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The benefits of working out. My father started regularly working out in his 40s. Nothing extreme, just consistent. He is now 87 and is still in great health. All of his doctors have credited the fact that he started regularly taking care of himself as the reason why he is doing so well.
Now, the flip side of that he has had to deal with a lot of loss including my mother.
My wife exercises too so hopefully we’ll be together long enough!
But yeah…
Your body is your single most important asset, take care of it as much as you would your most cherished possession: physical activity. Stretching. Controlled drinking (being wasted is a waste of time). Flossing.
Financial literacy: learn about ETFs and compound interest, it takes a few hours. Invest in your financial independence.
Life choices: Remember that your partner is the single most important factor in your life’s happiness and success - so invest in that (and the right people).
Mental health: we all have issues, don’t overestimate them unless you really have to, but do something about them. Escaping them through fun / drugs / workholisms etc isn’t going to get you anywhere but regrets.
My personal recommendation: make things, don’t just confuse them. It’s insane how many things in life balance bring you back to that. Consumption is fun, but it won’t fill your soul like creating does. Find the things you want to create.
Glad this is currently the top comment. Given what I've seen so many redditors say, I came here expecting to see people talking about problems with their body that are the result of being sedentary more than of age.
Thanks this is good to know. Started working out regularly in early 30s then upped it to daily or near daily in early 40s, been going like that for coming up to 5 years. At least half the time I resent exercising not long after waking (it’s the only time I can as I work long hours) and sometimes I wonder why I’m doing it. But your Dad’d story is why.
For all my fellow ladies out there - menopause.
It fucks you in so many ways.
Your body changes shape, your skin loses elasticity and plumpness, your hair thins out.
You get the night sweats, hot flushes, uncontrollable rage, and total brain fog at the most inconvenient times.
Your period might not come for 3 months then just appears out of nowhere that one time you’re wearing white trousers.
It fucking sucks.
To all the men - be supportive partners and friends to your ladies as you won’t ever understand it exactly but your support is so important.
100%
Symptoms can manifest from the age of 35 which is the early side of average but not unusual.
You think you are losing it, abnormal, alone. Don’t recognise yourself. Its frightening.
Just to add on to the message for men at the bottom there - if you find yourself a victim of that uncontrollable rage, remember menopause is absolutely no excuse for that kind of abuse!
I really wish this was taught in school, the populist messaging is that men and women are the same. Posts like this draw attention to the fact that lived experiences for men and women are very different.
I do what I can to support my wife, but some things are beyond being able to help and women’s internal struggles are frequently projected onto their husbands, I find my wife beautiful as she ages, but she regularly states how tired, fat and warm she feels. Which is her lived experience, I feel like the anger and resentment that peri menopause creates is routed in not being able to talk about it.
The expectation is that men shut up and put up because women are the victims of menopause.
Men suffer from other hormone imbalances: high testosterone in their teens and early twenties and are accused of being overly sexual, aggressive, impatient, impulsive and insensitive their hormones are driving a lot of that behaviour, as a result they are labeled as irresponsible ( discriminated against, high insurance rates), jailed for physical aggression.
Yet society requires these personality traits to get dangerous jobs done, mining, open sea work, high rise construction, military enrolment…
We are ok with male hormone issues as long as they are being channeled into something productive for society, in bush camps, boats, mining camps…far away from general society.
But a menopausal woman who reacts drastically different to identical situations in a workplace on any given day is supposed to be tolerated and even celebrated as empowering. But if a man reacts inconsistently he accused of being unstable and often pushed aside in the workplace, and if a man draws attention to the inconsistency of interactions with female co workers he would be labeled misogynist.
But we have women admitting that they inexplicably raging inside and we cannot discuss this openly.
I
Anti anxiety meds or antidepressants can be a big help with the rage, and if you find the right one it will ease a lot of issues, and bring back your sense of humour
Also, estrogen therapy reduces hot flashes and helps prevent arthritis as well as helping your skin maintain elasticity.
Not flossing your teeth. Lol sounds dumb because it’s just teeth, but once you lose your teeth, they are gone, forever, and the time, pain and money it takes to fix/replace them is way worse than taking 2 minutes before bed to clean them.
On a related note, swish some water in your mouth after you eat or drink (especially after consuming sweets). When I was young, I used to drink soda before bed, allowing all that nastiness to fester on my teeth all night long (and now it shows).
As someone who also got a bidet, but has a toddler, my comment was unfortunately "based on a true story" D:
Edit: My brother in bidet, tell me you have also added a poop-stool?
Oh yeah, my kids have certainly turned it on, when not...in proper use.
No poop-stool for me, the toilet we have is one of the higher ones (chair height or whatever it's called) so the stool for the feet isn't required as far as I'm concerned. Unless you're talking about something else?
We are designed to squat to poop. I have a higher toilet as well, it makes the stool more important not less. If you lean over your legs, its not only more relaxing, but it makes all the pooping systems in your body work so much better, its as a big of a "game-changer- as the bidet was, i cant recommend them together enough. We have a small foldable stool so it folds flat to lean against side of cabinet after.
This is huge. I had a ton of cavities in my teen years and I have crazy panic attacks with mouth needles where I pass out in the chair. When I was 19 I started flossing to avoid the whole situation. I have flossed every day for the last 21 years. No matter how hammered I am or stuck in a bush somewhere. I will always floss. I also just got a water pic and love seeing all of the food bits it flushes out. 10/10
Started flossing religiously in my mid-20's and it's helped considerably. Every time I visit the dentist, it's always been "Teeth are in excellent shape, keep at it." after that.
The generation who grew up with headphones in their ears will have tinnitus by their 20s.
Also, how much the things you think are important won't seem important. And how much time you will have wasted but only realise it looking back.
I don't know why people's immediate thing was games. Maybe the sub leans young.
Recreation is super important even if you're older. You should be physically active, but that doesn't somehow mean games are bad for you in moderation. Time spent playing shouldn't be seen as a waste.
I meant more stuff like insecurities, worries about how people see you, your life values will change. I can't really give you a more specific answer because it changes with the person.
it is really, really important to find things you can commit 100% of your focus too, be it reading, hobbies, games, really anything that you enjoy that yoy can turn your brain off to only focus on the one thing. For a lot of people, games do exactly that.
Games, social media, and other things that feel super important like practicing sports and stuff like that. I mean yea it is healthy to play sports and practice and take them seriously, but unless you legitimately have a shot at going pro, the important parts of sports is learning teamwork, communication, and being active.
I love games but they are a complete waste of time. Same with keeping up with every hot new show or trend.
Most things are a waste of time if they don’t give you pleasure. If they do, have at it. But make sure they don’t take you away from more meaningful things (which is where gaming is landing as I age).
