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Calm People Reveal The One Time They Absolutely Lost Their Mind And Popped Off

Calm People Reveal The One Time They Absolutely Lost Their Mind And Popped Off
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Sometimes one can only take so much.

We're all merely wandering around as ticking time bombs. We hold in our emotions and revel in repression. We are powder kegs in a flesh bag.

It's only a matter of time before we reach that moment when we can no longer take it and we have to explode.

And baby... y'all better run and hide when you see those signs!


Redditor a-light-at-the-end wondered what were people's last straws by asking:

"Generally calm people of Reddit, what made you lose your absolute sh*t that time?"

Cut out the toxic people...

It's always felt like my parents never wanted me. I was a surprise Honeymoon baby born 9 months and a day after their wedding, I was regularly screamed at for anything I did until I just started hiding, I was called "the practice child" my whole life, my younger siblings got way more love and attention, etc. In my teens they started taking in "strays." If any neighborhood kids didn't want to go home, they could just be at our house all the time. Effectively, my mother would take my friends away from me to be HER friends instead. One of which was a kid who picked on me constantly from the time I was 11. I guess they had that in common.

That guy was kicked out of his Dad's house AND his mom's house when he was 20, so my parents took him in permanently. That killed me. But I always wanted their approval, so I was always calm and agreeable, always desperately trying to figure out how to get them to love me, so I went along with it. Years later, I'm married and have a son. This guy still lives with my parents. They continue to coddle and make excuses for him while criticizing me for whatever they feel like. One day, we're all at my parents house and my son is being a goofy 2-year-old, which annoys the man-child living there. So he gets furious, picks my son up by his ankle and spanks him.


My parents claimed not to have seen it. We went home.

I couldn't sleep that night because I was so upset. The next morning, I made sure the guy and my mom would be at home (and why wouldn't he be there) and I went to confront them with my wife. I dumped everything I had been putting up with on them for about an hour, including asking how my mom could allow this jerk to hit my son. She maintained that it didn't happen, so I went through the roof. I ended up crying because of all the pent-up emotion, so my fantastic wife took over. She said we wouldn't be coming back if the guy still lived there, so he yelled that he would move out and he stormed off after saying he didn't have to listen to this. My parents convinced him not to move out shortly after we left. My mother expressed how disappointed she was that I didn't come "to have a conversation," and only came to "dump" on them. THAT was her big takeaway from everything I said. That I wasn't being "fair" to them.

We went to counseling with them later. For months. It validated everything I had felt, but they never stopped lying and being defensive. One counselor said we should be on Dr. Phil. The other counselor said my mom is "incapable of empathy." Both counselors called my parents delusional. But of course my parents didn't take any of that seriously. At one point my dad asked me "Who does he think he is to judge us like that?" As if he forgot that THAT'S THEIR JOB.

Haven't spoken with them in almost a year, and life is so much better. appleappleappleman

Nobody likes you bro.

My brother and I played travel sports for a few seasons as kids. One trip, I was at the pool with some of his teammates messing around in the water and the coach's kid was being a butt as usual. My brother was one of the smaller kids on his team so the coach's son would mess with him a lot. Most of the kids on my brother's team disliked him but didn't speak up so they wouldn't be next. He thought it would be funny to pick up my brothers drink right in front of him and spit into it.

My dad taught me from a young age not to let anyone mess with my brother or sister, so I got seriously pissed. I took a good running start and shoulder checked him into the pool. Since he had just gotten there, he hadn't taken his clothes off yet and cried because his phone and iPod got ruined. He literally ran out yelling, "I'm telling my dad!"

Well that backfired, because everyone stuck up for my brother and the coach was not happy to find out what a s***bird his son was being so he was the only one to get in any trouble. MikeOxbigg

I'll head to unemployment! 

My grandfather passed away so I told my boss that I had to take a couple of days off to be with my family. He had the nerve to tell me work was more important than family and threatened to fire me. I went off on him in the middle of the office for a solid 5 minutes before quitting and rushing home. UnPhayzable

Poor kitty...

This lady came to the shelter to see the cats. She ask if she could give them treats and I said yes. It's a shelter were most of the cats are free. So gets the bag out, the cats are getting wild with anticipation and she just stood there laughing and tempting them without giving them anything. She looked like she enjoyed their anxiety and her laugh sounded like a crazy person.

I lost it, grabbed the bag out of her hands, gave treats to the cats and ask her to leave. Those cats are already stressed out, don't give them more anxiety. sonia72quebec

I'm the Doctor! 

I lost my mind when my patient got her pre-authorization for surgery for a large grapefruit sized pelvic mass denied by BCBS and when I did a peer-to-peer, the doctor working for the insurance company said I needed to have a psychiatrist rule out mental causes of her pain first. I had to walk away for 30 minutes before seeing another patient because had anyone given me any more lip I might have gotten violent. wastedkarma

This is a set-up! 

