Why is Adult Life so boring?

I got this from the Japanese thread but I think it applies here.When most of us were growing up we couldn't wait to be an adult and do all cool things adults could do but now that we are, we are now discovering that adult life is actually really boring. No longer could do all the stuff that you use to do when you are kid because now you have things like responsibility, stress, relationships, work, politics and not to mention a family of your own. Many of us thought that when we reach adulthood later in life, we might finally reach some form of enlightenment only to realize that we really don't know anything and we are really just getting started. I never knew adulthood is gonna this complicated, it is no wonder why some escapist fiction takes place in high school and earlier although that isn't to say that is a bad thing mind. With that said, why is adult life so boring, complicated and bland? All those years of watching sitcoms have lied to me.

I know too much to enjoy my life.

I think it's because of systems. Because as an adult you're in charge of securing an income to cover your basic needs, you have to find your place in the system to sustain yourself. Unless you have a very exciting job, most days thus become routine (and really, a lot of exciting jobs become routine after a while). The lack of change in environments and work tasks may thus result in boredom.

And since the job and other responsibilities (such as family, health and stuff) tie up a lot of your time, your "free" time decreases, meaning that you don't feel as in control of your daily life as when you were young.

Taking all this into consideration, the only way not to have a boring adult life is to make sure that you find a job that you personally don't find boring in the long run, or otherwise finding the necessary satisfaction outside of work (like when spending time with family or hobbies). This is not impossible, and indeed, some manage to get it to work. The important thing is getting it to last.

Mind you, some say that the key to finding happiness (which I for the sake of this conversation position as the opposite of boredom) is finding singular moments and cherishing them, instead of aiming for a prolonged state of bliss through-out daily life.

Tldr 1: Adult life contains responsibilities, which feel tiring and restricting, and a lot of time this forces you to do things you don't want at times you'd really rather not.

Though, I don't think avoiding responsibilities is a way to avoid getting bored. Responsibilities come from expectations to contribute, and these contributions are usually rewarded. For a basic example, a job requires you to work this much and do these things, often for greater parts of your life, but at the end of the day you get paid and you have contributed to society around you. For a more complicated example, having children requires a huge investment of money, time and emotional contributions, but you'll (supposedly) be rewarded with a huge emotional return as well as (ideally) your children growing up to help you in the future when you're old. Many of these basic machinations are today integrated into society at large, so they can be hard to keep track of in the big picture, but the basic idea still remains.

From this we can extrapolate that while fulfilling responsibilities remove a great deal of personal freedom, which can result in boredom, the reward is in the end "worth it". Perhaps not very exciting, but potentially satisfactory.

Tldr part 2: Boredom might be worth it in the end.

edited 15th Apr '16 1:14:54 AM by Lemurian

Comes off as a sunk-cost fallacy.

edited 15th Apr '16 1:55:07 AM by TerminusEst

My adult life isn't boring and it's pretty enjoyable, thank you very much. Personally, I feel the freedom that comes from having taken responsability for yourself is very worth the weight of taking responsability for yourself.

Of course, I realize that I am sort of privileged in this, having a stable and decently-payed job (I will never get rich, but I probably will never fear ending up on the street either) that... it's almost never fun, but it can be enjoyable if I put my heart into it.

Still, I strongly believe that if you feel your life is "weighted down" by something the place to start to improve things is probably taking a good hard look at the things you feel responsible for. You will probably find that a lot of these things are this you aren't responsible for and also the very things that are weighting you down. A lot of people that feel like their "adult life" is crushing them are actually being crushed by baggage they've carried with them since a lot before the adult life started.

edited 15th Apr '16 2:37:59 AM by Cozzer

simple... don't have kids! that takes away a major time sink, gives you enough spare money to buy a Ferrari, plus kids are horrible

Caveat: don't have kids unless you genuinely, honestly, ignoring-every-sort-of-external-pressure want them. Don't have kids if the main reason for it is that somebody expects you to want them.

Then apply the same reasoning to everything that isn't kids. :P

edited 15th Apr '16 3:42:02 AM by Cozzer

^^ Says you. I don't have any kids of my own yet and I don't find them horrible.

edited 15th Apr '16 3:44:02 AM by MajorTom

It's only boring because you're not trying hard enough to find ways to keep it interesting.

Though reading your post fully, that seems less like you're complaining about life being boring and more like you're complaining about life being difficult. And, well, life is difficult and complicated. It's one big puzzle that we are likely not meant to figure out completely. Just gotta do the best you can to make your way in the world in a manner that suits you.

edited 15th Apr '16 4:34:09 AM by Odd1

Unfortunate it is I'll tell you, bit of a dream crusher when you learn that your particular hobby you've studied for a long time hardly pays much to sustain someone for long. But what can you do?

I only discovered drawing in third year high school and it didn't amount to any money or a course in Fine Arts. Games, church make things interesting. And imagining what's the next thing to draw is cool.

In my job, it was quickly apparent that I am a super ultra whiz at Excel, and that made things interesting as everyone who needed help just come to me, eventually I was moved to a job about statistics and analysis and it is awesome.

Related:

Truth.

It depends on how you look into it.

It depends a lot of your enviroment and yourself. Personally, I found the life boring a lot of the time as well, but we can't do anything for that. Just keep doing your responsabilities and then found a moment for you. Plus, when you can't find any job interestig, there's a bright side of it, you don't have to think a lot about choosing your job, you just think on the pay and that's all.

I don't think my adult life has been boring, at least, not to me.

I'm sure staying home and drawing 24/7 would be considered boring to most people.

I feel like I'll end up doing the same soon, I just hope I can get paid for it :'p

It will be a long and dark road son.

Good luck.

I feel that what contributes to the perception of adult life being boring is either knowing much (but not enough to be considered an expert) about something you were very interested in when you were younger, and the sheer monotony of some jobs (yes, auditors and accountants get paid handsomely. Whether it's enough to make up for hours of staring at invoices is another issue).

I don't think it's possible to be bored in most parts of developed world these days. Either you are too busy, or you have something to occupy yourself with.

Well, if you can't afford diversions, you might still be bored.

I do find it harder to socialize these days, mostly because everyone's busy and it's hard to get folks together for a pub crawl or game night.

Yeah I know what you mean.

Adult life isn't boring. Nobody lets children play with explosives or fly aeroplanes. Well, maybe they do, but it never ends well.

edited 28th May '16 2:54:20 PM by InverurieJones

Why would anyone let children play with explosives? Especially when there is no supervision?

I mean, firecrackers are explosives, and plenty of people let children play with those.

I mean usually that's on the Fourth of July, but still.

I think, at least for me, adulthood has brought crushing apathy. Like, why care about doing things? Adult life is doing things you don't wanna do, working bullshit jobs you don't wanna do, paying fucking bills you don't want to. Existing in an endless cycle of work with occasional bright moments.