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People Who've Had A Near-Death Experience Share What Their Final Thoughts Were

"Sh*t"

I wish I could say I had a more eloquent thought go through my head as I saw the Caddy baring down on me. But I didn't. It was just "sh*t" and the awareness that there was nothing I could do to avoid being hit, followed by annoyance that it was taking so damn long to happen.


Reddit asked about the thoughts people had in the moments before they believed they were about to die, and watching a massive Cadillac speeding towards me when I was in my tiny car with a cement truck next to me absolutely fit that bill.

I knew she was going to hit me. I knew the force would slam me into the cement truck. I knew I was about to die. All I thought was "sh*t."

There was no thinking about the things I never did, or how I was about to die dressed in "business casual." (The business casual regret hit about 2 days later... and I've avoided business-wear as much as possible since then.) I was resigned to my end, and was just annoyed that it was going to hurt so badly and was taking so long to happen.

They say time slows before an accident. The time before impact felt like eons but was a second, maybe two. Yes, it hurt as badly as I thought it would. The force of impact in a major car accident is something almost unexplainable.

But death didn't happen. Otherwise this article would be extra-weird.

The impact didn't push me into the cement truck, because the truck was big and heavy and hadn't really gotten going when the light turned green. Instead, the other driver flung me spinning across the intersection where I hit a wall and a post.

She hit the cement truck. She did not die. She did lose her legs from the knee down. Interestingly, it came out in proceedings that "sh*t" was essentially her thought, too. She realized she had blown the light moments before slamming into me and was also aware of just how badly this was about to hurt.

She did not experience the same slow-down of time that I did. According to her, before she had even fully had the thought she was already being smashed into her airbags.

Reddit users shared the thoughts they had, and quite a few had similar experiences. Check it out.

Shark To The Face

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I was caught in a rip tide at about 8. I had a few thoughts. One was I hope this doesn't hurt.

But the main one was "I really hope a shark doesn't bite me in the face before I die" because the visibility was almost non existent and I kept opening my eyes to see where the surface was.

I could see so little I remember thinking that I wouldn't be able to see anything trying to hurt me unless it swam directly into my face. And so that started a thought that occurs just about every time I go swimming in the ocean to this day, almost 40 years later

The water wasnt very deep when it started. Literally less than knee deep but I lost my footing in the wrong place and I was beyond standing by the time I got my sh*t back together. So first it pulled me a little bit out (I think if I was an adult I might have still been able to stand up) and then it pulled me down after I got a little further away from shore.

It was a life lesson:

Kids, don't play where the ocean and the inlet meet!!

- catdaddy230

Helpful

Spun out my car on a snow-covered highway, car came to a stop clinging to a guardrail over a cliff.

I had been thinking a lot about killing myself and had been falling ever deeper into depression. I realized I didn't want to die. It was a hugely helpful experience.

- sickcorgbro

Gotta love when possibly fatal accidents save you from yourself.

- acourageousbird

Canyon Climbers

I was dumb and was trying to climb into a slot canyon with my friends, but I lost my grip and fell 40 feet into the canyon. I landed at the bottom and a rock the size of a basketball lands directly next to my head. It was eerie how in mid free fall your body just locks up, and my thoughts instantly were

"Well, this is it."

- humble_charizard

Date Night

"Ah...this sucks...I'm gonna miss date night"

Thinking about the Mrs as I flat-lined. 64 seconds dead and gone before coming back and staying back, thank god.

- Xerozvz

Two Minutes From Home

SUV made contact with my left side at about 45 mph. I was on a motorcycle at night in the rain. Two minutes from home.

Before impact I saw the lights and said "Sh*t sh*t sh*t!"

As soon as it hit I felt heat. Like bright white heat through my body. It overwhelmed the pain and I couldn't tell where the pain was, just that my whole left side was on fire.

