u/Tiredasf789

Hey everyone. First post here but I'm a really private person and have no one in my personal life that I really feel I can talk to regarding this topic, but essentially, I'm getting tired, and I'm unsure of when things will get better. I truly have so much hope and I work as hard as I can but some days (today being one) it all weighs heavy on me.

I moved out of my folks place when I was 18 for college and haven't gone back since. My relationship with my parents was complicated growing up and is much better now, but nonetheless, it put me in a position where I had to try to figure out quite a bit at a young age. got my first apartment at 18, then moved to a cheaper city postgrad. Rent is significantly less than where I was at previously, but it's still so much more than it should be. I was working a corporate job for a bit but absolutely hated it and the pay wasn't as good as I'd hoped (they also failed to inform me that I'd need to be in office 5 days a week. the commute was an hour and a half one way). Now I'm self employed and making more than I ever have, but it's still not enough to keep up with all the expenses. I work full time, am working on generating another form of income, have investments and savings, but it's been an intense struggle to make all that happen. I even picked up another Job for a bit and was working 60 hours a week regularly for months, but after my body and mental health started to suffer in addition to the fact that it wasn't nearly as financially beneficial as I thought it would be, I left.

I'm at the point now where I feel a bit alone in the whirlwind of it all. The people I know who are my age have significantly more help or have decided to stay at home with their parents which, naturally has led to them not sharing most of these concerns. I'm in no way upset that we have different situations, but it's certainly led to some dissonance. They don't understand the complexities and stressors I face on a daily basis, and have had friends who couldn't even begin to offer solutions/advice because they can't imagine the situation in the first place. I've lost friends because of it, as I'm exhausted about having to explain why expensive outings aren't always an option for me and most of those friends are nearly an hour drive away-- I'm always the one expected to commute. I also give off this energy that I perpetually have everything together, which I think has also led to people not really treating my concerns as legitimate because I always seem to figure it out.

Honestly, I don't know what advice there is to give. I'm sure some people will find a way to be negative in the comments, but I truly don't think I could handle it so if you're feeling spicy, refrain from commenting please. I'm working hard and while I'm making progress, I still feel sad about my situation sometimes.