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People Break Down Which Things They Desperately Want To Know The Truth About

"The truth will set you free, but first it'll piss you off"

Have truer words ever been spoken? Especially at the beginning of a song? Probably not. But the thing about truth is that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it's just not something we can ever really know.


One Reddit user asked:

What is something you desperately want to know the truth about?

And honestly we were expecting the answers to be full of conspiracy theories and aliens. Some people wanted to know about that, of course, but it seems like a lot more people are interested in more mundane personal truths.

Missing heirlooms, sketchy incidents, and friends who just vanished into thin air all pop up in people's answers right alongside those aliens we mentioned.

So have a read through and then tell us what truths you really want in life.

Where's The Ring?

I had a 200 year old ring stolen out of my house, handed down from my great-great grandmother and grandmother (every other generation) who are also my namesakes. I was at a low point in life when my grandmother gave it to me, and it kind of felt like - "I still believe in you. You CAN still live up to the name," and it meant SO much to me.

Just after moving into a house for the first time, someone broke in and stole it. There is almost no chance it would be recognized for its true worth or age, or history. And obviously, it could never have that sentimental value. I'm terrified it will have been dismantled.

I'd give anything to know where it is / get it back.

-in-site

Alone

ancient aliens GIF Giphy

Are we alone in the universe?

- DrBinkleton

The universe is enormous. The chances that life exists in other places is not only likely but might even be fairly common. But the universe is enormous. If there was life on the nearest star to ours it would take a generational ship to get there and explore. And that is the very closest star.

Even if we just wanted to send a message with a radio wave and see if anything in that stat system had the intelligence to intercept the radio wave and interpret it as different from background radiation it would still take years for that radio wave to get there, and years for that system to respond back. In summation it is virtually guaranteed that earth is not the only planet with life on it, but the chances of ever meeting aliens is almost zero. Space is just too big. Even if you could travel at the speed of light (which we cant and physics seems to say we never can) we still wouldn't be able to travel far enough to explore space for other life

- Maharog

That's just space. Don't neglect how huge time is. That nearest star could have fully-realized spacefaring civilization, but it exists two billion years in the past - - or the future.

We're ships passing in the night in a sea of time as well.

- 5-on-a-tobbogan

Indus Valley

Maybe not as exciting as some of the other historical mysteries, but I've always wanted to know more about the Indus Valley Civilization.

They were one of the earliest civilizations on the planet and built complex cities with extensive planning, including efficient sewage systems! And yet their writing script remains undeciphered to this day and thus a lot of what we know about their culture and society is mere speculation.

There's just so much about them I'd love to understand- What was the language they spoke and what family it belonged to? How extensive were their trade networks? What were their cultural practices and religious beliefs and what relation, if any, did these have to those of later societies in the Indian subcontinent?

- AvatarTreeFiddy

Consciousness 

What actually happens to our consciousness when we die?

- excusetheblood

Yes this! And how does it originate when we are born?

- poorees

From a technical point a consciousness is an evolutionary trait that develops as an infant matures and it has 3 stages

  • non active from 1-2
  • passive from 2-8 (when it acquires all of the societal values and is able to think however will follow what its environment mandates)
  • active, post 8, once all societal values are accepted and critical thinking becomes much more accessible

Babies dont have a consciousness as it hasnt developped yet and this trait is only found among few animals as an evolutionary trait that allowed us to survive.

This said, in theory we should cease to be once we die , the very same way we came into the picture

So the consciousness would be the same as pre-birth, nothingness once the brain ceases all activity. I would find it much more disturbing and horrifying if a consciousness doesnt fade away and makes you spend an eternity trapped in a void similar to when you re half awake after you passout

Now that would be horrifying.

Ceasing to exist, however, is just something that will happen and I don't think anyone should be afraid of what will happen as it would be the same as pre-birth

- ThatOneSadHuman

Solicitors

I wanna know why these people keep ringing my doorbell while the baby is sleeping trying to sell me pest control or a new roof.

Motherf*cker it's 2020. If I need some bugs killed or a new roof, I'm not sitting on my @ss waiting for somebody to ring my doorbell to give me a sales pitch.

- ialbertson90

I put a sign on the front door that said please do not knock or ring the bell. And it worked wonders! Never had a knock or bell ring even when I ordered take out and forgot about it haha but I was waiting patiently for my take out of course lol.

- FLmedgirl420

Gundam

gundam GIF Giphy

This is going to sound petty, but to me it's more important then anything political, I want to know what happened to the Victory Gundam Toy I leant to my friend when I was in the first grade. It was the MS in Pocket V- Dash.

My grandmother got it for me for my birthday, which means my parent's actually got it for me and wrapped it and put her name on it but she pretended to know what it was and I appreciate that to this day.

My parents probably got it from a store in Springfield Mall called "Another Universe". It was a one stop sci-fi novelty shop and after my dad took me in there one day I fell in love with the "Japanese Robots" because I grew up watching Robotech, and Ronin Warriors.

