I'm often in an uneasy state.
I think we're all mired in the same feelings.
That's why we're always on edge.
It makes us in tune with the seemingly normal things that are actually stress markers.
Redditor SnakegameonNokia wanted to discuss what aspects of life just leave us all a bit -or very- uneasy. They asked:
"What normal thing makes you feel uncomfortable?"
Normal isn't always normal. That is just... normal.
You're Caught
Stealing Mike D GIF by Beastie BoysGiphy"Walking through the stolen product alarms at store exits always makes me nervous even though I've never stolen anything in my life."
SchrodingersN**sack
Hello
“Introduce yourself.”
jill_roberts
"In college we had to do so many ice breakers that they lost meaning. I told people my fun fact was that I speak Spanish and then I realized that wasn't that exciting in a college setting since basically everyone there was bilingual. Then I said I can make coffee in eleven different ways."
"But I was always awkward. Once, we had to tell a partner our favorite movie and I said 'Pan's Labyrinth!' And he said, 'Oh I've never seen it!' And I said, 'You should see it, it's good!' And he responded, 'Yeah, I mean it's your favorite movie so I know you think it's good...' And at that moment I was like how is everyone but me so outgoing and why is talking so hard."
waitthissucks
Escape Fail
"Bumping into people I knew in high school."
Previous-Thing-7075
"I moved across an ocean from where I grew up. I was at a pub in London a few years ago, and at the bar someone yells 'OH MY GOD [real name]! Hey! It's John! Hey!' Guy I went to high school with a decade ago in a completely different country at a bar in one of the busiest cities in western Europe. There's no escape."
User Deleted
Tags
"People saying my name while I'm working because I'm wearing a name tag, a lot of people do it to feel more of a connection or whatever, it makes me unbelievably uncomfortable hearing strangers call me by my name without me introducing myself."
Squemishsquash
Hush
Silence Be Quiet GIF by IONGiphy"Having to talk to someone when there's silence. Sometimes I just wanna be around you and chill, or I just don't feel like talking. Doesn't make me sad or anything."
SlideLow
I love silence. Embrace the quiet.
Look Away
Staring The Rock GIF by WWEGiphy"Eye contact that lasts more than a second or two."
-_-Jupiter
Forced
"Interacting with extended family. I rarely see them, so the conversation feels forced. Plus I can't just say anything that's on my mind like I would around good friends, or else I'd risk becoming the topic of family gossip for all the wrong reasons."
DeathSpiral321
"My dad is mad I’m not going to the family reunion. I have completely opposite political, social, and well basically everything opposite of them except our lineage."
Rabies13
“Places I’ve Pooped”
"Pooping anywhere but home."
Spiiccy
"There’s a stupid app called 'Places I’ve Pooped' that let’s you drop a pin on a map everywhere that you take a poop. It helped me be a bit more 'adventurous' about it (if that’s the appropriate word) because it felt like a game I needed to complete. 'All four toilets at the office? Check.'"
Thin-Man
Shut up...
"Dominating the conversation and not letting me have a turn to talk where interrupting is the only way in."
SupremoZanne
"I have this problem in groups, where I have something relevant to add to the conversation and even try to start my sentence where there’s a small gap, but I always get talked over. Then by the time there is a chance for me to speak, they’re onto another subject. I hate it."
chocolate_nutty_cone
Louder
titus andromedon singing GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy SchmidtGiphy"People singing in front of me. Like sincerely, unironically singing. I have no idea how to react to it. If a partner ever tried to serenade me I would moonwalk off a bridge."
SliferTheExecProducr
I hate that guy!
"Going to the dentist. Hygiene and self care are important. But sitting in a chair with someone’s hands all over my teeth, silently judging me makes me uncomfortable."
Pearlsofhunny
"From my experience, a lot of the times this can be chalked up to "your dentist sucks". I've had nothing but shitty dentists all my life and it led to me not seeing a dentist for 13 years. Finally caught up to me when I had two root canals come in and I was in immeasurable pain."
"Ended up finding my current dentist and he's a pretty cool dude. If I had known him sooner I might have not been so afraid. Though I still get the anxiety nonetheless, good dentist or bad. Because man. After having two root canals done I still think cavities suck a** and hurt so. much. more. :( "
We1tfunk
Near the Driver
"Here in the Philippines, we ride jeepneys. It's like a long truck with seats facing each other. If you are at the end of the jeep, you have to ask the ones next to you to pass your money or fare till it reach the driver. It's always uncomfortable for me because most times no one even helps and you're jut there reaching out your hand with the money and everyone's ignoring you. That's why even though I only need to drop at a near location, I still try to sit nearest the driver and try to help in accepting the payments because I know how awkward it is to be ignored."
catorched
From Behind...
Following Bounty Hunter GIF by DefyTVGiphy"Sometimes crowds and people driving behind me for too long."
Zoidlord81
"I grew up in a large city and have been followed before. Like very obvious turn by turn through a neighborhood just to exit again following. I would usually pull into an empty parking lot, wait til they got out then speed away. Still freaks me out to this day when I feel like I’m being followed."
3YearGuest
Stop Talking
"Compliments."
slarock12
"I hate complements because I don't know how to respond, do I give a complement back or just say thank you??? An example of me being a dumba**, was when my friend was practising a hair style on me."
"She only tied her hair up in a messy bun, but she kept saying how pretty my hair would be once she's finished. I, stupidly, said her hair was nice as well, she was confused and asked why, because it looked like crap. But it was because she wouldn't stop complimenting me."
FaltyLaptop
Need a Schedule?
"Being asked if I'm busy or if I have plans for the weekend. I hate answering that question, if i say no people assume I owe them my time. If I say yes they try to reschedule me. Just tell me what you want and I'll tell you if it works or not."
MatanteMerlot
"In these situations I always turn in to an idiot that can’t remember or manage his own schedule and say I’ll check with the wife to see what we’ve got going on. It works well since we have small kids and large families so there is always an excuse to be found if I’m not feeling it. I hate this question as well."
Badwolf2013
Look at Me
"I really don't like face timing or video chat of any kind. It just feels really awkward to me."
Silksniper101
"That’s why you gotta go all the way and embrace it. Every time I video chat, I put it below my face at an upward angle to get the ugliest possible angle. And then I hold it there the entire time, only moving it to perhaps catch a frame of my ugly a** cat."
Just-use-your-head
for the last 30 seconds...
"Prolonged eye contact. Even with friends if we are talking and I maintain eye contact for longer than 5-10 seconds I feel weird."
RedditIsNotOurFriend
"I usually find myself staring at people's mouths when they’ve been talking for a while. Then after I realize I’m doing it, I start to wonder if they could tell that I was staring at their mouth while they were talking. Then I realize that I wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying for the last 30 seconds because I got lost in my thoughts about whether or not they knew that I’ve been staring at their mouth while they’ve been talking."
*ick-nipples
Get to Work
Season 3 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Job interviews, it’s so fake."
nova815
"This one takes the cake for me, I never lie through my teeth so earnestly in any scenario except that and it leaves me feeling icky every time, but it also works so I keep being incentivised to do it."
AMasonJar
So many of these things drive me crazy. Uncomfortable is an understatement.
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.
