We can be so cavalier about so many things. Time to get serious.
Essentials
Kenan Thompson Reaction GIF by NBCGiphy"Sleeping enough and the health of their relationships."
Small-Prune3066
Pay Attention
"Driving."
PupperNoodle
"There are a lot of good answers to this question, but this one sticks out for me. You are in a 4000+ pound rolling chunk of metal, aimed at other 4000+ pound rolling chunks of metal. You should probably take that seriously and stop f**king around with your damn cell phone."
AlpineWhiteF10
What you eat...
"Their nutrition."
alfredocabello
"I get why people don't care because it might take weeks until your body is adjusted to new diet and you don't feel miserable. I know it was really difficult for me at first to not buy like 3 donuts daily like I used to do. But, once you get past that transition it's like a whole new life and you can't go back to excessive sugar."
"You didn't really know how bad you felt until you are started eating healthy. I recently tried regular red bull and it made me feel like I had diabetes- couldn't take more than a few sips before feeling sick. Changing nutrition = give your body time to adjust and being kind, patient with your body."
That_Peach_
In the Mouth
"Dental hygiene. There was a period of 10 years where I didn't see a dentist. Luckily, the damage done to my teeth and gums was an easy fix. Now, I make sure to floss and get my teeth cleaned every 6 months."
227743
"I didn't see a dentist for 2 years due to the pandemic. Had to change dentists too since my old one closed his doors. When I went to the new one, the dentist told me that I had cavities. Plural. I had good dental hygiene for the most part, brushed and flossed at least once a day. Now I go every 6 months like it's religion."
geico_fire
Are we paying attention? I am...
Deep Waters
the beach water GIFGiphy"The Sea."
PM_ME_UR_MBES_DATA
"Here in Australia tourist really take it for granted like not just the wildlife but we have some of the strongest currents in the world STAY BETWEEN THE FLAGS!"
Jack1715
Of the Mind
"Mental health."
DallyDragon
"It's the people who haven't been diagnosed and treated that are most at risk of not being taken seriously. Unfortunately, there is still a stigma attached to having mental health disorders that keeps people ill."
"That, and our health insurance issues. And there simply aren't enough mental health care professionals or facilities to service people who need treatment. Our attitudes about mental health need to change to make it a priority."
KnotKarma
The Fur Babies
"Pet care. Your pet should be thriving, not just surviving."
Future-Pudding
"My dad wanted nothing to do health wise for my dog because he didn't want to spend the money, when I took over taking care of her and was making money I took her to the vet (maybe an excessive amount of times) but she lived to 14 years old."
Not_a_Sammon
I'll be there for you...
"Friendships."
RadiantHC
"Been trying for literally years. I'm plenty friendly, but IMO it's absurdly difficult to coordinate a meetup with more than one other person. And most people I meet aren't interested in (and I'm not comfortable with) meeting up at my place for a movie or something unless I already know them pretty well. I imagine things are easier with the help of drugs like alcohol or weed, but I don't touch either."
WatcherOfStarryAbyss
Take Rest
Angry Office GIF by Juan BillyGiphy"Burnout."
catsandalcohol13
"Yes! We’re treated like we shouldn’t ever have feelings or get sick or have emergencies. We’re not robots."
womanroaring78
Time to get real. Life is too short. Make it healthy.
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I find danger anywhere and everywhere so my list of places is long. Help me lengthen it...
The Streams
do the right thing water GIFGiphy"Fast moving water."
Important_Outcome_67
"Working at a hydropower station and cant believe how ignorant some people are, fishing while standing on rocks right below. If they fall they are 100% gonna be flushed down the stream."
JedXander
Pulled from Death...
"Monastery Beach in Monterey, CA. Going into the water can kill you and the waves have pulled people from the shore to their death."
