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Baffled People Share Their Most Embarrassing "Why Didn't Someone Tell Me Sooner" Moments

Baffled People Share Their Most Embarrassing "Why Didn't Someone Tell Me Sooner" Moments

Vision Impaired

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I was suffering from conjunctivitis for almost 10 years. I was told by a couple of Doctors that it was because of my allergies.

So I would stop wearing contacts, treat my eyes with antibiotics drops or gel. My eyes would get better so I started putting my contacts again. A couple of weeks or months later another conjunctivitis! Treat them again etc... etc..

Finally a new Doctor looked at my eyes for 10 seconds and told me that I was probably allergic to my contact lenses solution and eye drops.

I just changed the solution for the one with peroxide in it and since then no more conjunctivitis... Someone should have told me this a long time ago... (Or I should have figured it out)

Something We All Take For Granted

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I never had a family growing up. Holidays were mostly just like every other day, I might get a few presents on Christmas or be served turkey on Thanksgiving but no big gatherings or parties. I didn't even know that people really did that, I thought it was just a thing in movies. When we were dating my wife invited me to have Thanksgiving with her family and I was fucking stunned to speechlessness. There were like 20 people, all gathered together to enjoy each other's company. They were welcoming, loving and just happy. It was the weirdest, most wonderful experience of my life. The food was amazing, no gravy from a giant institutional can, no rubbery turkey slices, I couldn't eat enough. Since then I go all in for holidays, all of them. I throw parties, decorate, send cards, wear stupid sweaters, and just generally make a complete fool of myself, because I've got lost time to make up for.

Stay Gold Ponyboy

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Ponies are not in fact, baby horses.

Skincare Lifestyle

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Coconut oil.

I have been struggling with really dry, flaky skin on my face - think light version Psoriasis. I tried a lot of expensive ointments, including various prescription drugs.

A colleague told me I should try coconut oil (literally the stuff you use for cooking), but I dismissed it due to his overall "alternative medicine" tendencies.

On a whim I bought a jar, because I saw a bunch of it stacked by the counter. I put some on in the evening, and I woke up with perfectly smooth and nice looking skin the next morning. It's been around a year, and I've spend roughly $1 worth of coconut oil to have a normal looking face, applying a small amount every evening.

Broil Me This

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Moved out of my childhood home with a double oven into my own which has a single oven with a broiler. "Oh," thought I, "a drawer for pans." 4 years later, my friend helping me in the kitchen finished off garlic bread in there and blew my mind.

Bare Necessities

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How to use a computer.

I grew up in a house without internet - during the 90's, when dial-up was coming in to fruition. My days were spent playing outside, or going to the library, or watching little league games, and so on. School work involved paper and pencil. As such, I didn't have a need to use a computer.

In High School, one of the classes involved doing some research (can't remember what). The class trudges to the computer lab. Everyone else plunks down and starts researching online, and I'm sitting there wondering how to use the dang thing.

Best part is that the teacher didn't believe that I didn't know what I was doing, and really didn't want to spend the 40 minute class period explaining how to use the computer and look stuff up on Britannica Online. No surprise that I failed that assignment.

This was early 2000's, for what it's worth.

Frozen Fractals

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In middle school, we had a separate math book for fractions. It just tried to learn all these rules on how they work and they never made sense to me.

2 years later, first year of highschool, a math teacher says fractions are just divisions. Suddenly, fractions made a lot more sense because I knew what they actually represented.

Still want to slap whoever made that middle school fractions book which made it way more complicated than it had to be. To this day I don't know why they would ignore the most important thing about fractions.

Puh-ronunciation

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I pronounced the silent P in everything (puhfone, raspuhberry) until high school, and for some reason nobody ever corrected me.

I'm pursuing the psychiatry training program now, and am worried someday I'll say 'puhsychiatry' in front of my colleagues.