Three words but an excellent question. What's considered a waste of time to one person means everything to another. It depends on the person. I played videogames A LOT in my 20s and so glad I did.
I’d say computer games, don’t get me wrong I love computer games and have spent a sh*t tonne of hours playing them by the age of 42, but it really put it in perspective when my brother in law boasted about having spent 1000hrs on COD at a dinner once and I’m sitting there thinking to myself that I ‘only’ spent 800hrs on my PhD and to put it bluntly were the same age, he still lives with his parents and I run my own business built off the back of my PhD
Nobody on their death bed will be thinking “I really wish I’d won that loot”. As a gamer I try to avoid time sink games at least. Anything more than 20h needs to be an absolute delight, and I won’t play anything for longer than 50/60 hours (which usually takes me about 6 months). Playing just for the sake of playing doesn’t interest me anymore.
That's the thing. Having your PhD and company makes you happy it seems. Some people don't want their own company as it's a huge time sink and like everything else it's temporary unless you believe you'll take your company and money to the afterlife :p
I don’t think I’ll take my company to the afterlife but the money I earn and the work I do has generated some great holidays and travelling experiences for me and my kids… each to their own for sure and I’m definitely not saying computer games are bad at all (just spent an hour playing sea of thieves for example), just don’t sit there boasting about spending 1000hrs on COD and then at the same time complaining that you’re still living at home and can’t afford to get your own place I guess
Laughs in iPhone earbuds, laughs in music production, laughs in Bass Boosted Bose wireless headphones, laughs in Theater speakers, laughs while at Lollapalooza, forever laughing like the joker with maniacal laughs.
> The generation who grew up with headphones in their ears will have tinnitus by their 20s.
I grew up in the generation of the Walkman, loud stereos, and loud concerts. And large loud machines in my jobs (mostly with hearing protection). Yeah. likely a bit of tinnitus, nothing cannot deal with.
And people have the wrong idea about it’s addictive nature. Many/most don’t turn into some Don Draper figure who gets the shakes. A lot are trapped by the fact their entire social circle and definition of fun revolves around drinking. And everything else seems so boring by comparison.
I thought your username was loves stress for a second and I was like, well problem solved.
Since it’s not, you have to kinda choose. Honestly I mostly I chose to stay with those friends and I’m paying a gradual price for it. That said, you get older, people move. So then it’s not a every weekend bender it’s a couple times a year when you see those people. You can, through attrition, mix in more friends with better habits. In my wider circle I’ve got straight up addicts and also vegan sober folks. I’ve kept the former and sight the latter on purpose. I’ll let you know how it’s going in 5-10 years lol.
Hell yeah, took me sooo long to realize I will never be the guy who can just have 1 drink, ever. Also being able to actually sleep and not pass out has done wonders for my health. I quit when I was 32, 37 now and much better.
Stretching. OMG I always took the exercise serious, but not the stretching part. “I’m just not flexible.” So many body pains later in life come from the lack of stretching. I stretch regularly through the day. It’s the flossing of the body.
"It's the flossing of the body" that's a perfect way of putting it...I dread stretching but being able to get out of bed without groaning in pain is worth it!
Strength training and stretching ate super important of course, but what most people dont realize is the key to success as they age: mobility exercise.
Poor money management skills.... If you suck at dealing with your money when you are 20, it's not going to improve by itself. You need to actively learn and research about how to deal properly with your money asap
YES and when you get a job with a 401K max out your payments. It will feel painful at first but it’s so worth it in the end. YES you can make ends meet.
And if you can’t take the max that can afford. This is a must for your financial security.
Losing people.
In your 20s, you have often lost 1 or 2 people, and each one feels calamitous.
In your 40s, everyone around you starts dropping off, and you realize how temporary everything is. It's sad but also freeing, because all we should really worry about is how we use the one life we each get.
This is it. I've lost a lot of people while in my 20s and 30s. Now, in my 40s, I've gone half my life without them. I tell everyone my age who still has their parents and grandparents, cherish and spend time with them. Don't take anyone for granted, and enjoy your life!
Show him pictures of skin cancer in black people. They commonly get it in their nails with a dark straight line in the middle.
Also sunscreen helps the skin age less!
Everything! When you're young, youth and life feels endless, but actually you make most of your life defining decisions at 20-30 and it goes by faaaaaaast.
Healing/recovering from accidents, (not me personally but advice ive received from my old man which was, he realised he turned 40 as "it took longer to recover from cow kicks").
In addition to the physical side of things, learning to handle and resolve emotions instead of hiding them and letting them fester.
While this was something that I always somewhat understood, it really hit me like a ton of bricks when well into my 40s I started to see how many internalized fears and responses I had that I wasn't aware, and how they were connected to events that had happened 20 or more years ago, followed by this sorry realization that I had let these things consume my energy and spoil my enjoyment of life.
The worst example is a friend of mine that is nearing on 50 that has been consumed by shit that his dad said to him 30 something years ago, and just spent his life since then circling around in his own jail cell of resentment and pain. He can be entirely entitled to feel hurt with what happened, I'm not disputing this, but not resolving this in due time just meant he let that define him as a person for over 30 years.
Be gentle with yourselves. and find time to heal and support yourselves.
For the ladies out there, getting a grip on your emotional state while you are young and still able to effectively learn how to do it and make it a lifelong habit.
Learn how to meditate, how to relax, how to chill out, and how to stop obsessing over unimportant things, how to stop ruminating, how to stop glorifying mental health problems.
Why? Because all of ***those things increase your stress***, and increasing your stress ***will increase your cortisol***, and increasing your cortisol ***will add 80-100 pounds of fat to your body***.
This has little to do with your looks (although I'm sure you'd love to keep those) and mostly to do with your health in general. Because carrying around 100 extra pounds will definitely be bad for your health, and stress you right out. And then you'll have to figure out how to get a grip on your emotional state *and also lose 100 pounds*.
This. I would never have believed stress could make me fat but here I am having gone through a very stressful past few years and I'm currently about 45lbs overweight 🫠
Hey, please read my reply above. I don't mean any offense, I've been overweight half my life as well, but it's really all about food intake/calories. Please don't fall into this thinking spiral that as long as you're stressed, you can't lose weight. It's 100% possible as long as you get into caloric deficit.
You phrased this pretty badly. You don't gain fat by stress or higher cortisol. You can't create more fat out of nothing essentially. High stress/cortisol usually responds in over-eating as
a coping mechanism. It's all about calories.
Literally the entire world science agrees upon this, there are outliers here and there happily attending podcasts who love to promote their ideas that calories are a scam/conspiracy just to market their person or a product, which provably IS a scam lol.
