People Confess What Their 10-Year-Old Self Would Never Believe About Themselves As Adults
Some of us might have done an activity in school where we were asked to write a letter to our future self. This was done to give us a plan, a road map you might say, that has us consider our future and what we hope our lives were like.
However, now that many of us are "grown-up," we can see that things we hoped and wished for when we were 10-years-old are not quite what we could have imagined.
Reddit user, yourfavbrownguyy, wanted to know how we've all changed when they asked:
"What would 10-year-old you never believe about adult you?"
As a child, your understanding of money might be a little misguided. Responsibility isn't even a word many of us could spell when we were ten, but it certainly is something we have to know about when we're grown up.
You Can Play Anything, But You Can't Play Anything
"All the video games I have but the lack of time to play them. Alas, we weep"
deecro3000
"I thought I'd outgrow them. Instead I just have less time for them."
Delta_ASP
"Man, 10 year old me would be absolutely mindblown at the idea of just pushing a couple buttons and having basically any video game or movie or TV show you want show up on your TV (which is friggin HUGE compared to the console box TV of the 80s). Same problem though - so many movies, so little time. Sigh."
TenaciousBe
What Are You Spending Your Money On?
"I don't eat candy all day."
tomNJUSA
"10 year old you: "then what's the point in having a job?""
abramcpg
This Is What I'm Spending My Money On
"that 35 year old me bought the ninja turtles arcade cabinet of my 10 year-old self's dreams."
BurnedOutStars
Jobs have a way of making you understand the value of a dollar. While some of us are able to work our "dream jobs," not all of us hit those heights, and that's a lesson we're still learning.
Having $100 Doesn't Make You A Millionaire
"That $100 is not that much money."
AnchoviePopcorn
"Holy sh-t I feel this. When you’re 10 a $20 bill feels like an endless pile of money. Then you’re an adult, and buying food is $100"
Steff_164
Numbers Are The Most Fun
"Math is actually kind of fun. And we work with numbers all day."
Bells87
"10 year old me "math is stupid and I can't wait to never have to do it again". Current me, an accountant, and I like it."
Individual_Lemon_139
There Aren't Explosions Everywhere
"I didn't end up being a ninja-spy-gangsta lady who can throw knives and rides motorcycles. Honestly, the fact that I don't do cool martial arts stuff nowadays would probably break 10yo me's heart. I don't even have a sidekick or some dangerous pet. Generally, the lack of life threatening Action and how little I enjoyed any dangerous action I ever saw would horrify 10yo me."
"I desperately wanted to be a hot antihero from a kids movie and in adult life there are shockingly few superweapons to steal, villains to counter monologue and a total lack of escaping my enemies through third floor windows in black latex suits. I don't even ever punch people in the face and the few times I had to in my life, no cool one liners were dispersed."
rat_with_a_hat
And then there's these, realizations that we've truly aged, there's no way to go back to who we were, but that's the way life is.
Not Everyone Sticks Around
"I don't talk to anybody I knew when I was 10. It's like they don't even exist anymore."
gwaaadit
"My best friends at 10 were a set of twins, Matthew and Wesley (we’re 27 now). I was close with them till the end of high school when they started getting into drugs. I haven’t talked to them in years (they don’t even respond to birthday texts). But I talk to their dad every now-and-then for updates."
zed910
The Whole Country Has Changed, Really
"I would be scandalized if 10 yo me found out I've gotten high."
jzmk3
"All those hours in D.A.R.E. gone to waste. Such a shame."
LilDudeOnBoard
"Ten year old me would be SO SHOCKED to learn that I regularly drive my mom to the dispensary so she can buy weed."
Sunshine030209
I'm Going To Be A Grandpa?
"Considering how old I thought my parents were when they were 30 is the fact that I’m a grandparent now and mostly retired would blow my ten year old mind. Ah, perspective."
dbuck1964
We Are Going To Keep Aging And Aging
"That I lived to be 58 years old. I thought 30 was old."
joszacem
"nah when I was 10 I thought 14+ year olds were basically adults. Becoming older than that was practically inconceivable."
