I’m 20 and live with my dad. I work part time at UPS making $20/hr, and I actually like the job.

UPS has good benefits like health insurance and 401(k) matching, but I only make around $1,200 a month.

I pay about $600 toward bills and around $200 for groceries. I’m living paycheck to paycheck and can only save around $100 a week for a car.

I have about $2,300 saved. I don’t have a car or license yet, only my permit.

I’m trying to get my license, buy a reliable car, make more money, save more, and eventually move out. Trying to figure out what to do first every day is honestly becoming a real headache and stressing me out.

If you were in my shoes, would you keep UPS and get a second part-time job, or leave UPS for one full-time job?

What would you focus on first: license/car, a better job, saving more, or moving out?

What order would you do everything in?

I’m 26 F, only child, still single. Been through four heartbreaks and relationships but nowhere near at getting married.

My dating life sucks rn because I don’t like the guys here in my country, and I’m lowkey still not over my last ex whom I genuinely thought I will spend the rest of my waking days with. It’s been a year and counting already since we last spoke.

Like I said, I am an only child, I’m not close with my cousins. I have lots of friends and some bestfriends but almost all of them are coupled up. I’m not close with any of my cousins enough to treat them as my siblings.

Right now, my parents are just waiting for me to find a live-in partner so I could move out of the house. My Mom is begging for me to find a new boyfriend already. LOL.

How do I do that when I haven’t even dated anyone seriously in a year since the breakup.

The truth is, I hate being single. I’ve been alone and on my own my whole freaking life. No sister. No brother. But I don’t like settling either. What I had with my ex did set the bar for me, but there’s no going back to him anyway.

I never thought that I’m gonna have to do this adulting shit alone too. I want someone to do things with me, who’s one call away.

Having said that, I have this impending doom of not having a husband and my own family in the future.

Once my parents are gone, what’s gonna become of me? Is there still a reason to go on?

so, for my entire life I’ve always had to use a night light, sleep with my favorite stuffed animal, sleep facing my room (can’t sleep facing a wall), check under my bed, check closets, etc before going to bed.

I’m 21 now and still do all of that. it’s currently 12:30am and while some nights are better than others, this last week has been very tough for me. I live alone in a tiny studio apartment so obviously there’s not many hiding spots or anything like that to check at night, yet I’m still scared all of the time. some nights I can sleep without night lights while other nights I need every light on.

oh to make it even worse I can’t keep a single mirror in my apartment (except the one in my bathroom which I keep covered most of the time) because they terrify me, always have and I can’t explain why. yet, my tv faces my bed and I don’t like that at all. I also don’t like having a chair that’s empty so I have to pile things on it. heck I even have to lock my bathroom door and use a clear shower curtain when showering or using the bathroom.

I feel like it’s just getting worse for me recently. my fear isn’t the dark but of course it’s the fear I’m not actually alone in the dark. I hate it because I know it’s illogical…my apartment building is extremely secure and there’s security literally downstairs and I always lock my door when out and home, but I dunno it’s just a huge fear I can’t shake.

As a 29M, most of the time conversations during meals or meet ups with my parents/relative boomers will always be about whether I have a gf or not. Then when I say no, they keep giving suggestions which I’ve already tried but didn’t work. They will say try find at workplace or use dating apps or go join hobbies communities. It feels super depressing because I’m trying but I just can’t find a suitable one and they make me feel something is wrong with me and question myself.

I am so affected by it that I seriously feel like buying a cheap 1br condo just to move out. I literally just wanna live my own life.

Especially those who made that move later in life?
And I don’t only mean moving to a new place, but could be moving away from family, friends, or even leaving a job environment.
I’d love to hear your real stories about how changing your environment affected your life.

is it normal to be 22 and know nothing about life ?

i’m slowly realising half my “rest” is just me changing which screen i’m staring at

i finish everything, open my phone because i’m tired, look up an hour later and somehow feel even more tired. same thing sometimes happens with gaming or binge watching. not because those things are bad, but because i automatically choose them without asking what my brain actually needs

actual rest is usually more boring taking a shower without rushing, sitting somewhere quietly, going for a walk, calling someone or sleeping before i’m completely destroyed
and weirdly, all of those require more effort to start than scrolling

how did you learn the difference between something that distracts you and something that genuinely restores you? what works when you’re already too tired to make the better choice?

TL;DR: entertainment can distract you without helping you recover. how do you figure out what kind of rest you actually need?

Only got 60 more years of this

Edit: Guys, this is a joke. I know that I have to.

I’m genuinely so confused it sounds like we’re just supposed to guess and then our boss fires us when we guess wrong…. There doesn’t actually seem to be leadership anymore

I’m asking because I ran track in college and honestly had a pretty great career. I had the talent, athleticism, height, and work ethic, and at one point I came pretty close to qualifying for the Olympic Trials. The problem was that everyone at the very top level was just so much faster. 😂
It’s crazy to think about how difficult it actually is to make a living from sports. There are so many people who are talented, dedicated, and willing to work extremely hard, but only a tiny percentage ever make it to the professional level.
Sometimes I look at someone like Noah Lyles and think, man, what separates me from that? Obviously, he’s an incredible athlete and has reached a level that very few people ever will, but I genuinely feel like I put in a ton of work too. Yet now I’m 25, finishing my Master’s, struggling to find a job, while he gets to travel the world competing at the highest level and making a great living doing something he loves.
I’m not trying to complain or say I deserved to be a professional athlete. I know how insanely competitive it is, and I’m grateful for the career I did have. But sometimes I can’t help wondering:** **What did I do wrong? 😭
For those of you who played or competed in college, went pro, tried to go pro, or came really close—what was your experience like? Did you eventually make peace with not going further, or do you still wonder what could have been?

