We all have that inner voice, that small and most auspicious person that knows when we as a whole are about to head into some hazardous situation. Most of the time we tend to ignore that voice. Those signals trigger our greatest asset, our gut instinct. Which is connected to that voice. Listen closely, it can save your life.
Redditor u/OddAmbassador4 wanted everyone to share.... When has your gut instinct saved your life, or helped you avoid something horrible?
Pooper Scooper....
GiphyQuite literally a gut feeling actually. I was on the bus commuting to my university and began to feel extremely bloated. So I decided to get off. Turns out it was a (relatively) good move, because as soon as I got off the bus I began furiously crapping myself. And I mean like full on butt blasting diarrhea. Of course it didn't really help me avoid crapping myself but it helped me not embarrass myself by turning the bus into an butt bomb that day. _Twas_Ere_
Never talk to Strangers....
I was about 11, and this neighborhood man started kind of hanging around my friends and me sometimes. He was friendly and would buy us junk food from 7-11. My little friend crowd was mostly boys and it wasn't unusual for me to be the only girl with them. This man started inviting them over for snacks, would give them money for 7-11, etc, and they thought he was the greatest thing. I got a creepy feel and didn't like how he seemed to look at me more than the boys, so I never went to his house.
Creep started bringing gifts to my house for me until my mom answered the door one day and told him to hit the road and never come back. The next we heard of him was in the newspaper because he was serving time for "interfering with a minor" He sent his victim a Valentine's card from there.
I'm grown up now and I really hope that piece of crap is long dead. I escaped him ruining my childhood, but some other little girl didn't. I think about that sometimes. DogsNotHumans
Sip Slowly....
I pulled up to the corner of Audubon Blvd. and Fountainbleau Drive, a four-way stop. I'm reading towards the river, and I look to my left and right, after coming to a full stop, and see no one. But, instead of going, I like almost heard a voice in my head say, "Stop and take a drink of your drink." I didn't hear a voice, but I felt this oddly strong prompting in my mind's inner dialogue to take a drink of my drink. As I'm reaching down to grab it, a car flies through that intersection going as fast as you possibly could on that street. It would've crashed right into me on my side, and likely killed me or F-ed me and my toddler daughter in the car seat behind me up for good. wuapinmon
The Fix?
When we ran out of screw-in fuses for the fuse box, I was told it was okay to insert a copper penny as a "temporary fix" until some replacement fuses could be purchased.
When I smelled insulation melting on overheated wires in the wall, I knew that the advice I'd been given was wrong and dangerous. So I immediately pull the "main" fuse for the entire house until new screw-in fuses could be bought.
That simple act likely saved burning down the house due to a potential electrical fire. Back2Bach
Slow Down!
GiphyMy ex-girlfriend and I were driving home late at night from a concert. It was about a three hour drive, so it was probably somewhere around 2AM. It was mid-January and was snowing pretty heavily. She was going around 70mph. I don't know why, but I asked her to slow down. She slowed to around 35mph and not a minute or two later we had to slam on our brakes because there was a semi jack-knifed across both lanes. The brakes locked up and we slid through the slush and only stopped about 15 feet short of the trailer. If I hadn't asked her to slow or if she hadn't listened, I would have likely been a head shorter. explodeder
The Dark Knight....
I'd asked for days off to see The Dark Knight in theaters. I had the seniority at my retail job to get the days off and asked 3 weeks in advance for the days. The scheduling manager hated me and didn't give me the days off. I'd really wanted to say screw it and go anyway and just go to work on 4 hours or less of sleep. The say rolled around and my gut instinct told me to just go to bed and to see the movie the next week.
Had I gone that night I would have been in the Aurora theater James Holmes had been in. I'd had 3 friends in the theater that all lived but multiple coworkers lost friends or family. My dad heard the news break when it happened (he worked nights out of his truck and heard it on the radio) and called my mom frantic to check I was in bed and hadn't gone to the theater since he knew I loved Batman and wouldn't shut up about the movie. I'm glad I went to bed. I saw the movie when it was released to DVD. I couldn't bring myself to see it in a theater. gothiclg
Stairs Only!
So it was during the Easter holidays, me and my family live in a block of flats, I was 10, and we were the last ones to leave so we were all lone in the building. We were going to the garage to get the car and my family all 4 of them took the elevator, I however decided to take the stairs cause I had this fear in the back of my head that I might get stuck in there. And while I was walking down the stairs I hear a voice from the elevator shaft. It was stuck and all my family was in it. Long story short they managed to fill me up with courage and I went out asking strangers for help, me a 10 year old, thankfully a lady helped me and called 911 and were able to get my family out of the elevator. I still take the stairs whenever we are leaving for a family trip. Mike_The_Greek_Guy
Louder and louder....
I was walking home from work one night last week and I could hear footsteps behind me. I was on the phone to my partner at the time like I do when I have to walk home alone at night. The footsteps start getting louder and when I crossed the road I could hear this person running and saw them out of the corner of my eye, seemingly towards me. So I turn around and look right at them which seems to startle them and they ran in front of me and kept walking.
I slow right down at this point and just watch them, describing very loudly to my partner what this man looks like and what he was doing. He was acting very shifty, crossing the road over and over when he didn't need to and constantly looking back at me. I hid behind some bushes and waited for him to go out of sight after that then carried on home. Pretty sure he was planning on mugging/attacking me. I saw him again when I walked home last night but I wasn't alone this time. Still pretty freaked out tbh. Missy_Strange
Not today Satan!
