People Describe The Most Unbelievable Coincidence They've Ever Experienced
The world is not so big a place, is it?
While we like to think of ourselves as isolated in this billion plus planet, there can be a lot more crossover than we think. We call these instances coincidences, hoping to find the right word to explain what happens when a one-in-a-million chance occurs.
If there's over seven billion plus people in the world, turns out you can run into these 'coincidences' more often than you think.
Reddit user, Ok_Ambassador886, wanted to know how the fates aligned perfectly when they asked:
"What's the most unbelievable coincidence you've ever had?"
The unique thing about a coincidental happening is how fast it springs up on you. You won't see it coming, you won't even be thinking about it, so when it does happen, the surprise of it is enough to make you slap your forehead and go, "Whoa!"
Great Minds?
"My dad and his twin live far apart. Without even knowing it, they both bought, in the same week, the same car in the same colour."
Garaquarubyline
"I’m a twin. The coincidences on what we do, miles apart but almost simultaneously, are too strange to explain. Science underestimates how much of what we are and do is hardwired genetically."
DomingoLee
So Close...
"Lost my wallet on a trip to Chicago. Found a wallet under the night stand in the hotel. It was not my wallet but belonged to someone who lived two blocks from me in DC."
voice_of_craisin
That's How You Know You Got A Bro 4 Lyfe
"Not a big deal but we always laugh about it. I was hanging out with a buddy and I was dropping him off at his house. As he gets out of the car I start to drive off, but I stop, roll down the window and shout him over and say hey man, I have this overwhelming urge to ask you if you want a piece of gum. He burst out laughing and said get the f-ck out bro, I literally was just thinking to myself that I would kill for a piece of gum. Needless to say we're heterosexual life mates"
Idontdanceforfun
"That’s a quality bromance right there"
LordSevolox
As stated earlier, there are more than seven billion people on this planet. The odds of running into one specific person whom you have not seen in years is so high I'm not even going to try and compute it for this because it turns out to find someone you haven't seen in a long time is just go to Disney.
Not You. You.
"Was walking around Boston on vacation (I’m from DC) and thought I saw a guy who I interned with ten years before. He was from California and I had not seen him for 10 years. There was no reason he would be Boston but I thought it was him and then when he got closer I noticed it was not him. I even said to my wife hey there’s a guy i interned with, but was mistaken. About 15 minutes later we were walking on a new block and the actual guy I interned with was sitting on a bench waiting for his girlfriend to get done shopping. Unbelievable."
PropBrother227
No, Not You. The Guy Who Looks Exactly Like You.
"Went to high school on the east coast, moved to Southern California years later. One day I’m at Disneyland with the family watching a show and I see a guy sitting about 5 feet away who has to be a guy I knew in high school so I call out to him and yup it’s him. 6 months later I’m at the airport for a red eye flight and I spot him again eating at a restaurant so I say to him “how do I keep running into you?” He looks at me surprised and I realize it isn’t him, but it is his twin brother who I also knew from high school."
Global-Philosophy-11
Maybe The Answer To All These Is Disney
"In 1999, took my girlfriend to Disney World for a graduation present. While at Epcot, we sat outside and ate while talking about the band I had previously been in. Just then, the guitarist walked up and said 'Hey!'"
codallas
Surprise or not, there's nothing more warming to the heart than having a coincidence bring to mind that maybe, in this crazy, mixed up world, you're not alone.
Similar Tastes Carry Far
"I had an old Jeep (that had a very specific window vinyl that I had put on the back window) that I ended up trading in at the Ford dealership in my town. My mom lived by the dealership and watched as it was loaded up and taken away several days later with some other vehicles. Months go by and I drive past a house I had lived in years before, and there sat my old Jeep, vinyl decal still on the back window."
"Now what are the chances that the random person that happened to live in my old house would also wind up with my old vehicle. Blew my mind."
BestKept_Secret
Saved A Few Dollarydoos
"I was driving with an old fully loaded trailer long distance, not quite middle of nowhere but fairly rural, not much around etc."
"Trailer gets a flat tyre. I had no spare. The exact spot where I pull over happens to have around 3 or 4 tyres of various sizes just sitting behind some small bushes."
"I find one that matches perfectly to my flat tyre, which also happens to be the only one of them that’s inflated."
"I swap the tyre and continue driving, thinking what the hell just happened. I still can’t believe it happened."
