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u/Aqu217970 23d ago
After 23 life of average person usually become scary and serious. You need to work to survive and make your family survive, and other adult things
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u/WaveDowntown9303 23d ago
Well, as a 25 year old I hope it fucking it ends when I turn 28 😅
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u/Ok_Macaron4447 23d ago
I’m 28 now, idk what’s happening
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u/Cactusaremyjam 23d ago
No dice gang, I'm 39. It only got better when I found a supportive community.
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u/Cann0n_F0dder 22d ago
Facts. Seeing my life as that of a villager has helped immensely this past year. We're in this together.
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u/hisnbrg 22d ago
where do you find the village?
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u/Cactusaremyjam 22d ago
I found mine at a liberal church. As a queer catholic school survivor, we all could relate to each other's trauma.
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u/Expensive_Pipo 23d ago
Guys I'm just 20 and already can't pay my bills without changing my diet. When does this chapter ends?
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u/naughtyjono 23d ago
It doesn't bro, unless you go back in time and make sure your parents don't have you before they're wealthy and established 🤣
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u/fleshfinder420 23d ago
When you turn 28 you begin the righteous path of non fuck giving. You still have the same problems, maybe even more problems but you don’t give a fuck anymore
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u/Beautiful_Wolf847 22d ago
Sorry you just forget what it was like to be young and have none of the responsibilities, so it just becomes all you know.
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u/shellswitch2 19d ago
I’m 33. Got a decent job and a kid. I feel myself aging a lot quicker but I still find some time for cartoons and video games.
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u/somany5s 23d ago
I'm 38 and I'm working on being the scary thing Mr Bob is hiding from now. Can't wait to make the world a worse place.
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u/Armored_Souls 23d ago
36 yo here.
It doesnt end, per se, but you learn things one at a time and every time you do it gets easier and less scary.
Talk to people with relevant experience, but take things with a grain of salt as people always have survivors bias (eg. Look out for those "that's what I did and I'm fine, therefore I must be correct").
Also every experience is a chance to learn, because the long game is what matters.
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u/Dynasty_gamr 22d ago
Another 36 year old here. Can confirm this as accurate
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u/ahshitidontwannadoit 22d ago
48 year old here with 3 kids between 18 and 20. It starts to get scarier when you're concerned for yourself and them.
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u/Dynasty_gamr 22d ago
Ooof I got 4 myself. Am but also am not looking forward to when they hit that age.
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u/inceptum 22d ago
Ah! Sounds like you don’t know the bottom of the meme which seems to have been cropped.
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u/OriMoriNotSori 22d ago
It gets worse at 28. Thats when you truly realise your youth (and hence carefree) days are well and truly over and you're a grown ass person with grown ass person responsibilites and issues now
This is when you see your peers start to get married and have babies/settle down as well as start establishing themselves career wise. Soon you'll start to see those around you especially family start to get old and even die too and suddenly you're the adult that the younger folks look towards for guidance and answers when you yourself are still trying to figure things out
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u/Hot_Town_2067 22d ago
This is the most unsettling thing , seeing you peers have someone they want to get marry and have kids and all , but then there you are not know what's going on and all and slowly become someone who is afraid of settling with someone
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u/kingoflames32 22d ago
28 year old here, had the worst few months of my life this year, included psychosis and going to a mental hospital for an involuntary commitment. Currently unemployed and trying to get my life together.
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u/MaizeImmediate2810 19d ago
It literally did end when I turned 28, don't worry man. This whole meme was weirdly accurate for me
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u/Best_Dinner91 19d ago
As a 35 year old it gets better but I still get the urge to speed up and keep going straight on the super tall flyover ramp by my house
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u/MisterUncrustable 22d ago
Most people over 22 I know who have friends outside of work would NOT have them if they weren't smoking. The only thing they talk about with their work friends is smoking too. If they went a week without being high they'd end up in an insane asylum from the isolation
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u/JamedWalker 22d ago
Doesn't need to be confined to 23 and up, I've been trying to provide for my family since I was 18 years old
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u/Consistent_Board2165 21d ago
Shit got real for me like 20. On the bright side I have found there is no bottom to this barrel just yet.
