I'm so over dating. I'm gonna die alone and I'm fine with it. I can't, I just can't even deal with the search for love anymore.
And I felt this way long before COVID. It is like having another career. There are so many nutjobs running amok.
And truthfully once and awhile, we are the nutjobs. How could you not be after living through date disaster after disaster.
As if just putting oneself out there isn't bad enough, most of the time dating itself all falls apart.
Redditoru/ExtremeSeason3708wanted everyone to pour a glass of wine and dish about dates nights gone awry by asking:
What's the most embarrassing date you've been on?
After a really lovely beginning, the last date I went on, the gentleman across from me told me he had a small secret. No big deal, but he wanted to be honest. He was an ex-convict. I won't get into why, but needless to say, it was a bit much. It didn't go well from there. But we were both too embarrassed to leave.
Goodnight
Wake Up Reaction GIF by OriginalsGiphy"It was one of those setups where my mom and his mom were friends and they were like, "our two nerdy, intensely introverted loner kids should date!" Unfortunately that was the literal entirety of what we had in common, so."
"Bonus detail: we went to a theater that was showing "The Big Sleep." He fell asleep".
Chest Pump
"Organised a date with this gorgeous girl while I was at the surf club. Call for a rescue goes off and I'm running off to do my thing. Pull this older guy from the water, he is not in great shape and has stopped breathing. CPR and the whole works. 10 minutes later and the ambos take him away."
"At the date she wanted to know if I was gay or bi, had to explain what CPR was, that I wasn't attracted to the person and that it's to try and save a life. Nope, she wasn't buying it, I was was clearly gay for drowned men."
Butt First
"My freshman year of college, I went on a first date with a guy from my Italian class. We had pizza and after dinner, we were walking around and it started to drizzle. I was wearing ballerina flats with no treads."
"I took a step on the wet cobblestones and my foot shot out from under me. I landed on my butt, hard. I was mortified, of course, so I stood up quickly. My date asked if I was okay. I remember saying that I felt queasy... and the next thing I knew I was regaining consciousness in the gutter."
"A woman stopped to help. I eventually got up and finished my date at the student health center. It turned out I'd broken my tailbone. I had to sit on a donut cushion in class for the next two weeks. It didn't work out. It's too bad because breaking my butt on our first date would have made a great " how we met" story."
V-Day Mishaps
"This was embarrassing in the moment, but it worked out. It was a 2nd date, but it was also Valentine's day, so I decided to get her flowers, a card that plays music, and some chocolates. It was freezing cold, but I didn't have anywhere to keep them besides my car. I took the chance the flowers might die."
"We had a nice date, and when we get back to my car I got them out. Oh those flowers were DEAD. "Ah well...". She opened the card, and the sound chip just went bbbzzzzzzzz. I sighed and said "Well... I hope the chocolates are okay". She started laughing and gave me our first kiss."
Best Excuses For Late Assignments That Were Actually True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Perfect Start
Season 1 Dancing GIF by FlirtyDanceFOXGiphy"First date with my now wife, I got food poisoning and had violent diarrhea on the side of the road and had to clean myself with an old shirt I had in the back of my car."
See now, any gastric issues, I'd have to excuse myself and run into the shadows. So some of these people are stronger (or just maybe more adult) than I am. Also movies aren't a good idea until you're already a solid item.
All by Myself
Lonely Bucks Bango GIF by Milwaukee BucksGiphy"Girl and I made plans to meet at an outdoor mall and see a movie, this was back in middle school so my mom had to drive me in about an hour's worth of traffic, and she cancels 15 minutes out."
"I felt so bad for my mom driving me all the way there already so I simply pretended like she hadn't canceled, my mom dropped me off, and I watched a movie by myself. Almost cried but I kept it together. But I mean the movie was good at least."
In the Library...
"Valentine's Day at college. My boyfriend walks into the library and finds me studying. He presents me with a bundle of flowers and the most horrible gift I've ever seen… here's a pic. https://imgur.com/gallery/AWKAGVc"
"Well I had apparently joked about it while we were at target one day and so he bought it for me as a joke. It didn't fit in my backpack and so I had to carry it around my college classes for the rest of the day. Several teachers asked me about it and I was mortified."
"Well I still married him a little later and we've been together 6 years since getting married. Honestly it grew on me enough that I still have it to this day. It's supposed to be a toddler body pillow but it's just the right size for hugging while you sleep. He's asked if he can throw it away a few times but I won't let him. I've actually tried to find the damn thing a few times online but haven't been successful. Even after using its barcode and factory info. I figure it's getting pretty gross and soon I should let it go."