Beginshere
What A Wonderfully Awful Surprise
"Mom and dad divorced when I was very young. There was no contact what so ever. I was around 10yo when we visited an aunt outside of our city. On the way back to the train station we got kinda lost. It was getting late and mobile phones was not a thing back then. A boy standing at the same bus stop apparently saw my mom panicking and offered to come with him to his parents and his stepdad would bring us to the train station."
"You cannot imagine the shock when we found out that it was actually my dads home. I was to young to fully understand but was happy seeing my dad after so many years. My mom was in shock and almost fainted. I mean if all places"
Ladyvenoms
A Bittersweet Reunion
"It was my first night at a homeless shelter. With nowhere left to go I reserved myself a bed there, and after I was registered and shown around I went to the living room and settled down a bit."
"As I was sitting there, for some reason a close friend of mine came to mind. Let's call him Darryl."
"Darryl and I hadn't seen each other for a while by then, while before I became homeless we would frequently hang out. I figured he must be wondering how I was doing, and why he hadn't heard from me in a while."
"And just when I decided to give him a call the next day, guess who came walking in! Yep, Darryl had arrived at the shelter as well. It took a while before he noticed me, but when he did, naturally we sat next to each other to catch up."
"It was a bittersweet reunion for the both of us. We were happy to see each other, but sad about the circumstances we were in. We both wanted the best for each other, instead we got the worst."
"I'm glad that neither of us had to face the homeless life alone though. I'm glad we found each other and that we were able to support one another. Both of us made it out of there within a couple of months. I now have a cosy apartment with very lovely neighbors. He moved in on a boat and lives in peace and quiet, like he always wanted."
"The end."
Confident_Ad_3573
Home Is Where The Mail Is
"I deployed to Afghanistan and was chatting with the guy I was replacing during some down time. I recognized his name, but it looked like our paths had never crossed."
"We had been stationed at some of the same bases, so I asked him where he had lived."
" 'Base housing' is a pretty common answer, so I asked him what street. He'd lived on my street!"
" 'Which house? Did you know (old neighbor)?' Turns out we had lived in the same house, and I realized why his name was familiar: I had forwarded his Christmas cards that were sent to his old address a year earlier!"
- daytonbob
June 18th
"We went on a family trip to Liberty island to see the Statue of Liberty and had a scheduled time to go to see lady Liberty."
"We got there early and we didn’t know that Ellis Island was included in our ticket (we got our tickets from park service not some second hand group). We figured hey we have time let’s go to Ellis Island as well."
"We got in and went around and we got to the archive and saw we could search all the manifests for every ship that had come in. I called my mom because she had told me my great grand father had come over through Ellis Island."
"She never met he had died when my grandmother was a young child and that is another story on it’s own, worthy of a movie almost."
"She gave me his name I searched and found his paperwork."
"He arrived on June 18th 1920…..we visited on June 18th 2018."
- Long_Fish1973
It's The Climb
"I drove 600 miles with my brother and a friend to climb a very remote mountain in the desert."
"None of us were mountain climbers, so this was not a normal thing for us, but we decided to give it a shot. We get there and after climbing a few hundred feet, I look back and notice someone coming up below us."
"I suggest we take a breather and wait for the newcomer and say hi."
"He gets within earshot after about 20 minutes and we start talking while he pauses to rest below us. Turns out we are from the same state (Texas), and both drove almost the same distance to the site."
"He asks where about in the state we live, and it turns out he knows the town."
"He asks if we know a certain family in that town. I point to the friend who came along with me and say, 'Here’s one of them!' ”
"It ends up this guy dated our friend’s older sister several years before that."
"When he finally climbs up the rest of the way we all recognize him! My brother had actually met the guy when he was dating our friend’s sister, but hadn’t seen him since."
"We all made the rest of the climb on this remote mountain almost a thousand miles from home together."
- Onomatopoeia_Utopia
The Night Of The Accident
"In 2014, my wife and I were involved in a terrible car crash that resulted in the death of someone."
"I was driving us home one night, when a lady ran out in front of our vehicle. I’m still not sure how she made it past the car next to me but our car hit her on the passenger side front lights."
"At first, I thought I had popped a tire but when I looked back and saw her lying there, shock set in."
"I ran back to her as fast as I could but there was nothing I could do. It was just an awful situation and still feels very surreal as I am typing this."
"Later that night, we found out the lady had been a passenger in a car that had been rear-ended on the same road 20 minutes prior."