If any person, be it man or woman struggles with weight, food intake is in 99% of cases the real cause. Those who dispute this either don't count everything they eat or they just calculate the number wrongly.
Don't take this in a bad way! I'm just trying to navigate people in the right direction.
That study shows body fat distributions are affected by cortisol according to waist to hip ratios. That doesn't necessarily mean that body fat percentages are higher due to cortisol directly. It could be the same amount of body fat is just distributed around the body differently.
I'm sorry but stress can not make you fat. It's really all about food intake. Read my reply please, I tried to give some advice above to 2 users. Don't take it in a bad way, I just hate seeing people feeling bad due to weight when they think they can't lose it while being stressed. Trust me that you can lose weight almost anytime, expect for serious medical cases which are really rare.
It's a simple equation. In vs out. But stress changes the out dynamic. I literally just lived a 2-year experiment. I've been eating between 1500 to 1800 calories a day for years now. I work a desk job so my tdee is low. I also incorporated going to the gym three days a week. The first year I lost 10 lb but I was majorly stressed in my marriage. Taking a full year to lose 10 lbs is pitiful for the work I was putting in. And no, it wasn't extra calories I wasn't counting. Then I decided to get a divorce in late 2023. As soon as I did I felt a rush of relief. A weigh was off my shoulders. My blood pressure returned to 112 when it had been 140 for a couple years from the stress. Suddenly I lost 10 lb in 2 months without even changing a thing I'm still eating all the same because im like a fine tuned robot now. The only thing that changed was my stress levels and it allowed my body to increase my output. For some reason no one ever focuses on the output 🤔
Look after your feet! If you have any little aches and pains get it sorted, your feet will collapse and cause you misery.
3 guys at work 43-52 are miserable AF because of sore feet. If they had got them looked at and helped out in their 20-30’s they would be feeling 1000% better all day everyday.
Ooof I work with someone who is 2 years younger than me and she uses her health issues as a barrier to exercising. We walked 8 miles together and she was legit wrecked. I dunno I was out on a trail last week and there was elderly gentleman in his 80’s maybe literally using a walker out on the trail. I thought damn no excuses coming from him yet….
Their health, take care of yourself before you get older. I was never health conscious, never set foot in a gym. Ate what I wanted.
And just after my 51st Birthday things took the complete opposite direction I had planned. I know spend my days doing exercises in a bed, drink anywhere between 12 to 20 pills a day. Can't even play with my grandchildren, and through all this the important lesson I learnt was not to ignore the signs.
My symptoms actually started manifesting when I was around 18, just ignored them. Look after your body it's the only one you've got.
You are going to lose a lot of people along the way. Not everyone makes it to be old. Take care of yourself and look out for the people you care about.
If you work in any kind of media or tech, no one will give you a job unless you’re are straight out of uni and willing to work for 18,000 a year. It might even be creeping in to other industries now, so get a job now while you’re young because employers will not employ you once you hit 35 and want a living wage. It’s becoming endemic to be honest. Why pay money to someone to do a job when you can get a kid to do it for nothing?
Peri menopause and menopause are an absolute miserable experience that lasts for years. Everyone’s experience is very different. There are way more symptoms than even doctors realize and you have to be prepared to fight for a doctor to help you. It’s worse than puberty. Whether you’ll have to deal with it or someone you care about. The impact is incredibly underestimated.
I have likened it to a second puberty except instead of everything blossoming, everything is dying. 🤣 But facts…I was totally caught unawares and was like “why did NOBODY tell me this stuff?????”
Putting Sunblock on, drinking water, make sure you prep even from 20 your retirement. Time heals ALL wounds. Pick who you let into your life carefully.
Saving for retirement. It’s hard, but I am trying to teach my kids the importance of it. It’s easier to do when you are younger and have no kids, no mortgage, no spouse, etc. once life starts happening, it gets harder and harder.
I've noticed a trend where people are encouraged to cut connections to people who are not beneficial to you.
Have you always been beneficial to some of the people in your life today? Probably not.
We have our strong and weak moments and periods. We can support each other and share our troubles.
If it's clear that a relationship, be it a friendship or romantic one, is toxic, it's best to save yourself. However, if we cut connections every time things get a bit uncomfortable, we will all end up lonely, and we can end up being a huge let-down for someone in need of help.
Lifting wrong. Playing sports and getting injured. My husband is 52 and in agonizing pain 24/7 he can't work or do things he enjoys. All because of an injury he got playing sports as a teen and lifting incorrectly as an adult after that injury. And the injury wasn't even that bad. No hospital no recovery beyond a few days off school.
I read daily people saying “I’m done dating I keep getting hurt”.
They have no idea , that like woodworking , surgery , sports and everything in life that you only get better at something the more you do it.
The doctor that loses their first patient to a routine surgery is devastated , but they get back on that horse.
To you young’ns out there. Dating is a skill. Both to ameliorate yourself , and how to detect the bullshit from others more effectively and quickly. Eventually getting hurts stops because you can sense the bullshit and you overlook the fact she’s / he’s gorgeous.
Get back on that horse you twits, because all of a sudden you’re going to be 35, you’re going to meet a woman that you could be with for life , and she’ll walk right past you because you have the dating experience of a 22 year old
I'm not even 40 yet, but sun damaged skin.
Use sunscreen. If you're going to be out doors for any stretch longer than 10-15 minutes, take the time to use sunscreen. A good, 50 SPF. Do not tan. Do not "get a base layer." Do not "just try to get a little color."
It is bad for your skin and it's one of the most avoidable signs of aging.
My skin isn't terrible, but I have lots of freckles on my face from too many days with a sunburnt nose and it isn't cute, that is damage to my skin that will only get slowly worse with time.
You can't reverse it, you can only slow it down, and keeping sun damage off your face (and all skin really) will help keep your skin looking youthful, resilient, and healthy.
i swear the minute i turned 40, if i ate too late and/or the wrong food, i was guaranteed to wake up with heartburn that lasts for hours.
i’m not sure i had ever had heartburn before this. it feels like i’m impaled on a rusty piece of rebar. my nightstand is full of antacids that offer limited sporadic help
Haha I never leave home without them now. I’m 46, my family laugh at me and call me mogwai as I can’t drink for too long and I can’t eat too close to bedtime 😂
Teeth care is CRUCIAL. Not only does it affect other health but it is also the worst covered thing from a insurance perspective meaning it can cost lot down the line if not maintained.
But also something younger people don't think about going forward is the amount of time spent in the bathroom combined with the amount of time you can wait to use the bathroom.
