Calm down. Chill out. Relax. Take a deep breath. We're gonna get through this.
Except sometimes, we wont, because the other party is really taking this thing that you don't think is that deep seriously. Aren't you tired of it?
u/allboutryan asked Reddit:
What do people take way to seriously?
Here were some of those answers.
Vicarious Living
GiphyYouth sports. I went and saw a co-workers kid play hockey. He's 9. Adults were screaming, a fight broke out between parents, swearing at the refs, the whole 9 yards. My co-worker didn't participate, but wasn't fazed. I asked him what the deal was and he just said "this is the norm".
Sorry Susan, little Johnny isn't going to be the next Patrick Kane. He very well could be eventually, but it's not like the draft is next week.
More Parent Problems
Honestly children's safety. Helicopter parents who don't let their kids go outside with friends or freak out at every scrape or bruise are not helping their kids. Now that doesn't mean you should neglect children, just don't suffocate them. I've seen small children with machetes and they were well behaved, probably because of trust and social expectations.
Preach
GiphyCan't speak for everyone, but I can tell you I took my fears way too seriously in high school. Can't ask her out, she might say no. Can't make that joke, they might think I'm awkward. Can't go to that party, wear that shirt, can't can't can't.
I was so afraid of failing I guaranteed that I would fail. I never risked anything, never reached for anything. And when I finally realized what I'd done, I just made the same painful, awkward mistakes I'd feared later in life, in college, in young adulthood.
Experience is a long string of failures. Hopefully, you reflect on them and learn from them. Avoiding experience does not avoid failure. It delays it.
The World At Large
The opinions and actions of very, very small groups of people. You always see it reported in the more sensationalist media outlets: 'People outraged about...', followed by whatever decision a company has made this week. If you read the article, it's pretty much always a scant handful of people -- two at most -- who have managed to whip up a storm in a teacup, usually about nothing at all. The best advice I every heard when it comes to keeping things like this in perspective is to imagine that the plural noun in phrases like this -- you know, 'Scientists now think that...' or 'People are claiming that...' or 'Mothers all around the country are outraged by...' -- can be replaced by 'Two dudes in Iowa'.
'Two dudes in Iowa now think that global warming might be overblown' is not a news story.
Kidz!
GiphyAs a former Special Educator: teachers, many teachers, take "disrespectful behavior" too seriously.
I dealt with quite a few authoritarian teachers myself when I was young.
- I don't think it's OK for children to be rude or cruel to their teachers or elders. I put "disrespectful behavior" in scare quotes because I was referring to those situations when the child (keep in mind these are children) means no harm and/or is unaware of or can't control his/her behavior.
- I have immense respect for teachers and the profession of teaching. In my 6 years as a Special Education teacher working with students who have autism or emotional disabilities, I met dozens of teachers and almost all of them were wonderful people. Better than me, in fact, because I got emotionally and psychologically exhausted and couldn't hack it anymore.
- The person I described in subsequent posts is a cruel tyrant. She consistently uses fear to keep her students "in line (i.e. silent)". All teachers lose their temper sometimes. That's human.
- I think an adult should not take the things a 5th grader says/does personally. Even if you do have to discipline them, keep some perspective. We all made our share of dumb decisions as kids. That's what kids do.
- Thank you to all the parents of children with disabilities who support the work of special educators and work with them. You are the real MVPs.
If It Works, It Works
GiphyBrands that they use. For example, some car guys are either all BMW or all Benz and act like their car brand is inherently superior to others. Same with snowmobiles, dirt bikes, trucks etc...
All the different varieties lead to innovation and have their own pluses and minuses.
It's TOXIC™
GiphyKnocks to their "masculinity". I know far too many people that are missing out on great movies like Paddington 2 or Spirited Away because they're not traditionally masculine movies. And that's just a tiny little example, some folk get WAY overboard about stuff like that.
A Frisbee By Any Other Name
GiphyFrisbees
I was on travel for work last week and my hotel was across the street from a park with a Frisbee golf course (excuse me, a "disc golf course"). Since I had some free time one afternoon, I bought a six dollar Wham-O Frisbee and went over to enjoy a beautiful sunny day and play a few holes. Multiple, multiple people felt compelled to tell me that my discs were not regulation. Who the f-ck cares? I'm not competing for prize money. My cheap Frisbee wasn't damaging the course. Go away and mind your own damn business!
