A bucket list is defined as a "number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime."
But what about people who have been there, done that?
Are there bucket list regrets?
Redditor itchy_18 asked:
"Anti-bucket list. What’s something you’ll never do again?"
Look Out Below
"Bungee jump.. as soon as my feet left the edge all I could think was 'well that was stupid'..."
"It was exciting and probably safe enough, but it was enough for me to know I will never willingly do that again." ~ halversonjw
GiphyDriving Pain"
"Rent a car while visiting NYC." ~ undead_opossum
"That’s like asking to babysit someone’s kid on vacation." ~ Glass_Anvil1Not So Rockin'
"Go to Times Square for New Year's Eve."
"Looks great on TV, not great in person unless you pay to get in the walled off area." ~ Newfounder8
"I had a couple friends who went a few years ago and they said they wore diapers because they knew their weren’t enough bathrooms." ~ Nownownowow
"As a local, you will not catch me within a 15 block area of Times Square on NYE. I've gone down to the city a few times for NYE, but Hell no I'm not going to Times Square."
"Spend like 12 hours waiting for a 1 minute ball drop. Yes there's some entertainers and stuff coming out, but they do like one song and you go back to freezing your a** off in your soiled Depends." ~ flateric420
"If you're not pissing yourself in a crowd of thousands, are you really celebrating the new year?" ~ toetenveger
GiphyGive It Your All
"Assume that every coworker is a friend." ~ chrwiakgjw462q1
"Amen, I truly believed most of my colleagues were friends in a place I used to work, to the point I’d go above and beyond to help them. Even if it was rarely if ever reciprocated."
"Yet whenever I needed help they were nowhere to be found or were ‘busy’. If I got in trouble they were quick to throw me under the bus without hesitation and would lie to my face about doing so."
"Then when I realised finally that I couldn’t keep working that way and decided to distance myself more, suddenly I became ‘unapproachable’ or ‘unfriendly’ and that was a problem. Which lead to me being sh*t talked constantly."
"It sucks. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t." ~ Throwawayaccount_TM
Didn't They See Jaws
"Swim in the sea at night whilst drunk."
"Nearly drowned." ~ MrCasterSugar
"I don’t understand any of this swimming in the sea at night stuff."
"One time while on vacation with friends we were drinking on the beach and vowed to come back for a nighttime dip."
"Later that night we got down to the shore, took one look at the black abyss and collectively said 'f*******ck that'." ~ MmmmapleSyrup
GiphySettling Down
"Settling for a relationship knowing you are not really happy."
"Never. Again." ~ Selthix
"This is why first divorces happen after 7 years (average), but second divorces happen within 6 months."
"People are much quicker to nope out if it isn't working." ~ pinewind108
Not So Magical
"Go to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day."
"Shoulder-to-shoulder people, insane lines, and nothing special I couldn’t see earlier in the month." ~ mGreeneLantern
"This is true for New Years and the 4th of July, too."
"Other than the fireworks that were different, the park was ridiculous and we sat around most of the day." ~ mr2000man
GiphyLive To Serve
"I was a server for 5 years."
"It was fun most of the time but God Almighty, the worst customers could drive a person to murder." ~ Prossdog
"I feel you man, I’m currently serving right now to get through university and goddamn some of these people make me question my entire life’s decisions." ~ Petroleum-Smelly
Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot
"Now I always pee before cutting jalapeno peppers. The other way around, never again."
"Just to add, this was for a meal prep with my housemate. I ran upstairs and immediately took a shower (cold), during which I focused a lot of cold water on Little Ed."
"Note cold water on a jalapeño accosted Little Ed offered only a brief respite. It was a bad time." ~ Jinzot
"I did this twice. Meal-prepping a slow-cooker barbacoa for lunch that would cook while I slept."
"Went to take my contacts out and was met with immediate agony, even gave myself a nosebleed."
"Finally got them both out and put away, and then next day I go to put them in and what do you know—the oil from the serrano peppers had stayed on them."
"Gave myself a second dose of eye pain along with a healthy second nosebleed." ~ rwsmith101
GiphyNot So Miraculous
"Childbirth and the postpartum period."
"Love my daughter to death."
"One and done." ~ Alarming-Quarter-396
We live, we learn.
The things that seemed like a great idea don't always turn out as we expected.
Luckily we can decide "never again."
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Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.