"According to her friends, she just walked off. Then in front of everyone, including responding police, she took off into the road."
"She crossed 3 busy lanes of east bound traffic, across the median and then made it into our middle lane heading westbound. Her friends said she had been feeling down lately but we never heard anything else."
"Fast forward 3 years and my wife and I are still living in our small cottage on the beach. We often took our dogs on late night walks and decided to go to the local gas station a few blocks from us."
"It had to be around 2 in the morning so there wasn’t many people out but as we got there, we heard a helicopter landing in the park across the street. A young lady had been in an accident and was getting help."
"As we watched, we mentioned to a guy next to us how we’d seen so many accidents in the years since we had moved to Florida from Michigan."
"He then goes:"
" 'Listen to this, my boss was once driving his truck down Gulf to Bay Blvd and rear ended a car by the local high school. He says, it was the craziest thing, one of the ladies got out of the car, said she had to go to the bathroom and walked into oncoming traffic.' "
"My wife and I were shocked, I said that was us. I was driving the car that hit her. At first it didn’t seem like he believed us but we ended up talking for a little while."
"Even though we never got many answers about why she took off, besides wanting to use the bathroom, it was somewhat therapeutic."
"I had trouble driving for a while after the accident, still do in certain situations but talking about it and writing like this does help."
"Another kind of strange coincidence, we recently watched Your Honor on Showtime. It centers around a kid that hit and kills a Mob Boss’s son."
"Although circumstances were different, I mentioned to my wife how watching the accident in the show was hard due to our experience."
"Then later in the episode you find out the accident takes place on October 9th - the same day as ours did."
- spartydownsouth1
The Universe Has A Sense Of Humor
"I was sitting at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, waiting for my flight to Newark, NJ."
"I started a new chapter in the book I was reading; and it was about someone taking the flight from Raleigh-Durham to Newark."
"The book hadn't been about air travel or either of those locales up until that point, but about Astral projection."
"Definitely one of those moments that makes me think the universe has a sense of humor."
- le4t
Wolfville
"I'm from Wisconsin. My wife and I were vacationing in Nova Scotia on a bus tour of Evangeline country."
"The bus broke down (when does that happen), just outside a little town called Wolfville. We decided to go for a short walk to kill time and saw a small cemetery. It was old and had a directory."
"My ancestor from the early 1700's was buried there. I am related to dozens of families in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. I had no idea."
- Current-Health2183
Noah
"About 5 or 6 years ago I was taking the NYC Subway when I sat next to a very nice elderly lady."
"We talked about how sh*tty and gross public transportation is, and after getting off on my stop she told me 'see ya later!' And I smiled knowing damn well I was probably never gonna see her again."
"I kid you not, about 6 months ago I was taking the L in Chicago, when a nice elderly lady sits next to me and says 'hey Noah how have you been?' ”
"Literally like half a decade later, this random old lady I met one time in New York found me again in Chicago, she somehow remembered me, and we had a nice conversation!"
"I Hope she’s doing well."
- ItsDocL
Keep your eyes open, because the long arm of coincidence might be out there coming for you some day.
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We all have strong opinions about something, but when we think of opinions, we often think of hot button topics like political subjects.
But as it turns out, sometimes we can have just as strong of opinions of our preferred types of pasta.
Redditor PeeB4uGoToBed asked:
"What's the best pasta shape and why?"
The Right Answer
"I prefer my pasta, like my nuggets, to be dinosaur-shaped."
- bearstrugglethunder
"This is my true answer, but if I have to pretend to be an adult, I always say Cavatappi."
- YourGlacier
Radiatori
"Radiatori. Thick and perfect for pasta sauces."
- AuthenticVanillaOwl
"They're so fun. They're my favorite, ahead of rotini. I just like ridges, I guess."
- arcosapphire
Cavatappi
"Cavatappi!!!!"
- floatingvibes
"Best for mac and cheese."
- pacheckyourself
"My first time having cavatappi mac and cheese changed my life."
- Salt_Blackberry_1903
"Cavatappi gang, RISE UP."
- Sharp_Easy
Cavatelli
"I see your cavatappi and raise you cavatelli."
- dumbf**k
"Cavatelli is the bee's knees, man."
- elhooper
Conchiglie
"Conchiglie (shells)."
"The shell shape stores cheese and sauces, so with each bite, you get tons of flavor."
- WingerRules
"Yes! Mac n cheese always tastes amazing with Conchiglie, I don't make the rules."
