To ask how is adulthood different from what you thought it would be like as a child?

[Cordroy]

I never thought grown adults would have friendship issues.

How wrong I was 😭

Me too !!

I still think it’s 1983 now !!

I spent much of my childhood absolutely blindly confused by what everyone did and what I was supposed to be doing - following directions only to get it 'wrong' and feel as though I was never quite catching up with where I was supposed to be. It was ADHD.

Now I'm an adult and I understand myself quite well. I do ALL the things I wanted to as a child - I write books, I don't martyr myself to housework like my mum did, (and, as an aside, I used to ride my horse to the pub and shop and tie him up outside - never did a week's worth of shopping though, just a Mars bar and a packet of crisps, but we live in the middle of nowhere, so it's allowed).

I liked the carefree days of childhood and not having to pay bills and being allowed to play. But I much prefer adulthood because now I KNOW why everyone else is so confusing and I just go my own way and paddle my own canoe. It's great.

I grew up working class and I imagined adulthood to at least include a cleaner, a library room, and a constant and varying social calendar. I have no idea why, it's just what I saw for myself.

Unfortunately I'm an introvert with similarly introverted friends. Property is ridiculously expensive so my own private library will have to remain a dream. I could have a cleaner though, I just can't be arsed. Anyway, I can't complain! Life is pretty good.

I used to think that adults weren’t shy or easily embarrassed and that every adult got on, because it was only children who had arguments and that my parents got on really well with their siblings.

It’s only now I am that age I realise I am still quite shy and easily embarrassed, and sibling relationships are still hard!

This. This with bells on.

I HATE COOKING!!

I dreamed of being a doctor .. like Trapper John MD or St Elswhere… I thought I would spend my time making clever diagnosis and not worry about money.
in reality I am bloody exhausted and burnt out. I feel sad for the state of medicine and the poor care people get, I am the main income earner and a”part time” (if 40 plus hrs per week) GP income is very stressful and I worry about paying bills and my card got declined today.

Yes I thought this!

Congrats on qualifying tho - the medicine degree in itself iseens v hard!!

Thanks “Cordroy”.. yes it was. I still get a kick out of connecting with people and helping… am lucky in many many ways.

I remember thinking that when I was 30 and had 'achieved all my work goals' I would retire to the coast.

I assumed I would have life more or less figured out. Noooooooope.

I realised that adults don't know everything, what I thought was old, isn't, and some adults have never actually grown up at all, and I'm amazed how some actually function in life.

I just thought you grew old and knew everything.

I grew up believing/being taught that you did your A-levels, went to University, got a job, married, had children and that was it. My parents never told me that I could travel, explore, try a variety of different job roles...and so I never have done. I wish they'd told me how adventurous, thrilling, wonderful and intriguing life could actually be- but then they never came across that way themselves.

I know now, the rest is up to me!

Also, I thought adults never argued- my gosh how wrong I've been!! 😂

I don’t eat unlimited sweets and ice cream. And I do t stay up
really late!

Once I finally realised I wasn't going to grow up to be a fairy or a witch, I decided I wanted a nice office job, a family and a nice house in my home town (in the bit where all my posher friends lived).

I have a nice office job, a DH and DC, and am buying a house in my home town (but alas not quite in the posh bit).
I will live out my fairy/witch dreams by growing a bunch of herbs and trying to get all my friends to try my herbal teas!

At various points in my childhood I thought different things

I thought we would have large houses ( American style from sitcoms/ drama)
Space travel would be normal ( Buck Rogers/ Blakes Seven)
Travelling the world was no problem, just off you go on a train/ plane/ bus , no thought of costs/ fares
We would only work very part time or not at all, we were told computers were to take all the jobs.
Hobbies and leisure would take up all our time- see travelling
Children wouldn't change my life, they would fit in round us. < hollow laugh at that one>

I didn't think that I would be excited about eating courgette instead of sweets, nutella and chocolate bars.
Likewise, I thought I would spend my disposable income on toys.
I still do, to an extent, but for dog toys.

My expectation was also to drive a flying car. Still waiting for that.

Other than that, my life looks a lot like what I envisioned as a child. Unmarried, childfree, living in a cosy flat in a city, with a pet.

Well, I certainly thought I'd have a car and be able to drive. I'd even picked out the lovely modern car I was going to have, which is now really old 😄
I was going to have two girls close in age called Amy and Emily. I don't even like those names now, and I have a boy and a girl which I think is much better.
I didn't think I'd still be living in the same town, but I am and I'm happy here and will probably stay at least until we retire.
Obviously, I thought I'd have tonnes of money, but we don't live uncomfortably by any means.
And I don't have any of the various jobs I thought I was going to have. Nor do I have a house full of snakes, like I said I would have when I went through a particularly weird phase.

I didn’t think I’d have fucking back ache at 26 to be honest, I thought that was an “old people” thing. Never thought I’d eat vegetables of my own accord either, but now I love them! Even beets.

To be honest I don’t feel like a grown up even tho I’ve procreated (a pretty adult thing to do). I still regularly ring my mum and ask her things, I still get my dad to spell check important emails for me, my DP has to deal with anything spider related.

One thing I was right about is that I was adamant I would be married by 25. I actually bested myself in that department. I wasn’t fussed about weddings much but I was pretty adamant once I found the one I wanted I would lock him down asap. 😂

I’m relieved I don’t have to navigate dangers in everyday life like the SPLAAT and other safety videos we had to watch at school led me to believe . I was very cautious for a few years after we were shown those!

You were extremely lucky if you went through your childhood believing this

Just curious and totally unrelated, sorry - why do you call him your DP (darling partner) and not your DH (darling husband) if you're married?

A couple of my friends also call their husbands their "partner" and I don't get it 😄

the work thing 100% !
Why can't we just do our job and be left alone, let those who really want it do the fucking career progression plans and stop pestering the others!

I always thought that adults were always nice and reasonable with each other and never fell out. Especially over petty things that children do. Now I realise a lot of adults are worse than children with their petty squabbles and yet we expect very young children to just be reasonable and just to get over it