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Cosplayers Share The Most Cringe-Worthy Moments They've Experienced At Events

Cosplayers are a creative and fun way for people to express their passion for comic books, movies, and the such at conventions.

People who go to these cons can sometimes react to cosplayers with cringe. Below are some of the best stories involving cosplayers and cringe-worthy moments.


"You're my waifu."

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I dressed as Rose Quartz from Steven Universe and a guy sort of dressed as a character from the same show approached me by coming up right behind me and said "You're my waifu" while I was talking to a vendor.

He had the greasiest hair I have ever seen and really bad body odor. He asked for a pic and I said okay and then he asked to pose with me kissing his cheek and I said no. He got upset and said that I had to because he loved Rose blah blah blah and I didn't know how to disengage.

Funnily enough a Pearl cosplayer intervened and told him to beat it.

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Awkward.

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Some girl asks me to sing a duet in the karaoke room which I agree to. 30 seconds in and I realize that it's some anime song that is sung in Japanese, and it's 8 minutes long.

Longest and most cringiest 8 minutes of my life while butchering the Japanese language in front of an audience.

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"Embarrassing and painful."

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I was dressed as Edward Elric, friend was dressed as Envy from FMA. The show was still super popular back then and 'glomping' was a thing. Some girl ran up behind me at top speed and jumped on my back (and I'm tall, not short like Ed), and bashed me into a table and brought me to my knees. It was horribly embarrassing, and painful.

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D'oh!

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More funny then cringey, but my husband doesn't really attend cons anymore because he feels he's too old for them. Before he stopped going we attended Anime Central in 2002 in Chicago. We passed by a group of Harry Potter cosplayers wearing striped scarves and my husband turned to me and said, "It's good to know kids still like Doctor Who."

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"I was worried about more cake being eaten."

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Had small cake pieces with me for friends, carried it in an open plastic box in my hands. In the tram to the convention I met an older lady, we started talking about my costume and why all these funny looking people are here for and so on. While I explained it to her she was suddenly looking for something in her handbag, pulled out a small plastic spoon and helped herself with my cake while listening to me. I was too confused to say anything and let her finish.

I even jumped out of the train a station earlier because I was worried about more cake being eaten. Weird story but looking back now I should have offered her more, I don't know what it takes to make you eat a stranger's cake in a tram without asking first if you can have some.

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"Whatcha doing later?? Wanna grab a coffee?"

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I was cosplaying a popular children's show character, Buster from Arthur. A mom tried flirting with me in front of her child after taking the photo. "Whatcha doing later? Wanna grab a coffee?"

The worst I've seen? This guy fully walks up to this girl and cups her breast. He wanted to see if they were real.

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"There! Don't you feel better?"

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I do some pretty revealing cosplay, so you'd think I'd have lots of cringey stories, but 99% of people at cons are completely lovely. The only thing that really stands out is a woman who tried to shame me.

I'd cosplayed Cammy from Street Fighter earlier in the day and changed into street clothes later. This lady came up to me when I was clearly in the middle of a conversation with a group of friends and the first words out of her mouth were "There! Don't you feel better?" I was confused, and asked her what she was talking about. "Oh, you know... that thing you had on before. You know you don't have to do that to yourself."

I was speechless, so she continued. "Not that you didn't look nice, but guys will never respect you if you do that sort of thing." I looked around at my friends, who were clearly just as baffled as me, and cracking up. I started to stammer some sort of response like "...thank you?" when my husband stepped in and straight up told her to piss off. So this story has a happy ending. But the whole interaction just made me feel icky and I definitely cringe thinking about it now.

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"He was looking at her like he'd just found a unicorn..."

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Few years back my then-girlfriend was cosplaying Chell from portal at a con. It was mostly great, everyone and their mom wanted a photo with her. Except this one guy who decided to grill her on how much she really knew about portal. He was looking at her like he'd just found a unicorn, but she was pissed as hell that some stranger thought she needed to prove herself to him. I think he thought he was flirting.

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"She keeps getting attacked by a bunch of kids who can't be older than 14."

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I have a friend who cosplayed a Homestuck character back in 2012. I can't remember which, but I know it was a troll. Anyway, the author of the comic was present at the convention so the fans were out in droves; and rabid too.

So we're walking around and she keeps getting attacked by a bunch of kids who can't be older than 14. We're 18/19 so we obviously nope out asap. People hit her with prop weapons, come up and try to tackle her, ask for kisses, flirt, and one even tried feeling her up. This all culminates with some bozo dressed like a jugalo hitting her over the head with a bowling pin and breaking the horns she had made for the event.

Needless to say she's furious and excuses herself to the bathroom. A few minutes later she's back; having dumped her horns, jacket, contacts, and wiped the face paint off. We spent the rest of the day in a foul mood. The next day we heard that a bunch of Homestuck graffiti had been found in the surrounding area and the convention had to move hotels next year.