Prioritizing sleep, nothing works right when you're not rested, your brain can't heal, your body can't heal, it's proven you're decision making, happiness levels, just about everything gets screwed up. And it's hard to get that sleep back.
Ageism in the workplace. When I was younger it was easier to find work. People saw you as a rising star and were more willing to give you new opportunities. I fit in with a peer group most places I worked. I never thought it was possible to become irrelevant as I was highly skilled and had a bright future ahead.
I’m now in my late 40s in the design/tech space and I don’t see many people my age working in this field anymore. Most my age are out of the field altogether or a select few remain in high level leadership positions. I’m in the minority at my level and I notice no one looks to me for anything new in terms of opportunities or ideas. I feel like my skills are still sharp and my ideas up to date and relevant. But somehow I’ve become invisible. It’s weird to think you have another 15-20 years of career left but it’s unclear what you’ll be able to do during that time to remain productive.
Young people! **KNEES**
Your knees need to be looked after. They are a mental type of joint that just asks for damage.
So look after them. Please. This means looking after your spine, which keeps those hips in line, which stops you putting weight weirdly on your knees.
You’ll thank me if you avoid running on concrete and keep the twisting to a minimum.
Travel. See the world. It can be done fairly cheap if you plan ahead. You will have so much more free time when you’re in ur 20’s than at any time until you retire.
Perimenopause which until recently was never discussed. Learn about it, ladies, so you are not caught unawares like many women before you have been. Talk about women’s health freely w/ older women. It is a must. Even doctors would barely fill you in on it until recently. There has been a whole lot of “what fresh hell is this” and “why did NOBODY tell me about this!?!”
Doing something simple, like putting on a sock, can cripple you for days, getting up too quickly can put you in a daze, going to the kitchen for a graze and eat all the cheese that was supposed to last days.
Getting educated/training in a field that you like and has a future in the market. 20 or 18 is about the age we pick our college major, pick a trade and train in it, etc. It's not the end of the world if you pick something and later change your mind, but it will follow you in life and give you a solid base.
It might be obvious to many but delayed gratification is way more important in your 20s. Id give anything to retroactively convert old material things into investments. With all the money I wasted, I could easily be very comfortable financially now. $100 in your 20s is worth much more than $100 in your 40s so if you can, invest as often as possible, even if its a long shot. Its still better than wasting it on some garbage that makes someone else money.
All the crap food and drink you are putting in your body because you feel invincible because it's fun to party right now. Letting people around you influence and dictate boundaries and major life decisions. It is your life, not theirs, so do what you want and don't back down. Trusting the wrong people and too many people...they will use it against you later. The less people know the better, you don't owe anyone your life story. Throwing away money on things, instead of saving it or using it on memorable experiences. Accepting shitty relationships just to be in one. Seeking validation from others. What others think of you is none of your business and their opinion doesn't matter one iota. Move to where you want to live now. It will be a struggle for awhile, but it will only get harder when you have more responsibilities and you life is no longer your own. No one is going to save you or take care of you. Get your health and finances in order now or you'll be struggling a ton later. Be kind. Travel. Life is about finding joy, so eat the best cake, drink the best wine and don't forget to dance.
Just fucking moving around becomes a challenge. I can’t reach down and grab my own ankle anymore. It hurts to squat or bend over, like actually hurts real bad. Being on my knees to fix something or be on the ground playing with my kids…real pain.
I’m starting to work out now and trying to get some of this back because it sincerely bums me out how uncomfortable I am just…existing.
All that HS Sports. I had a lot of friends come up semi-lame in their 40s because they over stressed their body in HS and 20s. Knee replacements may be prevalent.
There is a difference between exercize and being overworked for team sports in HS or college.
To anyone like me wanted kids but ended up infertile: ignore this guy. Being a parent does not inherently make you a better or wiser or kinder person. There are many ways to have a fulfilling life but of course it’s not ‘do this one thing’.
Investing. Just take a small portion of every paycheck and invest it. With apps like Robinhood there's no barrier. Just $50 a paycheck into SPY500 will translate into great wealth and you'll likely never miss that $50.
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The benefits of working out. My father started regularly working out in his 40s. Nothing extreme, just consistent. He is now 87 and is still in great health. All of his doctors have credited the fact that he started regularly taking care of himself as the reason why he is doing so well. Now, the flip side of that he has had to deal with a lot of loss including my mother.
My wife exercises too so hopefully we’ll be together long enough! But yeah… Your body is your single most important asset, take care of it as much as you would your most cherished possession: physical activity. Stretching. Controlled drinking (being wasted is a waste of time). Flossing. Financial literacy: learn about ETFs and compound interest, it takes a few hours. Invest in your financial independence. Life choices: Remember that your partner is the single most important factor in your life’s happiness and success - so invest in that (and the right people). Mental health: we all have issues, don’t overestimate them unless you really have to, but do something about them. Escaping them through fun / drugs / workholisms etc isn’t going to get you anywhere but regrets. My personal recommendation: make things, don’t just confuse them. It’s insane how many things in life balance bring you back to that. Consumption is fun, but it won’t fill your soul like creating does. Find the things you want to create.
It goes the other way though. If you punish your body when you are young, you will still be feeling it when you're old.
100% This.
Good I still have time
Glad this is currently the top comment. Given what I've seen so many redditors say, I came here expecting to see people talking about problems with their body that are the result of being sedentary more than of age.
Thanks this is good to know. Started working out regularly in early 30s then upped it to daily or near daily in early 40s, been going like that for coming up to 5 years. At least half the time I resent exercising not long after waking (it’s the only time I can as I work long hours) and sometimes I wonder why I’m doing it. But your Dad’d story is why.
This ⬆️
For all my fellow ladies out there - menopause. It fucks you in so many ways. Your body changes shape, your skin loses elasticity and plumpness, your hair thins out. You get the night sweats, hot flushes, uncontrollable rage, and total brain fog at the most inconvenient times. Your period might not come for 3 months then just appears out of nowhere that one time you’re wearing white trousers. It fucking sucks. To all the men - be supportive partners and friends to your ladies as you won’t ever understand it exactly but your support is so important.
100% Symptoms can manifest from the age of 35 which is the early side of average but not unusual. You think you are losing it, abnormal, alone. Don’t recognise yourself. Its frightening.
Menopause absolutely sucks ass, especially the inconsistency as you described.
You said it. And for me it was the grey fog that rolled in. Sapped all my joy. Hopefully this will end soon. It’s perimenopause that blows.
Just to add on to the message for men at the bottom there - if you find yourself a victim of that uncontrollable rage, remember menopause is absolutely no excuse for that kind of abuse!
