Picking up a new passion is exciting. Certain things seem like they'd be super fun to start because they look so simple to do. However, a lot of times, things that look easy are, in fact, the total opposite. Here are a few examples of things that are way harder than they look.
u/PrideOfPR7 asked: What's something that looked easy but you failed horribly when you tried it?
Let me cry...
I once tried to do one of those things where you drink an entire water bottle in a couple seconds and i ended up choking on it and spitting it out all over my friend/cousin. the embarrassing part was that this was in my history class. everyone was just staring at me for a moment in complete silence and i was dying laughing but also super embarrassed. the look on my teachers face as she slowly shook her head and sighed made me want to cry. txketheride
multiplayer....
trying online multiplayer for the first time.
I remember dominating my friends/family (I used to win 90% of the time) at Halo, Gears of War, and COD on local multiplayer. then when I finally got Xbox live I vividly remember getting stomped by other players for weeks until I adjusted to online.
I'm pretty good now but every now and again i'll vs someone who is on a whole other level and i'll get put in my place again. ThatKiwiBloke
the struggle.
GiphyMaintaining good posture for a whole day—you gotta start that crap early in life otherwise you're gonna struggle even in your 20's LOL. bapresapre
Immediate.
Waterskiing. Boston_Strong_CQB241
Even though we went out to a big lake (Mead) almost every weekend during the summer while I was growing up, it took me years to be able to slalom ski. Everyone else in my extended family seemed to pick it up immediately. MazeTheorist
Let's Talk About....
GiphyIm just gonna say it.
Sex. Ranger343
I honestly want to say that sex should be fun and not grueling and hard. It's ok to be lazy and slow. I like to lay on my back at an angle and him lay on his side and neither one of us is doing a whole lot of work. It's harder to touch but extremely enjoyable. demonfairy69
The Switch....
Making a time table and following it to turn my life around.
I always thought I can do it the day I decide to. It turned out to be very difficult and I had/have a lot of moments when I just turn the old me. Now I know it is not a flick switch but a continuous process and one is supposed to take many small steps. lowkeyjakey
I suck.
GiphyWoodwork. You buy wood, you cut it to the right dimensions, you screw/glue it together. Seriously, how damn hard can that be.
Yet somehow, I suck at woodwork. HoggishPad
Jump! Or not....
Ski jumping a tiny little 1foot high mogul size jump without using legs as shock absorbers and ending up landing in a fire sale 🔥 and split lip from ski shooting up my face into the air. Required 3 stitches to fix. Scar reminds me daily to not be a dumb fool. j_k_802
RIDE!!!
GiphyRiding a mechanical bull. It looks easy, and when I talk to people who have done it they gave me a few pointers. I watched all night at people who were both good and bad and "figured it out". I hopped on and of course I did well when it went slow, but as soon and the operator sped it up, WOOSH i went. shaka_sulu
Using the fingers...
Knitting. I worked with a woman at a hardware store who would knit while she was taking care of customers (the woman was a goddess of hardware). I am a Doctor Who fan and I asked her to teach me. Making my fingers move the way they needed made my hands feel alien like I was forcing them to do something they weren't made to do.
I never got past a row or two without making huge mistakes. And that feeling in my hands, I just couldn't get past it for whatever reason. Now in lockdown, I am going to attempt piano and I fear it will be the same thing. ghallway
Bob Ross is the solution.
Painting. It looks so simple, but it hardly ever is.
Just paint along with Bob Ross! Who needs creativity when you can imitate instead?
Not as simple as it looks.
GiphyDancing. They make it look so easy and smooth!
When your college GF is just twirling and shimmying around and you try to do... things. Then she's pulling out her phone, calling 911 and saying "help my boyfriend is having a seizure."
It happens.
Cartwheels. D*mn near broke my arm when I tried.
Competitive dancer here: dislocated my elbow trying to do an aerial because "I've done years of cartwheels and I flip on hoops and silks all the time, an aerial is just a cartwheel with no hands, how hard can it be?"
They're very different instruments.
As a pianist, I badly overestimated how much of my ability would translate to trying a drum set for the first time.
Ironically it was the opposite for me. I started off on piano, was mediocre at it, but then became really good on the drums.
Stick shift is the worst.
GiphyDriving a car for the first time.
ESPECIALLY if it's stick and you never noticed. Stalling a car multiple times in a parking lot is very humbling.
Relatable.
Losing weight.
Opposite of this is true too - gaining weight is just as difficult. I add heavy cream to everything imaginable just for the extra calories. I have grown to f*cking hate food.
A lot of people THINK they're good at it...
Rapping, I feel like everyone underestimates it until someone dares you to try it and you absolutely fail.
Everyone who tries rapping always starts with "my name is ____, I'm here to say..." lmao it kills me every time.
Exercise is hard.
GiphyPull ups. I learned very quickly that I have basically 0 upper body strength.
I wanted to improve my upper body strength and looked up one of those 30 day push up things. Day 1 was like 5 push ups.
Turns out I can't even do 1, I just collapsed on the floor when I had barely moved from full up position.
I had to start on some other arm strength exercises first.
I'm 3 weeks in and still can't do a full proper press up but I can get down about half way, and get back up again!
Upper body stuff is hard.
Street Fighter = chess?
Playing fighter games like Tekken or Street Fighters. The pros know the special combinations for every character and there's apparently a technique where they can "read" their opponent's pattern so they can plan their next move, sort of like chess.
Not so easy.
My godd*mn computer desk. You get it and you think "Oh this'll be easy, I'll just follow the directions. I know how to use a screwdriver what could go wrong???"
12 missing screws, 1 manual written in Portuguese, 6 and half hours and one broken relationship later you realize that maybe you aren't the handyman you thought you were.
We'll agree that many of the things on this list were much harder than they seemed! Props to these folks for trying, though.
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.
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.
