I ran away from home when I was 16. I was told just about every day that i was 'in for a surprise when you hit the real world' that 'the real world is going to tear you apart' that 'the real world is going to eat you alive' but the reality was quite the opposite. Outside of home other people were largely reasonable. Things were well documented and you could figure out things like trains and busses and jobs by just reading and paying attention and asking questions. Living without being abused was as delightful as I dreamed it might be and what shocked me the most was how easy it was to get by compared to home life.

Some of my roommates had never cleaned anything (dishes, laundry, etc) before and they were not from wealthy households. They also had eaten most meals as take out or prepared from a box so they were amazed by cooking from scratch.

Not all men were like my father. I mean he wasn't a perfect person, but he was waaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of most men of his generation and I thought other men would be more like him.

They weren't.

I expected to feel like an "adult". When it didn't happen immediately, I thought it would come fairly soon, what with fulltime employment and becoming a father etc.

Nope. 40+ years old, still feel like a teen lost in the world without a clue where to go or what to do.

How money NEVER goes far. Everything is just so fucking expensive. Kettle broke? That's your money wiped for the week. It's just a nightmare

Just how many bills there are just sapping your account. My immersion heater just broke and I really don't want to be dealing with having to get somebody in and paying them... And no, I'm not doing it myself, thats a recipe for floods and fires.

Move out of home? That sounds nice.

Nothing. I was taught to cook and to budget.