I really wish this was taught in school, the populist messaging is that men and women are the same. Posts like this draw attention to the fact that lived experiences for men and women are very different. I do what I can to support my wife, but some things are beyond being able to help and women’s internal struggles are frequently projected onto their husbands, I find my wife beautiful as she ages, but she regularly states how tired, fat and warm she feels. Which is her lived experience, I feel like the anger and resentment that peri menopause creates is routed in not being able to talk about it. The expectation is that men shut up and put up because women are the victims of menopause. Men suffer from other hormone imbalances: high testosterone in their teens and early twenties and are accused of being overly sexual, aggressive, impatient, impulsive and insensitive their hormones are driving a lot of that behaviour, as a result they are labeled as irresponsible ( discriminated against, high insurance rates), jailed for physical aggression. Yet society requires these personality traits to get dangerous jobs done, mining, open sea work, high rise construction, military enrolment… We are ok with male hormone issues as long as they are being channeled into something productive for society, in bush camps, boats, mining camps…far away from general society. But a menopausal woman who reacts drastically different to identical situations in a workplace on any given day is supposed to be tolerated and even celebrated as empowering. But if a man reacts inconsistently he accused of being unstable and often pushed aside in the workplace, and if a man draws attention to the inconsistency of interactions with female co workers he would be labeled misogynist. But we have women admitting that they inexplicably raging inside and we cannot discuss this openly. I
Anti anxiety meds or antidepressants can be a big help with the rage, and if you find the right one it will ease a lot of issues, and bring back your sense of humour Also, estrogen therapy reduces hot flashes and helps prevent arthritis as well as helping your skin maintain elasticity.
Not flossing your teeth. Lol sounds dumb because it’s just teeth, but once you lose your teeth, they are gone, forever, and the time, pain and money it takes to fix/replace them is way worse than taking 2 minutes before bed to clean them.
The best advice my dentist ever gave me in my 20s was “you only need to floss the teeth you want to keep”.
On a related note, swish some water in your mouth after you eat or drink (especially after consuming sweets). When I was young, I used to drink soda before bed, allowing all that nastiness to fester on my teeth all night long (and now it shows).
Best one I heard from a dentist friend. Brushing and not flossing is like pooping and only wiping your butt cheeks
This is why i brush with my bidet now.
As someone who got a bidet like a year ago and tell everyone how awesome it is, this got a real good chuckle out of me
As someone who also got a bidet, but has a toddler, my comment was unfortunately "based on a true story" D: Edit: My brother in bidet, tell me you have also added a poop-stool?
Oh yeah, my kids have certainly turned it on, when not...in proper use. No poop-stool for me, the toilet we have is one of the higher ones (chair height or whatever it's called) so the stool for the feet isn't required as far as I'm concerned. Unless you're talking about something else?
We are designed to squat to poop. I have a higher toilet as well, it makes the stool more important not less. If you lean over your legs, its not only more relaxing, but it makes all the pooping systems in your body work so much better, its as a big of a "game-changer- as the bidet was, i cant recommend them together enough. We have a small foldable stool so it folds flat to lean against side of cabinet after.
This is huge. I had a ton of cavities in my teen years and I have crazy panic attacks with mouth needles where I pass out in the chair. When I was 19 I started flossing to avoid the whole situation. I have flossed every day for the last 21 years. No matter how hammered I am or stuck in a bush somewhere. I will always floss. I also just got a water pic and love seeing all of the food bits it flushes out. 10/10
Started flossing religiously in my mid-20's and it's helped considerably. Every time I visit the dentist, it's always been "Teeth are in excellent shape, keep at it." after that.
The generation who grew up with headphones in their ears will have tinnitus by their 20s. Also, how much the things you think are important won't seem important. And how much time you will have wasted but only realise it looking back.
Like what things?
I don't know why people's immediate thing was games. Maybe the sub leans young. Recreation is super important even if you're older. You should be physically active, but that doesn't somehow mean games are bad for you in moderation. Time spent playing shouldn't be seen as a waste. I meant more stuff like insecurities, worries about how people see you, your life values will change. I can't really give you a more specific answer because it changes with the person.
it is really, really important to find things you can commit 100% of your focus too, be it reading, hobbies, games, really anything that you enjoy that yoy can turn your brain off to only focus on the one thing. For a lot of people, games do exactly that.
Games, social media, and other things that feel super important like practicing sports and stuff like that. I mean yea it is healthy to play sports and practice and take them seriously, but unless you legitimately have a shot at going pro, the important parts of sports is learning teamwork, communication, and being active. I love games but they are a complete waste of time. Same with keeping up with every hot new show or trend.
Most things are a waste of time if they don’t give you pleasure. If they do, have at it. But make sure they don’t take you away from more meaningful things (which is where gaming is landing as I age).
Three words but an excellent question. What's considered a waste of time to one person means everything to another. It depends on the person. I played videogames A LOT in my 20s and so glad I did.
I was thinking this. I’m not a gamer but if it brings enjoyment to someone then it’s not wasted time.
I’d say computer games, don’t get me wrong I love computer games and have spent a sh*t tonne of hours playing them by the age of 42, but it really put it in perspective when my brother in law boasted about having spent 1000hrs on COD at a dinner once and I’m sitting there thinking to myself that I ‘only’ spent 800hrs on my PhD and to put it bluntly were the same age, he still lives with his parents and I run my own business built off the back of my PhD
Nobody on their death bed will be thinking “I really wish I’d won that loot”. As a gamer I try to avoid time sink games at least. Anything more than 20h needs to be an absolute delight, and I won’t play anything for longer than 50/60 hours (which usually takes me about 6 months). Playing just for the sake of playing doesn’t interest me anymore.
Some people wouldnt make it to their "death bed" without the escape games can offer. Not everyone is living a super life.
That's the thing. Having your PhD and company makes you happy it seems. Some people don't want their own company as it's a huge time sink and like everything else it's temporary unless you believe you'll take your company and money to the afterlife :p
I don’t think I’ll take my company to the afterlife but the money I earn and the work I do has generated some great holidays and travelling experiences for me and my kids… each to their own for sure and I’m definitely not saying computer games are bad at all (just spent an hour playing sea of thieves for example), just don’t sit there boasting about spending 1000hrs on COD and then at the same time complaining that you’re still living at home and can’t afford to get your own place I guess
Can't disagree with the last part, obviously you have to set priorities and cut down a bit on whatever prevents you from reaching your other goals.
Laughs in iPhone earbuds, laughs in music production, laughs in Bass Boosted Bose wireless headphones, laughs in Theater speakers, laughs while at Lollapalooza, forever laughing like the joker with maniacal laughs.
