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People Who Travel Alone A Lot Share Their Creepiest Experience

People Who Travel Alone A Lot Share Their Creepiest Experience
Photo by Steven Lewis on Unsplash

The world can be a lonely, scary place. We have to be wary and on guard nearly every second. Things do go bump in the night or behind a door, and we have to learn to be sufficient in ducking. Many things await us in the dead of night, or the broad of day. Be vigilante people, there is a reason to be on edge.

Redditor u/DoitAnyway54321 was curious to see who was willing to share some intense stories about leaving home by asking.... Travelers of lonely roads, explorers of the great outdoors, workers of creepy jobs and late-night shifts... What's your scary story?

I keep driving west.

Not exactly a lonely road, but I was speeding west on I-70 through Colorado near Glenwood Canyon when I decided to slow down and enjoy the view. I notice a State Patrol car in front of me a minute later when he turns on his sirens, and I think he's got me busted for speeding. Instead, he's pulling to the shoulder up ahead to help a broken down motorist.

I slow down and remember looking at the motorist who is sitting in the drivers seat with their head down, thinking "man that guy is lucky to get help out here, no cell coverage, etc". I keep driving west.

A few minutes later I start to notice police cars flying past me headed back east, sirens blaring, going extremely fast through a curvy canyon. One after another for like 15 minutes, ambulances, fire trucks, seems like all emergency response in the country is headed back the direction I came from.

The next day I'm at a hotel in Utah and discover what happened. Turns out the broken down motorist had skipped bail, and after being confronted by the state trooper who was there to offer assistance, exited his car and began shooting the officer in his back multiple times. On a normal day, the officer would've died as they typically drive alone, but on that day he was headed to training and had a partner in the car who empties his clip and killed the motorist. Officer almost bled out on the road but survived. bliceroquququq

"Road to Hana"

Giphy

When I was 18, my family and I took a vacation to Hawaii. My mother wanted to do the touristy thing and do the "Road to Hana." Normally you can take a tour bus up it, but that wasn't good enough for her. So we rented a car. The rental companies typically forbid driving that road because of the liability issues. That didn't stop my mother.

We had a normal drive up there, plenty to see. We spent all day exploring. So by the time everyone was exhausted, it was night. Now, we were a good ways away from the road down, think back dirt roads of Maui. So what do we do? Go down some of the closed off local roads. This one road, in particular, was a very narrow winding road over the edge of the island. You couldn't even stop on the road to get out and pee. If you looked over the edge, it was a straight drop into the ocean.

Anyhow, so we were driving in the dead of the night, slowly, and we approach this weird bend that backs up to a heavily forested area, a small waterfall, and a cliff overhand just above us. My mother wanted to take some pictures of the moon, stars, ocean because it was breathtaking with no city lights. So we pull off to the side of this road, with just enough space to let another car pass you. I, of course, get out too. It was dead silent.

Then all of a sudden I hear what sounds like a crying baby. Which was... weird. We were in the middle of no where and hadn't seen anyone for HOURS. So, I'm just standing there, confused, and it stops. I motion for my mother to come over and ask if she heard anything. She didn't. So we stand there for a little longer and it starts up again.

Neither of us could pinpoint where it was coming from. Both of us were panicked because that's what baby crying does to most humans. We spent a good hour calling out and trying to figure out what to do. Eventually it stopped.

We returned back to the hotel and never heard anything about it.

The end. :) thot-trot

Mary. 

Graveyard shift worker at the time. Won't go into details, but I stopped a guy from holding me at gunpoint and taking my vehicle while I was pumping gas. Station was closed, it was 2 am. Streets were pitch black. Guy comes walking up out of nowhere. Asks where I'm headed what time it was etc, just getting me to talk. Nothing alarming. Except he's fidgety and has had his 1 hand in his front leather jacket pocket the whole time.

I say forget it, was almost done pumping, decided if this was it I'll make the best of it, guy needs whatever it is more than I do, so I say "need a ride somewhere? Was omw home from work but I've got a few dollars we can stop for food because I'm hungry and don't mind having company. What's your name? Mine is Mary" I know that if you start getting personal with an attacker it gets harder for them to hurt you.

I was thinking "take me hostage, hold me at gunpoint point, yell in my face, I can take this. But please don't take my life and don't leave me 2 hours stranded away from home in the middle of the night".

I got done pumping when I finished, giving him a short amount of time to think on his answer, and in his panic at me offering him the things he was going to take from me, he goes "nah I'm just gonna walk, thanks again." Leaves.

I carry a taser now. Entire-Speaker

HOLY DAMN CRAP!!!

Used to work late shift as classroom IT support for a college. We didn't get a lot of high priority calls from night classes so, among other duties, we'd get a lot of repairs and maintenance done that couldn't be done when the classrooms were in use during the day.

I don't mind the dark so I wasn't in the habit of turning lights in classrooms on if I was just going to do something real quick on the computer.

Well I had a ticket to install something on the instructor PC in a classroom I had never been to before. It's about 10PM when I get around to this ticket and I head into the room.

