The Adult World

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I for one find the adult world way too complicated and scary (I'm really still a kid at heart - as well as socially and emotionally). I tend to see adults as evil, moraless, corrupt things - especially males (imagine the stereotypical NT type, that's what I see many as). Blame it on my own observations and experiences.

Or maybe these are all excuses and delusions to make myself feel better about the way I feel? I don't know.

I am somewhat independant, but am held back by my SAD and AS quite a bit (not an excuse by any means, I do try). I always idealised childhood - that perfect innocence (ignorance), and now, growing up, I have seen what a terrible and evil place this world is and am having a hard time accepting it (let alone having to function independantly in it).

Does anybody else feel like this?

I know some excellent people on an individual level - I enjoy seeing them, I care for their wellbeing and I value their opinions. But it has taken many years to find this little group, and they're definitely in a minority.

When it comes to mankind, en masse and in general, I despair. I find the world a very disappointing place.

Sometimes I think it would be better if I could just shut myself away and not have to know about politics, crime, pollution, greed and so forth. But then I know my ignorance would probably end up adding to these problems (not voting might allow someone I dislike to win an election, for example, and I wouldn't be environmentally conscious if I didn't keep myself informed).

We have the ability to step back and view these issues from a wider perspective than most people can manage. This is both a blessing and a curse. Because I know that things could be better, I'm going to try my best to push for changes I think are right. Maybe that's my role in life: to stir up debate and encourage change. It isn't easy, though. For a start, there are SO MANY things which need to be done.

Children's books and films make me upset, sometimes to the stage where I'll physically cry. I think this is because they represent a time when I was innocent and didn't have to deal with any of this stuff. In some ways I wish I could go back to childhood, but that's impossible. I try to be a slightly childish adult sometimes, though - I enjoy a game and a joke and I value genuine friendliness and honesty more than money and possessions. I'll happily stop and stroke a cat even if it means turning up late for work. My priorities aren't quite the same as everyone elses's.

Last edited by sociable_hermit on 07 Oct 2006, 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

I feel the same way.

There is just so much more you have to do as a grown up. Sometimes it gets too much and I really stress out.

yes, but good looking people have to grow up once their looks begin to fail them...

When I was a child I sensed that most adults were evil and profoundly hypocritical.

As an adult more I see confirmation of those suspicions at every turn.

Yeah, but you can't assume that good looking people find this process any more or less upsetting and stressful than ugly people. Plus I don't think the original theme of this debate was about looks, cliques or popularity so much as the way the adult world just generally seems to suck...

Also, hale_bopp IS good looking, or is that what you meant?

>>There is just so much more you have to do as a grown up. Sometimes it gets too much and I really stress out<<

I think that's what the main problem is for me (and others) - the responsibility associated with being an adult. Things aren't done for you anymore, you have to look after yourself and the path you take.

As we grow up, the harsh truths of the world slowly dissappear. Santa and the Easter bunny die, magic goes away and all you're left with are feelings of stress and anxiety.

Is this world too hard to live in? It's clear that it's too much to exist peacefully in and too much to take care of properly. No wonder psychiatrists get alot of work - this place is a mess, and it's all our fault.

actually i saw her picture in the my space thread AFTER i had made this post. so now i feel guilty and i am sticking around trying to pull my foot outta my mouth.


i doubt ugly people have as difficult time with the transition to aging. since, if you cannot skate by on your looks (like handsome people), then you are required to tend to yourself, like an adult.

Fair enough!

I dunno, really. I've never been anything greater than average and I find adult life very difficult to cope with. But I agree that rich or beautiful people have more opportunities to avoid the realities of adult life. Even when the good looks disappear, there will still be an entourage to offer reassurring lies. And if they leave, there's plastic surgery and drugs!

An Asian co-worker, whose first language (and culture) is not English, said to me, "Are they just trying to make our jobs harder and their jobs easier?" I said, "I don't think they're trying to make our jobs harder, but it is human nature to try to make one's own job easier." I think most people are motivated by self-interest most of the time, but there are exceptions.

This is exactly how I viewed all adults, from my parents to random strangers on the street. I saw most of them as my sworn enemies, whose only intentions are to make my life miserable. As a kid, I fantacized about a massive apocalypse that wipes out the entire adult and teen population (teens looked like adults to me), but leaves the children, the buildings, and the infrastructure. At times, I had a more extreme fantasy, where I'm the only living human left on Earth, similar to the Noah's Ark story (buildings and infrastructure are still left intact). Being able to walk around empty streets with no one to tell me what to do seemed like pure bliss. I can't even begin telling how wonderful I imagined my life to be, in the ghost town that used to be the city I lived in, with no adults to control me and no kids to bully me. While I dropped this fantasy long time ago, I still can't help but wonder what it would have been like, and how I would have taken it.

Now that IS bizarre - I used to have that dream, except mine was a nightmare where I was locked in a silent, motionless world for eternity as a punishment for being my normal rude, selfish, contradictory Aspie self. I hope I feel less guilty nowadays, but that nightmare still haunts me.

I've thought of such things. Its like a dream and a nightmare at the same time. A world of freedom, yet a world of lonliness. A world without bad people and restrictions, and also a world without good people or structure. In the end, I'll take a world of people.

I learned to distrust adults at a very early age, and as such I view everyone with suspicion, sometimes bordering on paranoia if certain parameters are met. It is an uncomfortable and tense way of life, but it is safe. Maybe not all adults are the same, but I'm not going to risk getting hurt again.

I don't understand why people act the way that they do, why they do the things that they do. I am aware, however, that even I could sometimes be classified as hypocritical, as can all people.

By the time people are adults, they have grown disillusioned, jaded, and invariably practical... they have lost their belief in things that ought to be; instead, they dwell on the idea of things as they are; they have lost their idealism. Instead of living, they simply exist.

Last edited by Callista on 07 Oct 2006, 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Adult life is going to be stressful for me, I just know it. Last night Mum tried to explain Credit Cards. She set me up with an account and everything, but it's all too complicated with these PIN's and passwords and stuff. I don't even WANT a credit card!