_zydrate_
"My old roommate wanted to go scuba diving AT NIGHT in Monastery, f**king crazy. I went along just to get out of the house, I’m not even scuba certified. But then he said to me, and I’ll never forget this, he said: 'if I’m not back in an hour, call rescue and keep the car,' Most anxious hour of my life waiting for him to come back safe, he made it though."
pf27_lda
Wildlife
"When the park service tells you not to go somewhere, listen to them, especially regarding hot springs in Yellowstone."
Fantastic_Rock_3836
"Also in regards to wildlife. I saw an article of a person who got gored by a bison recently at a national park because they got too close."
coolishmom
"And don’t bring your dang pets to Yellowstone. Too many dogs jumping in the boiling hot water."
FallPsychological635
Spots
"The blind spots next to and behind big trucks."
HawaiianShirtsOR
"True, i prefer to start my overtake some distance behind the truck so they have a chance to spot me in the mirror. I also avoid to linger next to the truck and generally try to keep my distance. A 50 ton semi will make my little civic very flat if it crashes into me."
Mjarf88
Be professional...
"Kayaking or any water rafting type support with amatuers. Many people die due to carelessness or not knowing safety precautions."
MaximumRabbit5276
Well thankfully I've avoided most of this list most of my life.
No Way Out
season 6 friends GIFGiphy"Sulfur vents. You get nose-blind to the smell almost immediately. If the concentration gets high enough, you will asphyxiate. If you fall in, you may die from the steam burns before you asphyxiate, though. Either way, you ain't coming out."
Sttocs
Below
"Caves. I know spelunking is a "cool hobby" for some people, just like scuba diving and rock climbing. But things can go so wrong so fast when you're in a subterranean cave, and it can be really difficult for anyone to come rescue you."
"You can die by falling, by getting stuck, by a cave-in, by getting lost, by getting caught in a flash flood and drowning... just so many awful ways to die in a cave. (See: John Jones dying in Nutty Putty cave)."
Clara_Coulson
On the Field
"Old battlefields. You should never cross an an old battlefield even if it’s from decades ago, and seems 'safe.' There could be landmines hidden and you could end up with a limb blown off, or dead. It can be very difficult for someone to rescue you because there are landmines and it’s difficult to know where to step, and most battlefields are abandoned or far away from civilization."
"You can die by being exploded of course, wound infection or bleeding out (if limb was blown off), starvation and thirst. Either way, just don’t do it."
NimbleVaseline
They are drowning machines....
"Low head dams on rivers. They are drowning machines. You fall off the dam, or swim too close the the downstream side where the water spills over- there is a circular current. It draws a person into the water fall; waterfall pushes the down to near bottom and shoots you down stream, but not enough to get out of the cycle. If you lived through it and surface, you are pulled back to the waterfall again."
Popcorn53
Velocity Issues
celebrity GIF by Brimstone (The Grindhouse Radio, Hound Comics)Giphy"Please stay away from rails, people always underestimate how fast trains are."
RedandAlive
Has everyone listened? Be smart, not stupid.
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Some people can weigh us down and prevent us from being the best version of ourselves, or others can be so toxic, that it's better to just cut our losses.
It's not always an easy decision to make, but downsizing can be the best-case scenario.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor NecessaryJacket4051 asked:
"People who have cut other people out, what was the final nail in the coffin?"
Friends can gradually grow distant, or be completely annoying.
Too Needy
"A friend I had in high-school and college became incredibly needy. We went to two different universities and lived in two different states and made a deal to call each other every week to catch up. They started to make poor decisions in their post-grad life which became an endless 'am I the a**hole' conversation where I became their confessor and forgiver but was never able to share anything about my own life."
"Things became bad for me, but despite me being there constantly for them, they couldn't return the favor. It came to a point where I got sick, missed one of their phone calls and they started to call me incessantly while I slept. The kind where they call you 20 times in a 5 minute span and leave messages from caring and concern 'hey where are you?' to 'I hate you, you don't care about me!' crap."
"Anywho, I was given the ultimatum of either never speaking to them again or calling them back and begging for forgiveness. Easiest choice I ever made. 8+ year friendship gone in an instant and I never once felt bad or looked back."