I lost my mind when I was late for work because my colleague asked me to cover their shift and gave me the wrong time and it was my fault from the company's perspective. amiathrowawayornot

We got you Jules! 

Story about my neighbor (calm to the point where he didn't even flinch when some idiot pulled a knife on him), he was a senpai (assistant sensei/teacher) at a dojang and was in charge of teaching kids aged 8-16. He absolutely loved his role as a big brother to all these kids and taught them about discipline, restraint and how to think before you act. He basically taught the kids how to think and consider before even contemplating action whilst also teaching them how to break someone in half with a kick (the contradiction always made me laugh).

Anyways, one of his talented students was a little 11 year old sweetheart called Jules. He was fantastic and determined, also a bit shy so my neighbor loved bonding with him and getting him to open up. Unfortunately for Jules however, his parents were bullies and bad people who beat him. This wasn't discovered until Jules came into a session with a significant limp, obviously neighbor isn't happy so he confronts the parents at the end of the session.

The parents responded by saying "We're paying all this money so he can fight, so we thought he would test it." (mind you most of these sessions were entirely free and any fees went towards maintenance and provision of equipment/gear for the kids). Neighbor asks the father if he regularly beats his children and if he himself is a good fighter, the father responds with yes whilst the mother is laughing her butt off in the back.

Neighbor then proceeds to shove the father onto his own car bonnet and starts to rain down axe kicks, now the father has the choice of blocking the kicks and probably shattering his arms or let his bonnet get absolutely caved in. After about 8 or 9 of these neighbor says "You said you can fight, so I thought I would test you." Anyways, the idiots end up calling the police who care way more about Jules being abused than the car, parents eventually lost their kids and Jules lives with his uncle/aunt (they're absolute sweethearts).

7 years on, Jules just got his A-Level results and got into his dream university and my neighbor is going to help him move into accommodation, they're honestly like brothers it's so beautiful.

Thanks for reading, let me know if there are questions. Vinaris

Best Excuses For Late Assignments That Were Actually True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Teachers have heard every excuse in the book from students who were trying to pull a fast one. We all know the classics: 'dog ate my homework,' 'my car burst...

Never Forget!

I can remember that day like it was yesterday...

I was home packing my stuff to get ready for when my husband was out of basic training. I NEVER yell or even raise my voice to hardly anyone ever. My dad has always had a wicked temper, and my sister also had a knack for starting yelling matches with him.

One night, she forgot to do something she was supposed to, and the yelling started again. I ignored it up until he called her stupid. It got under my skin so I spoke up a little saying that he shouldn't call her that. He hollered back, "You are MY daughters, I can talk to you however I want!" That's when I snapped.


I saw red for the first time in my life, and I completely lost it. I screamed back at him at how I was tired of him treating us like garbage when he lost his temper, at how we hid in the back room with my mom until he cooled off, and how all I wanted was to visit my family before I had to move over 12 hours away from them. I also threatened that if he EVER wanted to see me again, then he needed to shut up and sit in the corner until he was done throwing a fit.

I yelled at him for the first time in my life for a solid 30 minutes. I didn't stop until everything I had to say built over the years was out, and I saw him go from red-faced angry, to what seemed to be guilt-ridden. When I finally stopped, he was quiet. He didn't say a word and walked away. Shortly after I moved out, he went to a doctor and has been put on some medication to help with his anger issues.

Now he's super friendly, and I haven't heard him throw a tantrum like he used to in over 10 years now. He has never spoken poorly to me or my sister since then either. Srasja

Get out of the club! 

This happened in some club ages ago. I was bouncing around on the dance floor with everybody else and apparently stepped on some dudes foot who had been standing there with his posse of 2 or 3 other guys watching people.

I shrugged and apologized, then turned around to leave. Right then "somebody" smacked me in the back of the head. Not hard, but too hard to ignore. I turned around still calm and said something like "Look, I'm gonna walk this way, you guys stay here and nothing more needs to happen."

Turned around again, got smacked in the head again. I was very much pissed off at that point. It didn't help that they looked at me all innocent. I couldn't even tell which one of them did it. So I just stuck my finger in the face of the dude who's foot I allegedly stepped on and recommended he don't do it again. Turned around once more, waiting to get smacked in the head again.

This time they poured a glass of beer in my back. That's when I completely lost my mind. Threw myself around and went straight at the guy. I was in full rage mode, didn't care what happened next as long as that guy suffered. I could tell by the terrified look on his face he realized he had gone too far. His friends never stepped in to help him. After a while people separated us and that was that.

I have no sympathy at all for people who resort to violence for solving their problems but feel no shame for having snapped in that situation. I think I did everything in my power to avoid what eventually happened. McPansen

LISTEN CLOSER!!! 