Then I was on the ground. I looked up at the sky through my helmet. I looked left and right and saw I was on my back, and I tried to move my arms and legs. Arms were okay, but when I tried to move my left leg I felt the top half move while the bottom half stayed still, because my femur was broken

I thought I was going to die. I started shaking a little bit and then kept getting worse and worse. I was bleeding out but didn't know it. After they got me in the ambulance I asked if I was going to die. The man told me I wasn't, but based on my condition he couldn't have known that.

- AccioMotherfcker

Complete Denial

I was in a car wreck and I did the whole Jesus Take The Wheel thing and my first thought was "this is NOT happening I am having a bad dream."

I hit my head pretty hard so I ended up fainting shortly after the crash and I don't actually remember anything that happened after I took my hands off the wheel (passenger can confirm I was awake during it, though.)

What I remember rather than being unconscious was saying goodbye to my family again as I was about to go on the long drive. Of course when I recounted this in the hospital they all started bawling.

It was kind of funny to me because at first my brain remembered as if I had not even gone driving yet, so when the EMTs informed me I was in a car accident while I was bleeding from a cut on the head and had a concussion, still trapped under an engine, I replied back "no I wasn't ."

So the answer was complete denial like it was a horrible nightmare I was going to wake up from. Still sometimes hard to feel like it really happened and wasn't just a traumatic nightmare, since I forgot the actual crash and I was pumped full of morphine very quickly after I woke up since they couldn't tell how injured I really was below my chest and feared I might have been disemboweled or something (I wasn't! Broke my femur though and it does in fact hurt like a bitch, don't break your femur. Even getting it set in the hospital WITH morphine it was the worst thing in the world.)

It's all a bit of a blur.

- redheaddisaster

Unexplainable Calm

The level of unexplainable calm

- drunkwriter87

I had this while fighting in the Angolan war as a South African conscript.

Our armoured car troop got trapped in an ambush in a minefield and I knew that it was a matter of minutes before one of the incoming RPG7 rockets would find its target. In the middle of the smoke and noise and smell of cordite I was so relaxed, tranquil and at peace. Happy and smiling, I remembered my home and family. and I was bitterly disappointed and felt very cheated when we managed to fight our way out. (Which was weird, because I was the gunner in the vehicle and had never stopped doing what we were trained to do).

- Duck_Kak

I personally think it's to do with regularly high demanding levels of neural activity and the fact that your brain finally recognizes that nothing matters anymore.

I remember my brain shutting down and going into defensive mode and focusing only on what mattered. Instead of the inconceivable deserts of data and rivers of feelings flowing through my mind all that my brain cared about was surviving or doing the right thing if I don't.

People who experience calm at death are the ones who took life seriously, or were forced too.

- ubiquitouspumpkin

Might As Well Relax

I was nowhere near actually dying, I was completely safe, it was just a weird mental reaction to some medication I got in the hospital right before they took me into surgery, but for a short time I definitely believed that I was about to die.

My thoughts were "Oh sh*t, I'm gonna die like this? Almost no one dies like this. How dumb. Oh well, I might as well relax." and then I just kind of daydreamed about things I liked and didn't actually die (because I was fine.)

- Prolixdreams

Wife And Baby

I got thrown off of a snowmobile into a river at -35 degrees. I got swept under the ice when I went in, I was stuck down there in full sledding gear unable to swim or find the hole I went in.

It was a surreal feeling being pretty sure I was gonna die, images of my wife and 11 month old daughter kept flowing through my head. Luckily when I hit the bottom of the river I pushed off and through some miracle popped up through the hole I went in.

My riding buddies luckily notice I went missing and came back and were able to pull me out of the river. The 20 kms back to civilization at -35 was definitely the coldest I've ever been. Definitely the scariest moment of my life.

- I_dont_know_you_pick

Two Policies

I had a severe episode of tachycardia in a remote area with no cell reception. I was driving alone, pulled off to the side of the road, and I was sure I was having a fatal heart attack. Over 200 bpm, felt like my heart was trying to leap out of my chest.

I got very very calm, and was worried that my husband would forget that I have two life insurance policies, not just one.

I passed out at some point. Woke up fine and drove home.