Cheesy_Potato_Soup
"When I was a kid, for some reason I always subconsciously assumed that becoming an adult turned you into a completely different person with different interests that you wouldn't be able to relate to. I'd be really into a game I liked or a particular thing I was interested in and I'd sometimes wish "man, I really hope I still like this when I'm 25, that'd be so cool"."
"Of course I still like it. I'm the same person, just older! Getting older is a slow and gradual process, it's not like you just wake up one day and forget everything you liked when you were younger. Chances are if you found something you liked, you liked it for a reason and you can at least relate to that thought process and look back on it with nostalgia as an adult. Yes I liked Zelda games as a kid, and yes I'm sure as hell buying every new main console entry in the once-per-5-year event when a new one comes out. 10-year-old me would be surprised to hear that, even though it makes complete sense."
flameylamey
It's All Okay
"That I'm good. I'm happy. I have the family I always dreamed of having, an occasionally exciting job that gets me occasionally labeled a "hero" (such moments in reality are few and far between, but that's okay), and that I have the opportunity to pursue the things that make me happy."
"I always worried I'd grow up to be poor, jobless, or stuck working some job I couldnt stand. But somehow things have worked out."
"I'm not rich, and my life is far from perfect, but I'm happy."
"...I'm happy."
DrStrangeLoveOHILTSW
Growing up is okay. Maybe that's the thing we should be explaining to our younger selves. It's not always going to be how we like, but if we change our thinking, it'll be how we can handle it.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
What do we really know about famous people?
Not much if we're honest.
But that doesn't stop us from prying into their lives and dissecting and destroying it.
It feels like society needs to have people to build up and tear down.
Is it that we all need an enemy?
Or is it just another form of reality tv?
So many people, celebrity and non-celebrity have been heaped on with vitriol.
Their lives often take a downturn.
Then in hindsight, upon re-examing, we learn maybe society went too far.
And those people too were just trying to survive.
Redditor wild-wolf-woman wanted to name the people we all may owe a few apologies to, so they asked:
"What famous person didn't deserve all the hate that they got?"
As a Madonna fan.
I'm livid with many people.
She didn't deserve any of the trash thrown at her.
Kevin
Screaming Macaulay Culkin GIF by Home AloneGiphy"Macaulay Culkin."
"For Redditors old enough to remember, the young Home Alone star got a bunch of hate for being a spoiled brat when he sued to divorce his parents."
"The truth of the matter is his father was a physically abusive a**hole, and his parents were going to take the $15-20M he earned from acting and leave Macaulay with nothing."
happy_snowy_owl
In Vienna
"Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis"
"He was a Hungarian physician and scientist, described as the 'savior of mothers.' He proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwive's wards."
"Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865 he allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum, he was beaten by the guards. He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating. His findings earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory."
SuvenPan
She Deserved Better
"Lindsey Lohan- overworked and used by her parents."
HRPurrfrockington
"Was looking through the comments to see if Lindsey Lohan would be mentioned. not to mention the disgusting behavior of the media and the public in regard to her addiction issues. that one David Letterman interview with her is almost unbearable to watch. she deserves a huge apology from the world."
clownteeth222
Good Guy
"Guy Fiere is in the same vein. His entire career is giving small businesses a national platform and boosting them up, hiring folks most others won't, and being a huge advocate for LGBTQ rights (including officiating gay weddings) but because his shirt is on fire and it looks like he got electrocuted by mountain dew that spun his glasses around, everybody is so mean to him."
A_giant_dog
"He also goes out to disaster areas and serves food to emergency workers. He was here in Santa Cruz County during the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire serving free food. Genuinely cool guy."
adventureremily
Chill
f. murray abraham amadeus GIF by MauditGiphy"Salieri. Pretty chill dude. Mozart's biggest supporter. Lent him his librettist so he could write Figaro. Took care of Mozart's kid after he passed away."
veriverd
"That's a damn good movie, though. But it also does him dirty as well."
