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People Break Down Which Things Their 12-Year-Old Selves Would Never Believe About Them Now

People Break Down Which Things Their 12-Year-Old Selves Would Never Believe About Them Now
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

12-year-olds are a unique breed of human beings. They sit right in that middle area where childhood innocence, youthful fears, and reckless adolescent confidence all overlap into a completely irrational soup of decision-making.

But that period of life, like all of them, does pass. We keep growing, sweeping through adolescence, surging on through the twenties, and edging into middle age.


Once an adult, it can be difficult to imagine exactly what felt most important when you were 12 years old.

And yet, a few things stick. They lead us to compare and contrast the plans of that 12-year-old kid against what actually occurred in our lives.

The result is a reflection equal parts nostalgic, relieved, and hilarious.

Some Redditors offered up their answers to that question.

coronacel asked, "What would 12 year-old you never believe about adult you?"

Many people keyed in on the clearest signs that adulthood had arrived completely, leaving the zaniness of childhood largely in the dust.

Genes

"That sometimes, when I'm not paying attention, my mom's words slipped right out of my mouth!" -- BlindGirlSees

"Sometimes it happens even when I'm paying attention. I'm too young to turn into her." -- SkyScamall

"I just tell people that my dad is the world's greatest ventriloquist. He can be miles away and his voice still comes out of my mouth." -- OpeScuseMe74

Changing Priorities

"For almost 9 years, I've worked literally 1 minute away from a huge water park and I've never gone there." -- subject_deleted

"Yeah the chance of drowning is non-zero, pretty sure 12 year old me would avoid the place too." -- vizthex

"This one breaks my heart, imagine the look on your younger face." -- Splashfooz

All About ContextĀ 

"I actually like exercise and physical activity, it's just PE class that sucked." -- mulitvac83

"School does a surprisingly good job of sucking every last bit of fun out of many subjects. PE focused on competitive team sports -- horrible for non-competitive or less coordinated people." -- ljr55555

Bed TimeĀ 

"That I'm in bed usually by 8:45 every night. To sleep šŸ˜³" -- QueenBetsie

"a good sleep cycle rocks. Wish i could push myself to do that." -- GotYeeted

"This is me and then I sleep 8-9 hours and wake up with the sunrise and no alarm. 12 year old me, during the summer, stayed up until sunrise and slept until afternoon." -- pieohmi

Some Changed, Some Didn'tĀ 

"That I actually like bees now and want to pursue beekeeping some day."

"I used to hate all bugs no matter what, but with more research, I realized that bees aren't so bad. Still hate other bugs tho..."

-- godoffloof

Lost in the Shuffle

"That all of the things I said I'd always remember and never do as an adult, I've largely forgotten and probably do as an adult ..." -- monsieurpoupon

"12 year old me would hate an office job. Ugh, 9-5 is not for me! I wanted to be doing stuff outside. Commutes are gross.

"31 year old me loves my office job and the structure a 9-5 (though I am 8-4, technically) brings my life. I MISS my office and my commute since working from home. They were clear divides of when I work, wind down (commuting with podcasts and audiobooks), and am free at home." -- deskbeetle

No, Special Agents Aren't the Only OnesĀ 

"I live in a whole a** other country and speak another language now, that definitely would've come as a surprise." -- Ryoukugan

"Same. And despite all the hours 12 year old me spent with a Japanese dictionary, it's not Japan" -- Cunninglinguist87

Others lamented that some things they dreamed about as kids never quite panned out as the years went by.

To be fair, many of those dreams were rather far-fetched. Though not all.

Still Waiting On the SteedsĀ 

"That I'm almost 40 and still don't have a stable full of horses." -- carmindy

"I just turned 40 and finally do have a horse of my own. It was well worth the wait, young me!" -- corporatewazzack

"I used to wake up every Christmas morning, hoping and wishing I'd see a horse on my parents' suburban front lawn. Believe it or not it didn't happen."

"I literally picked a career path in accounting to have the financial stability to own horses some day and am borderline ready to forgo having children to make it happen." -- fivecentssobct11

Not Automatic

"That I haven't gotten married. That something I just assumed would happen and yet here we are and I'm still single."

"I think he'd also be surprised at how rough my teenage years were."

-- snoobsnob

Never Came TogetherĀ 

"That, I too, don't know what the fu** I'm doing with my life." -- lilasketching

"Lol I think 12 year old me knew more about what I was doing in life than I do" -- platypossamous

"12 yo me had her whole life planned ahead of her and was ready to take on the entire world. She wouldn't be happy to hear that none of it panned out the way it was planned and I have no idea what I'm doing on any given day." -- SimonSpooner

Don't Hold Your BreathĀ 

"We never got that growth spurt we were promised" -- mumoftheweek

"Same. I'm in my 20's and people still tell me I'll get one one day." -- Monarch_of_God

"Mine seems to have been horizontal rather than vertical." -- AStartIsBorn

But some people took note of the things that haven't changed a bit, despite all the years that separate them from their 12-year-old selves.

