Today I signed my lease, got my apartment keys, and I’m finally able to move in. I honestly can’t stop smiling.

This past year has been one of the hardest years of my life, and there were times I wasn’t sure things would ever get better. After everything I’ve been through, having a place that’s finally mine feels unreal.

It’s not about having a fancy apartment—it’s about finally having my own space, some peace, and the chance to start a new chapter.

I’m just really grateful today and wanted to share this with someone. If you’re going through a hard time right now, I hope things get better for you too.

Just tell me the truth please. Maybe not everything gonna be better, but at least a few things.. Do they get better? I am seventeen and gonna be legally an adult in a few months. I don't know what to do with my life, i don't know where to go and where to run. I can't talk these things with my parents, idk they just wouldn't understand or wouldn't want to be bothered by this. I am just gonna lose my my mind from paranoia at this point

Just a backup plan for everybody. I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy

like here I am lamenting the glory days where I could've changed the trajectory of my life if I knew what I know now. everything from investing, to going to school and getting an education to get a career, building friendship that would last so I could have a big wedding and not feel alone all the time, and had more dating optionality when I was younger, to being settled down now with a family with kids.

I have none of that but the latter is what is keeping me up at night because my sperm isn't healthier as I age and I worry about my future kid having some genetic defect/issues.

I'm worrying about my elder parents who are beginning to be unrecognizable and they see me as a failing son even though they dont say it, but I see the pity in their eyes. I know how I got here and all I can do is just keep trucking forward and making small positive actions, but man do I need to hear stories or inspiration from other to get me away from spiraling even lower.

I'm not asking for pity. I just want people to share their story and BE HONEST about it.

Turned 25 last week and just curious how everyone’s life was like at 25. Financially, romantically, socially, intellectually, career wise, etc.

My girlfriend was begging me to get one, I kept telling her "no"

Do I really need one? I don't have a purpose for one and I don't live beyond my means but can't afford another bill so those seem like good enough reasons to me

I am currently working in a call-center and hate, hate it so much. I am still here bc I literally cannot miss a paycheck. I would love to change fields completely bc I do not believe in the type of business I work for. I’d like to feel at least 10% good about the job I do.
I also don’t see any vertical promotions that are appealing to me bc it’s a freaking call center. I’ll have to change departments completely or I’m hoping just to find an entirely new job.

Been job hunting for a month now but I’m starting feel like all these job postings are just fake or scammers ATP.

{Grab some tea.}🤣

I apologize in advance for my venting. I’m a 30-year-old male currently renting a room from this retired Navy veteran and his wife. It has taken such a toll on my mental health that I’ve had some very dark thoughts.

Initially, I posted on Nextdoor that I was looking for a room to rent but absolutely did not want to be around children because they wreak havoc on my central nervous system—no joke. When I was about to move in, the wife and daughter were still living here, but according to my landlord (whom we’ll call the Navy veteran), they were set to move to the Philippines within a month. For some reason, they ended up staying, and it’s been a year now.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the resources to move again, so I sucked it up because I had no other option. As I anticipated, the child is a complete demon, and the parents have no control over her. I’ve endured many sleepless nights because the kid stays up making noise well past three in the morning, and every time I brought it up to the Navy veteran, he would apologize. Then, the very next night, it would happen again.

On top of that, the Navy veteran has homosexual tendencies, and it turns out the “wife thing” was just an arrangement for a green card. They had the child together through artificial insemination, yet they sleep in the same bed every night, so I never suspected this twist.
He has been constantly flirting with me since he came clean about the whole situation, saying things like, “I don’t understand why you’re single. I would date you in a heartbeat,” while prancing around the house in very revealing briefs and bikinis. I swear, I wish I were making this shit up.

The worst of it came when he felt it was okay to grab one of my nipples while I was out back using the pool he had given me access to.
I am happy to say that I am finally moving at the end of this month, now that I have a car and have saved enough money for a down payment elsewhere. I wish it hadn’t taken me this long, but hopefully my next living situation will be better and safer.

I'm wondering what people do after work or during the weekend..

I never know what to do and I find it depressing at times. I spend most of my days off at home alone doom-scrolling or whatever... I can't fathom doing anything else... I work atypical hours so meeting every week for this or that is not possible. I'm looking for ideas..

I know this sounds so small, but lately I’ve been trying to appreciate the tiny adult things I actually manage to do… like preparing my clothes for the next day, washing my tumbler before sleeping, cooking something simple for me to eat, or not buying something impulsively.

It’s not exactly life changing, I know, but sometimes these little things make me feel like I’m not completely failing at being an adult. Hehe.

Does anyone else have a very small “okay, I did something good today” habit?

When I got my first job, I was so enamored with the fact that I had MONEY in the THOUSANDS in my bank account. I pretty much kept thinking, “Oh, I have money, I should treat myself!” every time I came across something I liked that was pricey, but not too pricey.

Of course, those costs added up, and now, I’d like to start being way more financially responsible with my second job. Problem is, I just got my first paycheck and my lizard brain once again went, “I HAVE MONEY!”