MajoraOfTime
That movie. That play. Those people.
The best and worst of drama.
Let her sing...
friday rebecca black GIFGiphy"Rebecca Black got death threats for her song Friday. It's just a song, an annoying one, but just a song guys."
EMdesigns
Shocking Truth
"Parents of Azaria were ridiculed and hounded by the press and the grieving mother's statement became a pop culture reference. They were accused of murdering their child. Many years later it was finally proven that a Dingo had, in fact, eaten their baby."
Stinkyminge123
"Lindy Chamberlain was, in fact, found guilty of murdering her child and sent to jail for a number of years. Her conviction was overturned, and it's now accepted that a dingo was responsible."
"However, jokes about it are still made. I can't imagine how awful it must be to have the world laugh for decades over your child's horrific death."
brownhedgehog
Blame it on the Rain
"Milli Vanilli. They were a late 80’s R&B duo who were 'exposed' for lip-syncing their music during a live performance on MTV. In reality, the two members Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus were capable singers and performers, but their record label didn’t allow them to sing on their records or during live performances. They had signed their record contract in German, a language neither of them spoke, and actively fought with the label behind the scenes to sing and perform their own songs."
"After being 'exposed,' they were forced to relinquish their Best New Artist Grammies, and their label toured the actual singers as 'The Real Milli Vanilli.' The media backlash was severe, and Rob Pilatus fell victim to addiction. He overdosed and died in the late 90’s."
"Rob could speak German. Most of this information is from a Fab Morvan interview, and when he said he couldn’t speak German, I wrongfully assumed neither of them could. My mistake."
HomePlastic
Poor Mama...
"Mama Cass Elliot."
"She was an absolutely beautiful, intensely powerful voice. But because she was... gasp fat, in the 60s-70s she was bullied relentlessly by the media."
"She died of heart failure and a random doctor said she 'could’ve died choking on a ham sandwich.' The media just dropped articles that that is how she died. If there is any reason for me to despise older generations it’s how they treated Mama Cass."
holyerthanthou
They Tried...
anakin skywalker GIFGiphy"Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin and the child actor of Anakin. They both got sooo much hate... and I still don't get why."
TheDudeOnHisRug
We really need to do better as a people.
So much judgement.
People Explain Which Everyday Things Are Actually Deadly That Most Folks Don't Know About
Every time we wake up... it's a MIRACLE!!
Nothing is promised.
Not one day.
Not one breath.
The hazards are everywhere.
There are foods we shouldn't eat.
People we should avoid.
And health regimes we may really need to try.
Life is booby-trapped.
It's time to make a survivor's how to list.
Redditor gaudiergash wanted to warn everyone about all the simple things that threaten our lives on the daily, so they asked:
"What are some everyday things that kill people because most don't know about it?"
Danger is all around.
Be alert!
Don't Forget
Warning Sign GIFGiphy"Carbon Monoxide is something everyone knows about but everyone also seems to forget about."
bottomless-bs
"Knew a girl from school, she and her family were all killed from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a cabin on New Year's weekend 2017. Her husband and two young kids. I still think about them going to bed, never to awaken."
hookersince06
Reach the Brain
"Poor dental hygiene and gum infections hit the brain fairly quickly and can be fatal before you even knew something was happening. So brush your teeth and talk to a dentist, most will try to work with you on the money side if you don't have insurance. If not try contacting a dental school near you, they are often looking for test subjects, I mean patients to work on for training."
SomeRandomUser00
"True stuff... this just killed my cousin."
FLAMES
"I know of a few things, all fire-related..."
"1. Pinched electrical wires - having, for example, a table leg or something on top of a wire creates a hot spot that can eventually start a fire."