I was super stoked to get this, and loved it dearly. And because I loved my best friend and sharing is caring etc, when he asked to borrow it one night, maybe a week after I got it, I let him. I never saw it again. We stayed friend's up until high-school when we started to drift apart, and it legitimately bothers me to this day that I never found out the truth.

- _Fun_Employed_

Elisa

What ACTUALLY happened to Elisa Lam. Like, come on. She couldn't have dropped herself into that tank. She didn't have keys to the roof, and she was too tiny to lift the hatch anyway. So, what? Did an employee kill her?

Your average hotel employee couldn't haul a sober young woman to the roof, restrain her, open that heavy-ass hatch, and throw her inside. Not without somebody noticing. There's no surveillance footage either. Besides all that, there's no evidence that Elisa was raped or assaulted, so what would be the motive for murder?

And she wasn't intoxicated. No drugs, no alcohol. But... why the weird behavior in that elevator, then? Why the imaginary conversation? Why hide from nothing?

Yes, she was bipolar, which could attribute to the strange behavior. Elisa was mentally ill, but that doesn't explain everything.

- thecreepyauthor

I lived down the street from that hotel when she went missing, I remember the posters going up around the neighborhood. What happened was a terrible, unfortunate accident and nothing more. In fact I wish the internet would stop trying to turn it into a "spooky mystery" because I can't imagine what the family must be going through.

The main thing you have to remember about the hotel she was staying at is it wasn't a normal Holiday Inn kinda place you're used to seeing. It was a run down building over 100 years old that was being used for low income housing that had started renting out rooms to tourists. I lived in one similar when I was really poor.

They're not well maintained, they're not well staffed (maybe some kid working security), and you can pretty much have your run of the place without anyone messing with you because no one who works there cares. Security cameras? LOL. I'm impressed the ones they had were actually working, most of the time they're just there to warn off people. The most mysterious part about the hotel is why anyone would chose to stay there on purpose.

Now imagine a girl off her meds having a breakdown (which is what authorities and her family have said is what happened). I talked to employees at local shops who saw her and told me she was acting crazy. She's in this beat up hotel, can't get the elevator to work, can't figure out what's going on. She ends up on the roof wandering around and takes a dive into the water tank and can't get out. That's it. Nothing mysterious. Just a tragic accident.

- ghostofhenryvii

Poisoned Pooch

Who killed my dog with poison. My dad knows but he doesn't want to tell me because he said it's going to be troublesome. Don't get me wrong he loved that dog but he got reasons to hide that from me. We live in a dangerous neighborhood.

- snowtruki

Tumblr Trouble

I had an internet friend who suddenly stopped posting on Tumblr at around 2014. I didn't realize it at first because I had multiple friends who would leave for a few days and come back again, but after a few weeks with no activity I started to worry. I think I even assumed that she wanted nothing to do with ME specifically because she wouldn't reply to my messages until a mutual internet friend of ours messaged me to ask me if I knew where she went.

She never came back. She wasn't sick, she wasn't going through anything, she never said she was going to switch accounts (she had multiple accounts dedicated for some core things she liked. When she stopped posting on her main blog, I checked to see if there were any activities on the others. Nothing.), etc. She was just there one day and then she suddenly wasn't. I guess I'd just like to know what happened to her.

- TunaEmpanada

Maybe A Little Too Great

The Great Pyramid.

Either the truth about how long it took and how Egyptians built it, or who actually did it.

History books say it took 20 years to build, which is just ridiculous to believe. 20 years was definitely not enough to build it, but that's only one of many facts that make me raise an eyebrow:

"Pharaoh Khufu began the first Giza pyramid project, circa 2550 B.C."


Egypt was founded around 3000 B.C. so the Pyramid was built pretty much at the beginning of their civilization, and I believe they claim the Sphynx is even older than that.

So these people had the skill and knowledge to build a monument that would last through eternity, featuring some of the most astonishing mathematical and physical properties but could never better themselves? Never in the history of our species, we have witnessed a civilization reach their engineering peak at the very beginning and then get progressively worse. It just doesn't make sense.

For reference, the Great Wall of China is 25ft tall, has roughly 4M blocks and it took several centuries to finish with the help of millions of workers. The Great Pyramid (just one of the 3) is nearly 500ft tall, made of over 2M blocks of stone, and only took 20 years???

In 2550 B.C humans could build at amazing speed with unmatched precision and a few millenniums later we lost all that skill?

If we wanted to, nowadays we could replicate any building or construction that's ever been made with the help of machines. But not the pyramid. Modern engineers admitted that even with our best technology, we would struggle to replicate a 4 faced pyramid of that size. Imagine building an 8 faced one that has VERY PRECISE astronomical and mathematical properties; the amount of resources and hassle required for such a feature would be ridiculous even for today's standards.

"The Great Pyramid embodies an advanced knowledge of geometry, geodesy (the science of earth measurement), and astronomy. It incorporates not only the value of pi but also the golden section, phi, found in the growth patterns of living things.


The Pyramid stands at the center of the earth's landmass and represents the earth's northern hemisphere on a scale of 1:43,200."

When scientists presented these and a million other facts just as mind-blowing, Egyptologists said it was all a coincidence and claim that to this day.