They were happy to reflect on the innocence they've managed to retain.

Good for a LaughĀ 

"That I still laugh at the exact same things." -- Billy-Mays-Ghost

"Still listen to the same music too" -- platypossamous

"I love a good fart joke. Probably more than I ever have." -- WaterWatcher

The Locks are BACK

"That my hair would still be this long!"

"I was on chemo from 11-14 and all I wanted was to get my hair back. I had luscious locks halfway down my back(I'm a boy) and I'm proud to say after 3 years of being off chemo my hair has restored to (almost) it's old length."

"I'm eternally greatful for my life, and plan to live it to the fullest!"

"I get that I'm not really an "adult" but I'm as adult as I've ever been"

-- angeryhornet

Finally Striking OutĀ 

"When I was not 12 but 13, I got this crazy idea. I dreamed of someday loading a bunch of camping gear onto my bicycle and disappearing for a year or so to ride around the country. Also when I was 13, I started to see signs of trouble in my family."

When I was 17, those family troubles would culminate I'm my parents' divorce. And when I was 20 years old, I would finally set off on that bike camping trip I'd dreamed of for so long."

"So 13 year old me would be super stoked to hear that the bike trip actually happened, and he wouldn't be entirely surprised about the divorce and its lingering effects to this day. But 12 year old me? Yeah, he has absolutely no idea what's coming."

-- MasteringTheFlames

Committed After All These YearsĀ 

"I'd still sit down for an all night session of Dungeons and Dragons." -- TigerMkIV

"I never played DnD, but I really, really want to try. I've been listening to a bit of The Adventure Zone podcast and it sounds like a blast. Growing up, it was always the bottom of the barrel for nerdism. You could play or be into anything nerdy and get away with it because 'at least it's not DnD.' "

"I think my friends and I would really dig it if they just got past the stereotype. The last time I talked about it some time ago, the idea got shot down. Maybe I'll give it another go the next time I go home, or try arranging it with them online over roll20."

"The biggest problem is that I would likely have to be dungeon master for a group that knows nothing about it. I barely do." -- Voittaa

THE DREAM

"That I own an ice cream shop. šŸ¤Æ" -- blackcatice

"As an ice cream shop owner, how much ice cream do you infact still consume? Do you get tired of it after a while? Can one even get tired of ice cream?" -- AnAncientMonk


Now that you've read this, take a second to reflect on your own answer to the 12-year-old question.

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When I was in college, my friends and I went to Starbucks one December night. We had just taken the hardest of our finals and knew we did a terrible job and decided to go to Starbucks to cheer ourselves up.

One of my friends ordered a latte while my other friend and I ordered frappuccinos. The barista got super offended that we would have the audacity to order cold drinks on a cold night. She told us we should be ashamed of ourselves for making her make cold drinks on a cold night. Seriously!

I almost changed my order, but luckily, another barista came over to take care of us. As she put in our orders, she said the original barista we dealt with always judged people's orders and we should just ignore her.

This wasn't the last time we were judged by this barista, but we learned to ignore her opinions.

She is not the only person to get offended by something ridiculous or completely inoffensive. Redditors know this all to well and are eager to share their stories.

It all started when Redditor AdRealistic878 asked:

"What is the most ridiculous thing you've seen someone get offended by?"

A Greeting Is A Greeting...Or Not

"I had a boss get mad at me because when she said "Good morning" I responded with "Hello.""

"She got in my face and said "No.... I said 'Good morning'. Say it back.'"

"I didn't stay there long lol"

ā€“ isabelstclairs

"This reminds me of a time I was riding my bike early one morning. I was going up a steep hill, breathing hard, and a jogger running past me down the hill called out "good morning". I just nodded in their direction and continued my slog."

"The jogger stopped and yelled "hey, I said good morning!" I still can't understand the sense of entitlement, that somehow I owe them a verbal return of their greeting despite the obvious circumstances."

ā€“ FrightenedOfSpoons

"This reminds me of the first time I went backpacking. I was going up a steep subalpine mountain side on a trail that was basically a ladder made of rocks. I was breathing hard. Two men were coming down and gave a cheery ā€œhelloā€. I said ā€œhiā€ all redfaced and out of breath. One of them looked so offended."

ā€“ GogoYubari92

Not My Fault!

"When I worked at McDonaldā€™s they discontinued the smartie McFlurry for a short time. When explaining to anyone who ordered one, youā€™d have thought I threatened their family or something with how offended people were."