- Inconvenient-Pebble9
Rigatoni
"Rigatoni. My favorite dish is baked rigatoni with bolognese. I love the texture of the ridges and the larger hollow part scoops up the sauce very well as compared to ziti or penne."
- AllDressedJalapenos
Cascatelli
"Cascatelli. Some crazy f**k got obsessed with answering the OP's question and invented this."
- PhantomMenaceWasOK
Vesuvio
"Cascatelli is great, but his second round of shapes, specifically vesuvio, might be better."
- mriners
"Agreed. Vesuvio is peak."
- jll3523
Quattrotini
"I prefer quattrotini. I find it has better forkability and toothsinkability."
- banjo215
Fusilli
"Fusilli because it's silly."
- HorrorxHeart
Bucatini
"Bucatini is the best of all worlds. You have everything that's great about the long noodles and it's hollow! It absorbs sauce and oil on the inside."
- winterORgethen
"I hate bucatini! You can't suck a protruding part into your mouth because of the hole in the middle. You can't pick it up with a fork, because it's too slippery with sauce."
- CalTechie-55
Penne
"Penne... because the sauce is in AND on it, lol (laughing out loud)."
- secretxamy
Orecchiette
"Orecchiette."
- Realistic_Try_6738
"The pasta that would literally drive me insane if I tried to make it from scratch."
- BullsOnParadeFloats
Farfalle
"Farfalle."
- Preference-Best
"I came to say this. Just something about it. Amazing mouth feel. Great texture. Good with light and heavy, meaty sauces."
- Fracture_98
"This one. There’s something so nostalgic about it for me. And I feel like it does well with most sauces. A very versatile shape for a variety of pasta dishes."
- BlueHeelerChemist
Linguine
"Linguine: the spaghetti that went to private school."
- feeflet
"I am totally on board with linguine. Flat to catch the sauce and thin enough to cook evenly for the perfect consistency! Pairs with many sauces too!"
- Odd_Calligrapher_407
Pappardelle
"Pappardelle."
"Flat pasta is better than round pasta (like spaghetti) for sauces and flavors being absorbed. It's long enough to give the lady and the tramp vibes and not feel like you're a kid eating some superhero shapes out of a bowl like Fusilli and Farfalle can give off."
"It's thicker than tagliatelle to give it enough girth to feel like more of a main event than just being the bed your sauce and toppings sit on."
"Overall, it's just the best all-rounder in my book."
- bawjaws2000
This conversation just goes to show how many pasta options there actually are in the world, some that we may have not even heard of yet, because of them being invented in 2020!
But it also goes to show that we all have our favorites, and we can have very strong opinions about them.
One of life's most unfortunate moments is when we feel our lives are genuinely in danger.
These horrific moments can involve the behavior of people with malicious intentions or just being at the wrong place and time.
Even though many people live to share their harrowing stories, the trauma doesn't necessarily go away completely.
But all anyone who's experienced a terrifying ordeal can do to find peace is to count their blessings and be grateful they are survivors.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Fearless-surfur-ee asked:
"What was the scariest incident happened with you?"
These Redditors experienced heart-stopping false alarms.
Wrong Target
"Half a dozen masked men broke into my bedroom, threatened me and my girlfriend, realised they had the wrong house, apologised and left. Edit - I told the full story here a while back."
– The-Go-Kid
Witness At A Shopping Mall
"Similar thing happened to my Aunt. She witnessed an attack at a shopping centre (on going disagreement between 2 well known families) and was threatened. A few days later one of the older family members approached her in her driveway and apologised profusely for the younger persons behaviour and offered her compensation. She was so scared she just said no thanks and he left."
– pokerdotts
Sometimes, you gotta listen to your gut.
Unplanned Detour
"Wife and I took a dark exit towards out neighborhood. Whole backseat full of bags cause we went shopping at the mall. There’s a red light at the intersection once you get off the exit and we pull up to this tinted oldsmobile. They were in the right lane to go straight or turn right and we were in the left lane to turn left."
"Nobody is around, maybe 10 at night. I turn left and look in my rear view and it’s the car that was next to us a bit back. I pull in my driveway and just had a really weird feeling, so I told my wife I’m gonna reverse and drive around the block. She thinks it’s weird as hell, but as we are reversing, this dude is walking towards us from that Oldsmobile parked around the corner. I dip the f**k out and make it look like I was just turning around and drove like a mile away before heading back."
