30 Problems You Face In Your 20s That No One Prepared You For
The lack of time for myself. Life is all work, housework, yard work, child care, bills, emails, phone calls...
These issues mentioned on Ask Reddit were completely unexpected.
1. The lack of time for myself. Life is all work, housework, yard work, child care, bills, emails, phone calls…
2. Drifting away from school friends because of moving away, but then struggling to make new friends in a new city.
3. Losing people. Loved ones passing away is the hardest. Then there’s the nasty breakdown of personal relationships, family relationships and friendships. Then there’s the sad drifting apart that happens when life takes you on a different path to a person you were once really close to.
4. It’s entirely possible to lose your job through no fault of your own.
5. Crippling loneliness and romantic rejections. My heart is just dead, and now I feel empty inside.
6. How many adults I actually dislike. When I was younger, I thought my parents liked all our neighbors, all my teachers, all my coaches, etc. I’ve since found out that they thought most people were morons…. kind of like I do.
7. Having a presentable place, and debating myself on why it matters. It always frustrated me when my parents had a guest over and we had to deep clean the whole house. Like if it’s my close friend of 8 years visiting, why do I care what they care about my cleanliness? And yet, every time people are over I find myself cleaning the apartment up for some reason.
8. Having to institute a “Complete Body Hair Management Program.” Ears, eyebrows, nose, chest, balls, ass… then losing it the only place I want it… my head.
9. Realizing that not even your parents have all the answers. And finally understanding that they were just figuring it out as they went just like we are. Not having an all knowing figure to give you the answers to all your problems is the pits and I hate it.
10. Hangovers. When I would drink a lot during college I would wake up the next and feel totally fine. Thought maybe I was immune to hangovers, then at some point in my late 20s they started to hit me and hit me hard.
11. Feeling like I had fallen behind. Friends get married, settle down, 2.5 kids and a dog, divorce, remarried, and I’m still at the single person’s table at the wedding. Meanwhile, I’m happy with my life, except when I compare it to where I am “supposed” to be.
12. How to determine if your partner is enough… life can be so stressful sometimes that you and your partner do not communicate correctly, and you don’t know if it’s because you’re not meant to be or if you are both just overwhelmed.
13. Cliques and bullies are just as bad in the office as they were in school.
14. Dusting. It never ends.
15. Just how hard it is to lose weight once you’re past your 20’s.
16. No one else is going to kill that bug.
17. The amount of family get togethers you don’t want to go to after you get married.
18. Aging parents. 😔
19. How often you have to clean to maintain a clean house.
20. How quickly fruits and vegetable actually go bad when you buy them yourself.
21. You have to buy insurance but can never use the insurance or else no one will sell you insurance.
22. The endless teeny tiny implications of adult freedom.
“You have your own medical insurance plan now, you need to pick a primary care physician.”
Ok who should I pick?
“Up to you.”
But like where should I start, how do I know which doctor to choose?
“Up to you.”
How do other people find one?
“They just pick the one they like.”
I don’t know any of these doctors!
23. Not being able to sleep due to stress. Yet here I lay, exhausted but wide awake. When I was younger I could sleep anytime, anywhere.
24. The snowball effect of poverty. Every major bill or unexpected emergency ($500+) takes you back 6 months to a year. It feels like you’re on an escalator made of mud.
25. Being able to not cook the same meal everyday while balancing hundreds of other tasks. I will always admire my mom for how she was able to cook, have a clean house, work 43 hours and help her children do homework all while taking time to work out at the end of everyday.
26. Realizing some friends are shitty and you shouldn’t be friends with them anymore.
27. The constant obsessive feeling that I’m fast running out of time to have an enjoyable life even though I’m only in my twenties.
28. How expensive living is. I worked all through high school, but my only “bill” was the gas I put in my car. 30 hours a week on minimum wage goes a long way on shopping sprees and nail salons when you don’t have any other expenses. I developed nasty spending habits, not the “value of a hard-earned dollar” my parents were hoping for.
I’m not in crippling debt or anything, but sometimes having to spend money on groceries or utilities depresses me more than it rationally should.
29. Having others rely on you as an emotional ballast. I can barely stay sane myself, let alone carry someone else.
30. Back hurting just from sleeping wrong. 
