Ah to be young and carefree and not have a worry in the world.
So to be a kid, and have innocence and trust; those are the days.
Remember when our brains allowed us to think so much in life was real?
Or our imaginations saw honest truth in facade?
How dumb were we?
RedditorGeneral_Cow_7119wanted to know what lies we fell for in our youth.
"What did you falsely believe as a kid?"
There is so much to learn as we grow.
Swiss or Cheddar?
"I watched a lot of Wallace and Gromit and actually thought the moon was made out of cheese."
LumSht
"Man, that episode made me cry. I wanted that robot to live his dream of skiing so badly. (Like he does eventually, but when they blast off and leave him I was in tears first time watching)."
GriffinFlash
cheese GIFGiphyThe "Catch"
"I was curious and had inquired about the concept of medicine. Parents rightfully told me that if I took medicine and wasn't sick, it could make me sick. My young brain morphed that into something more literal, I thought you would 'catch' whatever sickness the medicine was made to treat if you took it while healthy."
"Sneak one of mom's high-blood-pressure pills? Bang, you've now got high blood pressure for life. Cold medicine? Yep, now you have a cold."
franktheguy
In Bermuda
"That the Bermuda Triangle was way more deadly than it is. My stepdad was in the Navy and had a cruise that went through it. I was legitimately afraid his ship would be sunk and no trace ever found."
Inner-Nothing7779
"Yep. Turns out it's exactly as deadly as... any other busy seaway. Then any time a flight is delayed or a boat spends a few extra days out on the water."
"They get added to the count of people who 'went missing' in the Bermuda Triangle. Even though they... then show up, not even all that long later. You've basically got one incident of people refusing to believe their equipment and getting lost, and suddenly we think the place can contain anything from aliens to Skeletor."
Victernus
So Many Years to Go
"You die when you turn 100. I was so afraid of attending funerals but took comfort in the fact that my great grandpa wouldn't turn 100 until I was in my 20s, so I could move away and not get back in time for the funeral. Also that since I was born at 10:56 PM that I would be asleep when I died since that was a really late time of day. Then my great grandpa had a heart attack and died when I was 8 and I was really confused."
Racthoh
Watch Out
"That yellow lights turned on when they detected dangerous conditions, like an erratic driver or nearing pedestrians. I thought this because my parents said that the yellow light meant to 'watch out,' without further clarification."
jim45804
light nestor the long eared christmas donkey GIF by Warner ArchiveGiphyYellow mean slow down. Take a breath.
Lies
"Thought my mom makes the best mushroom soup in the world and it's her recipe. Then found out it was just Campbell."
puffpuff_unicorn
Liar Disbelief GIFGiphyLifters
"I used to see those signs around stores that said, 'Shoplifters will be prosecuted.' I didn't know what shoplifting meant. I figured it was like weightlifting with the entire store building as the weight. I pictured big, burly, bald men that liked to go around heaving store buildings overhead, grunting and red-faced."
"I was afraid someone would try do it while we were out shopping. I once pointed out some big muscular guy in a store and whispered to my mother that he must be one of those shoplifters. She shushed me."
LeisurelyLoner
Everything
"I believed we could reincarnate as everything. I do mean everything. For example, I thought people could reincarnate as TVs and wondered if my TV was a person in its previous life and if it could see me watching it. I like to consider I was a pretty smart kid, so no idea why TF I believed that."
Pataconpats
Who Cares...
"I never actually believed in the tooth fairy I literally thought a dentist came into our house at night and did that tooth fairy stuff."
HELLOLOO
"My mother and aunt nearly crap themselves, when aged 6, I asked for them to search for the tooth fairy's address and phone number on google. Luckily the first article that came up, said the tooth fairy was homeless and too broke and I, as a child had too little empathy to care."
RubendeBursa
Homebase
"I thought teachers lived at the school."
UgliestDisability
"Both my parents were teachers so I thought all adults got summertime off forever just like kids. Boy was I disappointed when I found out that wasn't the case."
rudesby
Canadian Comedy GIF by CBCGiphyFlawless logic...
"Shadows had to be made of something right? You could see them, therefore they had to be made of... stuff. Flawless logic. I vaguely remember picking at the edge of one trying to peel it off."
ExxInferis
"Oh!! Did you watch Peter Pan as a kid? They do that. He tries to stick his shadow back to him with soap. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and I used to always try to run away from my shadow so I would have to stick it back on. It never worked, though!!"
electrolytesaregood
Viva Italia...
"3 of my grandparents moved to the US from Italy, and everyone they knew were either Italian immigrants or Italian-Americans raised by immigrants. Growing up around so many older folks speaking with heavy Italian accents and random intermittent Italian words in conversation, I just assumed until the age of 7 that when you got old, you just started sounding Italian after a while, like your baby accent falling out and your adult Italian accent growing in."
GlastonBerry48
Tired of Questions...
"I was three or four years old. I was out with my dad, and we came across a person missing their leg. It was probably an amputee. I asked my dad what happened to their leg. Him probably being tired of all my questions, just said, that it had broken off. A few months later I broke my leg in kindergarten, and freak out at the doctor's office. Because I was convinced it was going to fall off."
Kryds
Monster Breathing
"That there was a horrible monster growling all night outside in the dark beyond my room. It was my dad snoring."
flyinghouses
Drunk Hangover GIF by HollyoaksGiphyWays to Watch
"Radio stations had the bands performing live each time the song was played."
HumbleOwl
"I used to think this for television, that whenever a movie was playing, the actors would come and perform it live. I distinctly remember all week they advertised Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp would be the Saturday night movie and I just thought 'Wow, that's so nice of him to go out of his way to perform for us like this.'"
ThrowRARAw
“get them”
"That the guard in every mall will arrest a loud child."
Complex-Mind-22
"As a former retail employee, I wish parents would stop telling their kids that shop employees or staff will 'get them' if they’re bad. Guess who those kids WON’T seek out if they get lost or separated from their parents?"
MeyhamM2
Swapped
"I thought divorced couples had to swap partners with other divorced couples. To be fair, my only experience with divorce was a friend who’s parents did just that, divorced, swapped partners and then both remarried, leaving the kids in the family as 'double' step siblings and sharing the same 4 parents."
mlepnosknows
Bubbly
"Blowing and popping bubbles was slowly adding clean air to the world. Thought I was saving the world one bubble at a time."
Decent-Paint9822
sesame street bubbles GIFGiphyMaybe he is?
"That Hitler was Russian. I grew up in the 1980s during the Cold War, a time when every single evil movie or TV show character was invariably Russian, so of course my impressionable child mind just assumed that such a despicable human being just had to be Russian."
Ah, to be young and full of hope. And believe anything.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.