Folks listen, I'm somewhat of an authority on cringey trends. Way back in the before-times (ye olde late 80's - early 90's) there was a trend for stacking/layering different colored slouch socks to coordinate with your sneakers and outfits. I was the master of this trend. The undeniable slouchy sock queen. Most "amateurs" would stack 2 colors - but I, being both extra and insane, would stack 4 - 5 pairs of socks regularly. Reminder: I lived in South Florida. The foot sweat. Oh dear lord the foot sweat.
Reddit user CommunistTurdWaffles asked:
What trend did you follow as a kid that makes you cringe now?
All I'm going to say is I feel way *waaaaaay* better about my sweaty 90's feet now.
The Uniform
I had a shirt that said "You laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you're all the same". The irony here is that I was still trying to fit in with the "alternative kids" and the shirt was part of the uniform.
- Lurkist
Flavortown
I used to wear those black button down shirts with fire at the bottom, like the kind Guy Fieri wears. I don't know if it was an actual trend or not but it still makes me cringe.
- Pyrrhape
You were in Flavortown and didn't even know it.
All Very Spice Girls
GiphyI bought into the classic 90s trends that immediately come to mind. the butterfly clips, frosted lips and eyes, platform shoes... all very spice girls. I am having to relive it because my 12 year old is now into the same things. Except instead of pulling back strands of hair with butterfly clips, she's clipping them haphazardly throughout her entire mane. I cannot wait for the trend to die!
Emo
The emo/scene trend of the early 2000s. I was in high school, I'm black (female), and wearing band t-shirts, going to tiny, packed concerts, jumping around in the "mosh pit" and meeting band members made me feel unique. I even met Brendon Urie when he was a baby-faced 18 year old on their first big tour with Fall Out Boy and felt really cool talking about it after they blew up.
I remember taking "emo" pictures of myself with my flip phone and putting them on Myspace. I even titled them "emo pics of me."
Polo Collars
Nothing said suave like a popped collar on a Ralph Lauren polo shirt.
You mean you only had one collar? All the cool kids I knew wore at least two polos. The coolest wore three, usually hot pink, neon green, and electric blue.
Polo shirts are actually meant to be worn with a popped collar. They were designed to be easy to play Tennis in and to protect the neck from sun.
Culturally, we think of popped collars as "douchy" since the polo shirt is associated with a Frat bro image. It's actually very functional.
They aren't terrible work out clothes either, since they're short sleeved and breathable. Granted, popping your collar indoors is just posturing.
"Tinted Green and Caked With Glitter"
I used Bath & Body Works roll on glitter religiously (Cucumber Melon obviously). But I used so much of it that instead of having a little sparkle under my eyes, my skin was tinted green and caked with glitter.
- erbewhi
Avril
When I was like 13 I wore Jean shorts, a black band t shirt, torn up suit jacket, an old knotted mustard yellow tie and Chuck taylors. One day a girl I liked said that I must be a huge Avril Lavigne fan and I almost died from embarrassment.
Fun When Your Parents Are Spending Their Money
Sagging my pants because a kid told me "you don't have to wear them that high" and I was afraid of being bullied for high waters after that, thinking that my clothes HAD to have a Polo (couldn't be USPA) logo on it, or be plastered with Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale, American Eagle (still wear their jeans though lol I love the stretch ones they make) or Hollister logos all over it for it to be considered "swag". Also, my obsession with Jordan shoes, often dreaming of the day Id be able to buy 100s of them.
I was so obsessed with trying to dress a certain way to appear trendy. Now I couldn't care less about that stuff lol. I rock clothing from Wal Mart (those color assorted t shirt packs are great lol) and H&M and until my shoes (usually vans) give out entirely, imma keep wearing them. It's all fun when your parents are spending their money but as I got older, I realized I didn't have money to be wasting on useless stuff like a Jordan collection right now lol.
Edgelord In a Fedora
I wore a f*cking fedora for over a year. People had no clue what my hair looked like because I never took that f*cker off. When I took it off one day in English to scratch my head, my teacher stopped mid-sentence and just said "I've never seen your hair before....you have such gorgeous curly hair that any of these girls in here would kill for and you cover it with that hat??" and honestly that was a turning point. Literally taking off that fedora for the last time really helped me out of my edgelord phase.
Mom Was Right
Neon fishnet fingerless gloves. Mom told me I'd be embarrassed about in the future. Mom was right.
Totally. My mom would often take pictures and say "Oh, you're going to love this picture when you're 30"
Me last year with my daughter. Trying to take a nice sibling photo on one of the kids birthday's, there she is smack bang in the middle, Whipping some siiiiicc fidget spinner moves and poses 😂
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.