"2. Toasters under cabinets - if you have a toaster on your countertop, and have cabinets mounted above that countertop, leaving the toaster directly under the cabinets while in use is also a fire hazard. be sure to pull it out from beneath the cabinets before use."
"3. Not sure if this one is still unknown by most people, but I'll add it just in case - water does not put out a grease fire, it makes it worse because the grease/oil is less dense and floats on top of the water and continues to burn, so pouring water on a grease fire is likely to just spread the grease and fire around. baking soda, a lid/cover of some kind, or of course a fire extinguisher will all smother the fire without spreading it around."
designer_sheets
In Defense
"Stress. Stress is a state when your body feels threatened and produces a hormone to defend yourself, which will typically boost your muscle and reduce to minimum other functions, like digestion, your kidneys, and overall all organs that aren't involved in fighting off a bear."
"If you're always stressed (Chronic stress), you will damage your organs. All of them. At once. Chronic stress is a poison, you must avoid it."
"Note that 'normal, episodic' stress like you're taking an exam today or you have 13 missed calls from mom isn't going to kill you. Well, not the stress at least."
Dahns
Drink Up
Season 7 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Once read about someone who died when they had the flu - they were medicating with over-the-counter cold and flu medicine and drinking multiple cups of lemsip, one after the other, not realizing lemsip also contained painkillers. they died of an overdose."
StrikeOk9626
I never knew the flu was so dangerous until COVID.
It only takes a sneeze.
The BIG Bullet!
Driving Action Movie GIF by James Bond 007Giphy"People are not nearly careful enough driving vehicles. you are operating a 2,000lb bullet, please stop texting and pay attention."
BigMoney5594
No Bleach
"Mixing cleaning supplies. Cleaners are usually dangerous chemicals, mixing certain chemicals can create dangerous gases. One of the common cleaner mistakes people make is dish soap and bleach, a lot of dish soaps have ammonia in them, and you don’t want to be around the gas that ammonia and chlorine make. Also, don’t clean your kitty litter with bleach, use chlorine-free disinfectants instead. Cat pee naturally has ammonia in it and can cause a reaction too."
SegaNaLeqa
Too High
"High blood pressure."
Ultimatelee
"High BP also presents as just a headache for some. I had preeclampsia and after the baby was born I kept getting these headaches, to be honest, they weren't that painful but I felt foggy and just, off. Come to find out my BP was so high I needed 3 rounds of magnesium to bring it back to normal."
deckpumps_n_deldos
Small Evils
"Bites from the wrong flea/mosquito/tick have been decimating mankind since forever."
Midas_Artflower
"If your tick bite gets a bullseye shape around it, go to the doctor, possible Lyme disease."
"If your spider bite gets raised and white, go to the doctor, possible necrotic lesions from recluse."
"Don't live in fear of these things and squash everything with crawly legs. Do some research (tons of bug info online free from many universities, tons of insect/spider/etc subreddits), and be smart. Wear tall socks in long grass and check yourself and your pets."
BirdsLikeSka
Red Puke
season 9 berries GIFGiphy"Elderberries are poisonous until you boil them. My mom works at a school where a teacher lets some kids eat them because she didn’t know they were poisonous. Red puke everywhere. I also had a friend post a picture on Facebook of her son eating them."
CoffeeCactus92
Why are berries so dangerous?
I love them. Darn it!
Life is complicated, but there are so many things that are worth being thankful for, even in the day-to-day.
But of course, there are some things that we would love to see in our lifetimes that would make living that much sweeter.
Redditor moltingtoupee asked:
"What is something you hope to witness in your lifetime?"
Not Even Gonna Lie...
"An Armored car spilling a sack of money in front of me and not noticing."
- explodingladybugs
Nature's Beauty
"An aurora."
- RedStradis
"I once met a British couple who were camping in the Canadian Rockies for their 25th wedding anniversary. We had a few beers around the campfire. At some point, the woman said the only thing she was a bit sad about this trip was not seeing northern lights. She always wanted to see one."