Family Secrets

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I had a grandmother who I only saw once a year and talked on the phone to occasionally. Typical old lady but would sometimes go on tirades about people living in trees outside her apartment, or she'd call me by another name. I genuinely thought those were normal age things or that she was slightly eccentric.

I was 14 when she died and only at her funeral through talking to people did I realize she had pretty severe Alzheimer's which apparently everyone had known for years except me.

Survival

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I grew up a sickly child. When I was a baby/toddler, my parents would discover me with blue lips and they'd rush me to the ER for a breathing treatment. I would get sick often, and if I got a chest cold I had it for weeks. I would be so sick, I'd have to sleep sitting up because I'd cough too much to lay down and also I wouldn't be able to get enough O2 in my lungs. When I was in grade school, I was so amazed that all the other kids would keep running even though their lungs were on fire. Turns out, only MY lungs were on fire.

In my senior year of high school, I got extremely sick for 4 months. I was so sick that I'd have to walk at a very slow pace, and I'd have to pause halfway up a flight of 13 stairs (to get to my high school's entrance). On my fourth visit to the doctor, I was diagnosed with bronchitis. I was prescribed oral steroids, antibiotics, and an inhaler. It changed my life!! Now I just recognize how it feels and tell the doc that I have bronchitis and he/she listens to my lungs and gives me the drugs I need to heal me.

Finally, when I was 24, I was diagnosed with allergies. I now take a metric ton of allergy meds, but I can breathe. I've only had bronchitis twice since then (nearly 2 decades).

The Simple Things

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Was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant, being absolutely miserable during chemo and surviving on ice water and popsicles because hospital food is gross (even the call-to-order special stuff I could get).

Second to last day I was there, one of the nurses mentioned "you know you can order literally anything you want and we will make it right? Butter noodles, a quesadilla, whatever - as long as we have in the ingredients we can make it." Meanwhile, I've been struggling with gross soup, mashed potatoes, and the worst scrambled eggs thinking my only options were the "gourmet" dishes listed on the menu.

I pass that info along now to everyone I meet going in!

Temperature Change

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For my entire childhood, my father was incredibly stingy about heating and air conditioning. He'd always tell us we were spoiled and should dress warmer/colder and/or toughen up rather than using energy for heating/air conditioning.

Then, when I was in my early 20s, he started getting really weird about air conditioning. It would be turned up full blast all the time, and if I set the thermostat to a warmer temperature or even just mentioned that it doesn't need to be so cold, he'd scold me and tell me to put on a sweater - and this was on extremely hot summer days! He was still as stingy as ever about heat, but had become completely bizarre about air conditioning!

I just wrote it off my father being weird, moved out of my parents' house soon afterwards, and didn't give much thought to the whole thing apart from repeating it as an anecdote in conversations about parents being weird.

Fast-forward a decade. I'm now in my 30s, filling out a family medical history for a new doctor, who asks me at what age my mother reached menopause. I don't know, so I ask my mother. And she said in her early 50s.

Which is right when my father started getting weird about air conditioning!

Back in my early 20s, I knew menopause was a thing, I knew hot flashes were a symptom, but I hadn't put any thought or research into what age it happened. My grandmothers had reached menopause before I was born so I'd never seen anyone go through it before, and my mother never let on that anything was different with her, so it just wasn't on my radar.

If someone had told me my mother was having hot flashes I would have cheerfully put on a sweater and cranked up the air conditioning so my mother could be comfortable, and I would have perceived my father as a loving husband.

But instead, I obliviously ran around reseting thermostats for my own comfort, thereby inadvertently making my mother uncomfortable, and at the same time concluded that my father was being a contrary _*_hole.

Ear Buddies

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Like 4 years ago my friend got me a pair of these Shure earphones for Christmas. They were pretty good earphones, not the best, but they pretty good sound quality and decent noise cancellation.