"Just had this gut feeling, man. Who knows what would have happened? But it was scary as f'k, nonetheless."
– One_pop_each
A Tragic Stop
"Friend borrowed dad’s Benz to take wife on anniversary date. He stopped for flowers and was followed home by someone thinking he was wealthy. He was shot dead in his driveway in what turned out to be a gang initiation; you did the right thing."
– busjockey
These Redditors looked down the barrel of a gun...and lived to tell their story.
Fearless
"Was at a train station that was empty and I was sitting down waiting for a train and a man walks over with a bag, opens it and takes out a shotgun and points it at me and I just stare at him, he then says 'you're not scared are you' then puts the shotgun back in the bag then walks out of the train station."
"Actually not sure if that was the scariest or weirdest or if I was even scared."
– XenomorphXx121
The Right Answer
"Reminds me of the time a guy put a gun to my neck and said, 'What would you do if I pull the trigger right now.'"
"I was in a completely apathetic state of mind at that time anyway and said, 'Not much I can do, but I'll haunt you.'"
– lazerchin
These Redditors experienced medical emergencies.
Lucky Patient
"Last week had a heart attack after almost recovering from chemotherapy."
"I asked the nurse if I was going to die and she said I’m in the right place and they will look after me. Then I got more scared then I ever have before"
"I should not have survived but I did."
– Fistandantalus
Urgent Appointment
"The scan came back and we found a mass. We'd like you to come in to talk to the doctor today or tomorrow. You should see if someone can drive for you as you may be upset afterwards"
"Can I come in next week, I have a trip planned?"
"The doctor says you should come in today anytime and we will clear an appointment for you."
"Luckily that doctor kicked a**. 3 years post-surgery. Scans are clean in August and I move into the "only 10% chance of reoccurrence" bracket."
– Meet_the_Meat
Mysterious Illness
"Felt sick, kind of like the flu. Felt completely fine in the morning, but got worse as the day went on. It was the middle of the night and I was up with my husband and our new 6 week old baby. I was pumping breastmilk."
"Next thing I know, I’m waking up to EMTs surrounding me on my bed telling me not to move or sit up. My heart rate was incredibly high and blood pressure incredibly low. They took me to the hospital and no one knew what was wrong with me for a while. They kept asking me what drugs I took. I kept telling them nothing (which is true). I just had a baby, the biggest 'drug' I was taking was Tylenol. They didn’t believe me for a while."
"I couldn’t remember a lot of things at this point. I could barely even remember my own kid’s name. I couldn’t tell them who the president was or what year it was when they asked. It was a weird feeling to have memory missing. Kind of like having lost some puzzle pieces. Talking was also kind of difficult."
"After a BUNCH of tests, turns out I had a UTI so bad that I went into septic shock and my kidneys were shutting down. Didn’t know I had a UTI because I was still healing from childbirth and I am pretty asymptomatic when it comes to UTIs. I don’t feel pain when I get them. Spent a few days in the ICCU. Was extra scary considering my brand new baby was at home and I wasn’t and there was a chance I wouldn’t make it home at all."
"In the end, I thankfully made a full recovery."
"Not as intense as some of these other stories, but please don’t sleep on a UTI guys. Sepsis is no joke."
– mxbear
The last time I truly feared for my life was when I was at a party and a fight between two drunk partygoers turned into a Swiss army knife fight.
I'm not kidding.
A couple of my friends and I jumped off the second floor balcony and got chased in the parking lot.
After some fumbling with the car keys, my buddy managed to get five of us crammed into his car and the perpetrator started pounding on the rear window with his fists and bloodying it up from smashing his knuckles onto the glass.
The police came just in time. Thank you annoyed neighbor who called the cops on us for our blood-curdling screams disturbing the peace.
Perhaps the best thing about our friends is that we can always rely on them.
To help us out, to give us words of comfort and wisdom when we need them, or to just be a willing pair of ears.
Even so, our friends still have a way of surprising us, as well as disappointing us from time to time.
Sometimes they'll do things that just make us groan and roll our eyes but are easily forgiven over time.
Other times, however, they might do or say something which can only be described as "f*cked up."
Potentially putting an effective end to your friendship.
"What is the most f**ked up thing you've seen a friend do?"
Those Poor Cats...
"A guy I worked with was about to take his wife on a trip back to their mutual hometown in another state."
"They had a pair of delightful kittens and they asked me if I would watch them while they were gone."