– Feralbritches1
The Guilt Trip
"My first year of university I found out my mum had a lesion in the centre of her brain and the amount of fluid and pressure on her skull required immediate treatment. She was in hospital recieving treatment for weeks while I tried to navigate my studies and living away from home for the first time. I was a mess of anxiety and stress for months."
"During this time one of my very close friends continually got angry at me for not giving her enough attention despite never contacting me to check on my mothers situation or how I was coping. But I was expected to check in on her constantly and initiate all contact. I just deleted her number and unfriended her."
– riarum
The Reluctant Chauffeur
"A friend asked me to drive him to a party."
"The party was at least a 4 hour drive (two states away), he couldn't pay for gasoline, and the hosts might give me a place to sleep. I was a college student who could barely afford gas to get to school."
"Everything about this sounded shady and one-sided, especially when he blew-off my questions. We didn't talk after that phone call - and nothing of value was lost."
"This happened in the early 90s, so no modern trip planning was available. No GPS, no Mapquest, and cellphones were expensive to use."
– siege72a
Dealing with inheritance can sure bring out the ugly in people.
Greedy Relatives
"When my relatives on my mom’s side of the family not only took every possession she owned except some of her clothes, but also wanted to take my mom’s social security benefits after she passed away from cancer."
"My youngest sibling was only 12/13 when she passed so those benefits would help my dad raise my sibling. My relatives didn’t think my dad was a good father ever since my mom and dad divorced (mom cheated on my dad)."
"My uncle threatened to come over to our state to kick my husband’s a** and call the cops on me when I managed to get my mom’s SS funds transferred to my dad."
"Edit to add: To this day, I don’t know where my mom is buried as her family took her ashes and didn’t tell either me, my siblings, or my dad the location of her gravesite."
– Soggy_Willingness_65
Annoying Half-Sisters
"After our father died, my two half sisters started harassing my one full sister about the inheritance. She was the one left in charge of it all, but was taking his death the hardest and having trouble getting through the paperwork."
"They were ruthless and made her feel horrible when she was already struggling. At the same time they would turn around and be totally nice to me because I’m the baby of the family and (despite me also being an adult at the time) they didn’t want to 'get me involved.'"
"Once the estate was settled I cut them out of my life completely. I’ll never forgive them for how they treated my other sister, and over money. Our father would be ashamed."
– TonyDanzer
When your spouse isn't appreciated by family, who should you be most loyal to?
These Redditors had to make a decision that was actually very easy.
Toxic Family
"My mother, brother, and sister are all incredibly toxic people, but I never cut them out 'because they're family.' Then the sh*t really hit the fan when I was getting married. At our Jack&Jill party, my mother was taking tons of pictures (as expected), but they were of me and my brother, me and my dad, just me, me my brother and my dad, etc. She didn't want my wife in any of them. I spoke up and said that my future wife should be in these pictures. It's her wedding day too. My wife, who was understandably upset, walked away from the weird photography session."
"My wife and I decide to go to the backyard area and hang out with her cousin and step brother. My cousin and his gf join us. Things get more fun, we're joking around, and having a good time. Then my mom and brother come outside extremely drunk (it was like 3 PM). My mom starts by taking more pictures without the bride in them, so I speak up again. My mom shushes me and slaps the back of my head. My wife then says my mom can enjoy her little family reunion photos and then goes back inside. I follow to make sure she's okay."
"I get in conversation with her, her mom, aunt, and other family members of hers. We calm down and move on. We talk about getting ice cream at a place down the street. I go back outside to ask people if they want to get ice cream (as most weren't causing issues, just my mom and brother). Before I say anything, my very drunk brother starts shouting 'f*** your wife, f*** her family, and began charging at me, but was caught by my dad and cousin who held him back. He was of course kicked out. My mom left with him in tears. My dad (my parents are divorced and don't associate with each other at all) apologized to everyone and left out of embarrassment."
