Hello dear hive ghana community, This is a serious matter that shakes one's soul. As adults, we really do have it rough! But let me tell you what makes adulting so difficult for me.
The first thing is the never-ending money troubles. As an adult, the responsibility of generating income and making ends meet falls squarely on your shoulders. You have to hustle to put food on the table. It's not easy at all to find ways to earn enough money for a decent living. The bills just keep pouring in every day - rent, electricity, water, transportation, and so many other expenses. Even if you have a decent job, the money coming in still always seems less than what's going out! That's a real problem that causes constant stress and anxiety.
Then another big issue is the overwhelming responsibilities that await us as adults. Once you grow past childhood, it's like everybody - family, society, your workplace - expects so much from you. Your family looks to you for financial and emotional assistance. Your work demands that you go above and beyond, overperform and prioritize your career over everything else. It's up to you to think about planning for the future, saving for retirement, making wise investments. It's no longer about just playing, being carefree and enjoying life's simple pleasures. Adulting has turned into serious, heavy business!
Speaking of enjoying life, that's another major challenge adulthood presents. As an adult, time has become an extremely scarce and precious commodity. Work swallows up most of your waking hours and energy. Household chores, running errands, handling bills and paperwork consume the rest. Before you know it, an entire week has flown by. You're lucky if you get a little time to actually unwind, pursue hobbies, spend quality time with loved ones, and catch some fun. And forget about extended periods of rejuvenation and enjoyment - those money troubles will still be looming over you, causing worry even in your limited free time.
The unrelenting grind of responsibilities in adulthood also takes a major toll on our relationships and personal wellbeing. The perpetual busyness and fatigue makes it difficult to nurture romantic partnerships. The stress piles on, straining connections with friends and family members. Our physical and mental health suffers as work-life balance becomes a luxury rather than the norm. Adulting seems to demand that we sacrifice a part of our humanity for survival.
But just like every problem has a solution, so too does the struggle of modern adulthood. If governments and policymakers could implement measures to create more jobs, opportunities and accessible pathways that make earning a legitimate livelihood easier for the masses, it would certainly help alleviate one of the biggest sources of adult stress. Ensuring things like affordable housing, healthcare, childcare assistance and public transportation are available as a basic right rather than an unattainable privilege for the financially fortunate few, would significantly reduce the burdens borne by adults just to survive.
And you know what would really revolutionize the adult experience and make a monumentally positive difference? If employers, corporate leaders and the societal narrative surrounding the workplace could undergo a shift in paradigm - understanding that employees are fundamentally human beings who need nurturing, not expendable resources who exist only to generate revenue. More flexibility in scheduling, reasonable performance expectations, and a genuine valuation of personal life and wellbeing over profits would instantly transform the culture of toxicity that has become normalized in the modern workforce. A little compassion, empathy and human understanding from those in power would go a long way in helping the wider population manage their adult time and myriad responsibilities in a more sustainable way.
In the end, as adults we're not just hustling for ourselves alone. The reason we toil through these hardships and make these sacrifices is for family - to provide for our children, to care for our aging parents, to build a legacy for future generations. It's for our friends, our communities, our societies that we work and persevere through the difficulties of adulting. So if we all could come together as one, show more love, patience and understanding for each other's unique struggles and humanity, it will certainly make this adulting business feel much more manageable and weighsignificantly less burdensome.
If we could each find it within ourselves to be more compassionate, lend a helping hand to others, build a supportive environment of encouragement around us - that collective energy of kindness and solidarity just might be enough to overcome the isolating loneliness that harsh adulthood tends to bring. If we approach this ongoing universal challenge collectively, act a little less selfishly, and walk through this messy adulthood journey side-by-side as a united community, then together, yes - we can beat the system that makes merely surviving as productive adults so immensely difficult. Our lives, our relationships, our personal joys and realization of dreams still await us on the other side if we just hold the line and bring some more warmth into this cold adult world.