I get about halfway across the room and suddenly freeze. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up and I feel 100% that I'm being watched ... no I'm surrounded!

Then as my eyes start to adjust I see them. This entire classroom is encircled by hospital beds sticking out from the walls. And in every bed there's a person sitting up, looking right at me!

HOLY DAMN CRAP!!

"OH, I'M SORRY!", I blurt out ...

Before finally realizing that they're all just plastic dummies and I was in a Nursing classroom. Makeamemeoutofthevid

Near the Lake.....

Giphy

About two years ago i was hiking at a local national forest by my hometown. My family had a get together, and been hiking there a few times so we were kind of familiar with the area. I have geocached once there so i was gonna try it again because it was a popular area for caching. I split off from my family and it was just me and my friend who i brought. we were both by this giant lake and off to the right we seen a faint unmarked path.

We decided to see if it led to anything cool, but about a couple hundred meters ahead we smelt a horrible smell. We looked around being curious what was causing that god awful smell, then my friend pointed up to a limb of a tree to a hanging deer carcass, a split right threw the stomach. The deer also looked a few days old. so it hadn't been there long. there was also a cloth doll nailed into the tree. it had been worn and made things worse.

I had a horrible gut feeling and looked over at my friend and said "bro lets get the hell out of here." we got out of there faster than we came. it was almost like a ritual. we agreed to not tell anyone there with us about what we found. i haven't been to the place since but i really hope no one else had stumbled upon what we found in the woods that day. iSSaF3rr3T

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Dismayed....

Years ago my work took me to cadaver labs.

There's nothing like the smell of drill friction and hot bone.

My first time in one, a sizeable chunk of tissue flew out of the body and splatted against the floor.

Raised to pick things up if they fell on the ground, I instinctively grabbed the thick red gunk before realizing I had no clue what to do with it. The looks of dismay were spectacular. mindfeces

Into the Woods....

Giphy

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park in the dark, about 4 am. No lights, just enjoying the terror of being alone in the mountains in the dark.

I smell something. Musky. An animal smell. A BIG animal smell, then I hear movement in the trees off the trail.

I put my hand on my anti bear Bowie knife, ready to stand my ground and stab whatever is large and moving near me.

Then the hiker coughs.

I walked past some hiker pooping in the woods.

No people or animals were harmed during this hike. MostGrownUp

Last summer....

Last summer there were 2 kids from BC Canada that were killing people across the country. They were shooting people on roadside turnouts and (after the fact it came out they were looking for a boat). I slept on a turnout the night before and passed (and reported) them the following day. I had my boat and 4 or 500L of gas with me. I got in the habit of sleeping with a loaded 12 for bears but I often wonder if they would have got me or if I would have been able to pop a couple rounds off and scare them away, pretty happy that it never came to that. Here4theNothingness

 Creepiest crap ever.

The coffee ran out.

Seriously though, there is this hotel that I'm working, and we all know about the little girl who runs the hallways at night. Sometimes you'll hear doors open and close, or noises when the hotel should be empty.

One time, I noticed these little marks on the wall under a low shelf that we put coffee on, for the guests. Curious, I go to clean the spots up, which looked like little smudges. I kid you not, I came back an hour later, and they were back, in different spots, and looked like a little kid had run up the wall. We didn't have anyone in house that night, save for one worker on vacation by himself. Creepiest crap ever. A_little_rose

Too Sleep....

I work night shift in a hospital. One might I fell asleep at work and dreamt that a doctor came in and we had a whole conversation about a patient and then he walked out. It felt so real. When I told a co-worker about the dream and desx9bed the doctor I found out that doctor died the year before. I know the story is not that creepy, but I never fell asleep at work again. datgurltrue

The Stranger....

Giphy

I came back into my camp from cooking/cleaning/taking a dump, and found an individual digging around in my tent and gear. I quietly watched the person from a bit away while they rummaged around, eventually leaving while taking nothing.

Packed up all my stuff and hiked through the in the dark. There's zero good things that could come from someone else looking through your gear in the middle of the woods as nighttime approaches. Don't know what they wanted, don't want to find out. 732

Short Stops. 

So he was driving home and the car in front of him takes all the same turns as him and he's driving behind them for ages. Maybe 20-30mins. Then the car in front turns into his street and then they stop outside of his house (he lives in the last house on a dead end street) this car is completely blocking his drive so he stops behind them n the driver of the car in front gets out of his car and starts screaming at my dad threatening to call the police and telling my dad to stop following him.

My dad calmly points out that they are blocking his drive and asks them to move their car. Turns out they thought my dad was following them because he'd been behind them for so long so they took loads of random turns to try lose him, all of which led to my dad's house. TartanSkull

CD Strike. 

I worked at a movie theatre and most often worked the closing shift.

One night me and another manager were sitting in the small office. She was working on the nightly deposit and I was finishing up inventory numbers, We had a CD player that we would listen to at night with a stack of CDs sitting next to it. I stood up and changed the CD and sat back down. About a minute after the entire stack of cds LAUNCHED itself across the room.