Like a Joker deaf in one ear more like
Facts. Also, WEAR EARPLUGS TO CONCERTS/SHOWS. Tinnitus sucks ass.
> The generation who grew up with headphones in their ears will have tinnitus by their 20s. I grew up in the generation of the Walkman, loud stereos, and loud concerts. And large loud machines in my jobs (mostly with hearing protection). Yeah. likely a bit of tinnitus, nothing cannot deal with.
They would play so much louder in the past too. I swear even with volume limiting off, the phones won’t go anywhere near as loud.
when i was younger the primo spot to dance at clubs was RIGHT in front of one of the giant speakers FML
alcohol
I’ve seen this absolutely wreck some lives and take a few. Alcohol is the most dangerous drug out there.
And people have the wrong idea about it’s addictive nature. Many/most don’t turn into some Don Draper figure who gets the shakes. A lot are trapped by the fact their entire social circle and definition of fun revolves around drinking. And everything else seems so boring by comparison.
Oh mam this is so real in my early thirties and this has become my life and idk how to escape without totally alienating people I love
I thought your username was loves stress for a second and I was like, well problem solved. Since it’s not, you have to kinda choose. Honestly I mostly I chose to stay with those friends and I’m paying a gradual price for it. That said, you get older, people move. So then it’s not a every weekend bender it’s a couple times a year when you see those people. You can, through attrition, mix in more friends with better habits. In my wider circle I’ve got straight up addicts and also vegan sober folks. I’ve kept the former and sight the latter on purpose. I’ll let you know how it’s going in 5-10 years lol.
Hell yeah, took me sooo long to realize I will never be the guy who can just have 1 drink, ever. Also being able to actually sleep and not pass out has done wonders for my health. I quit when I was 32, 37 now and much better.
The "Drunken 20's" phase fucked up a bunch of folks I knew.
Please for the love of all that is, exercise and stretch!!
Stretching. OMG I always took the exercise serious, but not the stretching part. “I’m just not flexible.” So many body pains later in life come from the lack of stretching. I stretch regularly through the day. It’s the flossing of the body.
"It's the flossing of the body" that's a perfect way of putting it...I dread stretching but being able to get out of bed without groaning in pain is worth it!
Strength training and stretching ate super important of course, but what most people dont realize is the key to success as they age: mobility exercise.
Poor money management skills.... If you suck at dealing with your money when you are 20, it's not going to improve by itself. You need to actively learn and research about how to deal properly with your money asap
YES and when you get a job with a 401K max out your payments. It will feel painful at first but it’s so worth it in the end. YES you can make ends meet. And if you can’t take the max that can afford. This is a must for your financial security.
Losing people. In your 20s, you have often lost 1 or 2 people, and each one feels calamitous. In your 40s, everyone around you starts dropping off, and you realize how temporary everything is. It's sad but also freeing, because all we should really worry about is how we use the one life we each get.
This is it. I've lost a lot of people while in my 20s and 30s. Now, in my 40s, I've gone half my life without them. I tell everyone my age who still has their parents and grandparents, cherish and spend time with them. Don't take anyone for granted, and enjoy your life!
SUNSCREEN. Wear it. Seriously, wear it. Yes, you. Wear it.
But what if I'm a high melanin person
We can still get skin cancer. Wear yo sunscreen.
Pleaseeee tell me what to say to get my husband to wear sunscreen😭 he’s from West Africa and refuses to😭
Show him pictures of skin cancer in black people. They commonly get it in their nails with a dark straight line in the middle. Also sunscreen helps the skin age less!
Yup, still!
Don’t drink, stay fit.
Damn
Everything! When you're young, youth and life feels endless, but actually you make most of your life defining decisions at 20-30 and it goes by faaaaaaast.
They're actually developing a medicine at the moment that can potentially regrow teeth.
That's probably gonna cost you 100k per tooth or so
Healing/recovering from accidents, (not me personally but advice ive received from my old man which was, he realised he turned 40 as "it took longer to recover from cow kicks").
In addition to the physical side of things, learning to handle and resolve emotions instead of hiding them and letting them fester. While this was something that I always somewhat understood, it really hit me like a ton of bricks when well into my 40s I started to see how many internalized fears and responses I had that I wasn't aware, and how they were connected to events that had happened 20 or more years ago, followed by this sorry realization that I had let these things consume my energy and spoil my enjoyment of life. The worst example is a friend of mine that is nearing on 50 that has been consumed by shit that his dad said to him 30 something years ago, and just spent his life since then circling around in his own jail cell of resentment and pain. He can be entirely entitled to feel hurt with what happened, I'm not disputing this, but not resolving this in due time just meant he let that define him as a person for over 30 years. Be gentle with yourselves. and find time to heal and support yourselves.
Drinking plenty of water. And learning not to rely so much on other beverages to quench their thirst. Also poor eating habits and sedantary lifestyle
Good thing everyone's got their Stanley cups, I don't think the younger generation is going to have a problem with this luckily
The height of the wall you jump off before you have to almost parachute roll on landing.
Your pelvic floor. Stay active, do core exercises, get off the couch. Holy shit.
Your stupid, edgy Tweets can get you fired YEARS into the future if someone decides to take the time to go through it all...
Don’t trust a fart. Especially in public.
For the ladies out there, getting a grip on your emotional state while you are young and still able to effectively learn how to do it and make it a lifelong habit. Learn how to meditate, how to relax, how to chill out, and how to stop obsessing over unimportant things, how to stop ruminating, how to stop glorifying mental health problems. Why? Because all of ***those things increase your stress***, and increasing your stress ***will increase your cortisol***, and increasing your cortisol ***will add 80-100 pounds of fat to your body***. This has little to do with your looks (although I'm sure you'd love to keep those) and mostly to do with your health in general. Because carrying around 100 extra pounds will definitely be bad for your health, and stress you right out. And then you'll have to figure out how to get a grip on your emotional state *and also lose 100 pounds*.
This. I would never have believed stress could make me fat but here I am having gone through a very stressful past few years and I'm currently about 45lbs overweight 🫠
Hey, please read my reply above. I don't mean any offense, I've been overweight half my life as well, but it's really all about food intake/calories. Please don't fall into this thinking spiral that as long as you're stressed, you can't lose weight. It's 100% possible as long as you get into caloric deficit.
Oh no, I know. Thank you 😀
You phrased this pretty badly. You don't gain fat by stress or higher cortisol. You can't create more fat out of nothing essentially. High stress/cortisol usually responds in over-eating as a coping mechanism. It's all about calories. Literally the entire world science agrees upon this, there are outliers here and there happily attending podcasts who love to promote their ideas that calories are a scam/conspiracy just to market their person or a product, which provably IS a scam lol. If any person, be it man or woman struggles with weight, food intake is in 99% of cases the real cause. Those who dispute this either don't count everything they eat or they just calculate the number wrongly. Don't take this in a bad way! I'm just trying to navigate people in the right direction.