"I had little experience with cats but these 2 were just wonderfully playful."
"I gave him a call when he got back to arrange returning the kittens but he said they had picked up a non-cat friendly dog on the journey and he would just drop off the kittens in the woods."
"Needless to say, I kept them and they were wonderful furry friends for me and eventually to my wife and kids."
"I still think what would have happened to them if I had not been in the right place at the right time."- PoloGrounder
"I went on holiday for a week and asked my 'best friend' to pop in and feed my cat (he lived a few doors away)."
"When I got back, my cat was laying by the back door of my house, went inside and his bowl was empty, I called him and asked when the last time he fed him, he said 'oh yeah, I forgot'."
"My cat had been outside for a week with no food or water. "
"I haven't spoken to him in 12 years."- Reddit
Always Listen To Your Doctor
"Convinced his girlfriend she was suffering from gluten intolerance instead of schizophrenia, and got her to stop taking medication."- lightningandmadness
But Was It A Point Worth Proving?
"Deliberately get knocked down by a car, in order to prove that when drunk (and we were very drunk), his bones were flexible."
"Fortunately, the car had been slowing to turn."
"There followed a couple of minutes trying to reassure the driver he was ok, whilst calling him an idiot."
"Meanwhile, he was laying flat on his back, maintaining he'd proved his point."- anothercynicaloldgit
It Is Never Attractive To Gloat
"Best friend was excited for me to meet his new gf."
"The whole evening he bragged about how she was still married and he was going to be the reason she got divorced."
"Haven't spoken to him since."
"Did hear she broke up with him and sorted out the issues with her husband."- hmfiddlesworth
Karma Is Pretty Unforgiving...
"Brought my friend to watch my boyfriend practice his drumming."
"She kept spreading her legs wide wearing a skirt with no underwear."
"She slept with him and he left me thinking he would be with her."
"Needless to say she didn’t date him because she already had a boyfriend."- Final_Objective_6204Kar
Shameless
"We were working in an old lady's attic and he kicked the sh*t out of a pipe on purpose then went and told her it needed to be replaced."
"I never worked with him again after that."- FriendlyDifference72
Oh, Honey...
"Brag about a then—boyfriend not leaving her despite constant cheating."
"Then cry when he left her."
"I don’t know either."- Snapesnape716
In With The Wrong Crowd
"They were arguing and he made fun of the friend for being an orphan."
"Tried to stab the other friend cuz his ex was crushing on him."- we_are_ghetto
Not Worth A Second Thought
"Throw McDonald’s fries and burger as hard as he could at a homeless lady asking for food."
"I called him a piece of sh*t and never spoke to him again."- Mundane_Tour_3215
You Don't Mess With Family...
"My best friend had just broken up with my brother—who had moved over a thousand miles and changed jobs to be with her—citing personal differences."
"My brother was devastated, but I tried to respect her decision and be a source of support for both of them, especially because they truly weren’t the best fit."
"But then she shared with me, because she knew that I loved her and would be happy for her so long as she was happy, that she’d been cheating on my brother for the past month and had found her soulmate."
"The depth of my brother’s heartbreak, already immense, was further compounded by the infidelity."
"To my bewilderment, she truly couldn’t understand why I was ending the friendship, seemed so distraught that I would end a years long relationship over something so 'small'."
"And I still can’t comprehend why she thought telling me would result in anything other than a complete door slam."
"Hannah, you still suck."
"And I’m still angry."
"I had also asked her to be the maid of 'honor' in my upcoming wedding."
"Ironic."- bitetime
Some friendships can withstand fundamental differences of opinion.
But no friendship is worth hanging onto when people (and kittens) are physically or emotionally harmed.
When you gotta go, you go.
That should be a mantra for getting rid of the toxic people in our lives.
Not every relationship is meant to last forever.
Some people don't know how to be friends.
They are awfully good at pretending though.
Be vigilant of the signs and red flags.
Toxic people are crafty.
And once you're free, never look back.
Redditor _ReDd1T_UsEr wanted to discuss the reasons why many of us decided to cut some people out of our lives, so they asked:
"What was the reason why your friendship ended with someone?"
Sometimes a person just has to go.
Planning Stages
Weekend Sunday GIF by DisneyGiphy"I stopped being the first to always initiate plans, and that was that."
Witty-Surround-6541
"I once asked a friend to plan our next breakfast + walk outing, since I always did that. He wrote me a letter ending the friendship. Stunning!"
fermat9996
Pants on Fire
"Habitual lying became too annoying and disruptive to tolerate."