My friend is bad with math, i was explaining a thing once, it took 10 minutes, he tells me he doesn't get it, so i sit there and explain this thing more deeply, took 30 minutes, he's like: takes in-ear headphones out of ear (he was covering it with his hand) Oh sorry i wasn't listening to You, found this amazing radio recently.

I lost my damn mind. 22dunix

Bully down! 

This guy broke all of my markers back in middle school, I told the teacher and got him publicly embarrassed, but it wasn't over. I was holding my trumpet and he kept messing with my hair at a concert and just kept touching me. I've always been known as never being angry, but he did it again in a room without the teacher. I grabbed his leg when he kicked me and lifted it up, throwing him down. He never messed with me after that. Poqqers

Oh Hell Na!!!

A guy kicked my dog. I had never hit anyone before that moment. Almost got charged, but I'd do it again. NCFire94

Duck!! 

As a surgeon I try to remain calm and steady about most everything. Even all the staff comments about it about how I'm the most calm surgeon they've ever met.

One time taking out someone's gallbladder, the assistant needs to grab it and hold it up so I can free stuff up. Newer person was helping me and moving a little too fast without seeing where their instrument was going before grabbing the gallbladder. When the camera finds their grasper, they ended up poking a small hole in the liver. I let out an audible sigh and small grumble.

Ended up not bleeding all that much and rest of surgery went fine. One of these days I want to throw instruments like some other people I know just to see how people react. Nysoz

Well it's 5 o'clock somewhere...

I'm a soccer referee, and known for being calm no matter how heated a player/coach/fan gets. About 6 months ago I was officiating a girls U16 game and when a player from team A fouled a player from team B, the B players mom jumped up and said "don't touch my daughter, b***h!"

I threw out the parent and stopped the game for 2 minutes to lecture the entire group of spectators, at one point using the phrase "my job is to babysit your daughters, not some out of shape middle aged mom who's drinking wine out of her coffee cup at 9 in the morning."

Not a peep from the sidelines the rest of the game. hexables

God bless the clarinet...

In 7th grade, I was at an honor band. This guy that was 2 years older kept trying to randomly hug me or pull on my hair or pop my bra strap, so I turned around and smacked him in the face with my clarinet case. hunterkat457

Not MY dog!

Just this week when two pitbulls forced their way under my fence and mauled my dog. I always worried that if stuff went down and I had to act in an emergency I would freeze up. Didn't happen. I called 911 screaming at the dispatcher that they were killing my dog, begging the police to get there. I was pounding on the window screaming at the dogs at the same time. Just pure terror and helplessness. I was sure she was going to die, but instead those dogs are dead and my little pitty is going to recover. After I calmed down, I told one of the officers to apologize to the dispatch lady for me. Spattie

Roses are red...

I had things all set up to play piano with a string quartet for a wedding ceremony in church. The grand piano was up front, near the couple, and the organ in the rear to be used later.

When I entered the church, I found that the florist had placed a large vase of roses on the grand piano, using the sheet music for the string quartet underneath the vase to absorb water.

Rarely do I lose my cool, but I did that time. Members of the string quartet told him in no uncertain terms where he could stick those roses as they tried to salvage their soaked music scores. Back2Bach

Kaboom!

It was halloween and I was sitting out front of my house watching my sister take my niece, who was around 4 trick or treating. The people who lived above us (we lived in a maisonette) decided to shoot a firework at them. This is the only time I've lost my mind. Got them inside the house made sure they were alright, sister had only a few non-serious burns on her arm and managed to shield my niece from the explosion. At that point i was just so angry, went up to their door and starting banging on it demanding they come out. They didn't answer so i starting trying to kick the door in. My mum and brother dragged me away and back inside to calm me down. Half an hour later the police arrived because the neighbors had called them about me. Luckily after we explained what had actually happened i didn't get in any trouble. But neither did they. Sorry for it being poorly written I'm not the the best writer. atomicbadgger

Don't be petty! 

At the time of this incident, I was a generally quiet, respectful 14-year old girl. My mom had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and she was preparing to embark on a very tough 6 months of treatment. My dad came over for some reason (my parents are divorced) and he lost his temper over something (this was not uncommon). He starts standing over my mom and yelling at her while she is crying on the couch. I'd never gotten involved in this stuff before, but I got right in his face and shouted at him to get out. I escorted him to the door, reminded him that my mom is dealing with way bigger crap than whatever petty thing he's angry about, and slammed the door behind him. Hiciao

Whispous for the win! 

In secondary school, a girl sitting next to me kept emptying my pencil case onto the floor and laughing with her friend about it, so I punched her on the top of the head. Sort of like a lever coming down.

She cried and I got detention but that was fine. Looking back, she probably fancied me but you mess with whispous you get the lever-thump.

I'm 30 now but if you empty my pencil case onto the floor I'll still take a detention for a good downward thump.

whispous

REDDIT

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.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
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?