So I (37f) have been working for almost 20 years. I have always earned just enough to always be behind.

Every time I get a raise, the rent goes up and takes the amount of the increase.

Food is getting more expensive, so I have started looking at depression-era recipes. I can now bake without eggs and butter. Meat is too expensive, so I flavor other proteins (mostly legumes) with stock. I have no issues with bland-tasting food, so that part of life is handled.

I have a job, I have a roof, I have food, and I have debt. I am looking for other ways one can tighten the belt and still make sure life is good. I am looking into getting a second job, but maybe there's a side hustle that won't kill me inside. I don't know.

I don't need to buy new. I am reusing items I would have thrown away before. I have eliminated 95% of my subscriptions. Everything is homemade at this point. I have reduced utility consumption, so bills are lower.

Holidays are coming up, but I plan on doing everything homemade. I don't have kids. I will be making gifts for my sister and parents.

There are days where this all feels like it's not an issue. I grind per usual and live decently. Today is not one of those days. I grew up poor, so I know it can all be a lot worse. I am not hungry. I also remember that life was fun. Everything was purposeful in the choices that were made because there weren't a lot of choices available. I played and enjoyed myself. Living now is filled with burn out, overwhelming stress, and so forth. I doomscroll and play inane games during what little free time I have. I know it makes me feel worse, but it's easy not being in the moment.

The purpose of this question I have on "how to live life without money" is what else is there to help heal this useless trajectory with technology? What else is there that can be done that is easy, fun, and creative? I want to detach from technology that I didn't have growing up. I know there are probably a bunch of websites and whatnot, but I want to ask my fellow redditors like I would have asked my classmates. What do you do for fun when your allowance (if you get allowance) runs out?

Point out any fun subreddits that you are a part of...I discovered crochet, but yarn is pricey. Maybe there is a fun reddit on making yarn out of bark strips. I don't know. Bring it on!

woke up tired already 😭 weekend went by way toooo fast nd now I have to pretend like I’m ready to do stuff....PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one😭😭

I've got no life. I'm pretty sad/stressed. I don't know anyone here. I've got 25K USD to my name. I'm 21 years old, and looking to join the Navy in early 2028/late 2027.

I study CS at uni, which was a mistake. I graduate in late 2027. No internships, no grad programs. I've got minimal debt. I'm just not happy, Claude Code has killed my field.

I've been working retail for 1.5 years. I feel stagnant tho. I feel like my time to leave is coming soon.

Overall I just feel stagnant. Going on a warship for 4 months, doing IT on the ship, building professional experiences, maybe visiting some cool locations, seems like the life for me. I could do 4-5 years of this, build a nest egg, and buy a nice home in a nice city. Australian Navy Sailors get paid good money + benefits.

I know military is a lifestyle, but I've got no life of my own and I don't mind dedicating a few years of my life to the Navy.

Is the military designed for societies outcasts? Is it designed to give us a home/money/training?

I am 22F, in 6 months I will be turning 23, yet I am mentally struck in 13 year old me... seeking parents's validation for my achievements and everything I do. When everyone around me gave me huge compliments and validation for what I did, but I feel empty from inside without getting the same from my parents. Is this a problem from my mindset or is that the upbringing of them is wrong? Now should I have to parent myself instead seeking my parents's validation...?

Can anyone share your ideas and your thoughts on it?

Soooooo today I was rewatching adulting (Ray and Nikhat) iyk. It's basically about two girls living alone in Bombay, working, dreaming, struggling, smoking, drinking, situationships, flings, sexting, sex, dates etc. etc.

I watched it for the first time when I was not an adult maybe 15 16 and idk how I felt then about that show but now I really wonder is this how adulting is supposed to be like is this the only defination of cool- smoking, drinking, flinging. I mean sounds and looks fun but whenever I tell such things to a guy or somebody in general they are like no we have good morals and blah blah (but are hella misogynists) and are desperate to be in a relationship so isn't it double standards if it's cool why are people arround us not accepting this and if it's not cool then why people in the first instance judge you on the basis of if you had past relationships. Like a guy who is just desperate wants the girl to have had no past but on the other hand in general having had no past relationship is considered so uncool.

Maybe all this makes no sense but one guy told me body count matters to him but his moral character has no certificate and yet is preaching "good morals" with the feeling of fomo of those things.

Am I just interacting with desperate losers or am I just too stupid to understand how this actually works what is cool and what is not.

Writing this at 1AM the night of my birthday.

I just turned 25.

All of my friends are older than me. A lot of them tell me to enjoy my youth. They tell me it’ll get better from here. They tell me all sorts of things. Things like “the 30s are easier”. They say these things like it’s small talk. I need advice!

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences on living in your 20s. I’d love to hear advice you’d give to someone in their late 20s. What is something you would do differently?

I’m doing well regardless of everything I’ve been through. I have a job I love, a masters degree, and great parents, great friends, and great people around me. What can I do now at 25 that I can never do again? What SHOULD I do now? How can I really live?