- tequilamockingbird99

Moose

"God damn that moose is fast."

I held my ground against a bull moose charge because the people with me had frozen up. Thing stopped 4 feet away and we stared down for what felt like hours. My dumbass had slung my rifle and wasn't fast enough to shoulder it

Worked out though because I don't like killing things that don't need killing.

- I426Hemi

I Guess

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Amazed to see the experience seems pretty universal. In 2006 I almost drowned when I got rolled by a 4m wave. As I began to lose consciousness I thought "Oh, I guess this is how I go. Right now." I felt strangely calm and at peace. At the last second I felt sand touch my foot and I kicked off it with all I had and was able to catch a breath. When I crawled out onto the beach I was so grateful to have experienced what drowning was like. It's not a bad way to go. My mother had drowned the year before.

- EloquentSqueakWolf

Army BVD's

My lungs collapsed when I was 12. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was my dad in his Army BVD's. My last thought was:

"Please, any Deity who will listen. Don't let this be the last thing I see on this planet!"

I've been an acute asthmatic since birth and basically I had the worst asthma attack ever. My dad stabbed me with an epi pen and hauled it to the emergency room. The first thing I felt was pure panic because I couldn't breathe enough for a nebulizer to work, then a pounding headache. By the time I lost consciousness it was like fighting a nap as a toddler, I was exhausted but I refused to stop fighting. I don't think my heart stopped completely.

I moved to Oregon in 2018 and not only is my asthma better, I found out what my nose is for!

Seriously, I'm almost 42, and I never was able to smell or breathe through my nose. I thought it was just for bleeding or blowing 😁

- Hekate78

Lame

I fell out of a vehicle and was still conscious when I landed face-first on the highway when I was 19. After the white flash when my head hit, the first thing I thought was "well, this is f*cking lame."

- holawednesday

Mom And Mt. Fuji

I met friend of a friend while walking around town one day. We had dinner and a great conversation, but I didn't think we'd see each other again so soon. The next day he asked if I wanted to join him with another friend to climb Mt. Fuji in a few days. I declined initially as I had never even gone hiking so I had no business going up a mountain. That was until I realized if everything went to plan I could celebrate my birthday on the summit. I didn't have anything else to do so I went along with it.

We started the climb the day before my birthday from the fifth station just before sunset. As we started to get higher I kept seeing signs that showed how far off the summit was. For some reason I thought I could reach the summit before midnight. So when my friends decided to rest for the night on one of the stations I told them I was going to go up to the summit alone because I wanted to get there before midnight.

So I set off alone into the dark with a headlamp I bought from a dollar store. It was the middle of summer but it was still darn cold and the lights from the surrounding cities looked very small. About an hour or so later I started to doubt whether I could reach the summit before midnight. There was absolutely nobody around and I started to feel afraid.

Then I received a call from my mother. She called to wish me happy birthday and we spoke for a while, but I don't remember what we talked about. I was feeling very afraid at this point. I thought this might be the last conversation I would have with her if I died that night but I didn't want her to know how afraid I was, and it was getting late so I told her I loved her and would call her when I got home.

About an hour or so before midnight a fog set in at the top of the mountain. I couldn't see very far ahead of me or any lights from other stations or anywhere for that matter. I didn't have anything to mark distances so I became quickly demoralized. This is when I stopped thinking that I may die alone on Mt. Fuji and started to actually fear for my life.

At this elevation I couldn't breathe very well. I had dropped my Ventolin inhaler at some point and could only climb maybe a few meters at a time before I needed to stop to catch my breath. I was exhausted so I sat down for a while. My body temperature dropped significantly as I sat for over an hour. I was shivering and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably. I had never seen snowfall in my life, but that night on the mountain was the coldest I had ever experienced so far.

It was past midnight. I didn't make it to the summit before my birthday. I was disappointed in myself and regret going alone. I wanted to call my mother and tell her I loved her one last time but she was surely asleep by now. I wanted to cry but I couldn't. I started to think that this would have been so much easier if I had just waited with everybody else and climbed together. I hoped somebody would come by and help me to the summit, but nobody did.

