Growing up can be hard and no matter how amazing your family and environment is, they can’t prepare you for everything. We all hit bumps in the road that challenge us in ways we weren’t expecting, and hopefully we learn from them. But we don’t have to experience everything first hand to learn about it. Listening to the wisdom others have gained can help us avoid some of their mistakes.
A Reddit thread digs into this by asking, “What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned as an adult?” Nearly 2-thousand responses have come in and these are some of the best:
- “One best friend is better than multiple acquaintances. Quantity does not equal quality.”
- “No matter how much you love someone you can't just make them love you, just as you can't make yourself love someone no matter how hard you may want to. And life is not fair.”
- “Chronic illness can destroy everything you've ever worked for, and happen to anyone at any age.”
- “Bad things happen to good people without reason or explanation.”
- “That you don't have to remain close with anyone just because you were close with them as a kid, or because they're your family, or because you've been close for a long time.”
- “Friends that you always thought would remain close often drift apart over time - sometimes never to be heard from again.”
- “Time passes faster and faster with each year. If there's something you want to do in life don't wait. If you do, you might find 5 years have passed without you doing anything.”
- “Other people can and will make the worst decisions you've ever seen. Even when they have the capacity and resources to make good decisions, they will not. You cannot help them.”
- “Most problems are ones you have to face alone. You learn there isn’t going to always be someone there for you and to help you, and that yourself is really all you can count on.”
- “It's not always going to go the way you pictured it, or the way they told you it would.”
- “When searching for a job, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ is true more often than not.”
- “As soon as you can afford to start putting money away, start to put money away. Before you move into a better apartment, start eating out more, buying nicer clothes, etc, you need to pay yourself first.”
- “In this world, many people will prey on your kindness and use it to take advantage of you.”
- “You need to take care of your mental health. Just as we're supposed to get physicals every year, we should get mentals every year. Mental health is no joke. Keep it in check.”
Source: Reddit