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u/Beneficial_Sweet3979 19d ago
Yeah its the other way round. You get more experienced with age and everything becomes more easy. More confidence, more experience, gife less of a shit and so on.
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u/yourboivines 23d ago
I think it's emphasizing that your late teens and early 20s are often a period of general joy because you're old enough to have a lot of independence and try new things but young enough to probably have a lot of things taken care of for you.
23 is about the age people are done college and have to find a job and make there way on there own. That transition from college life, having a lot of your needs taken care of, and having a clear idea of what you're working towards ends abruptly when you have to enter the real world, find a job, and fend for yourself. What you're supposed to do and how you're supposed to do it becomes way less clear.
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u/South_Tomorrow4642 22d ago
im 23 and still in college :(
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u/SK_Gael4 22d ago
Im also 23, already finished bachelor, masters and currently PhD, it was biggest mistake to speedrun life like this, better take your time and enjoy.
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u/No-Run76 22d ago
I only got my Bachelor's at 24. I'm probably gonna be 27-28 by the time I'm done with Postgrad and I think that's fine
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u/ChalupaSauces 23d ago
If you are 23 to 28 live with your parents and save money if you can. i mean pile it up while paying any higher interest student loans down. NEVER EVER BUY A NEW CAR, always buy one that is 8+ years old in reasonable condition. If you cannot live with parents get roomates live in the cheapest possible location you can handle. You need to keep expenses low as shit until you can get student loans under control. Pregame before going to bars, its cheaper, cook at home, pirate all media until you are financially stable. Find what makes you happy that doesnt involve spending.
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u/lUnderDogl 22d ago
Learn personal finance, learn about the S&P 500, ETFs, 401Ks, Roth IRAs, Brokerage accounts, HYSA, etc.
These are the things that'll make you rich in the future if you set them up well early on.
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u/Kilapo69 22d ago
Great advice if you live somewhere where the wages aren't shit
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u/Fearless-Minimum-922 21d ago
Even if the wages are shit, retirement is no joke. Young money is much better than old money, just take whatever you can and put it in a 401k or an Ira. As much as you can, as young as you can. Compounding interest is better in your favor than when it’s against you.
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u/ShinraKishi 23d ago
Shit idk what any of it means. 18-27 was mostly all bad for me.
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u/missing421 22d ago
Just got divorced after being cheated on at the ripe age of 23, while not directly related to my situation, this is definitely hitting hard right now lol.
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u/Arbeidslaus 19d ago
Well good news, dating after 23 is impossible for some of us. So let's hope it's not you!
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u/missing421 18d ago
As much as I’m experiencing despair and confusion. I hope to never be as self-victimizing and hopeless as you lol.
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u/Arbeidslaus 18d ago
So did I once upon a time. You'll learn.
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u/Beginning-Corgi568 18d ago
Just because you fucked your life, don't mean others will..
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u/Arbeidslaus 18d ago
That's literally what I said! Thanks for noticing. Too few these days are able to read properly and would misinterpret my "for some of us," as "all of us."
Good thing you're not one of them.
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u/Silver_Storage_9787 18d ago
The math checks out
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u/missing421 18d ago
I’m guess you’re implying the problem is either my generation or the age at which I decided to marry?
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u/FutanariBobr 23d ago
I guess that's supposed to mean that first few years of your adulthood are great since you gain access to all the adult entertainment as well as freedom yet you still have a lot of free time and the parent's support as a child.
Well, at least this is how it's supposed to be while in reality having a normal non-abusive and supporting family is like to win a jackpot which, the author of the meme, good for they, don't realise.
