Adulthood

<p>As a kid, it&#39;s easy to build your life-map on a mountain of ideals and daydreams. You see the unhappiness of the adults around you and swear you&#39;ll never make the same mistakes, engage in the same self-destructiveness, or even fall into harmless boring routines.</p><p>But life comes at you fast, and most of us have made choices we never would have predicted or planned for, both for better and for worse. It can be wild to look back on childish ideals and how they differ from the complex reality of adult life.</p><h2>In a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/11ppkrs/what_did_you_swear_in_your_childhood_you_would/" target="_blank">popular Ask Reddit post</a>, people shared things they swore in childhood they&#39;d never do, but ended up doing.</h2><h2>1. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Koala-teas/">Koala-teas</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Birdwatching. I used to think it was the lamest way someone could spend their time when I was a kid. How could anyone just sit around and look at birds? What are you, some kind of bird creep? 20 years later and I&#39;m obsessed with birds. Love hearing their songs and seeing all the beautiful colors.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>2. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/-notjosh-/">-notjosh-</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>I said I wouldn&rsquo;t curse unless a nuke was dropped on my house. That was a f*cking lie.</p> </blockquote><h2>3. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Aesma_/">Aesma_</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Give up drawing. I actually broke my own heart when I recently found a school project we did back when I was a kid. We had to write a letter for our future selves and mine starts with: &quot;Hey, did you become an artist already? I really hope you did not become a boring adult with a boring job who gave up on his dreams and passions.&quot; Well, sorry little me, but I kinda did.</p> </blockquote><h2>4. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Eogh21/">Eogh21</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Gardening. We had a large garden. We raised and preserved what we grew. It was me and my sister&#39;s job to care for this garden. This was back when whipping your child was acceptable punishment. I was whipped sooo many times, because I hated that I had to grew and preserved vegetables I did not like. I hated it! Swore I&#39;d never have a garden. Never do THAT to my kids.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Then I had kids. A switch flipped in my head. I had to have a garden! I never made my kids take care of it. Gardening was my &quot;me&quot; time. But being little kids, they wanted to be with mom and &quot;help&quot; with the garden. I &quot;gave&quot; them an area and they were allowed to grow whatever they wanted. If it was a fruit or vegetables , they had to eat it. As a result, they both love gardening and neither are picky eaters.</p> </blockquote><h2>5. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lilviviv/">lilviviv</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Get into debt I can&#39;t pay off.</p> </blockquote><h2>6. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/EMHemingway1899/">EMHemingway1899</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Drank like my alcoholic mother</p> <p>Until I got sober at age 31, thank God (and AA).</p> </blockquote><h2>7. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/squid1891/">squid1891</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Have s*x before marriage. Thank f*ck I never made good on that one since I&#39;m 41 and have never been married.</p> </blockquote><h2>8. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/stolid_agnostic/">stolid_agnostic</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Become overweight. I&rsquo;ve done or avoided doing everything else that I cared about, but am much bigger than I would like.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>9. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/deathbytb/">deathbytb</a>:</h2><p> </p><blockquote> <p>Tell my kid, &quot;because I said so.&quot;</p> </blockquote><h2>10. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Meta_My_Data/">Meta_My_Data</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Get married. I was going to be the perpetual bachelor. Married over 30 years with 6 kids. Wouldn&rsquo;t change a thing.</p> </blockquote><h2>11. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PizzaPoopFuck/">PizzaPoopF*ck</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Work in a sterile office building. The cringe I felt and what I now put up with.</p> </blockquote><h2>12. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ChaoticCherryblossom/">ChaoticCherryblossom</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Napping on purpose.</p> </blockquote><h2>13. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cutiegirl88/">cutiegirl88</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>I wanted nothing more than to escape my family for good and never come back.</p> <p>They got help...I did not expect that.</p> </blockquote><h2>14. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ProjectDv2/">ProjectDv2</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Diet sodas. In my youth, I swore I&#39;d just die of diabetes before I drank that swill.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Now I&#39;m in my 40s and unless the soda is sweetened with real sugar, I actually prefer diet/zero sugar options. Corn syrup sodas are so gross to me now. Oh, and once I stopped drinking high fructose corn syrup, I lost fifty f*cking pounds. Corn syrup has no place in our drinks.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>15. From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Bobsburgers02/">Bobsburgers02</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Two kids before I turn 30 and livin in the burbs. Oh well, I&rsquo;m happy!</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

15 people share what they swore in your childhood they'd never do, but ended up doing.