Calm Thyself
GiphyFirst Person Shooters and Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas. I have a couple friends that are great to hang out with in person but they are so toxic the minute anything goes wrong in a game. Yelling, blaming, rage quitting, bossing others around, etc. Its just a game guys, winning is fun but id rather lose with fun people than win with certain people at this point.
Meta
On reddit? Everything.
Reddit has an obsession with snarky responses and a "Actually..." mentality.
Hell, even if your comment supports their opinion, they'll dig and search for grammar mistakes just for the sake of proving you wrong about something.
Redditor SnooTomatoes1254 wanted hear about the times the brightest of us may have come across as the dimmest, so they asked:
"What's the best example of a smart person being incredibly stupid you've ever experienced?"
Nobody is perfect.
Even with a bunch of brain cells.
Remote
Black Magic School GIF by Little MixGiphy"Our physics professor once had held a remote lecture without turning his Google Meet on. So he just spoke to the computer for 1.5 hours."
PhilosopherActive677
Wash Away
"I used to work at a chemical engineering plant. One day I was in the kitchen washing my glasses with a drop of dish soap and one of the lead engineers said I shouldn’t wash my glasses like that. I asked him why not and he responded that I will wash the prescription off."
Otherwise-Archer
"While he’s dumb, you could wash off any coatings on your glasses, making them more susceptible to glare, fogging, and other bad things."
xpsKING
Class is in Session
"Oh, I almost forgot about this one! When I was in my final year of physics at University, we had a professor who would get very irritated at the pull string for the projection screen, as it would dangle down in front of the whiteboard."
"Every morning, he would spend a good couple minutes attempting to throw the weight on the end over the light fixture above the whiteboard, taking anywhere from 5 to 30 tries each time. All the students would give tips and encouragement, and this became a kind of inside joke for the class of how long it would take every morning."
"Months go by, and one day near the end of the quarter, we end up with a substitute. The sub goes to the board and, without hesitation, grabs the string and hooks it over a thumbtack stuck in the cork at the top of the whiteboard."
"The entire class literally gasped in unison! The sub whirled around, asking what happened, and the whole class just starts laughing. Eventually, someone explained what happened, and we all had a good laugh that an entire class of physics majors never even thought of that solution, let alone noticed that the tack had always been there for that purpose."
Jackthebodyless
Leading to Tragedy
"My brother-in-law had a Masters degree in Physics and Maths. He was a teacher at a high school. He had a new house built. He thought he would save money by nailing on the drywall (sheetrock, Gib board). He managed to put nails through a hot water pipe and the wiring."
"By the time he'd paid a plumber and electrician to fix up the mess it cost a lot more."
CyanHakeChill
Forward
Cant Speak Nathan Fillion GIFGiphy"University physics professor at a Hyundai dealership arguing with a tech telling him about the noise in his car. The professor was freaking out saying he couldn't even understand what the tech was trying to say, because the tech said 'centrifugal force,' instead of 'Centripetal force.'"
"The conversation could not move forward. It was weird."
Bamcanadaktown
Hyundais came be dangerous. Now we know why.
I need a Check-Up
john stamos sexy smile GIF by ScreamQueensGiphy"My doctor. During the period of my life in which I was dating my ex gf my doctor would INSIST every time I saw him that I needed to be on birth control because it was responsible to be preventing pregnancy. No matter how many times I told him that I was in a monogamous relationship with a woman he would still keep asking. I guess it it just didn’t compute."
_shes_a_jar
In the Rain
"My sister has been driving her bf's truck for a year. We get in the truck to go somewhere, she says wait, I need to go in the house to get a paper towel to dry off the windshield. I say, why don't you use the wipers? She says, I don't know how. I ask, what do you do when it rains? Answer: I stay home."
KnittingGoonda
Stripped and Unplugged
"I worked IT at a university. We got a call saying a printer would not turn on. The particular person who called was a very steriotypical, 'I have a doctorate I know all the things,' kind of person. Anyway, I get to the classroom and they show me the printer proclaiming they checked everything including the power strip, unplugged it, plugged it back in and all that. They were very irate and rude the whole time I was there."
"While I was looking it over they were getting more upset because they had already checked the power cables and they were fine. Without saying anything I unplugged the power strip from itself, plugged it into the wall then turned on the printer and just walked out."
thedubstepper9000
Conclusions
"My father in law is very intelligent. He taught himself how to solve a rubics cube without looking anything up and is generally a genius in math, logic, puzzles what have you. He believes dinosaurs couldn't be real because they would be too big for their skeletons to uphold their weight. He has lots of other really stupid ideas because he is so intelligent he thinks he can just reason himself into correct conclusions without doing research or adhering to the scientific process."