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Teen Titans, GO!

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I was cosplaying as Red X from Teen Titans and I had this 16 year old girl dressed as Raven follow me around and try and get me to kiss her all day long. I was 20 at the time.

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"Other people want a hug, too!"

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So, I went to my first con a few years ago. I wasn't brave enough to dress up so I wanted to take pics etc. I saw a really amazing Doctor Who cosplay so I asked him for a hug and pic. He was really enthusiastic about it and we had a pic ready to go until I heard a gruff "Hurry up other people want a hug too", this large middle age lady in a tight tank top was giving us this glare. Legit the cosplayer went from happy to miserable as soon as we took a pic. Like, holy cow the cosplayers aren't props, they're people. Don't demand physical contact you have to ask. He definitely didn't give up a hug for her.

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Ummm... what?

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I dressed up as Abraham Lincoln to go see the Lincoln movie (my buddy dressed up as John Wilkes Booth). I had an extremely emotional interaction with a man of color as he thanked me for abolishing slavery. That in itself wasn't cringey. What was cringey was that everyone thought I was weird for dressing up.

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"I felt like a birthday party mascot..."

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When I was in college, I went to a small cosplay event wearing a cardboard box that says "GUNDAM" on it. This middle aged suburban mom stopped me and looked to her fedora-wearing college-age son, and asked him in an almost baby voice "do you wanna take a picture with the Gundam?"

I agreed to it, but I felt like a birthday party mascot getting a picture with the kids. Except this "kid" was about my age.

Further back, in high school, my at-the-time girlfriend and I went to a cosplay gathering. I made some comment about Macross Frontier ("It's a show about pretty boys in giant robots" or something along those lines. I still haven't finished that show) and then some person with 10 years on us felt the need to sit down by us, whip out his laptop, and pull up 4chan to school us on mecha anime.

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"I had forgotten about the video until that email..."

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I cosplayed Naruto when I was 13 and a Sasuke cosplayer who was 14 'made out' with me -- which was basically biting my mouth. It went semi-viral on Youtube to the point where I was offered money.

I had forgotten about the video until that email, and then decimated my whole Youtube account when I was 15-16.

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"I don't cosplay Frank anymore."

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I cosplayed Frank N Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show at a comic con about a year ago. I had a lot of pleasant interactions with other cosplayers during the day, lots of "ooh I love that movie!", "hey do the Time Warp!" sort of conversations. A few people hit on me (I'm a woman in fishnets and a corset at a comic con...that was expected). Nothing to weird or uncomfortable.

And then there was this one dude and his friend. They kept following me around, talking to me about weirdly personal topics, and getting far too handsy. Eventually I started to get nervous, so I excused myself to the bathroom. I just wanted to distance myself from them a little. As I go to leave, the guy goes "Wait, before you go, can I get a picture?" Okay. Fine. Just take a photo then leave me alone.

So the guy grabs me, picks me up, throws me over his shoulder so my butt is sticking up in the air (in fishnets and bikini bottoms) and his buddy takes a picture. Then he drops me back on the ground, and the two guys take off. It all happened in about ten seconds so I barely had time to react. Some guy dressed as Deadpool helped me up and walked me to the security booth to report the guys, but nothing ever came of it. So weird, cringey, and terrifying.

I don't cosplay Frank anymore.

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That was unexpected.

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I dressed as Junkrat for a con, at the time I had no idea how many kids played Overwatch. So for the entire day all I got was 10 year olds shouting references and wanting photos with me and their parents giving me strange looks.

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Now you see me...

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I was cosplaying Black Cat from Spider-Man. It was a very tight and form fitting costume and I opted not to wear underwear because you could very clearly see the lines in the costume if I did. Had a guy come up behind me and unzip my suit, which wouldn't have been so bad if the zipper didn't go all the way down to the bottom of my butt. For about ten seconds my pale back and ass was very much exposed.

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Still fun, though!

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Went with a Comic Con with my girlfriend, who was dressed as Black Canary (I was Green Arrow). Naturally some people asked for pictures of us/with us, alright cool no big deal. What was weird were the amount of guys that wanted a picture of just her. One guy even came up, asked if he could take a picture with us, and after we agreed, he handed me the camera. Oh, ok, I see what this is.

But the cringiest moment was this one guy, maybe 20 years older than us. He asked for a picture of her, was used to it at this point so it's whatever, then proceeds to spend a good sixty seconds taking the photo. I don't know if he was taking multiple photos or trying to get the perfect boob pic or what, but ain't no way it takes you a full minute to take a single photo on a cell phone. Still, the day was super fun, and hopefully we get a chance to go back in the future.

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Go away!

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My sister and I were cosplaying two dudes (I'm also a girl) who were popularly shipped together. We were followed around all three days of the convention by a girl who wanted us to make out for photos. She also encouraged us to buy anything related to the series in the dealer hall, which was annoying and weird. She found us again the next year, too, and was incredibly obnoxious to our friend who was cosplaying a different show.

