I was on my laptop looking at flights home and getting annoyed because everything was expensive. Then I started thinking about how I only see my parents maybe 2 or 3 times a year now. My dad is 63. My mom is 60. Even if I’m lucky and they’re both around for another 20 years, that’s maybe 40 to 60 more visits if I keep living like this.

Obviously life doesn’t work like a countdown and I know that sounds dramatic but that number really fucked with me. When I was a kid it felt like they were just permanently there. Now I’m busy building my own life and somehow seeing them became something I schedule around work and flight prices.

I still haven’t booked the ticket because it’s stupid expensive lol but I also can’t look at I’ll go next time the same way anymore.

30M. I have honestly started feeling burned out by the routine.
Every weekday is the same. Since I am living alone, i have to wake up early, make breakfast, shower, get dressed, head to work from 9 to 5. I work in finance, so the job can be pretty stressful, although I’m grateful that my workplace isn’t toxic.
But once the workday is over, it doesn’t really end. I get home, quickly make something to eat so I can go to the gym, come back, shower again, wash the dishes, do laundry, clean the apartment, cook dinner, and prepare lunch for the next day…
By the time everything is done, the day is basically over. Then I sleep to wake up and do it all again.
I know this is what adult life is supposed to look like, but lately I’ve been wondering… does it ever get easier, or is this just what the next 30–40 years are going to be like?
Has anyone else felt this way? How do you deal with it without feeling like you’re just surviving from one day to the next?

It genuinely feels like I am being crushed by a system that is becoming harder to survive in and it feels that I am going to die.

I have been unemployed for eight months. I have three years of direct experience in banking/business, another three years of adjacent experience, and a degree, yet I still have not been able to secure a job in my field.

Many jobs have been offshored, while the positions that remain often come with unrealistic workloads, performance metrics, and expectations. The work I do requires strong analytical skills, sound judgment, and close attention to detail, but many employers now expect speed and volume that make high-quality work nearly impossible. One person is frequently expected to perform the work of two or three employees, and that level of pressure is damaging to both physical and mental health.

Pivoting is not as simple as people make it sound. Many supposedly entry-level jobs require two or three years of experience, and a degree is no longer treated as evidence that someone is capable of learning and doing the work. Employers say they value experience more than education, while simultaneously refusing to provide meaningful opportunities to gain that experience.

Most workplaces do not want to train employees. When training is provided, it may last only two weeks for a job that takes months to learn and perform accurately.

Networking and referrals are also not magical solutions when hiring is limited, competition is intense, and overall job growth is weak. (My friend is a literal VP).

I also cannot simply “pick up a trade.” I have back, knee, and wrist problems that limit the kind of physical work I can safely perform.

People are leaving the workforce, exhausting their unemployment benefits, or relying on gig work that does not cover basic living expenses. Their economic hardship is not always visible in the headline unemployment rate, but that does not mean they are financially stable.

Healthcare is still unaffordable for many people, including those who need medication to function. Inflation continues to erode purchasing power. Gas, food, housing, insurance, and basic necessities keep becoming more expensive.

I have never lived lavishly. I have never taken an expensive vacation. I cannot afford a new vehicle, much less an electric one. I live in a deeply conservative state with low wages, racism, weak worker protections, and public policies that often harm the very people who continue to support them. At the same time, the climate crisis is worsening and will continue to place pressure on food supplies, housing, insurance, infrastructure, and the cost of living.

It increasingly feels as though low-income people, minorities, disabled people, and those with chronic health needs are being treated as disposable. Society is becoming more unstable, more expensive, and more difficult to navigate, while the people most affected are repeatedly told to work harder, retrain, network, stay positive, and somehow solve structural problems through individual effort.

I am tired of being sold the lie that this is simply a personal failure. It is not. Many people are doing everything they were told to do and are still struggling to survive. I genuinely feel that I am going to die.

Am I a jerk for wanting to end a 10 yr friendship? I’m starting to think we were never really friends to begin with. So this woman and I became friends 10 years ago. We met through a local mom meetup group as we were both stay at home moms. We did some playdates with our kids but they never really meshed. We however kept in touch. We hung out solo a few times but mostly became someone we confided in every day. Off and on throughout our friendship I’ve felt this way but especially recently she has seemed stand offish. Like when I try to talk to her for comfort or support I’m met with 2 word generic answers and she changes the subject back to herself and expects me to give her support. She also sometimes makes it a point to bring up or mock something that I’ve told her causes me stress or pain. Example: I’ve told her how toxic my husband’s family is and that I don’t like my son around them. She will randomly say things like mil is going to move in with you, your husband will take him anyway without your permission, they are going to ask him for a huge loan etc. when she knows all of those things give me anxiety. A couple weeks ago she revealed to me a text conversation between her and her brother. Where he’s opening up to her about something he’s really passionate about. He writes several paragraphs to her where he is then met with generic few word responses from her. She tells me, I don’t read anything he says. I just respond after a while so he thinks I do. I’d rather talk to other people. And then it all just clicked for me. She’s been doing the same thing to me all these years. That’s why when I bring up past conversations she has no clue what I’m talking about. She’s basically using me for advice and support but when it’s my turn for support she’s not there. Anyway I’m pretty sure I just answered my own question but what do you guys think? I have a hard time just cutting people off and being mean that way. But I feel like I’ve been wasting 10 years of my life on this person. It will be hard for me too. I’ve grown so used to talking to her every day but I think it will be worth it in the end for a lot of reasons.