Hosscatticus_Dad523
"When you constantly are thinking... this math ain't matching lol. People that lie all the time make me sick. I've told multiple friends that you don't have to lie to me."
"I feel so much better when someone can trust me and feel comfortable telling me a hard truth than an easy lie."
"Even if the truth made me feel some type of way, I'm still glad it was honest. I've even said thank you to people in the past that have been honest with me, good or bad! Some people just can not help lying about things. I wouldn't be able to ever keep a story straight if I did that."
__eden_
Bad Behavior
"He kept having kids with different girls and bailing on them. Coming from a 'went out for a pack of smokes' Dad myself, I just couldn't watch it anymore. Bailed after the third one. Think he's up to 6 now."
KingGuy420
"Reminds me of one of my ex-friends. She kept having kids with MULTIPLE guys (all of them were one-night stands), I don't think she even knows who the baby daddies are."
"She also kept begging me and people for money for pot, and she also bragged about having OnlyFans. She'd also make up stories about being in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend (she'd also cheat on him/tell people her and him they broke up, which they weren't)."
wisconsinking
Reasons
"I was a bad person and they ended it for perfectly sensible reasons. I would have done the same. I've changed, but I don't blame them for not reconsidering contact."
tabletopsidekick
"I’ve been there. I was a bad person and lost friendships and family relationships. I tried to apologize to everyone I hurt."
PDXGalMeow
"I also accepted that they don’t want me in their lives anymore. I learned that I made my mistakes, I learned from them, and I accept their choices. I don’t self-hate anymore and I try to be a better person in general. I hope you are doing well and practicing self-love and forgiveness."
PDXGalMeow
Money Issues
Donald Duck Money GIFGiphy"I lent them $20 and then they avoided me so they didn’t have to pay me back. Worth the $20."
BuickAssault
"I don't ever expect prompt returns of small amounts of money between my friends... we all buy each other rounds or buy the food for the BBQ or whatever. It ends up evening out over time I think we'd notice though if someone was always taking and never giving and then they'd probably get cut off too."
Badloss
In the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper... "Money Changes Everything."
Lack of Support
Happy Planning GIFGiphy"She joined a pyramid scheme selling butt-ugly leggings and it took over her whole life. When I finally told her it was negatively affecting our friendship, she accused me of not supporting her 'business.'"
LeftandLeaving9006
Oh Driver
"I was basically a taxi for my friends so I dumped them all."
Bullfrog_Little
"This one I can understand but depends on the situation. Not all of my friends had cars in high school, so our group needed to have me and my sh*tty '94 Plymouth Sundance come, or they couldn't do anything. I didn't mind at all then, but I definitely would these days."
Hoopajoops
"I remember I used to drive around with my buddies all the time before they had licenses. When one of my friends got his and a car I said sweet now you can drive me around for a bit, he replied that he wasn't gonna waste his money on gas like that. See ya, haven't really spoken to him since."
DontcallmeShirley_82
2063
"How's this for oddly specific: Friend since 1980, was hanging out at a bar in 1992 and there was a dispute of over a $15.00 bar tab. I was in the right, but whatever - he held a grudge for years."
"Ran into him in 2017 and we were both too old to care. Started to see each other now and then. 2023 and we're at this local bar for a show and got into a fight about $15.00 a ticket."
"Maybe he'll call me in 2063."
The68Guns
Exhausting
"She was a taker, constantly. When I needed something she made it about her yet again. Exhausting to be around."
LordyIHopeThereIsPie
"I'm going through this right now. Can't tell you how many texts I have from her in the past few days telling me that I need to get over myself, need to stop making myself the victim, have been a terrible friend, have never been there for her."
"She's the most narcissistic person I know and everyone does everything for her. She has one of the easiest lives ever and anytime anything bad happens to her she believes that everyone is against her and she's the victim here. It's pure insanity. There is no talking sense to people like this."
cheeseburgerwaffles
Life Changes
point pointing GIF by Shalita GrantGiphy"I've lost like all but two of my 'friends' because I stopped drinking and doing hard drugs."
ConcertTerrible8877
"Same here dude. My circle is small but hey at least it's a circle I know I can go to."
Miss_mayonnaise
Oh, how things change when the booze dries up.
How much fun were you really having?
Do you have any stories about cutting off a friend? Let us know in the comments below.