ā€“ SarcastiKatt

Speak My Language

"I've seen people get very offended by a South Welsh accent. Accusing people of being racist and faking Indian accents when they're just speaking in their native accent."

"The internet is wild."

ā€“ Broshida

Freedom Of Speech?

"I was out for lunch with a colleague at a local pub and we were discussing a news story from the morning about a bus crash."

"A woman on a nearby table took great offence to this and stormed over to us and demanded we stop talking about it in public."

"We both just stared at her, not entirely sure if she was serious."

"She was."

"We carried on discussing it and she flounced out."

ā€“ ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN

Just Trying To Help

"I politely and quietly told a woman on line at the pharmacy that the price tag was still hanging on her jacket sleeve. She went on a long loud rant about my bad behavior."

ā€“ VosTutZich

"This is why mom taught me Don't talk to strangers."

ā€“ UnicornSlayer5000

Spoilers

"I got yelled at for ā€˜spoilingā€™ the Tudors. Like my god."

ā€“ altdultosaurs

"Imagine being that uneducated that you think someone is "spoiling" the Tudors."

ā€“ narniasreal

"Making a joke about Ann Boleyn. Apparently, it was too soon."

"I wish I were joking."

ā€“ LadyoftheHounds

"Woah, people are still losing their head over it?"

ā€“ SpittinImageofLlama

This Is Nuts!

"Not me, but the Korean Nut Rage incident. The Vice President of Korean Air (daughter of the CEO) was in first class and got furious that she was served nuts (like the peanuts you get on a flight) in a packaged bag rather than a wooden bowl. She made the captain kneel and beg for forgiveness and hit him, then forced the plane to return to the gate since she'd just fired the captain. Crazy stuff."

ā€“ FancifulPeaches

Well, Obviously!

"Me growing a beard. According to my brother's mother-in-law, only junkies grow beards, and that's so they can hide their drugs in it. I kid you not!"

ā€“ Grunthos_Flatulent

Watch Out!

"I was standing with my trolley waiting & had a lady freak out ā€œYouā€™re going to hit my son!ā€. I wasnā€™t even moving so it was a huge overreaction, but I understood that her small son may be hidden from my view behind the trolley & she was making sure he doesnā€™t get hit when I do move whilst not realising heā€™s there."

"I looked for him but couldnā€™t see anything. She continued to freak out at me ā€œDonā€™t hit my son!ā€ & physically restraining my trolley which is not moving."

"It turned out she meant the adult male next to her scanning things at the self scan till. I wasnā€™t going to hit him anymore than any fully grown adult in the supermarket."

ā€“ stowberry

Don't Lose Your Hair!

"My kid has very curly hair. When said kid was about three years old, a random woman started berating me in public because my kidā€™s hair was curly. She was convinced Iā€™d had it permed, and how horrible to do that to an innocent 3 year old. I was the worst parent ever. Apparently sheā€™d never seen someone with naturally curly hair before?!"

ā€“ Frozen_Feet

Stay Seated

"Being offered a seat on a crowded subway. I offered a woman who was 30 years older than i was my seat . She flew into a tirade yelling nonsense."

ā€“ rayneglyons

Talk About An Overreaction!

"Iā€™m a Vet Tech, and people will LOSE THEIR SHIT if you misgender their pets. Jesus Christ. šŸ¤¦šŸ» The folks who get the most offended are:"

"1. The ones who have chosen to name their male dogs a classically effeminate name."

"2. The ones who have chosen to name their female dogs a classically masculine name."

"Had a guy walk into our animal hospital with his Briard a few weeks ago. Wasnā€™t a known client/patient, so we asked what the dogā€™s name was. He responded with ā€œJoy.ā€ Kept talking to the guy about our services when Joy put their paws up on the counter to look at us. I said, ā€œdo you have a question, sweet girl?ā€ Dude recoiled like Iā€™d just uppercut his dog through the ceiling and roars, ā€œHEā€™S a BOYā€ before dragging the dog out the door in a huff."

ā€“ ItsStrib1978

Taylor Swift was right: You need to calm down!

man in black crew neck shirt making shushing gesture

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Man explaining weird theory
Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash

We've all heard some things that sound too good to be true, but we've also certainly heard some things that were too weird to be true.

But as strange as they might sound, from weird scientific facts to things that people have done to animals that actually exist outside of a distant, mystical realm, there are some things that are simply, stranger than fiction.

Curious about others' takes, Redditor Former_Ladder9969 asked:

"What is a weird fact you know for some reason?"

The Draw of the Deck

"The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache."

- MR_dizzaster

"He's also sticking a sword in his head."