GiphyWhen I was studying abroad in Nicaragua, on my very first night walking down the main road with my classmates, a man ran past me and ripped my purse off my body. I had it diagonally across my chest so he literally had to rip it yanking me backwards. My first reaction was to lean into the drag to turn myself around and immediately take off chasing this guy. I am a young white female, so he probably didn't expect any resistance. He saw me following him, got startled, and tripped. He threw the purse back in my direction, got up, and ran away.
That purse had my phone, passport, and much of my money in it, I was so glad I got it back. I was also well-respected by my classmates who saw it happen, so that was cool. sexy_toaster
The Poo-Po is watching....
Every once in a while on my dicey commute home from traffic I get a spidey-sense like sensation that I should drive less aggressively and more often than not as soon as I tone it down I pass a cop. Sometimes it's just gas. Metalfriends
Don't Play with health!
I don't usually get sick except between December and January I fall extremely ill, probably flu. I puke and it just kills me. It happened this year but I felt like something was wrong this time and wanted to go to an Urgent Care. They told me I needed to go to the hospital. Turns out on top of the sickness I had large clots in my lungs and leg and spent two weeks in the hospital. ToastedPeanutss
Blessed poo....
GiphyNot as dramatic, but walking to uni I halted at some random point and one second later seagull poop lands right in front of me. Felt blessed at that moment. QuestWithAmbition
The Voices....
When my best friend's mom was young (high school I think) her parents were evangelical Christians who felt called to do all they could to help the less fortunate. They were very active and outgoing in doing this. One day, her sister (my friend's aunt) came across an elderly homeless woman and asked if she needed help. She ended up driving the woman to their home so she could do her laundry. After the homeless woman had done her laundry and went on her way, my friend's aunt's dad (my friend's grandfather) told her not to bring that lady to the house anymore and to not have any more interaction with her. He couldn't explain it but he had a bad feeling about her. The very next week the family saw a story in the newspaper and learned that that same elderly homeless woman had stabbed someone else who was helping her because the voices in her head told her to. cprdvdcrr
Turn Here....
One time in Iraq, we were in a convoy going towards a reported HVT (a bomb maker) and en route, the first vehicle took a wild ass left turn down a sand road we didn't even know was there. We asked the lead vehicle what the hell he was doing. He replied "It just didn't feel right." and we were all okay with it.
Don't know why he did it. Maybe there was an IED in the road ahead. But I'm sure glad we took that turn. TheOrangeBanana007
Quick Reflexes....
I was away on World Challenge in Nicaragua with my school and I was staying in a room with 4 other girls. One of the girls was sleeping in a bed parallel to these huge french doors. Anyway, I had a dream that one of the doors fell onto this girl and I woke up and sat up and looked at the doors. I noticed that it was leaning slightly and as I watched it started to fall.
I have never moved so fast in my life, but I got across the room basically in one huge bound and caught the door a couple of inches from her face. (She was unhurt, just a bit shocked as to why I was suddenly next to her holding up a door)
I still think about it sometimes. slh259
Pull a U-turn...
Was standing on the side of a highway trying to get my bearings, and noticed a car backing up towards me. Something told me I needed to get the hell away, so I hit the crosswalk button and got the green light right away. I ran across the road and the car pulled a U-turn and started following me, I grabbed the license plate and ran into a nearby hotel. Peaked out the front doors and noticed the car had parked nearby. Called the cops, they came to talk to me, I gave them the info and it turned out they'd been after this guy for a while. w0rstwitch
He Shifty!
There was a dodgy bloke outside the block of flats where I stayed down south England. I didn't like the look of him whatsoever, so I stayed where I was and just watched for an hour. This was about a year before mobiles were a thing, so I had no way to call a pal down the phone or owt like that.
Anyway, bloke leaves and I gan on home. Couple of days later one of the prostitutes who lived opposite me told me about the bloke. He'd been arrested on two counts of kidnapping two girls. One for three hours and one for four. He got a few other charges, but it was 22 years ago so the details are fuzzy.
He was proper shifty, though. Arlessa
Dumb Luck...
While on a convoy in the middle east, I got a gut feeling that something was behind me (sole turret gunner on a convoy, before the time of CROWS systems)
I rotated my turret, saw a guy leveling an AK at me in a 2nd floor window and he fired. I returned fire and smoked the guy and his three buddies in the windows next to him. one of the guys had a RPG and i think the guy who fired at me fired prematurely when he saw that i saw him. Didn't give the guy with the rpg enough time to set up his shot before he fired.
Thank God for belt fed weapons and sheer dumb luck. BlackFrost92
Hit the Spot...
GiphyThis just happened today. Every Wednesday I have the same errand to run and I always park in this one tiny parking lot in the middle of downtown. Today I thought to myself "no, I really need to park on street somewhere this time." No real reason why. Found a spot even though it was farther away and parked there. When I was done with my errand and going back to my car I passed by the parking lot and it was surrounded by emergency vehicles. Apparently there was a fire. Good thing I didn't park there today. ndhlpplse
No Safety Net....
I had an opportunity to move to the West Coast all expenses paid. It seemed like a great opportunity. I was deep into planning and I said to my wife "you know what, let's wait 6 months and be really sure it's what we want." Four months later, everyone at that site was laid off. I would have been in a new State with no job and no safety net. zerbey
Who else has heard that sage inner voice?
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.