As a kid, it&#39;s easy to build your life-map on a mountain of ideals and daydreams. You see the unhappiness of the adults around you and swear you&#39;ll never make the same mistakes, engage in the same self-destructiveness, or even fall into harmless boring routines.But life comes at you fast, and most of us have made choices we never would have predicted or planned for, both for better and for worse. It can be wild to look back on childish ideals and how they differ from the complex reality of adult life.In a popular Ask Reddit post, people shared things they swore in childhood they&#39;d never do, but ended up doing.1. From Koala-teas: Birdwatching. I used to think it was the lamest way someone could spend their time when I was a kid. How could anyone just sit around and look at birds? What are you, some kind of bird creep? 20 years later and I&#39;m obsessed with birds. Love hearing their songs and seeing all the beautiful colors. 2. From -notjosh-: I said I wouldn&rsquo;t curse unless a nuke was dropped on my house. That was a f*cking lie. 3. From Aesma_: Give up drawing. I actually broke my own heart when I recently found a school project we did back when I was a kid. We had to write a letter for our future selves and mine starts with: &quot;Hey, did you become an artist already? I really hope you did not become a boring adult with a boring job who gave up on his dreams and passions.&quot; Well, sorry little me, but I kinda did. 4. From Eogh21: Gardening. We had a large garden. We raised and preserved what we grew. It was me and my sister&#39;s job to care for this garden. This was back when whipping your child was acceptable punishment. I was whipped sooo many times, because I hated that I had to grew and preserved vegetables I did not like. I hated it! Swore I&#39;d never have a garden. Never do THAT to my kids.  Then I had kids. A switch flipped in my head. I had to have a garden! I never made my kids take care of it. Gardening was my &quot;me&quot; time. But being little kids, they wanted to be with mom and &quot;help&quot; with the garden. I &quot;gave&quot; them an area and they were allowed to grow whatever they wanted. If it was a fruit or vegetables , they had to eat it. As a result, they both love gardening and neither are picky eaters. 5. From lilviviv: Get into debt I can&#39;t pay off. 6. From EMHemingway1899: Drank like my alcoholic mother Until I got sober at age 31, thank God (and AA). 7. From squid1891: Have s*x before marriage. Thank f*ck I never made good on that one since I&#39;m 41 and have never been married. 8. From stolid_agnostic: Become overweight. I&rsquo;ve done or avoided doing everything else that I cared about, but am much bigger than I would like. 9. From deathbytb:  Tell my kid, &quot;because I said so.&quot; 10. From Meta_My_Data: Get married. I was going to be the perpetual bachelor. Married over 30 years with 6 kids. Wouldn&rsquo;t change a thing. 11. From PizzaPoopF*ck: Work in a sterile office building. The cringe I felt and what I now put up with. 12. From ChaoticCherryblossom: Napping on purpose. 13. From cutiegirl88: I wanted nothing more than to escape my family for good and never come back. They got help...I did not expect that. 14. From ProjectDv2: Diet sodas. In my youth, I swore I&#39;d just die of diabetes before I drank that swill.  Now I&#39;m in my 40s and unless the soda is sweetened with real sugar, I actually prefer diet/zero sugar options. Corn syrup sodas are so gross to me now. Oh, and once I stopped drinking high fructose corn syrup, I lost fifty f*cking pounds. Corn syrup has no place in our drinks. 15. From Bobsburgers02: Two kids before I turn 30 and livin in the burbs. Oh well, I&rsquo;m happy! 

As a kid, it&#39;s easy to build your life-map on a mountain of ideals and daydreams. You see the unhappiness of the adults around you and swear you&#39;ll never make the same mistakes, engage in the same self-destructiveness, or even fall...