- Uwumeshu

"He was shaving and missed."

- puneralissimo

Random Facts About Strangers

"Diddy, the music artist, doesnā€™t like the way towels feel on his skin. So instead of drying off like a normal person after a shower, he walks around his house to air dry instead."

"Why do I know this?"

"Because for some reason, this was a fact given during an old show on VH1 called 'Pop Up Videos,' where they would play a music video with random facts being shown throughout. I have zero idea why of all the vital things I should have stored in my memory, this was one that stuck after all these years."

- dabking24

Spacial Awareness

"Australia is wider than the moon."

- MrSatanachia

"I can't decide if I'm more amazed that the moon is actually way smaller than I imagined, or that Australia is way bigger than I imagined."

- 5Beans6

"This is my confusion, lol (laughing out loud)."

- TheTinyHandsofTRex

That's Commitment

"Crabs have a muscle that enables them to release their claw if they have to."

- Norwegianxrp

"It took me an incredibly long time to realize this means likeā€¦ fully release it, like remove it from their body. I thought it just meant release the grip they have."

- wowowaoa

Mystical Representation

"The national animal of Scotland is a Unicorn."

- Batmans-dragon80

"Yes, thatā€™s true. Mainly because we have so many of them roaming wild in the glens. Chasing the Haggi and avoiding Nessie."

- Bri1311

Education through Music

"Because of a song that used to constantly play on the radio I have it pretty well memorized that there are 86,400 seconds in the average day."

- Vanilla_Neko

"Because of a song on the radio, I learned that the minimum expectation for displays of love can be measured in 500 miles."

- Slight_Bodybuilder25

Where the Grass is Greener... and Newer

"There were no grasses on the earth when dinosaurs were here."

- Snowfl4ke85

"During the Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous, the higher flora was dominated by cycads, ginkgoes, conifers, and ferns. Other groups of plants included extinct seed plants with fern-like foliage. The exact origins of flowering plants are uncertain, although evidence suggests that they are not closely related to any group of modern non-flowering plants."

"Flowering plants underwent rapid radiation beginning around the middle of the Cretaceous period, and makeup around 90% of living plant species today. With the spread of these plants came the decline of previously dominant groups such as conifers. During the Cretaceous, ferns would also begin to diversify."

"The oldest known fossils of grasses are from the Early Cretaceous, with the family having diversified into modern groups by the end of the Cretaceous. The oldest large flowering trees are known from the Late Cretaceous, with the trunk having a preserved diameter of one-point-eight meters and an estimated height of 50 meters."

- UnexpectedDinoLesson

Weird Way to Say Hello

"Manatees control their buoyancy by farting. Toot toot, floaty sea cow."

- Plane-Vacation-1228

"Wait, so those bubbles you see on the water surface that signify their presence are...?"

- DismalDude77

Goals for Building the Longest Train...

"There's no maximum length to a train, you just add another engine."

- TrueGritt90

"That tracks."

- Snedro

The Smallest Philosopher

"That dead ants produce a pheromone that alerts the other ants that they need to move them to the ant graveyard."

"If a drop of this pheromone is placed on a live ant, it will take itself to the graveyard and stay there until the pheromone dissipates."

- Jessi_L_1324

"The ant: Am I dead?"

- Professional_Stay748

"That ant would make a great philosopher."

- skatalite2020

High-Risk Flights

"Some military helicopters on aircraft carriers are made of magnesium and should they catch fire, it's literally impossible to put them out as the magnesium will take the oxygen from the water and use that to keep burning."

"So the only thing that can be done is to push them overboard and even as they sink they will continue to burn until the magnesium is completely burned up."

- Strange_Stage1311

The First Scapegoat

"Some tribes of ancient people used to tie up a goat, whisper their sins to it, then allow it to 'accidentally' escape so it would carry their sins away and thus resolve them of guilt."

"It was, literally, their 'escape goat,' and that's where the term 'scapegoat' comes from."

- TheAbyssGazesAlso

The Power of Percentages

"Percentages can be reversed."

"For example, five percent of ten is ten percent of five."

- Routine_Leading_4757

"43 years and I'm only learning this now."

- TheMechTech80

Wordy Phobias

"The fear of long words is called 'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.'

- Illustrious_Hawk_734

"Also, the fear of palindromes is called 'aibohphobia,' which just goes to show that the people who name phobias are a**holes."

- PhoenixMason13

"The question is, who even has a fear of palindromes?"

- ConduckKing

"Eve, Bob, and Hannah."

- Lostarchitorture

Not only are these facts unexpected, but it's wild to think that some of them are true.

But the simple, plain truth is that the truth is always all that simple. It can be weird and hard to believe, and yet, there it is.