Life is hard. That is a truth that will never not be valuable to acknowledge. I love life and being alive but I am not blind to the fact that life is riddled with strife and pain.
And pain comes in all shapes and sizes. Whether it be physical, mental or emotional, pain is inevitable. But pain is doable. We can learn to experience it, live with it, and most importantly grow from it.
They say without pain, how can we know joy? I hate that mantra too, but it holds some truth. It doesn't always make the pain survival worth it, but it can help. So let's discuss it.
Redditor u/Jergunglefinger wanted to hear from everyone who was willing to share some of their more uncomfortable life moments, by asking:
What is the most painful thing you have ever experienced?
The most physical pain I have ever had the misfortune of living through is all dental. I don't remember much, the dentist was merciful with the gas, thankfully. But I know the mouth holds a certain type of torture.
Hot Shot
Boiling Hot Water GIF by BrewDog
Giphy
"5 gallons boiling water being poured down my leg. Trying to hold my volume down while screaming. Got to ER and they shot me in the butt with something and it all went away."
- snoo-you
Broken
"Broken foot. Crap has tons of nerves. I had to walk home a block too. I passed out when I finally got through the door. Luckily someone was there to get me to a hospital."
"In high school, I was running a 2 mile race in track. My foot broke halfway through. I didn't realize it and finished. The pain blurred out all of the physical exertion."
Teen Angst
"I broke my ankle when I was a teen. Walked on it for a month because my parents were insistent I'd just sprained it. Nope. Bottom of my foot turned black from the pooling blood. I was a candy-striper volunteer at the local hospital and showed it to a doctor once. They told me I should see a (ortho) doctor about it. I couldn't do that until my parents took me. So I just stuck my white nursing shoes on and did my rounds."
Awake
"I got my thyroid removed, and because of a miscalculation, I got the anesthesia too early, causing me to wake up mid surgery. Fortunately, they noticed right away and put me back to sleep, but for what was couple seconds and felt like hours I was able to feel my whole neck completely open and them taking my thyroid out. It is up to this day the cause of many nightmares."
Full Force
Drumming Travis Barker GIF by blink-182
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"I was drumming really hard once and I missed the snare drum, and smacked myself in the testicles at full force. I switched to lighter drumsticks after that."
That is a whole lot of mess. I may have nightmares. And I'm glad I never played with drums. Also, life lesson... stay away from boiling water. What other horrors await?
Oh Hell No!
troll dentist GIF
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"My first dental abscess. It would actually knock me to the ground when the pain flared. Fun fact, I ended up removing the problem tooth with a pair of pliers and a bottle of gin."
Farewell...
"Watching my wife take her last breath, watching the machine they had her hooked to flat line. To this day it's the worse pain I have ever felt. She was 43 and I'm here without her. This pain will never heal, I see it in my daughter's eyes when she does something spectacular and her mother is not here."
- MPS007
Off the Ladder...
"This (NSFL) is my leg after a ladder slipped out from under me when I was 3m above some tiles. Foot went through the ladder, then I landed on it. Popped right off and didn't want to go back on. The worst of the pain was after they got it back on and put it in a cast but I had to wait overnight for surgery. During the night it swelled up too big for the cast and basically for a few of hours it felt like someone was slowly crushing my ankle in a vice."
"Not sudden, just slowly crushing it over hours. I was hyperventilating from pain and passing in and out of consciousness. Nurses finally took me seriously and called the surgeon who had them cut the cast off. Immediate indescribable relief better than anything I've ever experienced."
- cl3ft
A Few Things...
"Physical: Having kidney stones, and then the follow up and passing of tiny pieces from the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL)."
"Emotional: Making the decision with my family to take my dad off life support and then saying goodbye and being there with him when he passed."
People Explain Which Conspiracy Theories They Believe Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The Fire
"My wife grew up with a best girlfriend. They were inseparable as young girls, teenagers throughout school, college, and continued into adulthood. Girlfriend got married, and had two children with her husband. I married into the situation, and we all became pretty much family. Their house caught fire while their kids were upstairs."
"Girlfriend went for the girl, husband went for the boy. He and the boy made it out. The pain of losing her and 10-year-old daughter was the worst thing in my life, and I can't even imagine how it is for my wife. They were going to be old ladies together."
Don't Jump
sister kiss GIF
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"Running through a housing estate at night, I didn't see the 10" high railings separating the grass patches from the concrete."
"I cleared the first without seeing it to run on the grass, two metres later I tripped and landed knee first on the paving, smashed my kneecap in three pieces. That was a long time without walking and it still hurts in the cold weather."
Holding Down
"Decades ago, I had something going on w/ my bladder, so I needed a scope, which goes straight down the urethra tube. This was back before they had flexible ones, and the scopes were quite rigid. I was sitting calmly on the table in the doctor's office for the procedure and two huge guys walked in the room. I nervously asked the doctor what was going on. He replied "they're going to hold you down". I was swearing at them through the whole ordeal."
