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Fed Up People With Food Allergies Reveal How People Snuck Food Into Their Meals to 'Test' Their Allergies

Fed Up People With Food Allergies Reveal How People Snuck Food Into Their Meals to 'Test' Their Allergies

Fed Up People With Food Allergies Reveal How People Snuck Food Into Their Meals to 'Test' Their Allergies

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If someone says they have a food allergy, just believe them. Don't test them. Don't try and prove you're smarter than their food allergy. You're not. As proven by when tcp-45 asked Reddit:

People with food allergy or intolerance, have you ever been 'tricked' by a friend or family member to see if you were lying about your condition? What happened?

Here are those infuriating stories.

Almond Lies

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My brother is allergic to tree nuts. My aunt thought he was lying because he'd eat things with peanuts in it.

Several times she brought foods with nuts in them to Christmas get togethers. Never bothered my brother much he just didn't eat them. This pissed her off, so once she make this big plate of chocolate chip cookies. My brother eats about 6 of them. About 20 minutes later he's hacking and coughing. Epipen benedryl and a trip to the hospital later my aunt finally tells us that she used almond flour because she knew he was making it up.

Cedar Closing!

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My "best friend" at the time didn't believe anyone could be allergic to cedar. It makes my eyes itch and burn then swell shut. She thought I was probably just being dramatic because I didn't like the smell or something. I was spending the night at her place and she brought me some blankets... as soon as I wrapped up in them I realized something was wrong, they reeked of cedar. Her mother kept them in a cedar chest and she thought it would be no big deal. She quickly changed her tune and then apologized profusely once my eyes started to swell shut and I had to call my folks to come take me to the ER in the middle of the damn night.

Disguised By Malice

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My mother in law, and not a food.

Fabuloso cleaner is the only thing IN MY LIFE i have been allergic to. My husband's b-tch mother finds out. I'm very pregnant and she brings me a TON of my husband's baby blankets, books, etc. All very well kept.

All cleaned in Fabuloso. Now, the issue is it's not cartoon-level insta-hives. It takes a while. Enough time that i have possibly eaten or touched my face.

To this day she isn't allowed to bring items into my house.

Lady Tremaine

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My mom didn't believe my little brother when he told her that he's developed an allergy to bell peppers. That night, she made salad and diced green bell peppers into the salad so that he couldn't see the tiny green cubes. Within minutes, his throat swelled and he developed hives all over his face and neck. My mom told him to stop being dramatic as he was coughing and gasping for air. I grabbed my epipen from my bag and injected him as he began to faint while my mom screamed at us for being ungrateful brats who refuse to appreciate the food she cooked for us. We are both no contact now.

Suffer The Consequences

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I'm lactose intolerant and my girlfriend's mum just assumed I'm a fussy eater (which I'm not - at all)

So she made a delicious leek and potato soup, with fresh cream.

I had 2 bowls it was so nice, 20 minutes later I'm bloated as hell. 20 minutes later I'm farting like a trooper.

She kept asking me to leave the living room, I politely refused.

She hasn't done it since.

Attempted Murder

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I have a couple of different major allergies. Two of them are...odd. As a result most people think I'm just pulling their leg. I have an allergy to Cocoa (aka chocolate) and the tobacco plant.

My mom's side of the family was brutal people. They fed me chocolate laced breakfast foods and candies without my knowledge, but since I was so small when they discovered by allergy...I hadn't had enough chocolate to know what it tasted like besides pain. I just knew my mouth would tingle, my throat would feel tight, and that I would throw up not soon afterwards.

My mom figured out these 'throwing up fits' would happen ONLY around her family, she asked them to stop.

...they didn't.

So one day my Aunt gives me a full-sized hunk of pure dark chocolate. I go into a full reaction and I still remember her freaking out when I dropped/started changing colors and calling an ambulance. No I don't remember the ride and apparently my oxygen went down so much by the time the ambulance got there that any longer and I would have suffocated. I was stomach pumped and traced and left in ICU for a couple of days because my lungs couldn't handle it and breathing was a nightmare.

