The Truth Behind “Adulthood Sucks” — And What To Do When Every Day Feels the Same
Inspired by a viral r/Adulting meme and hundreds of comments describing the same invisible struggle.
If you’ve ever wondered why adulthood feels repetitive or why every day feels the same, you’re not alone. A viral r/Adulting thread exposed the deeper issue: autopilot. Here’s how to break the loop.
I was scrolling Reddit when I saw that familiar “two sides of the bus” cartoon. Except both characters looked miserable. One side said, “Being unemployed.” The other said, “Having a job.” No sunshine. No scenery. Just two different versions of the same bleak tunnel.
It hooked me immediately. Not because it was funny, but because it felt true in a way I didn’t want to admit.
I clicked into the comments expecting jokes. Instead, I ended up reading for almost an hour. People weren’t arguing about unemployment or employment. They were describing something deeper:
Adulthood has a way of turning every day into a loop.
—even when your life is “fine.”
—even when your job is decent.
—even when you’re doing everything “right.”
One comment said, “A lack of variety is how we enter autopilot and years pass without realizing.”
Another: “Every weekday feels like the same day in a different font.”
And the one that stuck with me: “The two worst feelings in the world are having a job and not having a job.”
What they were describing wasn’t work.
It was sameness.
And the more I read, the more I realized how easy it is, even when life is objectively good, to disappear inside your own routine.
Even Good Lives Can Turn Into Loops
Most people assume monotony hits only when life is hard.
But sameness shows up everywhere.
You can enjoy your job, or at least not hate it, and still feel the days blur.
You can have supportive coworkers, steady routines, and a life that looks good on paper… and still catch yourself wondering why every week feels identical.
That’s the part no one prepares you for.
Liking your job doesn’t save you from monotony.
Being grateful doesn’t automatically make you present.
A routine can quietly turn into autopilot if you’re not interrupting it on purpose.
That’s what pushed me to write this:
You don’t need to escape work.
You need to escape autopilot.
Why So Many People Feel This Way
Meaning doesn’t show up automatically in adulthood.
Nobody hands you purpose with your first paycheck.
And routines, left unchecked, become invisible.
You wake up, work, eat, scroll, sleep, and because nothing is “wrong,” it’s easy not to notice how much life you’re not actually feeling.
The danger isn’t burnout.
It’s the erosion of attention.
And a lot of people aren’t choosing between joy and misery. They’re choosing between two different stresses.
Work can drain you.
Working without enough money drains you differently.
Looking for work drains you in its own way.
Not everyone has energy left at the end of the day.
Not everyone has time.
Not everyone has support.
And not everyone has options.
But all of us, no matter our circumstances, have to ask:
What are we doing with the hours we can control?
The Tools That Break the Loop
Here are a few ideas that help you reclaim the parts of your life that still belong to you.
1. Variety Engineering
Most adults live the same sensory, emotional, and experiential day.
The brain stops noticing life because nothing changes.
You don’t need dramatic novelty, just small interruptions.
Try a different route.
Sit somewhere new.
Switch up your workout time.
Call someone instead of scrolling.
Go to a different grocery store.
Work from a new corner of your home or office if you can.
Novelty doesn’t need to be expensive.
It doesn’t need to be time-consuming.
It just needs to exist.
Your life expands the moment your inputs do.
2. Identity Anchors Outside Work
Your job can be part of your identity without becoming the whole thing.
Whether you coach, create, volunteer, read, build things, learn, or spend intentional time with people you care about — these are the things that remind you you’re more than your obligations.
If work is your only source of challenge or connection, then even a “good job” starts to feel hollow.
Identity anchors matter even more if your job drains you.
They give you somewhere else to be you.
Build an identity portfolio.
Mix roles.
Mix energies.
Mix environments.
A life grows when you stop asking one thing to fulfill you. This is something that took me five years to understand.
3. Forced Creativity (The Spark Adults Forget to Protect)
Creativity isn’t a personality trait, it’s a muscle.
And most adults stop using it.
When we were kids, creativity was the default.
We didn’t schedule it.
We didn’t justify it.
We didn’t ask if it was productive.
We just made things.
Then adulthood assigns every hour a label:
work
commute
errands
appointments
scrolling
repeat
And somewhere in that rhythm, the spark disappears. Makes sense to me why people are unhappy.
That’s why I believe in forced creativity.
Block time to write.
Sketch.
Think.
Learn.
Dream.
Explore curiosity for the sake of nothing but aliveness.
Even 10 minutes counts. You have to start somewhere. If nothing changes, well… nothing changes.
Creativity is the antidote to sameness.
It reminds you you’re a person with imagination, not just responsibilities.
Your routine might pay the bills, but creativity keeps your inner world alive.
4. The Tuesday Rule
Most people design intentional weekends and unintentional weekdays.
The Tuesday Rule is simple:
Do one thing in the middle of your week that makes you feel alive.
A walk.
A hobby.
Dinner with someone energizing.
A creative hour.
Anything that reminds you: I have a life, not just a job.
If your Tuesday feels different, your whole week feels different.
And before you say, “Ryan… Tuesday is my busiest day,” that’s fine.
It doesn’t have to be Tuesday.
The point is to choose one moment in your week on purpose. Not because you’re free, but because it matters, seriously.
A Life You Actually Feel
Adulthood gets a bad reputation, but the real issue isn’t adulthood, it’s drift.
It’s the slow fade.
It’s the quiet slide into days that blur into each other without you even noticing.
Work takes up hours.
But meaning lives in the spaces between those hours.
That’s where your relationships live.
Your curiosity.
Your spark.
Your sense of self.
A life you feel is built in small, deliberate ways — a choice here, a pause there, a moment where you say, “I’m not living on autopilot today.”
You don’t have to rebuild everything.
You just have to return to your life, over and over again, even in the smallest ways.
That, more than anything, is the grown-up version of freedom.
Till next time.
This is such an important article. It has blown my mind how much of my adulthood already feels like a blur at the age of 23, and I’m committed to breaking that loop. Adding variety into my routine has not only helped time slow down a little bit but it has made my weeks more enjoyable. I feel more sane, not just like a robot going through the motions. Thank you for sharing this! I hope this article reaches everyone who needs to read it 🤍!
Gold as always. The Internet is filled with hustle bros who are loud and obnoxious. Your quietness and wisdom puts those guys in a tiny corner in it comes to talk about THE TRUTH.
Well done once again, my friend. You never miss.