I thought that if I had died on Mt. Fuji I'd be another cautionary tale, but for some reason I wasn't ready to die that night. I put myself together and rationalized if I don't start moving my body was going to succumb to the cold. I wasn't sure how far off the summit was but I was sure if I kept crawling for a few meters at a time like before I'd make it eventually.

It turns out the summit wasn't very far away. A mere 10 - 20 meters. I had been sitting at the bottom of the path that leads to the summit station for over an hour feeling sorry for myself thinking I was going to die.

- 141-24

Lasik

My boyfriend got hit head-on by a car while he was riding a bike. Apparently, it was so quick that his last thought before impact was, "That car looks like it's going really fast."

When he came to, he crawled himself over to a patch of grass and sat down. A paramedic off duty saw the accident happen from her car and told him he was bleeding from his head. My boyfriend replied, "What?"

She repeated herself and he said, "Okay, where are my glasses?"

he ended up relatively unscathed. didn't break any bones but he's got scars all over his body. he used the lawsuit money to get lasik though.

- Moosebanner

Might Deserve Hell ... and Bianca Del Rio

I tried to kill myself last month, took a ton of pills and called my therapist to apologize, she called my Dad and my Dad hauled me to the ER. I thought I would die faster, which was why I called my therapist when I did, so it was about 30 minutes after I was in the bed in the ER when I started to feel so bad I thought I would die. I was freezing cold, everything was tingling and vibrating and felt mildly painful in a way I don't know how to describe. I felt like all of my insides where pressing against the outside of my body.

I looked over at my Dad and saw his face, and then I really thought I was going to die that instant. I prayed for the first time in my life (other than small prayers like "don't let someone die in a car accident" etc for anxiety) and I said to God "Let me die and go to hell, or to heaven, though I don't think that is an option, or let me live, I'm indifferent. Use your best judgement, but looking at my Dad right now, I understand if you send me to hell. I think I might deserve to go to hell."

Giphy

Suddenly I felt like a ton of bricks had been dropped on me and I felt the most pain I have ever experienced in my life, and I started projectile vomiting the black charcoal they gave me like I was in a horror movie. I was raised atheist, I have only ever prayed as a method to ease my anxiety when I was afraid someone else might die. I guess I might believe in a God now, but I have no idea which one to pick.

- lawnsaunaslide

A Dope Concert

Spun out after an icy night returning home from a childish Gambino concert. It was slow motion and my fiancée was next to me in the back freaking out.

I put my hand on her leg and just kept telling her it's okay, but in my mind I was convinced this was it. Honestly I went from "oh fck," to "sht well I guess this is it," to "well at least that concert was pretty dope" lol

- goatviewdotcom

Relief

"Thank god"

I was in such excruciating pain that when I started to lose consciousness I was just thankful the pain was finally going to end.

Turns out I was fine, mostly, after surgery, but I still remember that overwhelming feeling of relief that washed over me when I thought it was the end.

- Lil-Maece

Car Crashes And Coherent Thought

"Aaaaaahhhhh! Sh*t!"

...

"Ugh. Ow. Where's my coat?"

Car accidents don't lend themselves to coherent thought, nor does being in shock afterward. My car was upside down, I'd separated my shoulder, and I probably had a concussion, but I really needed to find my coat.

- jemmo_

I feel that. My thoughts after coming to were:

"I'm so glad I didn't kill my dad. Where'd my side mirror go? That smell is weird. I GOTTA PUT MY HAZARDS ON LIKE THEY TAUGHT ME IN DRIVERS ED!"

I put my hazards on, climbed across the car and hopped onto the interstate, and left the key in the ignition. My car was leaking fluid (might have been gasoline, don't remember), still didn't think to turn it off.

I got so concussed I still don't remember a year of my life, but damn it I remembered to turn those hazards on!

- MoonlightOnSunflower


If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

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.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

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.