Just Believe Your Friends

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Cilantro. I guess my reaction would classify as an intolerance and not an allergy (i.e. no anaphylactic reaction) however a friend thought I was lying and put some in a salsa she made to see if "I could tell". Oh, I could tell alright I could tell as soon as my stomach started to swell and I started to feel very nauseous. Showed her by throwing up all over her bathroom. Sucker.

How Now? No Cow?

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My parents, to an extent.

When I was a small child, I stopped breathing when my parents moved me from breast milk to baby milk (cow milk). I stopped breathing, and was rushed to the hospital. The doctors told my parents that I was 'likely' lactose intolerance, and to just be careful to dairy.

My parents continued to feed my dairy.

When I was around 18 I was eating so much dairy daily. I was also constantly on the toilet, and constantly vomitting. I didn't see the link.

Went to the doctors. They did some simple tests.

I now avoid dairy, and I am perfectly healthy. My parents still think I exaggerate.

Whoops!

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Not exactly tricked, but... I had a coworker with a severe dairy allergy (had to carry an epipen and everything). She was leaving the company, so on her last day I brought in a huge batch of vegan brownies. Typically when I make that recipe I use soy milk, but I had another coworker (B) who had a soy allergy, so I used almond milk instead. Coworker B took one of the brownies after confirming with me they were totally soy free, but came back about ten minutes later, asking if I was sure there was no soy in the brownies. She was clearly having a reaction, so I panicked and started listing off all the ingredients I used in the recipe. When I mentioned the almond milk she said, "Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm allergic to almonds, too." She ended up going home for the rest of the day, and I am still baffled that someone with allergies that severe wouldn't verify the food she was eating was free of all her allergens.

Rightful Punishment

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My own Father. I'm allergic to mushrooms, he didn't think that was possible.

One weekend day when I was 14 it was my turn to cook dinner. I made bolognese sauce and left it to simmer on the hob while I went out to play with the dogs. Whilst I was out he secretly cooked a few mushrooms, liquidised them, mixed them into the sauce, then hid all the evidence. You couldn't see them, smell them, or taste them. I ate the dinner, and when two hours later my guts began to protest I was so confused, I made the sauce myself! There was nothing bad in it! Everyone else is fine! It wasn't until the next morning (after everyone had to listen to me emptying my entire digestive system all damn night) that he finally admitted what he had done. It felt good listening to my mum shouting at him for hours, and she made him scrub the entire bathroom with a toothbrush once I was finally out of there.

Mexican Come-Up

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I'm allergic to avocado. A lot of people think I'm lying because I don't like it. Guacamole is delicious, but unfortunately makes me violently ill. My sister in law thought I would "change my mind" if I had avocado in the right context. She gave me a burrito with guac which I stupidly ate by the campfire so the green avocado color looked like queso. I vomited. A lot. For a long time.

"Vanilla"

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I'm allergic to coconut. None of my friends believed me and thought I was just bullshitting them and that I just didn't like coconuts. They bought a chocolate cake and a "vanilla" cake for my friends birthday. We all got to chowing down and when I bit into the "vanilla cake" I immediately recognized it as having coconut. I spit out what I hadn't swallowed but it was too late. Throat started closing, mouth started burning and tingling and my saliva became extremely thick and stringy. My friends reactions were just "Oh. I guess you're not lying". I flipped them off then slowly sipped water for 2 hours while I waited for my face to stop itching.

At Least He Wasn't Tricked

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My wife, who is an otherwise supportive and wonderful partner, refused to believe I have an allergy to pistachios. She said it's because I am too nonchalant about diving into a bowl of nuts then later asking if there are pistachios but at this point I kinda just know from glance if there are.

