There are plenty of things no one tells you about being an adult, and none of them are all that pleasant to encounter on your own. But society wants to shame us for like, not wanting to grow up or whatever, so most of us just fake it ’til we make it.

These 13+ “grown ups” have no problem confessing the worst shock of stepping into adulthood, though, and chances are you’re going to find yourself nodding along.

#15. It’s going to drag a lot.

“There’s a reason it’s called work. I highly encourage you to find something that you’re pretty good at and you like more days than you don’t but even so it’s going to drag a lot- so maybe try to find a career that feeds you and puts a roof over your head. Most people don’t deeply love their jobs and that’s okay! It is not a moral failing.”

#14. On making friends.

“How hard it is to make friends as an adult.”

#13. What do I have to do?

“How to do taxes. I legit just one day had to be done. What the fuck is this my work is giving me and what do I have to do?”

#12. Eventually.

“Eventually you’re going to wake up in pain before you even start the day.”

#11. Your heroes.

“Most of your heroes growing up are pretty shitty humans too.”

#10. We are only guessing.

“Nobody really knows what they are doing.

When we are kids adults seems to have all the answers all the time, but we are only guessing.”

#9. Better pay attention.

“Health regenerates automagically when you are young.

Then one day you need to exercise.

If you don’t pay attention, and you miss that day, you Jabba.”

#8. Health insurance sucks.

“Trying to understand health insurance plans sucks.”

#7. No one asks you.

“How it’s expected that on your 18th birthday, you will magically have it all together, you’ll know exactly what you want to do with your life and how you’ll get there, etc. etc. And also how there are all these things you’re “supposed to” do (e.g. graduate from a 4-year college, get a cushy job in your field of study, get married, have babies, etc.), but no one asks you if you want to do any or all of those things, or if you’re happy having done them.”

#6. Money goes fast.

“Money goes fast. I make $240/month 1/4 goes to gas, 1/4 goes to savings, 1/3 goes to my doctors, and the rest goes to my share of groceries. At the end of the month, I’ve got maybe $50 in fun money, if I don’t have unplanned expenses.”

#5. Better off financially.

“How to manage money and credit. Had I known then , what I know now , I would be better off financially.”

#4. On lunch breaks.

“Even if you get a lunch break with your job, you almost never get to actually take a lunch break.”

#3. What you should be doing.

“Society isn’t always and usually isn’t right about what you should be doing with your life. EDIT: a word”

#2. More useful than algebra.

“How things like taxes, mortgages or credit scores work. Would have been way more useful than algebra 2 or geometry. Seen an insta post that speaks to me on a personal level “so happy I learned about parallelograms to prepare me for The upcoming parallelogram season”

#1. Keep learning new things.

“That you continue to learn new things, even into your adult years in the 20s, 30s(where I’m at in age now), etc. For example I didn’t finally get around to learning how to clean my clothes in the laundry, till my 20s. Yeah I know that’s probably a little late, vs. others.”