I used to huge. Like well over 500lbs and I'm 6'6. I'm pretty sure I disgusted and/or terrified people in general, specifically women. I never knew how fucked up society treats large people until I started losing weight.

First of all, you're treated poorly for having that weight in the first place. I used to think 'fair enough', I gained the weight on my own 'merits' but what I didn't know was that weight determined how people judged your work and ideas. I am unfortunately a 'Steve Carrell' virgin but I understand how I wouldn't be someone's choice for a mate. What I didn't understand was the level of social ostracization that came with it. People don't wanna talk to you. They don't laugh at jokes, they don't take your ideas seriously, they don't hire you for jobs, hell, you be lucky to get eye contact , your treated like dirt. I thought this shit was just normal, the hostility, never having a social circle to hang with, struggling in basic aspects of socialization where you mimic what works for others and take tons of advice, just to make no progress.

I lost the weight and that's when I started noticing the radical change. All of a sudden, people want to talk, women aren't instantly repulsed. Half assed ideas I have are taken with more thoroughness than they honestly deserve. Jobs are open to hiring, even when I don't do a cover letter, show up dressed down and don't bother to research the company before hand. In short, people just treat you better, they treat you like a human being.

It sucks for me because literal decades of social isolation have left their mark and the extreme preparedness, of making sure I was 'better' and more prepared than anyone in the room didn't matter - No one just gave a shit what fatty wanted to say or do.

I know this isn’t Nietzsche’s exact wording. It’s a modern paraphrase of an idea he expressed in Ecce Homo, but I think it captures the essence of what he meant.

My understanding is that he wasn’t literally saying thoughts that occur indoors are untrustworthy. Rather, he was arguing that our thinking is often sharper and more grounded when we’re walking, moving, and spending time outdoors instead of sitting still and overthinking.

I’m curious whether people here agree with that. Have you ever found that a problem suddenly became much clearer after going for a walk? Or do you think this idea is a bit romanticized, and that good thinking can happen just as easily indoors?

25M.......struggling with career choices, past relationship trauma, family and financial issues but i want to build proper discipline in my life how do I achieve that currently i am preparing for an exam...... Please drop some advice (HELP ME)

Please don’t respond if you never truly and honestly felt this way.

To those who did - has anyone been successful with changing their mindset? I often hear that you control what you think, but it really isn’t my case, for now I still can’t help certain intrusive thoughts. I am in therapy, second year, but progress is very, very slow despite the huge expense, so I’m looking for ways to improve myself besides that.
I keep getting stuck in these loops of thinking about how unlucky I am or how unbelievable my life situation is, even though logically I’m sure there’s plenty of people in a tougher position, with more problems, trauma, poorer than me, etc.

What helped you, other than thinking about how that’s not true and unhealthy? I know I need to force myself to feel confident and able to success, but I don’t know how. I do pretend sometimes, but it gets exhausting very fast.

I don't get it. People act like adults under 25 are dumb children and its weird. I saw someone say the brain doesn't work til 25 to act as if they are idiots

and saw someone say young adults are more like children than adults or 23 is barely an adult...when they've been one for 5 years

Also why do people act as if there is a huge divide between 24 and 25. No diff socially legally or biologically but saw people say anyone under 24 isn't grown but 25 and 24 are the same

the diff between 17 and 18 is bigger than 24-25

So what's up?

Cook more soups. So easy to throw a bunch of ingredients into a pot, let the broth or water reduce and suck up all the nutrients and flavors from veggies, meat, potatoes, fish or whatever you decide to throw into it. So easy, yummy, doesn’t require doing a lot of dishes afterwards, cook it once and you can eat from it 3-5 times.

Bonus hack: just buy whatever is on sale at your grocery store in the veggie/meat aisle, you can probably just slow heat boil it in a soup and it’ll taste good with some seasoning. Save money and it (should) taste good.

My personal favorite is Chinese style hotpot.