In October of this year we took a bus up to Minnesota to visit a friend for a few days. We chose the late bus so we could just sleep during the 8 hours it would take us to get there. We're getting settled and I see him pull out his earphones, which were the same as mine, and put them on like this over the ear. I never wore them like that. I just kind of jammed them in a way they fit. I asked him about wearing them like that and he said, "What do you mean? That's how you're supposed to wear them. How do you wear them?" I showed him how I typically wore them and he laughed and said, "Wearing them the right way gets a better seal for the sound."

I still wore them my way, until he fell asleep and then I decided to give his way a chance. HOLY SH*T it made such a huge difference. The sound was better, they felt more comfortable, and they were so much better at cancelling out noise. When we got to the first stop I told him, "Why the hell didn't you tell me I was wearing them wrong for so many years?! This is so much better!" He told me I should have read the manual, but in my defense I didn't think I had to read the manual for a pair of ear buds.

For My Sake

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During this time last year, I was happily going to work because I was told a raise/promotion was coming soon. on top of that, I was happy going to work because I actually cared about my co-workers and saw some of them as actual friends.

eventually, I got tired of being overworked/underpaid and I was mentally/physically exhausted. it also didn't help that a physical problem started to get worse, which was a result of me constantly working my ass off. if left untreated, I would've developed chronic lower back pain and I'm just now getting over it, nearly 2 years since it initially started.

it was towards the end of February when I realized that me busting my ass wasn't worth it, even if I did care about my co-workers and I knew they relied on me.

it was only after I quit my job that people started to let me know that they had a feeling that things would end up that way. I wish they would've said something to me while I was still working there, but I doubt I'll ever know why they didn't say something along the lines of "you're being played, look for a new job or try to figure something out".

Bus-ted

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I was 19 when I left for college. My overprotective father was trying to drill any last minute life tips into my head that he could before I left, like "don't answer the door if you're home alone" and "never forget to turn off the stove", things like that.

I moved into an apartment a short bus ride from campus and on one of my first days living on my own I wanted to go to the school gym. The bus stop was right outside my apartment and I was told by my roommate any bus would take me right to the stop I needed. I had never taken public transportation before (because, you know, overprotective father) but hey, how hard could it be? So I march my happy ass down to the bus stop and get on the first bus that shows up. The bus stops at each of the stops between my apartment and the school gym and people get on and off, everything is seeming to go as planned.

The bus begins to approach the stop that I need and I prepare to end what was my first ride on public transportation. However, the bus isn't stopping at my stop the way it did at all the others. My anxiety starts to kick and as we pass the school gym I begin to panic. I'm looking around and no one else seems to be worried so I just sit there and wonder what the hell I'm going to do. A couple minutes later, a boy sitting a few rows ahead of me lifts up his arm and pulls a yellow cord running along the side of the bus. It makes a bell noise and the bus stops at the upcoming stop. I practically RUN off of the bus and immediately take out my phone to call my dad.

"I know how to lock my doors and turn off the stove Dad, but why the hell didn't anyone tell me to pull the cord if I needed to get off the bus?!"

Sugar Sugar

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Not shaving at all. All the time I wasted shaving...all of the awful razor burn....all of the money spent on shaving cream and a razor. Nope. Never again. I make my own sugar wax, it's cheap. It's long lasting and wax is more effective in terms of time and money. I just wax for Summer, and trim the rest of the year. This I will never change.

An End In Sight

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Menopause.

I knew since about age 7 that one day I would have a period and it would be one of the worst experiences of my life, and it would be repeated over and over and over again.

I dreaded it for years until one day at around age 11. My mom and I were visiting my grandparents at their beach condo. My mom unexpectedly got her period and sent me and my grandmother to the store for tampons. My grandmother was super embarrassed. She said that everyone would know I'm too young for the tampons she was buying and she was too old.

Too old?! You mean it stops?! I don't have to bleed until the day I die? It was a relief. I've been looking forward to menopause ever since. I'm worried about the hot flashes but it doesn't outweigh how excited I am to stop bleeding.