- Mm_Donut
Fresh Circle of Hell
"I definitely don't recommend letting your gallbladder store its awful handicraft stones inside your liver. Gallbladder stone pain is bad enough, but having them essentially overflow to back up into my liver was a fresh circle of hell I wouldn't wish on anyone. I was euphoric upon awakening from the stent procedure to remove them; the relief was so overwhelming that I started crying when the GI doctor doing the stent came to my room for follow up."
The Tumor
"I had a tumor in my vagina that could only be described as "hammock" like. i was young and going through puberty with only my dad raising me, put in a tampon and it ripped one side off. before they removed it, they did an ultrasound, the kind where they basically shove an 8 inch scope inside of you. then to numb it they had to put a needle inside of it as well. i've been through childbirth and not even that compares to the pain that i went through with that damn tumor."
Ongoing Issues
"Ran over by a truck and dragged while cycling, hit and run. No initial pain, unconscious for 2 months. However, upon regaining consciousness, I was lvl 10 multiple times a day for the next 6 mos. Had a colostomy for 2 yrs, the pain from defecation was immense. The stoma became inflamed from constant exposure to stomach acids."
"The pain from daily stoma cleaning with antiseptic was indescribable. I heard of pouring salt on wound would apply I guess. Pain was so excruciating I think I may have passed out a few times. Luckily I'm whole again, if was a difficult 2.5 yrs."
- dal1999
30 Hours
Tom And Jerry Pain GIF by Boomerang Official
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"Worst physical pain I ever felt was a spinal blood patch after an epidural needle went too far. Worse than 30 hours of labor, worse than anything I've ever felt in my life."
Crippled Dreams
"Got shot in my stomach and leg. Stomach one wasn't that bad, went in the front and out my side, but my freaking leg man. The bullet hit the bone between your shin and foot, and got lodged in there. Literally hurts every day. Few years ago I moved across the country with literally no money or plan, and though the struggles made a whole new life for myself. I am currently in school and have a pretty home with 2 beautiful cats and a girlfriend who believes in me. Better late than never right."
She Snapped...
"Finding out my ex fiancé cheated on me and than hearing her literally say that all our promises and memories and all I had done for her didn't matter and she didn't give a sh*t about any of it. Giggled like the years of us being together was a joke and was nothing."
"This girl up until that point was all over me and acted like I was just the best thing in the world. I had never been so happy for years. And thae one day I just woke up and she just snapped. Like she just changed overnight and a cold unfeeling robot had took her place. What even is this life."
Lay back...
"Woke up during surgery. They were cutting into me and prepping to break my leg and reset it with screws and pins. I was about 4 and I'll never forget it. Woke up with all the medical staff hovering over me, telling me to "Lay back and go to sleep." To this day, I have a phobia of going under/surgery. Forget that."
Marlon Brando Movie GIF
Snap...
"Snapped all the tendons in my right foot they were pushed into the bone by a piece of glass nearly died three times on the operating table... dehydration, loss of body heat, then my heart stopped so they had to bring me back."
Emotional pain, I don't want to chat about. And this thread makes me want a drink. So that's the plan. Keep smiling and be careful out there.
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Curious to hear about some of the more creepy indiscretions people get away with, Redditor Flytechofficial asked:
"What is perfectly legal, but creepy as hell?"
These things that happen in public restrooms can be considered criminal.
Respecting Splash Zones
"Using the urinal next to me when there were plenty of other choices."
Nightmare For The Pee-Shy
"hanging out in a public bathroom timing how long people pee."
Bad Timing
"I swear to God. I did a lot of work in hospitals for a while, big f'king hospitals with tons of bathrooms all over the place. For some God damned reason, regardless of what time or bathroom I selected to take a sh*t in not 30 seconds after I sat down a janitor would knock on the door to clean the bathroom. It's not as if it was one janitor, just some random janitor would inevitably need to clean whatever bathroom I was in as soon as I got comfy. It's like I was being stalked by the janitors."
"So now I'm trying to take a sh*t knowing full well there's somebody out there actively timing how long it takes."
Looky-Loo
"I was drunk in a casino and went to use the washroom. The floors in there were a polished marble or something. Sitting on the toilet, pants down, my stall neighbour made eye contact with me on the reflective floor tile."
The following examples involving minors have no legal repercussions.
Outside Watchers
"Technically, you can stand on the sidewalk and stare into someone's house through a window. It's not illegal as long as you stay off of their property, but it's really freaking creepy."
Keeping Tabs On Someone's Age
"A national newspaper having a countdown for when a child actress becomes 'legal' for sex."
"Answers to questions that will surely come. ....Yes. The Sun (UK). Emma Watson."
– pdirth
The Young Subjects
"When I was a child, we had a creepy horrible neighbor that would harass my family constantly. One of the things he did was stand at the corner of his yard and videotape me playing in a pool with my friends (we were around 8). My parents called the police but were told that it's legal if he's on his property."
These perfectly harmless examples can give you goosebumps.