BakedBeanW*ore
Grass Issues
jeremy davies lawnmower GIFGiphy"Well, my cousin who has two freaking masters degrees in finance and economics, put his hand in still spinning lawnmower to help it blow out rest of grass faster. He lost a finger."
"I asked why he didn’t wait till it stopped completely."
"He said it was just in a hurry."
toywars
I've never trusted a lawnmower.
And now, neither should you.
Redditor Haunting-Golf9761 was hoping everyone would be willing to share some intimate life secrets, by asking:
"Gay people of Reddit, what was the moment it clicked 'Yeah I’m gay?'"
I knew after an intimate evening with a woman.
It all just... made sense.
HER
starbucks pretty girl GIFGiphy"Looked at a girl and thought 'If I was a guy, I'd date her,' and realized I didn't need to be a guy to date her. I was not brave enough to speak to that girl though."
PeachLeech
THE GRIP
"2018 summer olympics. Realized I had been watching men's water polo, alone, for eight hours."
FallenFae
"I don't know why but this made me laugh. I’d watch men’s Polo, Diving, and Swimming and get amped. But like, I’d also be drooling over abs and butts."
shark_food31
"Lmfao this absolutely tracks. I'm bi AF and was OBSESSED with couples skating because everybody was so God da**ed beautiful and the chemistry was off the chain 🤣. The Olympics had a chokehold GRIP on me as a teen."
Lucky_Ranger
I Get It Now
"I'm bi, but I realized I wasn't straight while watching the Lizzie McGuire Movie when I was like 8-9. I was in the backseat on a long car ride watching on my portable DVD player. There's a scene near the end where Lizzie is on stage singing and the camera shot is behind her. I remember pausing the movie and staring at her butt for a good while wondering why it made me feel a certain way. A few years later I found my uncle's playboy magazines and it suddenly all made sense."
lovexnxpeacexox
Happy Star Trek GIFGiphy"An episode of Star Trek the Next Generation where they showed Riker’s hairy chest. I learned not only that I was gay, but a lot about my specific type of gay."
Santos_L_Halper_II
Gays in space. We're everywhere.
Oh My
"I'm not gay but Bi with a heavy female lean. I always thought some guys were cute, heard of Grindr went on and hooked up with one I thought was cute."
Milestailsprowe
Thanks, He-Man...
"When I was really really young I used to have erotic dreams with guys (thanks, He-Man), but didn't think much about it. That's when the internal conflicts started."
"I knew I needed to be married to a woman and have family just like every man in my family did. I feared being singled out, because I lived in a retrograde place where honor killings were common. There were no homosexual s in my family, why me? By the age of 15, I had abandoned the idea of marrying a woman and keeping homosexual affairs as some people do and decided to be upfront with me parents."
"I told them I was gay, and they seemed to take somewhat well. Deep down, they did not."
"It took years for them to truly accept me, but I can say that I have a good life. Not the one that was envisioned for me all those years ago."
Hideyohubby
The Literature
"I was 8 when my brother (6 years older) was recording the last Nirvana concert and I said David Grohl was cute. I didn't really know what it meant to be attracted to someone, but I was drawn to him and the words just came out. My brother said 'That means you're GAY!!!!' which I didn't understand what gay was yet but his tone made me respond 'Nuh uh!!!'"
"Turns out he was right. When I was 13ish I found my brother's porn magazines and found myself uninterested in the ones that were just women. That's probably when it fully dawned on me. Still kept it to myself until I was in college and out of my small rural hometown."
Mathandyr
Back in the Day
"Looking back, I definitely had feelings for women just as much as I did men. I just either didn't realize or was in denial about it. I was 20 when a girl crush really hit me hard and I started to realize it but was still confused for some time. Finally around age 24 I came out to my brother as bi, and much to my relief he did as well!"
Ohhhhhhthehumanity
Breathless
Kate Winslet Yes GIF by EmmysGiphy"My senior year of high school, Titanic was re-released in 3D for the 100 year anniversary of the disaster. Being my favorite movie of all time, my dad took me to see it at the closest IMAX theater."
"I caught myself trying to control my breathing during the nude drawing scene so that my dad didn’t catch on to the fact that I was super into seeing Kate Winslet’s breasts in towering 3D."
wildflowerhonies
Who doesn't love Titanic.
We thank these brave souls for sharing their stories.
Do you have something similar to share? Let us know in the comments below.
