30 People Share Adult Problems They Didn't See Coming

Redditor u/RowBowBooty was very honest about the inspiration behind the question on r/AskReddit. "I asked the question because the older I get, the more I realize that adulthood is not what I imagined it would be. Sure, as an adult you have to work hard, but as a kid, I was always a hard worker. What I wasn’t prepared for was the heavy weight of responsibility for yourself and your family," he told Bored Panda.

"I’m only 24, but I’m married and we are planning a family. My wife has been having medical issues and can’t work. Now I’m responsible for my family’s well-being. I have to worry about getting good health insurance, paying bills and putting food on the table, even little things like doing our taxes right add to the pressure," the redditor explained that all of this responsibility can sometimes feel utterly overwhelming. And that was what prompted him to turn to Reddit to get other people's perspectives.

"As a kid, I had to work hard but at the end of the day getting food and housing and taking care of us weren’t my responsibility," the redditor explained that hard work as a kid and an adult are two vastly different things. However, the author of the thread doesn't believe that he'd give up adulthood to be a kid again.

"Even though adulthood is tough, I don’t think, given the choice, that I would ever choose to go back to being a kid again. The people I have met and now love and the sometimes painful lessons I have learned are not things I would ever want to give up," he said that he wouldn't want to let go of all the important connections and experiences.

"Sometimes, I wish I could say things to my past self, teach him things I wish I had known and tell him to do things I wish I had done, but I wouldn’t go back. Even though adulthood is tough sometimes, and responsibility and worry increase, it comes with a deeper understanding of life and, ideally, greater satisfaction. Sacrificing certain things is hard, but I think it also gives life more meaning."

Some of the biggest problems that come with being a grown-up include a lack of energy and time to pursue the things that make life worth living. No matter if you’re sitting in front of a computer screen in your tiny cubicle/open-plan office or lifting crates at a warehouse all day, you might come back home 50 different shades of exhausted.

According to financial expert and author Sam Dogen, the founder of Financial Samurai, it’s important to work smart, not just hard. He explained to Bored Panda during a previous interview that the people who tend to brag about working overtime tend to want validation.

“Working long after your colleagues are gone means nobody will see your hard work. Hence, you need to tell people about it because the results often take time to manifest. The irony is, if you have great results, there’s no need to tell anybody how hard you work,” Sam said.

“In your 20s and 30s, you need to work BOTH smarter AND harder, especially if you are of average intelligence. The world is a brutally competitive place with some of the smartest people also working the hardest. So working long hours while you’re still young and learning is a matter of practicality,” the financial expert said that the world is a very tough, very competitive place.

“You can’t expect to go straight to the corner office without putting in your dues. At the same time, you can’t expect to outperform your peers simply through hard work. You have to be strategic by building a strong network of relationships internally and externally (clients) who will pull to get you promoted and help you get paid at your next job.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to fighting burnout, Sam suggested taking sick days and mentally recharging. “Don’t just think being ill is just a physical thing. There are plenty of mental illnesses. They are just not as visible. There is no better time than right now to take sick days due to the pandemic and the greater awareness of mental health issues. There is simply no shame in healing the mind!”

Fitness expert and entrepreneur Jack Bly stressed to Bored Panda that it’s vital to prioritize our health and wellbeing. “To increase our work output, the #1 place I look at is health. Better health leads to more energy, more focus, and more productivity. To improve our health and ultimately our output, we need to make sure we’re doing things like sleeping 7-8 hours consistently, [having] good nutrition, [and maintaining] consistent exercise,” he told us earlier.

Eating well, getting enough sleep and movement, and taking care of the basics of what our bodies need make a “night and day difference in our output.” Jack said: “Prioritizing things like workouts actually gives us more energy rather than take energy.”

In the fitness expert’s opinion, the most important thing isn’t the number of hours that people work but the results that they get. In his view, people should focus on working smart.

“What truly matters is true output/results you can get. Person A: works 8 hours to get X work done; Person B: works 3 hours to get the same X work done. Which person would you rather be?”