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Oh, no, no, no.

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Oh man, I worked at a hotel and convention center a few years ago. I was put on a security detail and had to walk around the event making sure folks weren't fighting and doing stupid stuff.

I witnessed a grown man break down and cry because his mom wouldn't buy him this $700 action figure. He had to have been 26 at the least and he was on the floor rolling around, his mom trying to get him out of there quick.

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Wands and wings! Floaty crowny things!

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My girlfriend and I do Cosmo and Wanda from the Fairly Oddparents. Pretty simple cosplays and I was super excited. The girlfriend gets nervous in large crowds so we stayed on the outskirts of the crowd for the most part- a lot of people asked for photos and we had a pretty good time. During the end of the day the girlfriend is getting tired and so we relax in a chair- she sat in my lap since the chair was small- in the lobby of the hotel. Some guy comes up to us and makes it very clear that he is interested in a threesome and propositions us, even though we state multiple times that we are in an exclusive monogamous relationship. After denying his offers multiple times and him not getting the hint, I fake a call from a friend and claim that "oh- our Timmy cosplayer is looking for us- we have to go" and we promptly found a new place to relax on the other side of the con.

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Lol.

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My husband and I went to Middle TN Anime Convention and there was a guy cosplaying as Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls. We were dressed as Dipper and Wendy and went to a photo shoot and the Bill Cypher guy was way too into character.

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Yeah, and?

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Cosplayed as the Quantum Ranger at Power Morphicon. This random guy wouldn't leave me alone. He's in the background of some of my pictures, just starring at me. I finally got rid of him, after he kept shoving his Astro Morpher in my face, by telling him I had two at home.

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"Sorry, can you not take pictures of me please?"

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Cringiest in terms of 'dude, this is just uncomfortable for everyone'?

Last year I cosplayed as mettaton from undertale. it's the end of the day, my feet kill from wearing 7-inch+ heels, our train is nearing, people are clearing out, and as I'm leaning on my friend to adjust my boots, a woman just stops in front of me and starts taking pictures.

I politely say 'sorry, but can you not take pictures of me please?' and she just looks around the phone and then continues to take them. I have a lot of body issues and a lack of confidence so wearing a lycra bodysuit took a lot of lady balls for me, and if those photos surfaced showing me in the awkward and unflattering poses I was in, I'd be upset. No matter what we said to this woman, she just kept. taking. pictures. It resulted in my friend having to stand between us yelling 'SHE DOESN'T WANT A PHOTO' while I adjusted before she got the hint, and even then she still tried to come around the side to sneak more.

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"Proceeded to tell me how long he's been working on the fanfic..."

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Went to a con as Zuko from Avatar. An Aang cosplayer approached me excitedly to talk about the show but after 10 minutes, pulled out his phone and wanted me to read their X-rated Avatar fanfic. Proceeded to tell me how long he's been working on the fanfic, and how he was planning out the rest of the story to have 'books' like the show itself. This thing looked to be novel length by this point. I politely excused myself and left.

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"Rhymes with Even Reverse..."

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A few years ago, I was cosplaying as a popular cartoon character (Rhymes with Even Reverse) and my mom had just gotten a hotdog or something and sat down to eat. She called me on my phone and told me to come over, which I agreed. She introduced me to some 20-something guy that was cosplaying from the same show as me. (I wouldn't consider it exactly a cosplay since he was wearing the shirt/flip flops of the character.) I was happy though confused, since I had only been gone for like 10 minutes, but I still chatted with said guy for a few minutes. He seemed odd, but I guess nice. I got up since I usually walk around in cosplay for the day, but the guy stopped me. He smiled and asked for a quick photo, and I glanced at my mom, and she gave me the look of "please be nice and do it" and I did it.

When I left the guy proceeded to follow me all around the convention center. For two hours. I tried to be nice the first hour of it, and just chattered and tried my best to be friendly, and after two hours I quickly said "bye" and ran.

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"He was just...so cringey."

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Had to stop talking to this super lovely Edward Elric cosplayer (it was her first con she was so sweet) because a guy she was with, who was wearing a clearly-for-children Deadpool costume, would not stop flirting with my two friends. They're dating and were literally stood in front of this guy holding hands and referred to each other as girlfriends. He was just...so cringey.

Had other people who would not stop touching my costume, which okay I wear real chainmail it's interesting, but I was just in line to pay for my drink.

I said, "Where?"

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I was dressed as Mermaid Man from Spongebob. I went up to a table to buy a poster, and the guy was like, "Hey, there's Barnacle boy here!" I said "Where?" Because I saw no Barnacle boy at the con yet. He said "...you!" And everyone laughed because they didn't realize I was not barnacle boy and they thought I forgot what my costume was. Screw that guy I'm mermaid man.

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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

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"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.