- Zetta216
UpChuck
"First date with my now husband. We are both very anxious people who had little experience with dating and we were both so nervous. I threw up right before the date. He came to pick me up and we drove to the library where we were planning to use their wifi to watch Netflix in the back of the car (despite being almost 20 years old, my mom would not let us hang out in my bedroom at home)."
"As soon as we got to the library he got out of the car and threw up in the parking lot. I then admitted to him that I had also thrown up right before the date. He tried to play it off as us having the flu or food poisoning but we both knew it was really just the nerves."
Hey Dad!
"I went with a girl to see a really late night theater show. It ended at like 2am, well past when public transit stopped running. We didn't have a car or money for a taxi so we walked back to her family's house since I lived much further away. We collapsed fully clothed on her bed and instantly fell asleep."
"Three hours later her dad shook me awake and demanded to know who I was, then when he found out I was studying chemistry in college he started questioning me about thermodynamics, which was... really not my strongest subject."
Yo Eli!
hot guy GIFGiphy"He took off his shirt at outback until the waitress asked him to put it back on then stood in the parking lot loudly (and badly) rapping to his own music. Shoutout to Eli."
Woof!
"A woman asked me on a date to a dog park bar. I told her my dogs don't travel well so it would just be me, which she said was fine. I got there and she also didn't bring her dog. Then she tells me she's a recovering alcoholic and doesn't drink. So we're at a dog park bar with no dogs and no drinking. The date lasted another twenty minutes or so before she began crying about how she'd ruined everything and ran to her car. Suddenly I was a guy at a dog bar with no dogs or drinks that just made a woman cry and run away."
George Costanza
george costanza work GIFGiphy"My George Costanza moment. Went out on a date with a girl going to college at a neighboring town. Went to dinner and what have you. When I went to take her back to her college apartment, we sat and chatted in my truck for a few minutes. Then she said "my roommates gone, do you want to come up for coffee?" My response was "no, I don't like coffee."
"She gave me a strange look, we said our goodbyes and I left. I was half way home when it hit me. I wish I could say I'm just going off the Seinfeld episode, but nope. tmobley87 is a big idiot when it comes to women. But met my now wife of 8 years the next month so I say it worked out."
Nevermind
"I was 13 and it was my first date. She wanted to meet at some place and then go somewhere else, but I was pretty bad at knowing places so I had to ask my mom where it was. She gave me a lift and I thought she'd go away but she apparently went out to see what's happening. Not knowing I was being watched I met her and we started walking when suddenly my mom yelled out from behind us that we were going in the wrong direction. I was so embarrassed I wasn't able to talk to the girl normally after and just went home very quickly because I thought the whole thing was already screwed."
IBSed...
"When I was in high school I dated a guy with IBS and my parents insisted multipe times on having him over for dinners where he would just sit there because he couldn't eat any of our food. It would've been fine if my parents ever let him and I cook (food he could eat, which we always offered) or if people in my family freaking talked! We're a VERY introverted family and that's fine when it's just us, but when you're 17 and your boyfriend is bored and hungry and your family is just chewing in silence... ugh, the cringe."
Excuse me?
Parks And Recreation Nbc GIF by HULUGiphy"We went to Burger King, she asked me to take her virginity in the bathroom and I said no. This was followed by very silent chicken burger eating."
- -IIll
Fun and Games
"I invited my bf at the time over to watch movies in my basement. Instead my grandmother sat in between us and we watched the game show channel. For 3 hours. And it wasn't even like she was trying to prevent us from doing stuff. She just wanted to hang out with us."
When at Starbucks
"When I was a teenager, there was this girl that I really liked. We started to hang out a lot more after we ended up in a class together. Around two months after the class started, she asks if I want to go get coffee sometime. I of course say yes, ecstatic that she asked me out. However, while we were on the "date," she started saying stuff about how people always mistook her for a lesbian, saying how there is no way in hell she would ever go out with a girl."
"I was thrown off by this, because I thought that she, a girl, asked me, a girl, out on a date. I said that I thought that she asked me out, and she got really embarrassed, so now both of us are sitting in the middle of Starbucks on a sort-of date that only one of us wanted to be on."
Hold Please...
"We had a mediocre date, then walked to her apartment. On the way, she took a phone call about a couch she was buying. This call continues for the next few hours (!!!) of the date. To entertain me she put on a show on Netflix- You. This show is about a stalker, and is not really good first date material. At the end she said, resigned, "There isn't going to be a second date, is there?" And I agreed there would not be."
Pooped
Mel Brooks Poop GIFGiphy"Was just a meet and greet coffee date with somebody I met online. We went for a walk down a tree lined street and a bird shat on my head."
- Jogaila2
Somebody find Eli. Now that had to be fun, at the very least. I just drag dates to karaoke. But, a parking lot works. And just so y'all know... I'm even MORE over dating now. LOLOLOL
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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.