Life Struggles Everyone Experiences But No One Talks About
You're Not Alone
Certain experiences in life are practically inevitable. However, the tendency to want to paint a perfect picture of our lives, not wanting to share our hardships even with those we're close with, leads to conversations about these common things being more or less collectively silenced. This can make it feel more isolating when you go through tough times. To remind you that you're not alone, here are 20 life struggles everyone goes through that no one talks about.
1. Loved Ones Passing
You can't go through life without experiencing some level of tragedy. Whether it's a parent or friend, it's always extremely hard to lose someone, and while we all understand this, it's still difficult to open up about.
2. Financial Hardships
Almost everyone at some point in their life will experience financial hardship which can add a huge amount of stress to your life. Despite it being a common experience, it can be hard to admit that you don't have it all together.
3. Career Dissatisfaction
Most of us want to paint the image that we enjoy what we do, but it's not uncommon to feel dissatisfied at work. So much so that 30 percent of people change careers at least once in their lives. However, it can be hard to admit to ourselves and others that we made the wrong career choice, and changing paths can feel like a step back.
4. Aging
The most inevitable fact of life is aging. While the passing years bring good things like wisdom and experience, they also bring sagging skin, wrinkles, hair loss, and body changes that can be hard to face.
5. Hormonal Changes
For women, hormonal changes occur in pregnancy, menopause, premenopause and other times, and can result in weight gain and mood swings among other things. Hormones effect men too in the form of testosterone depletion which can cause a loss of muscle mass and hair. Although this happens to everyone, it's still a touchy subject to talk about.
6. Body Image Issues
Although you might look at others and see them as perfect, envying their body structures, chances are they don't feel that way about themselves. We all have some degree of body image issues that we prefer not to talk about because we don't want to draw attention to our perceived flaws.
7. Not Getting That Promotion/Job
You always hear from your friends about the job or promotion they landed, but rarely do you hear about one they didn't get. It's natural to talk up our successes and feel a bit sheepish about our misses, but 100 percent of people didn't get every job they applied for.
8. Flopping At Something Important
Whether it's a job interview or an exam, it's safe to say you've had at least one major flop in your life. No one wants to talk about these things, but if no one talks about it, it makes the failure feel more devastating and isolating.
9. Loneliness
Regardless of if you're an extrovert who always prefer to be surrounded by people, it's guaranteed that at least some percentage of your life will be spent alone. Even if you enjoy alone time, it's normal to feel lonely sometimes.
10. Loss of Motivation
A lack of motivation, even for things that you usually feel passionate about, is completely normal, whether it's due to burnout or just waning interest. We don't like to admit to those we're close to that we're no longer enjoying something that used to fuel us.
11. Self-Doubt
Even the most confident-looking person is full of self-doubt and insecurity about one thing or another. Some people are just better at faking it than others.
12. Doing Something Embarrassing
Whether it was on some drunken night in Vegas or while talking to someone who gives you butterflies in your stomach, we've all been there. Everyone can relate to that cringey feeling when they play back the memory in endless loops, even if they don't talk about it.
13. Hurting Someone
Whether purposeful or not, most of us have hurt someone we're close with saying something we didn't mean in a heated moment. The guilt and regret that follows is a relatable feeling, but sometimes we don't want to admit what we've done, even to our closest confidants.
14. Being Sad for No Reason
You don't have to be clinically diagnosed to experience periods of melancholy, seemingly spurred by nothing at all. It can be hard to talk about this feeling even though pretty much everyone has probably experienced it to some degree.
15. Failing
People tend to talk about their successes, but skip over their failures to paint a certain picture of their life. However, everyone fails too. Without failure, there is no learning.
Francisco De Legarreta C. on Unsplash
16. Heartbreak
Anyone who has experienced a break up, whether dramatic or not, has likely gone through heartbreak too. The feeling can be very hard to overcome, the loss of a partner weighing heavy on your mind. Sometimes it's easier to try and gloss over it, appearing casual and unhurt, than open up about it.
17. Regret
Everyone has regrets about life choices, whether it's an opportunity not taken, a relationship that ended, or a different career path. Dreaming of the green grass on the other side is an inevitable part of being human.
18. Caring For An Aging Parent
One of the hardest things in life practically everyone goes through is providing end of life care for a parent. Many prefer to not talk about it because it's such a heavy topic that you might feel is best avoided so as to not bring down other people's moods.
19. Struggling to Find Purpose
Even for people that appear to have found their purpose, chances are they either aren't fully there or it took a lot of searching to get there. The search for purpose is part of being human and finding meaning looks different for everyone.
malikmccotterjordan on Pixabay
20. Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression is a form of depression that occurs right after having a baby. It can happen to both women and men. Many people believe they're supposed to be filled with joy after giving birth so they may be ashamed to talk about how they really feel; however, postpartum depression is extremely common, with about 75 percent of people experiencing it to some degree.