One of the CDs hit my co-worker in the back of the head. She looked around and saw me sitting there dumbfounded with the cds scattered all around me and the office. We quickly finished up and left.

A couple of days later one of the other dayshift managers calls me and asks me what we were doing the prior night. She seemed really annoyed which was out of character for her because we were friends. I asked her what she meant and she asked me why we had dumped all of the security tapes onto the floor and left them there.

I told her we hadn't touched the security tapes at all.

The tapes were stored on top of the CCTV monitor on a small VHS tape shelf. The shelf hadn't been moved and only the tapes were on the floor. She also said that all of the sleeves from the tapes had been removed and thrown all over the place too. dawrina

There was nothing there. 

I was the navigation officer for a research ship in the south pacific. We had recently come to Papua New Guinea for some work along the coast. We had arrived in a small bay at around 10pm in the dark and dropped the anchor. I went over to mark our position on the chart and noticed an annotation that said "native village reported in the area." There were no fires or lights on the coast so I didn't think anything much more of it.

I turned on all the deck and underwater lights and went back in to the bridge to stand my night watch as everyone else went to bed. With all the lights on I couldn't see further than about 25 yards because of a light mist in the pitch black night. I sat in the bridge with the door open because I like the sound of the night and the feeling of the air in the tropics. I kept hearing light splashing in the water and went out to see because often we get hundreds of fish in our underwater lights. There was nothing there.

I went back inside but kept hearing faint splashing and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Since I couldn't see in to the distance I went in to the chart room and flicked on our infrared camera system and there they all were. About 50 native outrigger canoes just sitting outside our pool of light. About 3 people to a canoe and all just sitting and watching us. Occasionally paddling one way or the other to keep their station. I have never felt so suddenly and violently alone and small as I did on that ship in the dark.

I got a deck hand up and we both just walked around the decks to show that people were awake and moving. They sat there and watched us all night. Completely invisible except for on the infrared cameras. In the morning they came in and traded with us and were very friendly and just hadn't had a ship in their bay for decades. Squarerigjack

hit from behind.....

I don't really know if it qualifies as scary but I remember getting hit from behind by something while I was stopped in the middle of an intersection in the middle of the night last year.

To this day, I don't really know what it was. I even saw the traffic cam footage and saw nothing. All I saw was me being stopped completely in the middle of the road waiting for a car in front of me to pass by so I can cross when my car shook like something had hit it from behind and a minute or so later, it showed me parking to the side to check what had happened.

The "accident" didn't leave any dents nor scratches but it had enough impact to ruin my bumper.

I've actively tried to avoid that road since. Mist3rTryHard

The Screams...

Giphy

On one night shift dispatch gave us a call about "screaming in (whichever) elevator." So we go to it, and can indeed hear screaming. We get a person posted at every floor of this elevator. You can hear the screaming when the elevator is moving, but when the doors open there's nothing. We decide to have maintenance take a look. Maintenance finds nothing wrong. TN_Yeti

The Puddles.... 

I was sleeping in a hammock on my mountain ranch, and woke up around 4am. After lying there awake watching stars for about 5 minutes, I heard the sound of something big urinating nearby. In the night silence, the sound was so clear as to distinctly change as the dirt went from dry to muddy to a small puddle. I didn't hear any movement afterward. There are deer, coyotes, bobcats, and rarely bears in this area. MentORPHEUS

The Electricity....

This isn't really that scary but around 2014 I witnessed what I can only assume could be ball lightning. The weather was clear though and it didn't seem to emit electricity so I can't really be sure. But anyway I was taking a walk around sunset and noticed this orange glowing orb roughly the size of a softball slowly drifting about 20 feet in the air. I stopped and watched it for a few minutes until it disappeared behind the trees. I'm still mad I didn't have a smart phone at the time because I totally would have recorded it. Francis-Hates-You

Don't Speak of the Night... 

I was thirteen and would spend summers practically living at my best friend's house. Often we would sneak out at night and just roam around her area which was an exurb, kind of in the country, but still plenty of houses. We never felt afraid. Then one night we ambled down a road that cut through a field.

It ended at a cul-de-sac with a large iron gate blocking a dirt driveway behind it. Everything was fine one minute, but the next we both just looked at each other absolutely terrified and ran as fast as we could back down the road. We had both just felt at the same time an overwhelming sense of fear and dread.

If it had just been me, then I would chalk it up to just a kid freaking herself out, but both of us felt it at the exact same time. I still wonder if we avoided something terrible that night. LaeliaCatt

Louisiana roads.....

Giphy

Louisiana is freaky as heck. Parts of it feel like you're in another world. That long stretch of I-10 that's on stilts across the endless swamp with "roads" of water through the trees made it very clear to me why Lovecraft had some of his Cthulhu cults practicing in those forests. Even from a major interstate it felt like was on another planet, I would not want to stray from the well-travelled roads into that wilderness. shadow1515

REDDIT

Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or ":zipper_mouth_face:" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.

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.