Macabre
"Hanging your doll collection from the trees in your yard using string made from human hair."
People's Taste
"I believe the act of cannibalism itself is legal so long as you didn't murder anyone to do it. If your homie gives you his arm to gnaw on, it's fair game."
I recently treated myself by going to a movie theater after what seemed like a long hiatus for much of the year.
Streaming blockbuster movies from home, while convenient, has never made as much of an impact when compared to the moviegoing experience.
But after my recent trip to our local AMC, I'm beginning to think watching entertainment from the comfort of my quiet home is a much better option.
I forgot that a good majority of audience members are disrespectful and pretty much ignore all the rules—including no texting or talking during the movie.
The normal volume conversations and the number of lit screens from people's smartphone's in my peripheral vision throughout the movie were huge distractions.
Maybe as I'm getting older, my patience has worn thin, or I happened to have a particularly unpleasant experience. But seriously, how can anyone enjoy going to the movies when people are constantly updating their status inside a darkened auditorium?
It should illegal. Rant over.
I feel like if there is nothing after life, it just invalidates life. But maybe I'm just dramatic. I hope there is peace. Thoughts?
black and white two funerals GIFTogether...
"When we die, the whole world as seen by us, dies together with us."
"Yes it does. As does the entire universe. Only when we are alive can we experience the passage of time. The instant we die the entire universe will experience heat death and cease to be. It my take a million eons but since we can no longer experience time it will be relatively instantaneous."
- OkEbb749
Thanks Alan
"It's one of the great wonders of life: What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. You will find out, among other things, that it will pose the next question to you: What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can't have an experience of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum. ~Alan Watts"
So Romantic...
"When I was much younger, I had a dream where I died. Not a typical dream, not a romanticized dream. It was a dream where I was an archer in a medieval battle. About 5 minutes into the battle, chaos was all around me, and I watched an opposing archer aim and loose an arrow straight into my left eye."
"I remember the sensation of impact, ringing in my ears, and falling to the ground. I remember the warmth of the blood on my face. The feeling of life leaving my body, and the sense of worry evaporating into warmth and peace as the world left behind me."
"I remember waking up shortly after thinking that the feeling and reality of that experience was so vivid and so detailed that it must have been an experience from a previous incarnation hundreds of years ago. From that moment on, I've never feared the actual process of death. I feel like I've experienced it many times before."
Erase
Computer Reaction GIFGiphy"I think one of your best friends delete's your browsing history."
"Take the hard drive out of my computer at home… Put it in the bath… And make sure it's completely wiped. -Tensai Slime"
If you love me... rule number one... HIDE THE EVIDENCE!!! Let that be heard far and wide. And dreams, always so intertwined aren't they?
Before & After
Happy Baby GIFGiphy"Exactly the same as before you were born."
- whumoon
"I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. -Mark Twain"
Moving On...
"We clean the bed and assign it to another patient."
"The REAL reason why nurses are so dark. 90 year old man in hospice got hit by a car on his way to get fitted for his funeral tuxedo, and didn't have a DNR. Kept him alive for four hours, and now it's time to document everything that was done to save his life because there will inevitably be a lawsuit from a family member who has had four years to say goodbye but somehow didn't get to."
Again...
"Play again?
Yes
[No]
I don't know what they mean or how to utilize them. I'm a Buddhist (but a gamer first and foremost) so it's cool you guys made those connections This totally makes up for r/movies continuously banning me."
Oblivion...
"I've answered this one before but here it is again. Either two things happen after you die: you either go somewhere or it's oblivion. If it is oblivion, then we're just going back to the same place before we were born and there's nothing wrong with that. We were there for billions or trillions of years, possibly infinity."
"You lose that concept of time since your brain doesn't work anymore so you don't even know it's over. It's not nothing because nothing would be something and that means that you are aware, which you can not be if you're dead. If we do go somewhere, then that's something no one understands because no one has ever come back to tell us."
"Those stories of people coming back after they "died" and "saw stuff" weren't really dead. Their hearts stopped but their brains were still working. If the Universe continues to recycle itself infinitely, then there's a chance we will be reborn or continuously reborn but have no memory of our previous selves."
- jamoh20
On Holiday
"When I was a kid I drowned while on holiday with my family, a giant fat man jumped in the pool on top of me and no one noticed till I was on the bottom of the pool. I remember the feeling of my lungs being on fire, then shivering then as everything was going dark a strange sense of peace and I was ok with it, No panic or terror then it went black."
"I was resuscitated at the side of the pool a few minutes later. I remember nothing from the black to being "alive" again. I was around 7 when it happened and since then I've been strangely at peace with the fact that one day I will die and slip into the dark void of nothingness. Hope that helps."
Popcorn?
500 days of summer cinema GIFGiphy"You wake up in a chair in a cinema and learn that the other are past lives of you and you're about to watch your next life very soon on the big screen."
The truth is none of us know the truth. We live everyday with the afterlife being a gamble. And that seems like it's going to have to be enough.
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