1. If you go out to bars & clubs you won’t run into friends & acquaintances as often because there’s a fresh batch of 21 year olds, currently in their prime, taking over. Most folks your age are onto entirely different activities that don’t consist of unce unce unce music blaring, flashing lights or musty, congested rooms.
2. Spontaneity is dying. Members of your group of friends have careers, spouses, kids, lives, stuff to watch on Netflix, obligations – things that don’t allow everyone to take part in impromptu road trips or other impulse hangouts.
3. You aren’t as tough, durable & built to last as you once where. That sounded like a Firestone Tire commercial, but what I mean is that you make grunt noises when you stand up, you can’t eat certain things without your stomach throwing a tantrum and you have to stretch or feel the wrath of your improperly prepared body after workouts. Also, hangovers are no longer an adorable headache that can be cured with breakfast burritos & Gatorade, they’re a 24+ hour long suffering that no amount of electrolytes can fix.
4. Naps are unicorns. Naps are incredibly rare, few and far between mythical sleep sessions. You won’t get nearly as many as you want. The opportunity to lie down and close your eyes on a Wednesday at 2pm just doesn’t present itself.
5. Your metabolism is slacking off and slowing down. What was once a high-speed freeway is now a 15mph school zone.
6. Your interests will inevitably change to things that adolescent you would be disappointed in. Your favorite cartoon is now a favorite fabric softener. You get excited about frames and candles and walk past the toy aisles without a second glance. The sound of coffee brewing triggers the same kind of happiness an ice cream truck did several years ago – though, the ice cream truck is still a blissful jingle.
7. This ride itself (life) isn’t slowing down at all, ever. While you might want the calendar to chill out and come to a screeching halt so you can regain composure, all lessons must be learned on the fly. Also, when you actually want a rough patch to speed up and pass by, it’ll feel like life takes its foot off the gas so you can really experience that adversity.
8. Older people who’ve been close to you for your entire life will begin passing and it’s a helpless, agonizingly painful feeling.
9. You may finally have the money to attend music festivals or the car to drive across the country but now you’re lacking that one vital component – time.
10. If you don’t make a conscious effort to keep things interesting every so often, life will grow monotonous. If you’re happy with repetition, great. If not, every single day will feel like the worst episode of the worst TV show is playing on a loop, and you’re the star of it.
11. If you fail to succeed, typically there is no villain. This isn’t high school and it’s likely that all of the people you keep in your life at this point are rooting for you, so there’s not necessarily an antagonist, just you being unable to conquer or figure out what to do sometimes.
12. Pimples and occasional breakouts (or worse) are still a thing. Uncooperative skin wasn’t limited to teens and early twenties; it’s still there when you’d least like any blemishes. Got a date coming up? Yeah, your skin is acting 16 again.
13. You’ll completely lose contact with a significant portion of people who used to mean a lot to you and still may mean a lot to you, but as was mentioned earlier, time just isn’t always there.
14. It’s becoming increasingly clear for many of us that we’re never going to reach a point where we truly feel like we know what we’re doing. 15 year old you was blindly more sure of his/herself than 25 year old you is, with eyes wide-opened.
15. For the most part, nobody wants to hear you complain about any of these things. Hey, I personally understand they might be your feelings and don’t mind listening, but be prepared for some people to blow off your sentiments and label them as whining.
16. While there are unpleasant factors that rear their ugly heads along the way, adulthood is actually the best. It’s epic. It’s as good as it gets. You can do whatever you please (within the boundaries of the law) whenever you desire. If you want to eat ice cream for breakfast, buy a mini trampoline & an Xbox, then go to bed at 4am, you can do those things. Yes, you have to deal with your body’s reaction to a gallon of dairy, having sufficient funds for bills and waking up in time for tomorrow’s responsibilities, but the freedom and possibilities outweigh any negative aspects. This truth is only sad if you fail to realize it. 