Anyhow, we were at a nice place for lunch with her family and ordered a meat and cheese board. I didn't even consider that a pate would have pistachios until my second bite and I saw them. My wife, slightly "justified", said "see, you aren't allergic!"

Thirty minutes later I was in the emergency center, my entire body broken out and trouble breathing and swallowing and she was crying. I was trying to calm her down while attempting to swallow and not die, feeling if I did pass I didn't want her thinking it was her fault. One giant shot in my buttcheek and a very calming nurse helped out.

She later got mad that I didn't carry an EpiPen with me but, she forgets, I am a dummy when it comes to that stuff.

Skin Contact

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I have a strange allergy that most people don't believe. I'm allergic to mint/menthol. Anything that is supposed to give you that nice "cooling" sensation just feels like burning fire and makes me swell and itch (no anaphylaxis, but just really uncomfortable). Its in toothpaste, facewashes, deodorant, candy, hair products.

I had a friend, and as young teens do, she decided to wash my hair and give me a sleepover "spa day" sort of thing. We washed each others hair in the kitchen sink, cucumbers on the eyes, candles going. She has heard me many times say I was allergic, so I decided to trust her. But, without telling me, She decides to use her mom's fancy peppermint shampoo thinking it wouldn't be bad.

Suddenly, relaxing spa day turned into a Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial. Next thing I know I'm writhing around trying not to tear my scalp off while I'm screaming at her "what did you do?! What's in this?!"

She kept telling me that is was good stuff and her mom uses it all the time! Moms never had a problem.

The remainder of spa day was spent with my head running under cold water until the benadryl kicked in. I also get adverse reactions to benadryl so instead of sleepy I get HYPED. The rest of that sleepover was me sitting like a 16 year old on cocaine trying to watch a movie by pacing back and forth behind the couch patting my thighs to the beat of everything that was happening in the movie.

Not a fun sleepover

Take Us Seriously

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I know it's popular to hate "gluten free" people right now, but I legitimately cant consume gluten because I have celiac disease. There's definitely a threshold for my allergy but I'm not totally sure where the line is. I'm usually fine eating, for example, fries from the same fryer as onion rings, but if I eat an actual piece of bread I'll get headaches, stomach aches, and probably throw it up.

Anyways, the summer after high school my friend got me a job at this Mexican restaurant she worked at. Everything came in bagged/frozen except the green chili which we made in house. Every time I start at a new restaurant I make it a habit to learn what allergens are in what dishes because I take that shit seriously, and I also want to know what I can eat safely. This restaurant had all ingredients and allergens for everything listed in a binder so I read through it and saw that the chili was actually gluten free.

Every day at work I would get a plate of rolled chicken enchiladas on corn tortillas smothered in green chili, but after a few days I started feeling sick. It started with headaches, then stomach cramps so bad I had trouble focusing at work. I messed up orders, had to constantly take breaks, and generally was miserable. In the middle of the night or in the mornings I would wake up throwing up, but this being the restaurant industry no one would let me call in sick. Eventually I threw up in the bathroom while at work and they sent me home. I was out for two days, but I couldn't figure out what had made me sick because I'm careful about my groceries and everything I had eaten at the restaurant was supposed to be gluten free.

When I got back I was talking to my friend (who by the way had not checked up on me at all) about how confused I was with the whole thing and she starts f-cking laughing. Turns out she didn't believe I had a real allergy and thought it would be funny to prove I was faking it, so she got the cooks to add flour to the chili. Obviously I was f-cking pissed, she had essentially poisoned me and who knows how many other people by adding the flour. What is wrong with people?

They Can Also Develop

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With me I didn't develop any allergies until I hit 21. I can remember grabbing a bag of peanut m&ms and within a min I knew something was wrong. I had never had a reaction so it was really scary and unexpected. I was tested and did in fact develop peanut allergy on top of a few others. My family and bf didn't understand that it is possible to develop allergies later and life. So they would push peanuts on me as if I was lying. I loved peanuts wtf would I lie. Just a few months ago am idiot coworker made brownies. Said no peanuts. Yup there were peanuts. It's scary and people shouldn't take it lightly

Believe. Us.

