Skateboarding for hours on end after school, roaming around the mall with friends despite having no money to shop, working your first job at a coffee shop and feeling invincible through it all. Being a teenager was an incredibly special experience, but at the time, many of us were fixated on fantasizing about the future. When I grow up, I’ll be able to stay out as late as I want!
The realities of being an adult often hit us like a ton of bricks, though. Suddenly, bills seem endless, and you realize that groceries don’t magically appear in your fridge. To help prepare teens for “the real world,” Redditors have been sharing some of the most important things young people should understand. So below, you’ll find some hard truths and sage advice that your teenage self may have benefited from hearing, as well as a conversation with Daniel Friedman of Modern Teen.
#1
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.
— Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Image source: iroh-42, RDNE Stock project
#2
You are better off being the naive idiot who’s always nice even to mean people than to be mean to nice people.
Image source: papparmane, Andrea Piacquadio
#3
$1000 is a lot to owe but not a lot to have…
Image source: more_coffeee, Karolina Grabowska
#4
During high-school learning how to learn is more important than anything you’re actually learning.
Image source: BittersweetHumanity, cottonbro studio
#5
Life never “settles down”. If something is important to you then you should get to it ASAP.
Image source: ThunderClap_Fween, Anna Shvets
#6
Don’t worry about not having the respect of people you don’t respect.
Image source: papparmane, RDNE Stock project
#7
Friendships take maintenance.
Image source: Designed_To_Flail, ELEVATE
#8
You can work hard and do all the right things and it doesn’t guarantee success.
You can be the kindest, best person for others, and they can still betray you.
But that doesn’t mean you should not be kind and work hard.
Image source: augustus331
#9
You know how sometimes you think to yourself “when I’m an adult and have my own place I’ll be able to do whatever I want”?
Make sure whatever you want includes doing the dishes
Image source: GlassPeepo, MART PRODUCTION
#10
PEOPLE LIE. Just because they’re an adult doesn’t mean they always tell the truth.
Image source: Tr33mari3, Diva Plavalaguna
#11
Document everything with your landlord. Keep texts, receipts, no oral agreements, and follow everything to the tenancy laws.
Image source: MangoBanana2012
#12
You are the main character in your story but You are not even an afterthought to 7 billion people.
Edit: 8 billion people, damn!
Image source: catdaddy-07, mauro mora
#13
Comparison is the thief of joy
Image source: Roskatey, Brett Sayles
#14
That sometimes you’ll only have yourself to rely on
Image source: Appropriate_Tea9048, Keenan Constance
#15
For better or for worse, confidence opens as many doors as competence.
Image source: EulersStolenIdentity, Vlad Chețan
#16
If you dont plan your own b-day parties you wont have b-day parties. Friends planing something for you are super rare. Its not like on tv. You have to make an effort to have a social life.
You ll have to work to have a good life and you ll be tired like you never have been before. It will make having fun and going out harder.
Enjoy being a teenager as long as you can. But dont try to fight becoming an adult, because it will just get harder and harder.
Image source: GemueseBeerchen, Polina Tankilevitch
#17
Everything is expensive when you move out
Image source: azmetrex, EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA
#18
There is a huge chance the people you call your closest friends now, wont be in your life in the upcoming years.
Image source: Flbudskis, Antoni Shkraba
#19
It’s okay to make mistakes but learn from your mistakes and move on.
Image source: ohmamia
#20
No one owes you s**t. Realizing this is what pushed me into being successful after being a jerkoff student all through school.
Image source: barkofthetrees, fauxels
#21
Nobody really knows what they’re doing
Image source: RealZeusWolf, Polina Zimmerman
#22
Get a good mattress, the best for as much as you can afford.
Brush your teeth.
SAVE MONEY
Exercise, eat well. (Don’t deny yourself eating c**p) just do it proportionally.
Make your bed every morning.
People are a******s. (You find out the ones that aren’t, keep them close)
Don’t try and please everyone.
Don’t take anything to heart, even from loved ones, you’re your own person. Know what to believe and appreciate.
Don’t get cheap toilet paper
Don’t get cheap washing up liquid
Learn how to change wheels on a car, bike etc.
Learn how to replace car bulbs, basic checks, how to use jump leads.
Learn to sew, to mend clothing.
SAVE MONEY
don’t get the ‘best’ of everything, get what you can afford without getting yourself into debt.
Learn to cook.
Learn to relax
Learn to clean
Look after your body.
Drink water.
SAVE MONEY.
Image source: cannibalcats
#23
Having a goal and a plan in life doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to work out, especially if you don’t come from money. It’s okay to fail. This world is kinda f****d up, and it’s not always your fault.
Image source: Spez_Guzzles_Cum, Timur Weber
#24
Your job sees you as replaceable. Look out for yourself and your family. Your job is not everything but it will feel like it is, make sure that if you don’t like where you are that you change it. Don’t be miserable at a job because it pays well
Image source: jo1336, Yan Krukau
#25
Society owes you nothing, and the universe is indifferent.
Image source: ReedBalzac, Alex Green
#26
The ones that’ll hurt you most are those closest to you.
Image source: bran094, Liza Summer
#27
1. You would be amazed at the things each person on this earth has had to overcome. Everyone has a story, everyone here has battled, and everyone is a victim of something or someone. Be proud of your survival and celebrate your birthdays.
2. We are complex creatures. We are not defined by any one action but by the decisions we make day to day. Of course, extreme decisions will sway the tides. Point is, someone can be nice and charming and wonderful and a hero, and also an evil opportunist in the next moment. Never give someone total control of your safety and well being. Rely on you.
3. Your body is a pathetic soft fleshy blob of helplessness especially when you’re driving 80 mph in a glass and steel death trap buffered by protective paint on the road. You can die. Painfully. Many have found this out the hard way. Don’t text, or drink and drive. It only takes a second of stupidity to end it all.
4. The good moments make everything else worth it. That’s why
Image source: crunchydogmom, SHVETS production
#28
The World does not revolve around you.
Image source: WOT247, cottonbro studio
#29
You are responsible for everything you do , and you will be held accountable. Enjoy your youth til 16 , because after that the kid gloves come off
Image source: Western-Monk-8551, Kindel Media
#30
No life plan survives contact with the real world.
We’re all basically just winging it.
Image source: go_zarian, Vlada Karpovich
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