"We keep chatting and at some point after a few beers, nature called. I went to do my thing and as I was out of the fire’s light, I looked up and could see that great northern light dancing in the sky. I came back to the fire and took the couple away in the dark to show them. She was soooo thrilled."
"So you never know when it will happen to you."
- prplx
The Lives This Would Change
"A treatment for Alzheimer's. That s**t is terrifying."
- doobydoobydobap
"This is my pick, too. Watching my grandmother succumb to it, and it broke my heart. I’m afraid my mom is next, followed by me or one of my sisters."
- crispypotatocake
Cheering Our Loved Ones On
"All of my daughter's milestones in life. Until it's my time to go, I hope I get to see her grow up to be a beautiful smart caring woman."
- FlaccidWeenus
Infinite Possibilities
"Faster than light travel (minus any relativistic effects that make it impossible to come home at the sameish time, etc)."
"I know it's weird, but I find the thought of being confined to our little solar system a bit depressing when there's a whole universe out there."
- postitsam
Halley's Comet
"To see Halley's comet for the second time in 2061."
- craigoth
"If I can't live to see Halley's Comet (I should be 76), then I'd die happy knowing I get to see the total solar eclipse next year as my runner-up."
- curbstomprey
Who's Out There
"First contact."
- Minute-Loan7057
"Sometimes I think I'd like to see that too... But the way the last few years have been going, we'd expect the Vulcans and get Xenomorphs instead."
- coffee_cats_books
"Or the Vogons."
- Reddit_Hitchhiker
...What's That Like?
"My life full of happiness with no stress."
- HappinessSeeker7
Unrealistic Expectations
"I hope to witness the day when autocorrect finally stops turning 'F**king' into 'Ducking.'"
- Daily_Burnin12345
Ocean Views
"To see the Pacific Ocean, early morning, crispness to the air, wrapped in a blanket, sitting alone on the beach..."
"I am in central Kentucky, and this seems so far away to me. I can only imagine what the peace and tranquility would be to stare out and see nothing but water, clear to the horizon."
- Saltriverjohnny
One Small Step For Man...
"For man to walk on Mars..."
- Effective-Craft-1173
Outside the Box
"A US President elected from a third party."
- CatacombsRave
Flight MH370
"To find out what truly happened to Flight MH370."
- desperatelingling123
"I'm pretty sure it will appear back on the radar in 10 years and none of the passengers will have aged or be aware of the time jump and Stephen King was the reason for it all."
- ALIENAND
"I legit looked this up last night to see if there have been any advancements in the theory or new evidence. I hadn't thought about it in a couple of years. (I know that I'm lucky to not think about it all of the time. There are so many poor families that don't have this luxury and they still don't have concrete answers, which is heartbreaking.)"
- SparklesVibe
Supernovas
"A supernova event that lights up the sky. Even if it’s extremely unlikely, the most likely would be Betelgeuse or Antares."
- _Goose_
Time to Unite
"The middle class, working class, and poor realizing that they have more in common than the Upper class and super wealthy."
- Diverswelcome
It's always heartwarming to see when people are asked what they would most like to see changed, or want to see in their lifetime, they're less concerned about gainful wealth or arbitrary things, and more so in nature's wonders and cures for diseases.
Life might not always be perfect, but there are absolutely things to keep looking up for.
When people are wanting to get out of various situations and withhold from telling the truth so as not to ruffle feathers, they fabricate wild stories.
Because this tends to happen most of the time–whether it's an employee wanting extra time off or a date who is too afraid to say they're "not interested"–we've become conditioned to be skeptical when hearing excuses.
So it's surprising then that the one time we rejected a person's excuse to decline participation, it turned out to be true.
How embarrassing.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor RadPs77 asked:
"What's the most bull**** excuse you've heard that turned out to be true?"
If somebody yelled, "fire!" there probably was one.
