r/Adulting • u/Admirable-Cat8305 • 12h ago

I think the best part of being an adult is realizing you can just leave.

Don’t like a party? You can leave.
Someone’s being rude? You don’t have to sit there and entertain them.
Want to eat cereal at 11 PM while watching cartoons? Literally nobody can stop you.
As a kid, I thought adulthood would be about having money and doing exciting things.
Turns out, one of the greatest freedoms is being able to say “nah, I’m good” and go home.
Obviously responsibilities still exist, but those little moments of freedom are pretty underrated.
What’s your favorite tiny freedom of being an adult?

145 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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7

u/NamasteNoodle 11h ago

I couldn't agree more. You nailed it. I am one who is never let any grass grow under their ass when I am no longer happy where I'm at. Doesn't matter if it's a party or relationship but when I'm done I'm done.

2

u/Admirable-Cat8305 11h ago

Exactly. My point.

11

u/Adept-Remove-8082 8h ago

Agree with this! i realized if i dont like you, then why am i still friends ill just leave. if i dont like my team at work then ill just leave or switch. So freeing I love it!

13

u/Subdued_Shinobi 10h ago

It still fills me with rage the lengths we go to just to deprive children of autonomy, like the sheer number of manhours and resources we use to keep them powerless is astounding.

One of the cruelest aspects of childhood is how you can experience some life changing traumatic event that had your cortisol levels equal to a soldier in an active combat zone and yet you just... go to school the next day. You could argue that it's the same with your job/responsibilities as an adult but you have leagues more control over your next 24 hours than you ever did as a minor. Within reason you're never truly captive anywhere.

5

u/SarahTheFerret 4h ago

Honestly even the graduation from [school bus ride to school] to [driving one’s own car to work] makes it so much easier to deal with horrible days as an adult.

5

u/The-Boy-Wonder38 12h ago

At 38 coming from a severely fucked up adolescence being surrounded by lethal violence and abuse, everything. It wasn’t until my adulthood that life gradually became better. Granted in comparison to a past that caused 100 trauma specialists to turn me away at the door saying that I was beyond their “qualifications” to even be able to treat.

2

u/ajfrutiger 3h ago

So sorry to hear that, my friend. Hope you're doing a lot better now

3

u/SingerBasic5055 7h ago

it took a long time to realize that after being raised by some controlling parents. but it was a relief to realize.

1

u/Dense_Translator_296 3h ago

Funny thing about being an older adult. As kids we'd lie to our parents to go to a party early. As older adults we lie to the other guests about why we have to leaver early. lol

1

u/theSuburbanAstronaut 1h ago

I like being able to just do things without having to explain myself to anybody.

Also, my washer is in the basement. So when I get home, I strip at the door and just toss them down the stairs. Then I wash the pile on the weekend. My mother would have killed me if I tried to do that as a kid. Ironically, I do laundry way more regularly now, simply because I'm no longer carrying the load down the stairs.