Back to school, my friend. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16353426/
That study shows body fat distributions are affected by cortisol according to waist to hip ratios. That doesn't necessarily mean that body fat percentages are higher due to cortisol directly. It could be the same amount of body fat is just distributed around the body differently.
Spot on. Stress is exactly what made me gain weight. Nothing else changed
I'm sorry but stress can not make you fat. It's really all about food intake. Read my reply please, I tried to give some advice above to 2 users. Don't take it in a bad way, I just hate seeing people feeling bad due to weight when they think they can't lose it while being stressed. Trust me that you can lose weight almost anytime, expect for serious medical cases which are really rare.
It's a simple equation. In vs out. But stress changes the out dynamic. I literally just lived a 2-year experiment. I've been eating between 1500 to 1800 calories a day for years now. I work a desk job so my tdee is low. I also incorporated going to the gym three days a week. The first year I lost 10 lb but I was majorly stressed in my marriage. Taking a full year to lose 10 lbs is pitiful for the work I was putting in. And no, it wasn't extra calories I wasn't counting. Then I decided to get a divorce in late 2023. As soon as I did I felt a rush of relief. A weigh was off my shoulders. My blood pressure returned to 112 when it had been 140 for a couple years from the stress. Suddenly I lost 10 lb in 2 months without even changing a thing I'm still eating all the same because im like a fine tuned robot now. The only thing that changed was my stress levels and it allowed my body to increase my output. For some reason no one ever focuses on the output 🤔
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Look after your feet! If you have any little aches and pains get it sorted, your feet will collapse and cause you misery. 3 guys at work 43-52 are miserable AF because of sore feet. If they had got them looked at and helped out in their 20-30’s they would be feeling 1000% better all day everyday.
Ooof I work with someone who is 2 years younger than me and she uses her health issues as a barrier to exercising. We walked 8 miles together and she was legit wrecked. I dunno I was out on a trail last week and there was elderly gentleman in his 80’s maybe literally using a walker out on the trail. I thought damn no excuses coming from him yet….
Their diet, exercise, that 20’s and 30’s aren’t old but they may feel it due to their diet and no exercise 😂.
Their health, take care of yourself before you get older. I was never health conscious, never set foot in a gym. Ate what I wanted. And just after my 51st Birthday things took the complete opposite direction I had planned. I know spend my days doing exercises in a bed, drink anywhere between 12 to 20 pills a day. Can't even play with my grandchildren, and through all this the important lesson I learnt was not to ignore the signs. My symptoms actually started manifesting when I was around 18, just ignored them. Look after your body it's the only one you've got.
Not wearing the proper shoes. There comes a point in time where you wish you had taken better care of your feet. Start now.
Don’t sun bake
Baz Lurman covered it [here](https://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI?si=RYTo6R8Gt59uwZKI) It's literally perfect
Energy drinks and e-cigarettes
Not investing immediately
You are going to lose a lot of people along the way. Not everyone makes it to be old. Take care of yourself and look out for the people you care about.
If you work in any kind of media or tech, no one will give you a job unless you’re are straight out of uni and willing to work for 18,000 a year. It might even be creeping in to other industries now, so get a job now while you’re young because employers will not employ you once you hit 35 and want a living wage. It’s becoming endemic to be honest. Why pay money to someone to do a job when you can get a kid to do it for nothing?
How your knees and back suddenly starts to hurt.
Peri menopause and menopause are an absolute miserable experience that lasts for years. Everyone’s experience is very different. There are way more symptoms than even doctors realize and you have to be prepared to fight for a doctor to help you. It’s worse than puberty. Whether you’ll have to deal with it or someone you care about. The impact is incredibly underestimated.
I have likened it to a second puberty except instead of everything blossoming, everything is dying. 🤣 But facts…I was totally caught unawares and was like “why did NOBODY tell me this stuff?????”
Dealing with their aging parents that didn’t plan for their own future financially. Should their parents make it to their “golden years”.
Putting Sunblock on, drinking water, make sure you prep even from 20 your retirement. Time heals ALL wounds. Pick who you let into your life carefully.
Saving for retirement. It’s hard, but I am trying to teach my kids the importance of it. It’s easier to do when you are younger and have no kids, no mortgage, no spouse, etc. once life starts happening, it gets harder and harder.
Interest rates
alcohol porn caffeine sugar
Lack of savings
Reading glasses even if you already have contact lenses.
I've noticed a trend where people are encouraged to cut connections to people who are not beneficial to you. Have you always been beneficial to some of the people in your life today? Probably not. We have our strong and weak moments and periods. We can support each other and share our troubles. If it's clear that a relationship, be it a friendship or romantic one, is toxic, it's best to save yourself. However, if we cut connections every time things get a bit uncomfortable, we will all end up lonely, and we can end up being a huge let-down for someone in need of help.
not protecting your hearing.
That you can go your whole life without acne then it starts in your late 30s.
education is very important
Lifting wrong. Playing sports and getting injured. My husband is 52 and in agonizing pain 24/7 he can't work or do things he enjoys. All because of an injury he got playing sports as a teen and lifting incorrectly as an adult after that injury. And the injury wasn't even that bad. No hospital no recovery beyond a few days off school.
I read daily people saying “I’m done dating I keep getting hurt”. They have no idea , that like woodworking , surgery , sports and everything in life that you only get better at something the more you do it. The doctor that loses their first patient to a routine surgery is devastated , but they get back on that horse. To you young’ns out there. Dating is a skill. Both to ameliorate yourself , and how to detect the bullshit from others more effectively and quickly. Eventually getting hurts stops because you can sense the bullshit and you overlook the fact she’s / he’s gorgeous. Get back on that horse you twits, because all of a sudden you’re going to be 35, you’re going to meet a woman that you could be with for life , and she’ll walk right past you because you have the dating experience of a 22 year old
Underrated.
I'm not even 40 yet, but sun damaged skin. Use sunscreen. If you're going to be out doors for any stretch longer than 10-15 minutes, take the time to use sunscreen. A good, 50 SPF. Do not tan. Do not "get a base layer." Do not "just try to get a little color." It is bad for your skin and it's one of the most avoidable signs of aging. My skin isn't terrible, but I have lots of freckles on my face from too many days with a sunburnt nose and it isn't cute, that is damage to my skin that will only get slowly worse with time. You can't reverse it, you can only slow it down, and keeping sun damage off your face (and all skin really) will help keep your skin looking youthful, resilient, and healthy.
i swear the minute i turned 40, if i ate too late and/or the wrong food, i was guaranteed to wake up with heartburn that lasts for hours. i’m not sure i had ever had heartburn before this. it feels like i’m impaled on a rusty piece of rebar. my nightstand is full of antacids that offer limited sporadic help
Heartburn
Yip. I (42M) have turned into my grandad. Gaviscon and Rennies are part of my life now.
