Whether you heard it from a cynical friend in the playground or you started to question how a man famous for his rotund belly could squeeze down such a small chimney, realising that your parents got you those Christmas presents is one of the more depressing childhood milestones.
But is there a similar unpleasant shock lurking around the corner of your later years? Redditor stacker_111 brought out the realists of the internet when they asked,
‘What’s the adult equivalent of finding out Santa isn’t real?’
It seems there are several such moments, and we’ve collected the top responses.
1.
It doesn’t matter how nice you are or how good of a person you try to be, there will always be people who will hate you for things you can’t change.
Electrical_Sky_4586
2.
Hard work gets you more work.
nethereus
3.
Realizing my financial aid is based on my parents’ incomes who do not financially support me or contribute to my education in any way.
Appropriate-Dig1164
4.
A degree doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a good paying job.
angieeeeee97
5.
Your parents are humans, not superheroes.
BrokeAsFuckGardener
6.
That simply existing costs a lot of money
CertifiedGlizzler
7.
Being told that the skeletons of dinosaurs you see assembled at the museums are casts and not the actual dug up bones, because of course they are—the originals would be way too fragile and special—but it still breaks your heart.
MoreGaghPlease
8.
I used to honest to God, believe most politicians wanted to help the country and do what was best. We might not agree on the way to get there, but I always thought that at our hearts, there was a determination to do the right thing.
I was really wrong.
Trishlovesdolphins
9.
Zoom ruined snow days.
metametamind
10.
Companies can fire you for no reason
jma7400
11.
Realizing your parents are getting older.
Lost_Taste_8181
12.
Realizing the lie of ,” you can do whatever you want when you grow up. ”
Pristine-Raisin-823
13.
There are no “grown ups” nobody is running the show. We are all utterly incompetent from the top all the way down. It is amazing our world functions at all.
Running_Dumb
14.
You’re just gonna be some guy. Not rich, not famous. In a hundred years no one will know you ever existed.
EdwardBil
15.
Learning you have been saying the wrong lyrics to a song you’ve known your whole life. Or, finding out you’ve been using a phrase with confidence in the wrong context.
Both are equally shocking in terms of finding out you’ve were wrong. And then having to rejig the comfort of its place in your mind to correct it, and then realising you haven’t been making sense for so long.
Your personal truth of this, shattered.
Specialist-Top-406
Just in case that was all a bit bleak, check out some of our more light-hearted articles, such as this fascinating piece of journalism:
Ever wondered just how far Stretch Armstrong can stretch? It’s this far
Source Ask Reddit Image Wikimedia Commons