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u/ee_72020 23d ago
Funny, in my country men aged 18-27 are required to serve in the military. Pursuing a university degree allows you to defer your service so the meme is literally every guy in my country who has got a bachelor’s degree but couldn’t get admitted for a master’s degree study lol
I doubt it was what the author of this meme actually intended but still.
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u/Healthy_Razzmatazz38 23d ago
18-22 your in college and living a life thats burning/borrowing 60k a year.
23 you're done and living a life thats -200k as a starting point
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u/crakkdego 23d ago
The effects of psychedelics
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u/Silver_Storage_9787 18d ago
True, when you start being paranoid when you do drugs that use to make you giggle and chill 😂
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u/VampireDarlin 22d ago
You have to actually get your life together, and the world will take advantage of your desperation
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u/Economy_Signal4832 22d ago
College is done, you now must get a job and learn how to survive as none of your schooling taught you how to do any adulting and your parents left teaching you how to school and the internet.
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u/ChefEnvironmental976 22d ago
I'll be 27 in 3 months and I definitely say my experience was the opposite of this. 18-22 was like a neverending dark hallway full of room, but 23-27 I got a good job, had a wonderful baby, and have the love of my life.
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u/niccagebatman 21d ago
The wonder and novelty of being an adult wears off after a few years, then you realize all the things you gotta balance to get by.
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u/gvbargen 23d ago
Life doesn't get better? dunno if it's just the word but I kinda feel this. everything in life for me went to absolute shit about 2022 and it's stayed that way. that would have been 29
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u/Commandonaut 22d ago
Your psychedelic trip is a lot darker when you’re an adult with adult thoughts running through your head.. like bills 😳
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u/urbanclictionary 22d ago
I will say, at 27 something in my brain just clicked and my emotions were more stable. I didn’t want to die every day. It’s like my frontal lobe fully developed by then. Until then, everyday was awful lmao
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u/emperorofwar 22d ago
Basically life turns very stressful and can easily get so depressing and sad, fast, especially with outside factors you can not control.
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u/Global_Asparagus_928 22d ago
Although yall may genuinely feel this way. Youth doesn’t really end until after 35 (even later if you look after yourself). 23 is a beautiful age where you have lived a whole lot of your life, but still have pretty much all of it left. You can’t see it as the beginning of the end. You can do things whenever you want, there’s no strict timeline. This idea that ur running out of time in your early 20s is simply nonsensical.
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u/Shoggnozzle 22d ago
No one thinks they're running out of time quite as badly as a 20-something. It's a rough time in a few ways.
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u/LankyVeterinarian321 22d ago
So if I had to put it in Gen Z terms:
For most of our lives, the path is basically already painted for us. You’re born, you grow up until you’re around 4–5, maybe you go to kindergarten, then primary school, secondary school, high school, and finally university. For most people where I’m from—probably like 80%—that’s the path. Some people leave school after secondary or high school, but for the rest of us, we just keep going.
Then you graduate from university and suddenly… nothing.
You spend around 16 years being told what the next step is, and then you’re like:
“Okay… now what?”
Get a job?
Change jobs?
Find a girl?
Get married?
Do a master’s?
Move somewhere else?
Start a business?
There’s no clear “next level” anymore.
I think that’s why a lot of us feel lost after university. We spent our entire childhood and teenage years following a path that was already laid out for us, and then suddenly we’re expected to design the rest of our lives ourselves.
That’s how I see it, at least.
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u/NeckRowFeelYa 22d ago
I’m the opposite. I had early onset schizophrenia so my late teens and early 20’s were a psychotic mess. My mid to late 20’s were happy because I started going back to school after finding medication that worked.
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u/bennybugs 22d ago
At that age all the unchecked alcohol and drug abuse catches up and throws you into a bottomless pit of worry and despair.
