It’s pretty interesting how our fears and worries change over the course of our lives.
When you’re young and you think you’re invincible, all the scary stuff out there just seems to roll off your back. And then you get a little bit older and you get a little more worried about, well…everything.
Does this sound familiar to you?
Folks on AskReddit talked about the things that scare them as adults that didn’t bother them much when they were young. Let’s take a look.
1. Not as much fun anymore.
“Signs of aging.
When you’re a kid, getting older means new and exciting changes.
When you’re in your 30s and older, it means far less fun things.”
2. Life is hard.
“Needing help or advice. I’m a grown adult now, 34, and my mom and dad have since passed on.
When I run into a problem with an appliance or a home repair or need help with a recipe, it always takes me a minute to remember they aren’t here anymore.
Really sucks having no one to lean on when things get hard. My mom used to just give me $100 without question when I’d be hard up for money. No more bank-of-mom. if I run out of money now I’m just f*cked until payday.”
3. Slow down!
“Traveling in a car, especially if I’m not the one driving.
7 year old me: Man it’s amazing how many adults are smart enough to run hundreds of cars around the city going super fast and not hit each other!
Adult me: uhhhhhhh….”
4. Be careful.
“Jumping down from a height greater than a few feet.
As a kid I could jump off a roof and roll with it, nowadays if I land funny I fear I’ll be paralyzed for life.”
5. Oh God, no!
“A tooth falling out. As a kid it was gross, funny and painful all at once. As an adult, horrifying.
My dentist said that a couple of my teeth are “a little mobile.” Then he said it’s nothing to really worry about, as if hearing “teeth” and “mobile” in the same sentence is ever good.”
6. A fact of life.
“When you are a child, you see for parents mortality as something so far away and that eventually you will be prepared
But it’s never the case, recently my grandmother died after a long disease and what it strike me the most was the reaction from my mom, she said “no somos nada”, “we are nothing”, she was devastated and then it comes to my mind, one day I would be the one on her shoes and she will be on the coffin.
The hard part is that, that is the best result, that you bury your parents not the other way around.”
7. Protect your noggin.
“Head injuries.
As a kid, I thought broken bones were the big thing to worry about, because I could visualize what that was; I had no sense for the severity of brain injuries.
As an adult, protecting my noggin is my number one injury concern, because the human machine don’t work with a damaged processor.”
8. Time is precious.
“Lack of time.
As a kid, felt like I had all the time in the world.
As an adult, I feel like I have no time to do anything other than work.”
9. EVERYTHING.
“I bought a house a couple years ago. Literally everything scares me now.
It’s raining? Probably gonna flood the basement.
Windy? Tree’s gonna fall on the house.
Weird smell? Probably an electrical fire.
Leave the house for literally 5 minutes? Obviously going to explode due to a gas leak.”
10. Not a thrillseeker anymore.
“Roller coasters.
I used to ride them all summer long because I had a six flags summer pass. I went a few years ago with my younger sister. It wasn’t fun anymore. I just kept feeling like I was going to die.
I ended up holding purses, and keeping my feet on the ground. I never understood why my mom would just wait for me, but I get it now.”
11. Yeah, pretty scary.
“I had no fear of U-Hauls until I rented a U-Haul.
I filled out all of my information online and they gave me the keys to a 27 foot box truck. No training. No anything. They’ll just let anyone take these massive vehicles and drive them off the lot.
Give them a wide berth.”
12. Aging.
“Honestly, just getting older. I’m only 36 but I just don’t want to be an “old person.” I fear my daughter is already starting to see me that way, but I do everything I can to fight it.
One disc in my back is permanently injured from a car wreck 12 years ago, one knee is bad from playing with a nephew 14 years ago.
I want to be the strong hero my daughter needs as she grows up but I fear these will really catch up to me in the coming years.”
13. Under the knife.
“Anesthesia.
As a kid, I was led to believe that it was something magical that happened to you when you got your tonsils out, and then afterwards, you could eat all the ice cream you wanted!
Now that I’ve had it as an adult and know that there’s always a possibility it could go horribly wrong, I get really antsy and scared just thinking about it.”
14. Avoid it if possible.
“Anything related to going to the hospital.
When I was a kid, I was always in the emergency room with a deep cut or broken bone. Now that I realize it isn’t as “free” as I thought it was when I was a kid, I’ll make any excuse to not go to the hospital.
Case in point, my wife (before we were married) went to the ER with severe abdominal pains and found out she had an infection in her gallbladder. So they removed it.
Her hospital bill, because she went “out of network” and had an ER visit, was over $80,000. Meanwhile, I probably would have just died because I would have crunched down a hundred Immodium before visiting the hospital.”
Now it’s your turn.
In the comments, tell us what scares you as an adult that didn’t scare you as a youngster.
We can’t wait to hear your stories. Thanks!
