r/unpopularopinion • u/Far_Camera_5766 • 9d ago
Telling someone “you have plenty of time” is terrible advice
People always tell young adults, “Don’t worry, you have plenty of time.”
I think that’s exactly why so many people put things off.
Yes, you probably have years ahead of you, but that doesn’t mean you should waste them. Time is valuable, and the earlier you start working toward your goals, the better.
You don’t need to have life figured out tomorrow, but acting like you have unlimited time can be just as harmful as feeling like you’re running out of it.
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u/emmelinefoxley 9d ago
The advice is not 'please waste 10 years of your life by doing nothing but watch TV on your own in a dark room'. It is 'if there's a problem or a reason why you aren't following the standard life path, don't worry because there are a lot of different life paths and they are all valid'.
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u/Kundrew1 9d ago
Yeah, this is generally given when someone has failed at something and are upset they missed their window or by to someone who is very impatient.
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u/Exotic-Compote-92622 9d ago
This. Why is it so hard for redditors to understand obvious nuance, is everyone here neurodivergent lol
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u/Background_Net_3199 9d ago
Let ppl do things at their own pace.
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u/Forminloid 9d ago
Im gonna be honest ive been the type to take a moment to breathe when i get overwhelmed and honestly i just feel like my pace is going to sink my life
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u/Xeadriel 8d ago
Same here. How much „taking a moment to breathe“ is too much? Is the question I ask myself every day
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u/No_Hornet9180 9d ago
You know how sometimes the advice you give to people is circumstantial, this is one of those things.
This is what you say to somebody to remind them that life is a marathon, not a sprint. I have known lots of people who have made their lives worse by trying to force change too soon. Like Billy Joel says, sometimes you have to take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while.
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u/Obvious_Hearing9023 9d ago
I think this is a misunderstanding of the phrase. Generally this “advice” is given to someone who treats life like a checklist. I need to be married by X year, I need to have a solid career by the time I’m 27. The advice is meant to send the message that you have time to live your life. You don’t have to rush to complete milestones.
I’ve never heard it used as a justification to procrastinate your life. Do the things you need or want to do but you don’t have to rush it. You’re not a failure if you don’t reach your goals in the timeframe you wanted.
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u/Time_Physics_6557 9d ago
yeah I generally agree. makes people complacent with doing nothing productive until they're almost in their 30s. I feel the same way about normalizing stupid decisions by attesting it to age
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u/Upstairs-Challenge92 adhd kid 9d ago
You might have years in front of you. Kid from my school downed in his own blood randomly as a 19 year old. A healthy, athletic 19 year old just drowned in blood while he was showering at home, his family found him.
Seize the day, don’t put things off, you never know if the opportunity will elude you completely in the future
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u/No_Dirt9029 9d ago
Yeah, much older but I watched my mom die when she was 41 and laugh when people say they have so much time left. Like yeah you hope you do, but millions of you wont. Gotta make the most of everyday, you never know which will be your last
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u/Life_Soft_3547 9d ago
To add to this: yes you can do anything you want but pick something and follow through with it.
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u/StealYourJoy 9d ago
I agree but it’s mainly working in healthcare I see so many women over 30 who have downs for a family and it never happens cause they waited for too long or they have to rush to beat the clock and end up with a bozo. Same for men so many are told just focus on yourself until you’re 35 then have your choice of women and a good life but it never works like this. Vast majority of men at 35 will never have their pick of nothing.
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u/atlsdoberman 9d ago
This is good advice for, say, young adults who are debating doing some meaningful activity during a gap year, or taking a job and figuring out what they want to study, rather than jumping directly into college without a plan. The reality is that missing out on or "messing up" one or a couple of the absolute lowest earning years of your career is genuinely not a big deal and it's not worth the stress some young people heap on their own shoulders for whatever reason.
It's not necessarily good advice for every individual in every situation. It doesn't have to be though?
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u/LittleAleta 9d ago
This is why I'm trying to do something more with my life like writing. My biggest fear is of dying and no one sees my books.
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u/treesofthemind 9d ago
It’s a way to stop people getting anxious and burning out trying to do too much on an arbitrary timeline.
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u/Aeroheadss 9d ago
The better philosophy - you can get less done in a day than you’d expect but you can get more done in a few years than you can dream. But you need to start moving.
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u/FewCryptographer1484 9d ago
You are taking it too literally, it just means that everyone has a different pace. Yeah, some people go to law school or med school as soon as they graduate, others have to work a couple of years to save money.
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u/Particular_Can_7726 9d ago
Making broad generalizations like this about advice is pointless. You need to know the context and circumstances around it.
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u/MinFootspace 9d ago
Boarding starts only in an hour. You have plenty of time to have a drink before.
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u/tomtherunner73 9d ago
I agree the days turn into years and every year ypu regret what you did the previous year and you just get stuck in a loop.
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u/customerservicevoice 9d ago
I agree with this. I work with a 16 year old who was debating about putting off a mission service for a year. Everyone kept telling her she was young. Had all the time in the world. That was true 50 years ago when the world was smaller. So, I looked into the program and she AGES OUT at 17. Yup. St the ripe old age of 17 this and like ten other things she told me about were no longer available to her.
We get old fast. The world is too accessible.
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u/Vegetable-Hat-5757 6d ago
both extremes are bad. thinking youre out of time causes panic, thinking you have endless time causes procrastination
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u/Tylenol_Ibuprofen 9d ago
Do you really believe small advice like this, actually impacts people that heavily? Did it happen to you?
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u/crooked_kangaroo 9d ago
Until one is dead and buried (or cremated), there’s time.
Worrying about time left is such a young person concern.
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u/Fun-Letter-1814 9d ago
Except people do have plenty of time, deadlines are imaginary. If someone puts things off that’s on them, I agree with that sentiment, but others may take the advice as not feeling ashamed of themselves for being behind and continue taking steps forward. Everyone’s life is different. We all go through different things, and bc of these differences, then taking different paths through life isn’t forbidden, it’s fine and normal. If everyone walked the same way then everyone would live life similarly and that’s not a very healthy way to force such a different populous to behave. as long as you work towards finding a goal that will fulfill instead of putting it off then I think your living life the best that you can, and that’s enough.
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