"Wedding day comes. My brother is no longer my best man and is not invited. My sister is here from the other side of the country. The ceremony goes perfectly. My sister refuses to attend the pictures being taken of family and wedding party outside. During the reception, my wife, friends, some of my wife's family, and I are busy dancing on the dance floor. We notice my sister crying and walking around from table to table. We ignore it; as we expected her to try something dumb at our wedding. We find out from someone that my sister was trash talking my wife in the bathroom. We don't want to deal with drama on our big day, so we have the person in charge of the wedding hall/supervising the reception staff talk to her about her behavior (she told us we could during the wedding planning process). My sister freaks out and acts all offended. She and my mom then stage a walk out protest of our wedding, taking a large majority of my aunts, uncles, and cousins with them (not all thankfully)."
"To this day (it's been 4 years), I haven't spoken to anyone who walked out."
– Davidt93
Ruined Wedding
"I got married like 2 Weeks ago and had something similar happens except I was in the position of you're wife. I had never expected to have to hide in a room and cry on my wedding day. Truly some horrible people."
– jellybeansonmygrass
The Father Who Wasn't
"I cut my biological dad completely off because he just didn't try."
"When I was younger I cut contact with him because he didn't believe me when I told him his new wife was abusing me and my sister. I petitioned for my parents' custody agreement to be changed and everything to protect me and my sister. We didn't see him again as minors."
"When we were adults he reached out to me and expressed regret at not being there for us and wanted to reconnect. We (me, sister, and him) met for dinner twice and then he just started not showing up. I stopped telling my sister we were even supposed to be meeting him because she was so disappointed that he flaked and just took her out myself, knowing he wouldn't show. I told him after like the fifth time that he clearly didn't care enough to even let us know he wasn't gonna show so I wanted nothing to do with him. He replied in some apologetic way but I left him on read."
"Fast forward about six years. I got married and my husband has a lot of regrets about his estranged father dying before they could reconnect, so I reached out to my bio dad again. No plans were made to meet but we did chat occasionally. Until it became just me initiating conversation and him not ever reaching out to me first. I stopped sending him messages about five months after I got married. I've been married three years and haven't heard from him even once since."
"I guess TLDR the final straw was me realizing I was always gonna put more effort in for a relationship that I didn't need."
– Odd-Astronaut-92
No Time For Nastiness
"I finally cut my father's wife out of our lives after my wife and I had our first child. I was able to put up with her nastiness growing up, but the second I saw that nastiness get directed towards my kid, it was over."
"My decision was further solidified when I found out she texted me from my Dad's phone, pretending to be him and unbeknownst to him, saying we should invite her to my kid's birthday party and make amends. She also made a giant scene a few years later at my Grandmother's wake."
– MarcableFluke
For some, cutting someone out of their lives is not a difficult decision to make when it's your mental well-being that is suffering.
Forget about keeping up with appearances. Looking out for yourself and your loved ones by permanently disassociating from toxic people is a no-brainer.
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"This could have been a voice note" is the 2022 version of "this could have been an email" - but aside from that, Arie's lyrics are nothing but truth.
Reddit user praguru14 asked:
"What simple things make you happy?"
And it's time to talk about the little joys in life because honestly, we'll take the shot of happiness wherever we can find it.
India talked about sweet tea with honey, calls from her siblings, and time with her parents.
Let's see what Reddit thinks about when they focus on the little joys.
A Storm
Storm Thunder GIFGiphy"A thunderstorm and a window that's cracked open just so"
- Because-Im-ginger
"I love watching thunderstorms. Even after my house was hit by lightning when I was 12. Still fascinated by them."
- tingulz
"Lovely :’)"
- gameoverman89
Me, Myself, and I
"Alone time"
- SwedishKiwiGuy
"That was my first thought, too!"
"I love alone time in the forest. Just having a walk by myself. Or a drive while listening to music."
- My-Color-Is-RED
"The joy of alone time is one of the reasons I run in the wee hours."
- Jmen4Ever
So Detailed
Tree Drone GIF by DeeJayOneGiphy"A clear, sunny day where the temperature is about 70 degrees with a slight breeze, and the sky is a deep blue."