The Emergency Call
"My dad had to call and say he was going to be late on take your kid to work day, because the guys building a house in the lot next to ours set all the extra supplies on fire at 5am, and he called the fire department because it was a huge fire and the firetrucks were now blocking our driveway. He took a video."
– kingftheeyesores
The Blazing Car
"Couldn't make it to work because someone set his car on fire. Sure enough, it was mentioned in the local paper a day or two later..."
– res30stupid
Accusations of lying are especially hard on those who are grieving.
Proof Was In The Ashes
"Not really sure if this counts but... I worked at a mcdonalds years ago and I called in sick one day because I was having my dog put down, this was my childhood friend I'd had since I was 6. The day after the manager pulls me into the office and gives me a rant about how I need to come up with a better excuse for a sick day. In anger I ended up bringing his ashes into work with me several weeks later with receipts proving dates of attending vets etc."
"Then a good few months after all this, the same manager is moving house and isn't allowed to take her two dogs with her (no pets allowed at the new address) so she let's her friend adopt them who lives on the next street to where she's going to be living then proceeds to take 10 days off 'to say goodbye.' "
"It's been more than a decade but I'm still salty af about this."
– SolaWrex
"Unexcused Absence"
"Had this but when my brother died, took 2 weeks off because of obvious reasons."
"I was on probation at the time and they didn’t believe me, they wanted a death certificate - but where I live those can take some time."
"At the end of my probation I had an exit interview - my dad was able to sit in with me, so he did. He brought my brothers ashes and put them on the table while they tried to say it was an unexcused absence."
– tictactowbar
There are the odd circumstances.
Nature Strikes
"I couldn't go into work for a few days because a tree totalled both vehicles. My boss was pissed because I had requested the day off but was denied. I had to send pictures as proof."
– hotcookin53
The Gamer
"I injured myself badly enough I couldn't go to work for a few days, the night before World of Warcraft was released. Since I'd been talking about it so much, my boss assumed I was lieing to stay home and play it on opening day. Not only was I not lieing, but it meant I was unable to get to the store to pick up my pre-order."
– shontsu
A Birth Anomaly
"One of my guys didn't come into work he said that his unborn triplets had absorbed each other and he had to console his wife that she was gonna have twins not triplets."
– ShItllhappen
Repeat Offender
"I had the same teacher for trig and 2 years later Calc ii. Both times my house got hit by a car right before an exam. The second time she said 'you've already made this excuse" and asked for a police report. I happily obliged and gave her both. Literally could not believe it.'"
– Electronic_Soil5934
Animals are unpredictable.
That is all.
Kitty Bite
"Kid in high school was absent one day because he'd been 'bitten by a cougar.' Yeah, right."
"Turns out, he'd been bitten by a cougar. He thought he wanted a pet cougar, found some place he could buy one, and went over a weekend to pick one out. He was playing with a cute baby cougar, cuddling and wrestling on the ground, just having a great time. Then that cute little baby turned on him, bit down hard on his foot, and sent him to the hospital with numerous deep punctures that needed chunks of Nike shoe pulled out of them. He was on crutches for weeks."
– twothirtysevenam
Kid's Track Record Didn't Help
"Had a kid come into my class one day that was late and he had been a pain in the butt the whole year so I was like 'alright, what is it this time, house burnt down. No no, you went to the forest and got lost, not you used that last time.' He just stood there with a straight face and said, a bear slashed our tires so I had to walk. I looked at him with an as if that happened face and low and behold after school his mum comes up apologising that he was late again and told me that a bear had slashed their car’s tires. She showed me the ring video and everything. I was speechless."
"Edit for those of you complaining that I was mean, this kid was consistently late and rude throughout the whole year and was constantly giving me bs excuses that turned out not to be true. That’s why I was mad and didn’t believe him."
– cryptic_cookies
The next time you hear someone giving a wild excuse, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
You never know if the person has actually gone through a terrible ordeal.
The truth always comes out eventually, whether it works in the person's favor or not.