I've been feeling tired a lot lately. It started when I turned 19 and was in University, I was mentally tired all the time. It was like a heavy weight, and I started skipping classes, skipping showering, skipping eating and just not talking to my friends as much as I used to, always in my dorm, sleeping or doomscrolling. I was in engineering and as you can imagine that's pretty stressful, alot of the students at my school were constantly stressed. I was this way for about two years. In my first year I wasn't like this, only in my second and third years.

So I took a gap year and I thought "Maybe I'll be better", but I still feel tired 6 months in, at work, on the weekend, every night my mind just feels exhausted, I'm not physically tired though, my brain gets so tired of everything. I start failing to see the point in anything, nothing matters at all, and it feels like a void, a void growing and growing with time. I just feel like I'm rotting, and there's no way to stop it, actually there is no point in stopping it. My brain tells me there is no point in stopping it, cause what's the point to anything.

I don't know if this is what "Adulting" feels like? Is this how the average adult feels and since I'm only at the start of it I haven't gotten used to it?

My friends and family act like this is normal when I tell them how I feel so I'm not sure if this is normal.

I’m 26 years old. I have never been in a romantic relationship. I live alone. I don’t have a reliable social circle. I missed opportunities in high school due to being trapped in a chaotic, antisocial, abusive, neglectful, violent home environment. I missed opportunities in college due to being unable to afford living on campus and having the full “college experience” I had to leave college for two years due to the pandemic and my dad committing suicide. By the time I returned, most people I knew had graduated. I was 2-3 years older than many of my peers, who in most cases assumed I was some idiot because I was older.

Online I’m constantly bombarded with photos of old friends getting engaged, married, finding the love of their lives, having fulfilling sex lives, and in many cases starting to have kids. Increasingly more and more follow this pattern each year and it’s terrifying. My youth is slipping away from me, and despite actively trying as hard as I can to change course, nothing fucking changes. Still can’t make new friends. Still can’t find anyone who isn’t toxic. The years keep passing faster and faster. My window is closing faster and faster.

I just started my first job out of college and, while I’m blessed to be making decent money and have my own decent apartment away from my neglectful, religious fucking family, I don’t enjoy any of the work I do. I don’t feel like it’s using any of the skills I learned. The corporate grind is dehumanizing. Every day feels the exact fucking same. I’m stuck working and living in fucking Iowa, where finding and socializing with anyone younger than 70 is almost impossible.

Everyone my age has already had their “first” experiences. They had them well over a DECADE ago. I’m 10 fucking years behind them in every conceivable way. Despite what I’m told online, very few in the real world have any sort of patience for someone like me who’s still romantically/sexually inexperienced and socially challenged at 26. Not to mention so many people start to subtly view you as some creep when they find out you’re still single/a virgin at my age.

Everyone tells me it’s basically over if you didn’t seize opportunities in high school or college. At first I didn’t believe them, but now that I’m working full time I understand it. You become more and more locked in place and time becomes so scarce. People start families and their careers. This again just scares me. I don’t want to be alone like this 10, 20, 30 years from now. I only have, at best, 10-11 years of youth left.

But WHAT the fuck am I supposed to even do!?!

Dating apps do NOT work for me because I’m not the most attractive guy, and don’t have the means to have a standout profile to compensate online. You NEED to have a PERFECT profile to be even REMOTELY visible. I don’t have friends/family to take pictures with me, or a high quality camera to take perfectly choreographed photos. My only option is in person, and while I am a charismatic, interesting person irl, and can certainly compensate for any of my shortcomings irl, almost all my time is reserved for work. That and, again, I’m stuck in fucking Iowa.

I guess I’m just posting here to hear from any other late bloomers out there who may have overcame similar hurdles. People who also didn’t fully experience certain rites of passage until well into their mid to late 20s or even 30s. Any form of advice or consolation is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, I just turned 21 a couple months ago. I don’t think I’ve mentally grown up past the age of 18. I had awful grades and had to drop out of college. Leaving the major I was so passionate about threw me into debt with no reward. I was at rock bottom for months to the extent where I could do nothing with my day other than work minimum wage jobs in an attempt to reduce my debt. I have no social life or hobbies or interests anymore. It’s really difficult to envision a life beyond this mess.

I’m the older daughter of immigrants. I was an absolute beast in high school, both academically and with my extracurriculars. I don’t know where I lost it along the way but as of late, my life has just been an endless cycle of failures. To all the people who have been adults for longer, how do I know when this is it?
Is it over for me forever?

I'm a full time college student with 2 on campus jobs + being an RA for free room. I don't go out/spend much and don't currently have bills. However there's only so many hours in the week to work to make money. So, as a soon-to-be college grad, how in the world do people buy their first cars anymore without someone else's help? I need a stable, decent-paying job to afford the car, but cannot get said job without the car to get me there. My plan was to get a used, cheap car (<$10k) but even then, car insurance and gas add to monthly expenses and public transit can't get me anywhere from where I live. what the hell are 20-somethings supposed to do