"Sitting in a park or a forest clearing, breathing in fresh air, and the green of the trees contrasting the blue of the sky in just the right way."
"A small stream flows behind you as you stare at the sky."
- Benjamin_Wrench
"You just described my afternoon. Right down to the small stream that flows behind my home."
- Frosthinz
Road Trip!
"I live in the east coast."
"When I see a car with plates from somewhere far away like Alaska, Oregon or California I like to imagine the people in that car doing the long road trip to get to the east coast. That they had some adventures, saw some beautiful sights and made some special memories on the road."
- PlanetOfTheAprons
"That's so wonderful."
"My husband and I are both from the Northern Territory (Australia), but we live down south now."
"Every time we see a car with those white and orange Territory license plates that are all numbers - and especially if the car is sporting red dirt they haven't managed to wash off - it always makes us smile and point it out to each other."
"Like seeing a distant relative we haven't seen for ages, and we always have a look to see if it's someone we know."
"It's like seeing a little piece of home."
- FormalMango
"West coaster here, I do the same thing with you guys :)"
- Tor_2ga
"So wholesome!"
- Barnowl79
Special Someone
Power Couple GIF by Bob's BurgersGiphy"When my husband and I have the whole weekend off together, and we're on the same sleeping pattern (which is really rare for us.)"
"Just spending time together, hanging out. Eating a lazy lunch and watching movies all afternoon."
"Being with him makes me happy."
- FormalMango
"Same with me and my girlfriend. We really enjoy each other’s company."
- Danoof64
"That's beautiful."
- Illustrious_Charge88
Book Smell
"Book smell"
- Zalucrat
"Ah, yes. Before I start reading, I bring the book close to my face and do the page flipping thing with my thumb and take a big whiff"
- pineappleprincess_13
"Or the smell of a store full of used books. It’s kind of a dusty book smell."
- diet_pepsi_lover
"My school had a store room with a bunch of textbooks, stationary and reams of paper."
"I used to love helping out my teacher or the librarian fetch things from there cause I got to spend a few minutes just breathing in the book smell. It was so calming."
- tintin93yalls
Humans best friend
White Dog GIFGiphy"My dog"
- arthurdent00
"I love my little (though not actually little because she is the size of a normal dog) dog."
- MZFunkyboi
"After almost every walk, my dog hops up on his blanket, digs around on it for 30-45 seconds until he gets it just the way he likes it, then plops down with a satisfied grin on his face."
"Makes me smile every damn time."
- lbeaty1981
Connection and Clean
"I really like sweeping."
"It makes me feel connected to the rest of humanity....Pretty much everybody who has ever lived has swept at some point."
"Also, immediately clean floors is nice."
- father_jarman
"Thats a neat point of view!"
"I'll have to mull that one over at the end of the day when I'm sweeping up the days metal chips from the floor around my machines."
- TheRuralEngineer
Rain
raining GIFGiphy"Rain on the roof at night while being tucked up in bed."
- Smurf_x
"Rain itself makes me happy."
"I'm one of the few people who absolutely love rain. Instant morale boost in my everyday life."
"Whether it's droplets, drizzle, torrential, cold or warm, I take every chance to go outside."
"When I'm having a bad day I often think: well, at least it's raining."
- EingestricheneOktave
"I agree about the rain. Not when it's cold though."
"But if it's warm, I like to go outside and stand in it, sometimes. It feels nice."
- teddypa1981
"Bonus points if there's rumbling thunder in the distance."
- LetterkennyGinger
Human Moments
"Everybody who posted before me is getting an upvote because it is so comforting to see all the intimate moments we share as humans even when we are apart."
"Been on a 6 year long mental health journey and sometimes this wholesome stuff shows me the compassion that isn’t often advertised"
"Let it ride my doods"
-Remarkable-Dog2418
Your turn.
What little joys do you find yourself leaning in on?
Let's share some happy in the comments.
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