys generally win or things sort themselves out for the better but in reality this rarely happens.
On the plus side, once you accept this as a truth it makes it easier to accept than always trying to force the right outcome
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53points
#43
That clinics and hospitals exist to make money. Helping people get better is secondary.
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53points
#44
No matter how much you’re there for someone if they decide not to be there for you there’s nothing you can do about it. People will take advantage of you if you let them, you can’t make someone be who you want them to be
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51points
#45
That there’s no break. You may go on a vacation, but you’re always working to keep your life from automatically failing making sure you always have all necessities.
You can’t just have a summer in which you worry about nothing. You’d be lucky to have a winter “break”, but even then you still have to work at life, especially if you have people to care for.
You can’t just go away and retire to your room for a week if you’re feeling overwhelmed as it will just get worse and worse.
However, this responsibility is cut in half (hopefully) if you have a great partner to do it with (which I am very lucky to have).
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49points
#46
'Life isn't fair' is something that people who are in a position to make life more fair love to say.
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46points
#48
Outside of a handful of really close friends and some family, nobody really, truly gives a f**k about me.
If I died tomorrow, people would come to my funeral and act sad. Some of them would actually be sad. But most of them would go home and move on with life and barely think about me ever again.
I'm not upset by this...that's just the way it is. It's the way it is for pretty much everyone.
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45points
#49
Sometimes you won’t get closure. And your mind will f**k with you for months because you don’t have that golden answer of why your old friends abandoned you because they won’t even respond. I had a hard time accepting that and I still do. Because I feel like the bad guy when deep down I know I’m not the only one that should be sorry, especially when they knew I was battling a lot of mental issues. It still hurts, it still sucks, but I have learned that life may never give you answers and you just have to accept that and let go.
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40points