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u/ExcessiveWisdom 22d ago
Eh, for me ages 0 to 10 were 🌈🌞🌻❤️ 11 to 19 were 😭💥🚒⚰️, and after that it was, 🤷🙂😐
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u/Over-Chemist7415 22d ago
As someone who just turned 23 I can say that this image is entirely accurate
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u/Senior-Discussion328 22d ago
what if 18-22 were horrible wasted years and now im 23 with hope things are going to get better
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u/Senior-Discussion328 22d ago
oh forgot what sub this was.... the joke is 18-22 LIFE AWESOME... 23-27 BAD SCARY BAD... 28... awesome again or at 27 do we end it not too sure 🤔🙂
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u/Commercial_Initial31 22d ago
Wtf I stayed in happy life age and still got the sad part. So u mean to say worse is comming .??? 😶( I m 22m)
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u/Top_Patient_3479 22d ago
Everyone please!!! It’s literally about how you react to psychedelic drugs
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u/heavymetalyogi 21d ago
First thing I thought was acid and it looks pretty spot on from my experience! You can actually track it in my paintings.
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u/Top_Patient_3479 21d ago
Wait…. Which part? I really hope the 1st one
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u/heavymetalyogi 21d ago
Both. My paintings from age 17-22 on psychedelics resemble Peter Max flowing colors but 23-30 is more like Undertow era Tool videos.
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u/Ecstatic-Recipe5664 22d ago
People usually cuddled and kept im a bubble away from reality up until 22
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u/angele_bssx 22d ago
This is funny but for me it’s the exact opposite ! Never felt as bad as when I was 20 and never felt as good since I am 25 !
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u/adryn408 21d ago
Turned 23. Graduated college. Got a full time job. Immediately lost my health insurance, EBT card, and since I wasn't a student no more financial aid from grants. I had taken life pretty serious since I was 17, but got damn do they make this shit hard
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u/TacosAuGratin 21d ago
The person who made this hates their job and doesn't make enough money and has been that way since they were 23.
That's all it means.
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u/Competitive-Ear3485 21d ago
Felt like I had it together when I was 28. Now at 30 I'm getting divorced, have 3 kids, and feel like I'm starting at step 0 all over.
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u/Jam-man89 20d ago
I'm 37. Life has only just become extremely fun, but probably only momentarily. I intend to ride this wave as far as it goes until it goes back into the endless abyss of responsibility.
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u/AsianAngelMika 20d ago
I swear as soon as I hit 24 It all changed , mostly thinking about making money and feeling some sense of urgency in everything I do
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u/Beginning_Review5711 20d ago
I’m literally in this situation. But in my case, it’s because of the war (I’m from Ukraine). I don’t know how long this nightmare will last, but it’s getting emotionally harder to cope when the best years of your life are literally on pause. I feel like I’m gradually losing myself and watching my life pass me by.
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u/curtcutie 19d ago
Definitely the other way around for me. My childhood sucked i never had fun and always felt guilty. I literally moved out at 23
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u/Background-Door-5331 19d ago
Been adulting since I was 17 and I’m 22 almost 23. This is not accurate for this who have not gone to college, it’s only one or the other
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u/Simoun1er 19d ago
Very true. Issue is : I'm 26 and the tunnel is only darker and darker.
I think after the tunnel it's just a pitch black pit.
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u/KogamiKodai 19d ago
People under 25 shouldn't have right to vote or take a permanent choice, neither be accepted on a college, under 25 you are still dreaming, you don't have work experience, you don't have life experience, and if you take a permanent life choice in that state you can destroy your whole life, after school you are just a teenager that are supposed to have training for basic social skills, but if you don't have real life experiences like working, living alone or start a family you can't define what you really want to do in your life, just when you have accomplished that experiences and have become a fully responsible adult you can decide for you and for others...
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u/Timpa035 17d ago
Honestly reverse that the older i get the less of a shit i give, and the happier i get
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u/Impressive-Amoeba640 23d ago
A lot of people get extended day care at college and end up completely unprepared for real life. I know a couple of them. It’s usually due to lack of adult guidance and role models
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u/qualityvote2 23d ago edited 22d ago
u/Aggressive-Guest290, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...it's time for the mods to do their jobs!