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I have some pretty wacky allergies when it comes to mold and fungus, so I can't eat mushrooms. Because of this I'd never been exposed to green bean casserole, which uses cream of mushroom. My roommate asked me one day if I liked mushrooms, to which I replied I was allergic. She asked me if I was just saying that because I didn't like mushrooms, and I told her I wasn't. People with food allergies get that question a lot, so I didn't think anything of it.

This b-tch proceeds to serve me green bean casserole, and long story short I wind up in the ER with my entire body feeling like it's being bitten by bloodthirsty mosquitoes. Needless to say, I moved out, and didn't pay her a dime for rent or utilities. I told her she was lucky I didn't sue her or call the police. Looking back, what she did was tantamount to attempted murder.

Exotic Doesn't Mean Unallergic

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I am allergic to a couple of exotic fruits from my home country and to some cleaning products. There is a housemaid who has worked for many years for my family and I adore her she's pretty much like family now buuuut she never believed that I was allergic to these things.

She thought it was just me being complicated, so more than once she didn't bother to tell me the juice she made had the fruits I was allergic to. Luckily my allergy to those fruits it's rather mild and aside from a red face and a burning sensation on my face nothing happened but still.

What annoyed me the most is that more than once my mom gave her the money to buy specific products that we knew wouldn't give me allergies and she refused to buy them claiming that other products were cheaper and that she was just helping us to save money. At this point she was just being a stubborn! My allergy to cleaning products is heavier than the one to the fruits. I normally sneeze and cough a lot, get red, feel a burning sensation, get itchy and my eyes get extremely blurry but she still thought I was playing. Eventually my mom had to tell her off and she started buying what we told her to buy.

It's Not A Joke

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I'm celiac, so I can't digest gluten. This causes hives, eczema, vomiting, bloating, acne, alternate sh-tting my brains out and painful constipation, and being in a mental fog for up to several weeks after exposure, because basically my small intestine is eating itself and all of my antibodies are attacking everything. Because it's currently trendy to eat a gluten-free diet but the majority of those people don't have a gluten allergy or intolerance, a lot of people don't take it seriously. People think they're doing a favor by lying to me about whether something has gluten in it or not, or saying "just a bite won't hurt!" but it really f-cking will. I can't even count the number of times people have glutened me because they think I'm on a trend diet. It's not a f-cking joke.

Raise Hell

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I'm allergic to limes. Other citrus doesn't bother me- just limes. I'm a bartender and so things suck sometimes but I'm usually okay. My allergy developed after I had started bartending. At first it was just a mild skin allergy but I could still drink it. Then it started getting worse. I'm at a point now where even a small sip of a drink with lime will set off a reaction in my throat. It burns- very badly. And the hives. My god, the hives.

I usually have to remind friends and family when they're trying to make me drinks because it's not a common allergy and I'm almost always okay.

I can't have my favorite drinks anymore when I go out because most places don't have the ability to make me a margarita with lemon instead of lime. (Most pre mix their juices or whatever, maybe they're lazy and just don't want to do it) Fine, it's not a big deal, but I always ask anyways on the off chance that they can.

It's not really just that though- I can't trust people at other restaurants and bars anymore. This one told me she could make a margarita with only lemon- I super stressed I can't have sour mix or anything- it MUST only be lemon. She said it was no problem because they had fresh squeezed juices and it was easy to accommodate me. She f-cking used sweet and sour mix and when I started drinking it, I took a big sip and could tell immediately when it hit my tongue. She had a smug look on her face until I started reacting right there. My boyfriend raised f-cking hell while I was trying to get the reaction to stop.

I should have pressed charges but didn't because I was younger then and felt like her being fired was enough. I still wonder every so often whether or not she learned her f-cking lesson.

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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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?