What is the one thing you did not plan for when you got older?

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  2. Honestly, I didn’t plan to live long enough to consider myself “older”. But here I am..

  3. USA, property values skyrocketing. Property taxes much higher, retirement in my own home much more difficult.

  4. Didn’t expect my long-term girlfriend to split with me so suddenly, we were long-distance and I transferred universities to partly be with her. I was going to move institutions anyways but going to where she went was definitely part of the appeal of the school.

    Broke up very suddenly and moved back home and at my 3rd school in 4 years. I only now have 30 credit hours of 120 for my degree but I’m loving my campus community and my education more this year than the last 3 years of my degree. It was something that I wasn’t accounting for but it worked out.

  5. Having a baby at 43. Very much unplanned and unexpected. Wish I paid attention in sex-ed class.

  6. The soreness.

    I’m trying my best to get back up to a 405 lb deadlift, which isn’t even *that* heavy but it has been incredibly difficult. I’m only 33.

  7. How much money bills actually take away from you. I earn decent wage and 60-70% is gone on bills every month. Not much fun.

  10. How much fun dad stuff & domestic life is. Kids are the best and all the “boring” middle age stuff that I used to think was dumb and lame is actually really fun and awesome.

    I do sometimes still miss going out all the time, living in the city and all that… But being married and having kids is ****ing awesome.

  13. I never planned to become a DILF, but here I am, father of three, and I can’t take my kids to the park alone without a single mom or two trying to flirt with me.

  14. The complaining. Everyone I talk to is complaining about something. I’d love to talk to someone who is happy about something, anything. I start every conversation with “hey what’s new and exciting!” And it’s always “nothing” followed by complaining. When did positivity become passe?

    Edit: the irony of me making a post complaining about complaining is not lost on me. My old man yells at cloud moment.

  17. How all your friends fall off the map. It’s not like they intentionally don’t talk to me, but everyone becomes so busy with their own lives that the good old days of just texting or calling someone and going out that night or that weekend are no more. People move away, get married, start families. It’s a slow and insidious killer. Suddenly you realize that everyone is gone. Everyone is around until there is no one left. You don’t realize it while it’s happening.

  19. Realizing that the climb up the corporate ladder is hollow and not worthy of basing your personality around. Even with a high level of success you will become very irrelevant at some point. Make sure you are not known only for what work you do.

  26. pretty much all of it. I didn’t save money when I first started working, didn’t have a plan, didn’t make the healthiest choices.

    I landed on my feet all right though, by God’s mercy I have everything that I need when I need it. Be it a job, home, food in my belly, companions, etc. I may not have a million bucks in my bank account, but I also don’t have all the stress and worry associated with that million bucks.

  28. When I was young I used to think I’d ‘get with the plan’ – career, house, wife and kids, etc. Now Im older I realise that stuff is for the herd. It dawned on me that I’ll never partake in the social contract of being an adult. The attrition, the hardship, the never ending work, bills, kids, bills, responsibilities, the idea of self-esteem being predicated largely on external judgement etc. I work an easy, low wage job and rent a room. You couldnt sell me the ‘adulting model’ no matter how hard you tried.

  29. Finding a job without some sort of certification or higher education requirement. Would have been stuck working retail or warehousing had I not gone back to school

  32. One of my friends is getting married and it’s the most I’ve seen everyone since high school.

  33. My up-close eye sight going. I always saw my parents with their readers and thought that would never happen. Welcome to your 40s.

  36. How much my desire to improve myself would flag when I got into my mid 30s. The real world has a way of sucking your love of life out of you and all you want to do is the minimum and go sleep as much as possible.

  37. Everyone told me this but I did not listen. If you don’t make the effort to stay in shape when you were young it gets way harder when you’re older, and you generally feel like shit also. If I could go back in time I would have built better eating and workout habits at a younger age.

  40. How much impact an elderly parent with long term, failing health issues can have on your life. Literally becomes a full or part time job taking care of them. That impact your ability to make money and maintaining relationships. The emotional and mental strain is high also.

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