Adulting: you look forward to it during your younger years and then you get there, you look around, and you say…”this is what I was so excited about?”
It happens to the best of us and now you just gotta deal with it, right?
The bills, the responsibilities, the job hassle, etc.
It just never ends…
What’s the adult version of “there is no Santa Claus”?
Here’s how folks responded on AskReddit.
1. The reality of it.
“When they hire you on the spot, it’s not because you’re an amazing person with so many credentials.
It’s because it’s a really shitty job, and they desperately need to fill it for the third time this month.”
2. That’s not nice.
“Somebody you know hates you. For no reason.
They probably dont even know why themselves.
And no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do in life you will never, ever change that.”
3. Sad…
“If you work hard and are loyal to your company, they will be loyal to you.
The sad reality is most large companies don’t care anymore and will lay you off after being there for 10+ years even if you were a devoted and hard working employee.
Always have a 6 months pay in the bank and always be networking to have your next job lined up.”
4. Oh, no…
“You aren’t getting paid based on how good you are.
You are paid based on how hard you are to replace.”
5. The universe is cruel.
“There are terrible awful people in the world that get away with all of it and die peacefully in their sleep with no repercussions.
There are people with hearts of gold who get continually fucked by life for no god damn reason.
The adult version of ‘there’s no santa’ is ‘the universe doesn’t care’.”
6. Keep this in mind.
“Retirement is not a physical age.
It is a financial state.”
7. But, first…
“”My life will really begin when X happens. Right now is just a phase.”
“Everything will be better and easier after I finish undergrad”
“Everything will be better and easier after I’m out of grad school”
“Everything will be better and easier after I’m out of this shit job”
Me at different phases of life. Though to be fair, that job was really shit, and things are better and easier now, but I still have to put in a ton of work to make things better still.”
8. This one hits hard for a lot of people.
“Your parents were just normal people trying to figure shit out just like you.”
9. Gotta get that experience.
“Not quite an adult thing, but finding out that your degree doesn’t automatically get you a job after graduation.
And how much more important work experience is than education.”
10. Not anymore.
“Employer loyalty is dead.
My grandfather who helped raise me taught me the value of workplace loyalty- if you work hard for your employer during good times and bad your boss will be just as loyal to you.
In my 20 years in the workforce I can definitely say he was wrong.”
11. They’re out there.
“That sometimes terrible people will just keep being terrible and never have a change of heart or anything negative come of it. That often they’ll benefit from being terrible.
But I’d like to believe that no matter what, at least I don’t have to spend my life being that person, and I’ll be happier with even moderate success that isn’t created by being an impossibly shitty person. And that’s the closest I’ll get to “holiday spirit even though there is no Santa”.”
12. It goes up and down.
“The idea that once you graduate college, or get married, or buy your first house, or have your first child, that you’ll ‘reach’ happiness and stay there the rest of your life, save for the occasional sadness from death of a friend or loved one.
Happiness will go up and down, nothing is permanent.
Just gotta maximize [and enjoy] the happy times when you have them.”
13. Not all the time.
“Sex isn’t always good.
My first partner was amazing.
After a year or so with her, we broke up and I was with someone else it sort of crushed me when the sex/chemistry was so bad I couldn’t even keep an erection half the time.”
14. Very true.
“It’s a lot harder to make friends after college.
That is likely the last organic friend-making environment you will ever be in.”
15. There are a lot of them out there.
“Lots of people were the smartest kid in their high school.
My mom tried to get a lot of mileage from being the valedictorian of her high school, except she grew up in a very rural farming community and had 4 people in her graduating class.
She would get defensive if you said there were only 3 other people to compete against, by saying “I got a straight A’s”.
16. No one has a clue.
“Thought all adults knew exactly what they were doing and knew all.
I’m now an adult and everyone around me is basically winging it.”
How about you?
What do you think is the adult equivalent of “there is no Santa Claus”?
Talk to us in the comments!
