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People Imagine The One Change They Would Make To The Education System

Most people who have been in school recently, have children/siblings/friends in school, or have kept an eye on their local education system agree that there is absolutely room for improvement. The thing is, some systems are so out of whack that you kind of don't know where to start.


But thanks to a recent Reddit thread, people are taking a moment to stop and think about it.

Reddit user ham193 asked:

If you could make one change to your current education system what would it be?

We can't imagine a world where one single change would fix everything for everyone - but each of the changes these people came up with seem like they would have made a huge difference for a few people out there. It's possible a combination of a few of these suggestions might be just what we need to get our education system back on track, or at least closer to functioning for more than the narrow groups of people it's designed for.

Take a look at some of these stories and suggestions.

Trade 

Adding relevant courses, so if a student is shite academically but good with their hands then they can learn a trade rather than feel like a failure.

- Gerrard1995


Here in Australia we have those classes. It starts in grades 8 and 9 as woodworking and metalworking and then from grades 10-12 they can attend TAFE where they become apprentices in their chosen trade: electrician, builder, mechanic, etc. It works really well because they still attend school part time where they take a different English and Maths class that basically outlines how to budget, how to write emails and resumes and other life skills. Then when they graduate, they're three years into an apprenticeship and set to pretty much graduate into a job.

- RunawayThoughts3

Understanding Why

Giphy

I'm an elementary teacher and in my school I've already seen a huge shift in current curricula towards getting kids to understand WHY a process works. I think this is such a positive paradigm shift from "just memorize this algorithm or strategy." When kids understand a process, the level of transfer is so much higher!

- AllieBallie22

Do It Later

Late start to the school day for high school. The research is really clear on this, if you start elementary classes earlier and high school later both groups do better.

High school kids tend to stay up just as late regardless of when they've got to get up (I certainly didn't stray from that), and sleep is important in the formation of long term memories. Which is ideally what you're trying to promote through education.

- techniforus

Social Experiment

A soon teacher-to-be here. The biggest thing that haunts the education system in the country I live in (Sweden) is the fact that there are several changes made to it every time a new government is elected, but there are never studies made or any kind of reflections about these changes. Between 2009 - 2012 we changed our grade system three times! and no one batted an eye. Some students who were caught in-between the changes and had to redo a bunch of stuff to receive valid grades.

Our education system is so patch-worked due to these quick (without much thoughts) changes that many faculties claim that Sweden basically is a big Social Experiment where no one asks questions. The key word is chaos...

P.S I completely understand the wish to make new innovations and leave your mark as a politician but since all changes made the last 6 years have utterly failed and been forgotten (with thousands of tax money wasted and hurdles of extra stress on teachers to implement the new ideas) I genuinely find myself wishing that politicians were banned from making policies related to the education system here.

- Kharr2

Exams

Personally I feel as if the examination system is outdated. Intellect isn't based on their ability to memorize, its a combination of thing. And exams really handicap people who may excel at other parts of learning.

- ham193


100% agree. I got A's throughout all my coursework (essays, projects etc.) but in my exams I failed miserably and got D's because I struggle to excel in that space. Brought my grade's down hugely and made me think I was dumb when it's really the exam system that's dumb.

- marvelouspineapple

Zero Tolerance For Zero Tolerance

Get rid of "zero tolerance" because it's the dumbest thing ever though up in this universe.

- trynumber53

This is true because if we are both going to get in trouble what's gonna stop me from hitting first?

- spider_j4y

Big time. That was the policy for bullying at my middle school and all that ever happened was me getting blamed for being bullied, if anything.

- Mysterygirlwhite

Friday's Lessons

Sometimes I daydream about being a high school teacher. Like, maybe I teach AP Bio, and we talk about cells. But then I dedicate every Friday to talking about things I wish I had known before becoming an adult. We talk about taxes, life insurance, etc. with a very strict "no stupid questions" policy. Because I'm an adult and I STILL have many stupid questions about this stuff.

I still remember the difference between a graduated cylinder and an Erlenmeyer flask, but nobody told me how to handle the legality of my dead dad's estate, or how to change the air filters in my car.

- turdghoul

Art And Effort

Giphy

Not putting grade on PE and art. I seriously think that you shouldn't get a grade on something you can't control. (Kind of but most of the time you can't control that) and art... well, I think it should be a class just for fun.

- primus747

A Discipline Issue

Giving teachers real means to discipline kids. My wife is a teacher, and she is always saying that the badly behaved kids know there is nothing they can do, and they disrupt the class for everyone.

- camelfarmer1


At least put the power back into the teachers hands, some at least. My wife did 20 years in education and you're correct. There's no real discipline. The first (and maybe biggest) issue is that parents will almost always believe their child over the teacher, and many times the administration will take the side of the parents.

I've heard countless examples of a kid disrupting class (which is something that affects the rest of the kids but admin doesn't care about that when trying to pump up those test scores) and there are significantly more questions toward the teacher as to why they didn't do this or that to prevent it as opposed to holding the student accountable.