Imagine making a tomb for your king and, just by pure chance and a bit of luck, recreate a replica of our planet that gives exact data of its dimentions and movement in space LMAO

I have been to the Plateau, Karnak and Luxor (Valley of Kings) and let me tell you, by the end of the trip my eyebrow had raised so much it became one with my hairline.

- rPiperboy

Human Relationships

I wanted to know the truth about human relationships. Now there is nothing else I want to know desperately..

There is no want anymore about anything in life. The truth is,"Human relationships are need based. They are never absolute and hence keep changing. It takes enormous energy to keep a married relationship going."

So choose wisely. Choose somebody for whom it's very easy to love himself and you. And not somebody who talks about leaving you or breakup at the drop of hat!

- idWithUniverse

Death Night

grim reaper death GIF Giphy

What the fck exactly happened in Stammheim prison on the 'Death Night' of Oct 18 1977 at the height of the German autumn.

Three prisoners of German far left-wing terror group RAF were found dead in their cells. The story goes that they killed themselves and other members of the group tried to frame it as murder by the state

But official reports have some holes and some things don't quite line up. Were they actually murdered by the secret service? Did the sercret service know about what they were planning but didn't intervene? Why was there a power loss in that prison block right around the time they killed themselves and why was the officer that was assigned to watch the cell block called away from his position by an unknown person right around the same time? One inmate killed himself with a gun, how did no one hear that?

- enderlux

After The Crisis

I work in a suicide/crisis line. We never know what happens after the call ends. And there is this one call that still haunts me, and all I desperately want to know is what happened to the caller after they hung up. I just want to know the truth.

- bubble_bibble

Catfished

I talked with a girl for years. Started on a chat room, we talked with letters, Facebook, on a phone (our record was 9 hours straight), we became "a couple" at some point. We never saw each other, shared only few photos, but we had fun talking so it didn't bother me. Webcam wasn't a common thing back in 2009 and 2010 when this started and since we were young, we couldn't travel and see each other.

(Yes, this is starting to sound like a Catfish episode)

In 2011 things changed tho. I went to army for 9 months and during that time I learned that she had leukemia and she had few months to live. We talked on a phone, cried together and she told me she wanted to do the things she always wanted to do, travel to other countries. She went to USA, UK, Brazil, sent me letters and postcards. One day she was dead, just like that. We had one common internet friend who told me the news and later I saw her face to face and she gave some stuff so I could remember her.

Later Google came out with image search, where you can search images and see if that picture is on internet. I think like a year had passed at this point. I tried it, and voila, her pictures came out with some hits. She was a fake? I immediately asked her friend, what is this. She came clean that yes, she was fake and no, she didn't die. She said "I don't want to become between this, so she can tell the truth, if she wants to". Never got the truth, never heard from her again, she never explained anything.

I just want to know, why.

- JohnnyJayce

Just Want To Plan

When am I going to die? I have stage 4 breast cancer. I've seen and heard prognoses from two years to ten years to it can actually go away.

Obviously, I'd like it to go away, but if I only have two (or five, or ten) years left, I need to know that. That will determine how I spend my time and money.

If I refuse to entertain death as a possibility and live like I'll have the chance to become elderly, I may not do all the travel I want because "I can do it later" or "I'm paying off this new car that I need."

If I assume that I'll be dead in three years, I could be caught with my pants down in 2024, having spent all my money on my bucket list and being unable to buy a car. (Mine is a 2002, 232k+ miles)

I assume I'll know more as my death gets closer, but I'd like at least a year or so of being mentally with it before I die so I can wrap up all my loose ends.

- insertcaffeine

A Detailed Catalog

I wish archeological sites hadn't been looted for centuries before the scientific method was developed. The amount of historical knowledge that has been lost to human ignorance and greed is tragic.

I also wish some angelic being would descend from the heavens and gift us a fully detailed catalog of all the creatures that have walked the Earth. I'd spend the rest of my life poring over the information on animals that evolved, thrived, and went extinct millions of years ago.

- Gadsens_Ghost

Brother Allen

What happened to Brother Allen.

20 years ago, there was a man in my church who went to Texas for work and was found bound and gagged and dead in his room. He was an FAA investigator, there was no sign of a break in at the hotel, and reportedly guests heard nothing. I was friendly with two of his daughters (we were Mormons, he had like 7 kids) and both he and his wife had served in youth leadership and education positions together. I keep thinking at some point I'll watch an episode of Forensic Files and find out the truth...

- AngryDratini

Hoping For Nightmares

Who killed my brother (happened in the 90s). My parents refuse to tell me or my siblings anything besides a few details. Pretty much, all I know is that the driver of the vehicle was a friend of his who had too much to drink.

I don't know what I would do with the knowledge if I had it.

Maybe visit him in jail if he is still there. I'm told I look eerily like my brother. So I'd go in for a visit using my brother's old clothes. Say nothing, then after a few seconds, get up and leave. Hopefully give him nightmares for the next decade, make sure he never forgets what he did.

- -PM_me_your_recipes-

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

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Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?