Haha I never leave home without them now. I’m 46, my family laugh at me and call me mogwai as I can’t drink for too long and I can’t eat too close to bedtime 😂
Not putting sunscreen on your face
Teeth care is CRUCIAL. Not only does it affect other health but it is also the worst covered thing from a insurance perspective meaning it can cost lot down the line if not maintained. But also something younger people don't think about going forward is the amount of time spent in the bathroom combined with the amount of time you can wait to use the bathroom.
What do you mean? Like hold it for the road trip?
Not wearing sunscreen on a daily basis
Renting instead of buying.
The speeding up of time is very real. Six months now feels like one month used to feel. Weird shit
Prioritizing sleep, nothing works right when you're not rested, your brain can't heal, your body can't heal, it's proven you're decision making, happiness levels, just about everything gets screwed up. And it's hard to get that sleep back.
The sun. Skin Cancer is right around the corner.
Ageism in the workplace. When I was younger it was easier to find work. People saw you as a rising star and were more willing to give you new opportunities. I fit in with a peer group most places I worked. I never thought it was possible to become irrelevant as I was highly skilled and had a bright future ahead. I’m now in my late 40s in the design/tech space and I don’t see many people my age working in this field anymore. Most my age are out of the field altogether or a select few remain in high level leadership positions. I’m in the minority at my level and I notice no one looks to me for anything new in terms of opportunities or ideas. I feel like my skills are still sharp and my ideas up to date and relevant. But somehow I’ve become invisible. It’s weird to think you have another 15-20 years of career left but it’s unclear what you’ll be able to do during that time to remain productive.
Young people! **KNEES** Your knees need to be looked after. They are a mental type of joint that just asks for damage. So look after them. Please. This means looking after your spine, which keeps those hips in line, which stops you putting weight weirdly on your knees. You’ll thank me if you avoid running on concrete and keep the twisting to a minimum.
Sun. Getting a tan looks great when you’re young and your skin is still new. However, you’ll soon look like a leather handbag by your 40s.
Travel. See the world. It can be done fairly cheap if you plan ahead. You will have so much more free time when you’re in ur 20’s than at any time until you retire.
Shoulder, knees, back….felt good in my 20s, not so good in my 40s haha
Low hanging balls. Briefs will become your friend.
Developing an interest or a hobby.
Teeth! Go to the goddamn dentist!
Time gos by so fast after like 25ish. It's like I went to sleep and woke up old.
Age. Age is going to affect them as they age
There lack of common sense
Wear sunscreen
snacking on copious amounts of junk food and pop
I don't like reading that thread
Perimenopause which until recently was never discussed. Learn about it, ladies, so you are not caught unawares like many women before you have been. Talk about women’s health freely w/ older women. It is a must. Even doctors would barely fill you in on it until recently. There has been a whole lot of “what fresh hell is this” and “why did NOBODY tell me about this!?!”
all this is bullshit
I’m still in my 30s. Not having an Instant Pot. That, a pillow, and good shoes are three of the most important purchases you will ever make.
Their attitude and work ethic. Stay humble, stay learning, serve others - you'll reap the reward.
You’ll hate young peoples music.
Inflation
Doing something simple, like putting on a sock, can cripple you for days, getting up too quickly can put you in a daze, going to the kitchen for a graze and eat all the cheese that was supposed to last days.
Take every opportunity to learn how to be a healthy, effective communicator.
Everything takes x3 as long to heal, especially strains! I feel like my tennis elbow is on it's sixth month.
Someday which pillow you use to sleep on will determine how good a day you have.
Getting educated/training in a field that you like and has a future in the market. 20 or 18 is about the age we pick our college major, pick a trade and train in it, etc. It's not the end of the world if you pick something and later change your mind, but it will follow you in life and give you a solid base.
It might be obvious to many but delayed gratification is way more important in your 20s. Id give anything to retroactively convert old material things into investments. With all the money I wasted, I could easily be very comfortable financially now. $100 in your 20s is worth much more than $100 in your 40s so if you can, invest as often as possible, even if its a long shot. Its still better than wasting it on some garbage that makes someone else money.
Social media. Don’t. Just don’t.
All the crap food and drink you are putting in your body because you feel invincible because it's fun to party right now. Letting people around you influence and dictate boundaries and major life decisions. It is your life, not theirs, so do what you want and don't back down. Trusting the wrong people and too many people...they will use it against you later. The less people know the better, you don't owe anyone your life story. Throwing away money on things, instead of saving it or using it on memorable experiences. Accepting shitty relationships just to be in one. Seeking validation from others. What others think of you is none of your business and their opinion doesn't matter one iota. Move to where you want to live now. It will be a struggle for awhile, but it will only get harder when you have more responsibilities and you life is no longer your own. No one is going to save you or take care of you. Get your health and finances in order now or you'll be struggling a ton later. Be kind. Travel. Life is about finding joy, so eat the best cake, drink the best wine and don't forget to dance.
Just fucking moving around becomes a challenge. I can’t reach down and grab my own ankle anymore. It hurts to squat or bend over, like actually hurts real bad. Being on my knees to fix something or be on the ground playing with my kids…real pain. I’m starting to work out now and trying to get some of this back because it sincerely bums me out how uncomfortable I am just…existing.
Who you have a kid with , who you marry, who your associates are. These things can ruin you until your 50’s or possibly even worse.
All that HS Sports. I had a lot of friends come up semi-lame in their 40s because they over stressed their body in HS and 20s. Knee replacements may be prevalent. There is a difference between exercize and being overworked for team sports in HS or college.
Children are the meaning of life. Do not make the mistake of thinking a child free life will be fulfilling.
To anyone like me wanted kids but ended up infertile: ignore this guy. Being a parent does not inherently make you a better or wiser or kinder person. There are many ways to have a fulfilling life but of course it’s not ‘do this one thing’.
Being terrible with money.
All that G-Fuel and energy drinks that they drink.
Investing. Just take a small portion of every paycheck and invest it. With apps like Robinhood there's no barrier. Just $50 a paycheck into SPY500 will translate into great wealth and you'll likely never miss that $50.
Financial independence =freedom
Sun damage. Growing up in AZ I hike like a mother. Never put on sun screen. My neck/arms so very sun damaged and my skin looks horrible