Meeting New People

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I came to America about 5 years ago. Where I come from it is kinda hard to talk to people. Walking up to strangers is considered weird and even rude. I believe it is like that in the rest of the world actually. Well while I was in college here in America, I was shy most of the time, except during my senior thing where I actually decided to be "weird" and tried walking up to people and saying "hi". For the most part, people were great, friendly, welcoming. I wish someone had told me. I wish I had been able to do this since my sophomore year, I would have made many more friends.__

Who Wears Short Shorts?

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Shorts feel great in the summer. I'm 27 and my entire life I wore nothing but long pants. I never understood why anyone would ever wear shorts. I thought they were impractical, they don't cover anything up, if you bump you leg while you work you're going to get scraped. If you work outside you'll get your legs all scratched up by small bushes and plants. Then my mom gave me a nice pair of cargo shorts on a whim. When I walked outside... It changed my life. It was a hot summer day and I was actually comfortable. In 27 years I never realised shorts could make such a huge difference.

Slurs Will Be Slurs

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That the n-word was as big of no no as it is. I'm a white guy that grew up in a mostly white rural community. I grew up watching classic comedians that I really looked up to. People like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock. These guys were my heroes and they used it for humor, and I saw no difference between them and myself. I never used the word in a hateful way, and always knew it was offensive, but I'd only ever say it to make jokes. Not even racist jokes, more to try to take some of the racist power away from it. Didn't figure just how wrong my thinking was until I was 25 and lost a permanant Federal job because of it. Lesson learned. I never meant to hurt anyone, and I think that point was conveyed, but policy is policy.

Success Is Malleable

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I struggled with reading in grade/high school but did well enough in math to try out junior college. During the first two weeks of college my English 060 professor identified me as having dyslexia. She taught me strategies and showed me the free resources on campus. Today I'm working on my PhD dissertation.

Baby Mama

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Breastfeeding.

All women I talked to said it was so calming to the baby, natural, helped them bond, and that overall it was a beautiful experience. The first 2 weeks were the worst of my life. It felt like glass on my nipples and the baby never seemed to be full. But there was this weird pressure from women I've never met, the lactation consultants, and even some family members that breastfeeding was the only option. The moment I introduced the bottle was this weird sense of guilt and relief, but I feel like it made me a better mom because I wasn't so fearful of ever time she was hungry.A month into it, it wasn't torture, but it remained a chore. Then, when I told other women about how much I disliked it, they would suddenly remember how much of a chore it was too! It is a great experience and I do love the way my daughter will turn to my breast for comfort. At the same time, though, it takes a lot of time, energy, and even sometimes tears, to get it right.

As Simple As FloNase

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Nasal spray. I spent my whole childhood being sick and was never given any medicine except Tylenol for fever, or when I hit mid teens, some mucinex. My immune system is still a wet paper bag to this day and colds are hell. At 21 years old, I was sick, and my husband brought home nasal spray for me to try. I figured it couldn't hurt, so why not?

Oh. My. God. I could breathe! Through my NOSE! I was taking actual breaths! I wasn't gasping, it wasn't hurting! I could even sleep like this! My mind was blown, and I was so relieved I legit started crying. Why didn't anyone ever give me this?! All the wasted years-!!!

Uniformity

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We wear these horrible ugly uniforms at work. (I try not to complain, as they're fairly comfortable and hide my body from the many perverts on site) We were due to get new uniforms, with our names stitched and all that fancy stuff. I noticed a rack of uniforms sitting in the break room for a few days, but didn't think much of it. The day after the uniforms were removed, a coworker asked if I had tried on the uniform sizes. Cue my look of confusion and a roundabout conversation, leading to the realization that I was supposed to figure out what size my 16 uniforms needed to be. Nobody mentioned anything about it to me, including my supervisor. The uniforms where supposed to arrive yesterday, but I wasn't working so I don't know what is waiting for me next time I go in. Anyway, that's my "Why did nobody tell me until AFTER the trial uniforms were gone?!" moment.__

Article Source.

Note: Comments have been edited for clarity.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

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.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

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.