Even things like getting sent to principle's office or in-school suspension are rare. I know those aren't optimal methods of discipline, but they used to be done more and they'd hold some weight.

- mexipimpim

Students with a history of violence should be separated from the general student population. Expelling a student should be easier and far simpler. It's unfair to the vast majority of students that troublemakers and bullies are allowed to remain among them. In the US, you quite literally have to maim someone to be removed from the system. We've utterly emasculated teachers, who are powerless to do anything.

- Omnibus_Dubitandum

When Are We Ever Going To Use This? 

This might be small but:

Require all math classes to have practical sessions every once in a while, using situations and case studies from real jobs.

For instance, my school made us do a whole month of T-total coursework. We received no explanation of its purpose, so instead we were just told to focus on the T-Totals and slog through multiple formulas (which we had to invent and explain how and why). Turned us all off from T-Totals (and mathematics) and all of my classmates thought it was a waste of time.

It wasn't until I graduated when I (at 24) joked with my siblings of the 'T-totals' that we all had to do by 11th grade. Until my dad heard us, and told us that that was literally the formula traditionally used by Air Force pilots to keep track on the positions of planes.

So yeah, I'm absolutely certain that kids would be able to remember more of mathematics (and would be less afraid/apathetic of using math) if they have sessions where they'd have to pretend to be pilots doing T-totals, or scientists using standard deviation (or archaeologists/anthropologists measuring out a site for a dig). And then get guest talks from people who use mathematics for their jobs. It'd also enable military/universities from having to do classes re-teaching people how to do math.

- MageLocusta

Just Hold Hands

Improve sex Ed. Yesterday, we learned that instead of having sex we should hold hands, or write letters to each other.

- ecfinwf


My sister went to a religious school during grade 9 and they told her that if you have sex before marriage your junk will turn a funny colour and fall off. She laughed and called bull; and the teacher told he she was going to hell for saying that wasn't true.

When my middle school taught sex ed in grade 9, we learned about how plants have sex and reproduce. Not humans, plants.

After grade 7 I learned nothing regarding sex ed. All of my teachers would get awkward and not want to talk about sex ed with us, and if they did talk about it, it was the bare minimum and practically taught you nothing.

- urbanlulu

Once one of my teachers told us to not French kiss because you're saying it's ok to "enter your body" so it means that they'll take it as an invitation to enter your body in other ways.

This was around 2005/2006.

I can't even begin to unpack everything that is wrong with that statement.

- seh_23

College

The debt crisis in terms of university education is a significant issue, but I think a big help with that would be making it easier for people to apply for university later on in their careers. There's often the sense that you need to go to university at 18, when in fact taking a couple of years to work and decide whether university is right for you would be a big help for a lot of people.

It's less common now for people to stay in one career for their entire lives, and people being given the tools to find the job they want after getting a little life experience is not such a bad thing. The current situation, where if you don't decide what you want to do for the rest of your life at age eighteen you're destined to be a failure, doesn't really help anyone.

- Portarossa

I watched so many friends flounder in college because they had no idea what they wanted to do but felt they had to go right out of high school. Watched a number of classmates fail out because they didn't take it seriously or because they ended up in classes they hated and a school they didn't really want to be at.

It took me six years between high school and college to sort of figure out what I wanted to do. A bit of a break is a good idea.

- NJgreenwood

Dress Codes

Dress code rules. Needs to be changed so much.

  • All the crap about skirt/short/shirt length needs to go - especially when it's mainly directed at girls. I get there's a line to how much skin one can show but it's frustrating when it's summer and literally every single pair of shorts that doesn't look hideous is "too short"
  • the fingertip rule for shorts... people have different arm lengths? I've been at both free dress and uniform schools and even the uniform shorts were shorter than my fingertips.
  • I've heard stuff about not being able to show collarbones? like, really? I don't own a single shirt that wouldn't show my collarbone at all. I'd have to get a button-up and do every button up to the top....
  • shoulders are understandable, especially for sun safe reasons, but regular t-shirts shouldn't have to go halfway down your forearm.
  • no leggings etc - like seriously? they cover all the required areas, your fault for looking at my but and "being distracted"

Obviously stuff that would be offensive or show way too much skin is not allowed, but are you really going to stop a 13 year old girl from wearing regular old shorts and t-shirt?

also the fact that some schools give in-school suspension... like really? you're going to stop a kid from a whole day of classes because "leggings are too distracting"? something doesn't seem right here...

- legospaghetti

A Raise

Giphy

Raise teacher's salaries. At least where I live, they receive really low salaries when working for government schools. How are they supposed to have motivation to teach if they can barely live?

- daan_cover


Improving the salaries might also increase the quality of teachers. Unfortunately, as of 2019, if you're an intelligent and motivated young adult, there isn't a ton of reason to go into teaching unless you have a high degree of passion for it. Even in college, you see this: education majors tend to be, on average, worse students compared to their peers.

I suppose this might be somewhat of a controversial opinion, but I'd rather have highly competent and passionate enough educators and than highly passionate but low-quality ones.

- blank_slate_78

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.