Life never turns out the way you expect. That should be the first lesson ever imprinted on the youth.
What is that saying? "Everytime we make a plan... God laughs."
Well he must be in a constant state of guffaw watching kids grow into adults and learning that everything we believed to be true is either false, or some distorted version of what we imagined.
Adults, we know better, let's starting hitting the youth with hard truth now.
It'll make for a sobering reality.
Redditor The_Hala wanted to hear about all the things we believed when we were younger, that has thrown us through a loop as adults.
They asked:
"What’s something you imagined as a kid and it turned out to be wrong when you became an adult?"
I believed that soulmates were real, and that we had an automatic pull to finding one another. I type that sentence while sitting alone with dogs and chocolate.
Speed Machines
driving fast and furious GIFGiphy"I used to think cars cost a ton of money. Like, a whole hundred dollars or more." ~ Jaycatt
The Happy Ending
"I thought finding a career and a loving spouse just happened naturally." ~ SilasMarner77
"So did I, and everyone told me it happened that way, so it was very strange to reach 18 or so and suddenly be told 'what's the matter with you? You have to put yourself out there!' from all these people who had apparently just drifted into position like celestial bodies."
"I think a lot of kids are taught to never make decisions for themselves and fobbed off with the idea of things just 'happening' later, and then have no clue what to do with themselves when they are not under someone's control so suddenly have to figure it out for themselves." ~ JMW007
I felt so stupid...
"My mom used to tell me that if I turned on the little light in the back seat that we would instantly be pulled over and would be given a ticket. I believed that till about 3 years ago when my girlfriend turned on the light and I told her why we can’t do that and she told me that wasn’t even a thing. I felt so stupid smh." ~ INYOURCLOSET4
Unprepared...
"I thought every next step was going to be the thing I couldn’t handle. Jr. High. High School. Boot Camp. Fleet Marines. College. Business world. Turns out I was only really unprepared for marriage, everything else is pretty easy."
"I’d say this: if you don’t find yourself wanting to spend literally every moment possible with someone, don’t marry them. I’m solitary by nature, so I thought I’d want to spend time apart from anyone, but it turns out, I can’t get enough of my second wife."
"I really could have saved first wife and myself a lot of grief by not assuming ours was the best a relationship was going to get. We are both fine and probably each better off for the time we did spend together, even all the painful time, but I sure learned a lot about how not to be." ~ mojave_moon
Wisdom with age...
Knowing Cedric The Entertainer GIF by CBSGiphy"'You'll understand it when you're older.' Sure, I accepted it, but understand it? That's one hell of an overstatement. Lots of it's apply here." ~ FranticBronchitis
Acceptance is key. But you don't learn about acceptance until it's already too late and the illusion of life is destroyed.
Hit the Floor
jim carrey falling GIFGiphy"I thought I would have had to use 'stop drop and roll' by now." ~ crispypotatocake
Wing It...
"Adults have any semblance of how to handle every situation, especially the bad ones." ~ The_Soapmakers
"It's definitely weird when you come to the realization that we're all just winging it. I used to think my dad had all the answers."
"I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just I really thought he was in a position to know exactly how to handle any problem I came to him with. Now my kids look at me the same way and sometimes I can really feel the weight of the world on my shoulders because of it." ~ Handsome-Jim-2
Family Ties
"My dad's family is big as hell, my dad has 13 siblings (like 5 of them being step-siblings, and two of the 13 have already pass away) So my paternal family is more than 100 people, no joke. So... my dad's oldest sister is like 20+ years older than him and when my dad wasn't even born (Like 2 or 5 years before)."
"She had a child and the kid and my dad grew up and were raised as brothers (when they were actually uncle and nephew). And I just discover two weeks ago that he wasn't another of my dad's siblings, not even my uncle obviously, he was my cousin, my cousin which is 50 years older than me." ~ CChrysanthemumm
Lessons Learned
"As an early teen, I thought that LGBTQ was a load of garbage. I couldn't wrap my brain around why someone would be attracted to their own sex, or why they wouldn't feel like their assigned gender. I thought it was just a phase some people went through to be unique."
"While I still don't understand how most of LGBTQ works, I at least know that homophobia and transphobia is wrong. Discriminating against someone because of who they want to love/be is just wrong. one day LGBTQ going to be widely accepted. I hope that day comes soon so that the discrimination calms down." ~ placeholderNull
I'm Useless
gossip adults GIF by Halo Top CreameryGiphy"That adults knew what they were doing. I'm in my 40's and I still don't know what the hell I am doing half the time." ~ The__Riker__Maneuver
Oh, why couldn't it all just be a grand fairytale? What does so much have to be so hard? Alas...
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
@joehas/X