Top Stories

People Break Down The Coolest Thing They've Ever Done By Accident

People Break Down The Coolest Thing They've Ever Done By Accident
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Some of the best moments in life happen when you're not actively seeking them.


The time in middle school when I unexpectedly won the approval of my team mates was an example of my happy accident.

Let me preface this to say I am not blessed with athletic capabilities whatsoever – specifically with sports – and I was always the last to be picked on teams.

It never bruised my ego as it was something I have come to expect early in my childhood that mostly consisted of practicing the flute and drawing manga.

I dreaded P.E. during school. It was not fun and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone who had to engage with me.

Anyway, we were playing softball, and – like Cinderella – I had a tendency of always running away from the ball, mostly out of fear that I would be smashed like a pumpkin.

There I was on the outfield when the opposing team member at bat smashed that ball in my direction like he had some sort of vendetta against me for having chest hair as a prepubescent and he didn't.

I swear I almost saw a trailing flare from that ball aiming for my face like a comet. I froze and instinctively raised my gloved hand in an attempt to shield my precious mug.

Before I knew it, I heard cheers erupting from my team mates in response to the ball that was firmly lodged in my grip, thereby declaring the batter was out.

I didn't earn that victory intentionally. But I sure as heck will own that moment, even if my delicate hand was throbbing inside that mitt.

Wondering about other people's fortuitous twists of fate, Redditor NotGeorgeBush72 asked the askReddit community:

"What is the coolest thing you have done by accident?"

Quick Reflexes

"First bartending shift ever, picked up a bottle of fairly expensive liquor (Patron Añejo). Slipped from my hand, held out my foot to slow the fall of the bottle to lessen the spread of shattered glass, and the bottle ended up resting on my outstretched foot completely unharmed."

"The one customer that was there (slow opening shift) saw the whole thing and freaked out, thinking I've been bartending for decades. I've never felt prouder of my reflexes."

DonaTanner

The Close Call

"I stopped a lady at a crosswalk because her underwear was hanging out of the back of her skirt (look like a mistake in the bathroom maybe). She stepped back off the crosswalk in about 2 seconds later a vehicle making a left turn at high speed smashed into parked cars right next to where she would have been standing."

LunaticPity

A Clean Save

"Waitressing in college I was carrying a huge tray of dirty dishes from the dining room to the kitchen down a little hallway. I slipped on some water, went down hard on my butt but managed to keep the tray perfectly level and didn't spill a thing. Not a major achievement but kept me from having to clean for the next half hour."

LakitaChattin

Extreme Sports Maneuver

"One time I was driving a kids bike in small circles so I went a bit too tight on my circle, ended up horizontal with my bike, ending up with JUST the side of the pedal touching the ground, did a full 360 turn, then popped back up like it was some 1000/1000 difficulty BMX move or somesh#t."

"Like.. is that even a move for BMX tricks?? Not sure but I did it, completely on accident but still."

Valentines450140

Quick Reflexes

"Accidentally corrected a skid when I lost control of my car on an icy road. I hit my brakes too hard and noticed my car started to drift to the left. Instinctivly, I let off the gas and turned my steering wheel left, into the drift, and my car went back to driving in a straight line."

Upnorth4

Too Cool For School

"High school. Walked by 2 kids in the hallway. Kid 1 playfully threw water bottle at Kid 2's back just as we passed each other. The bottle bounced off and I caught it with my hand without looking or even turning my head, and I just had a blank nonchalant expression as I did that. I handed it back to them with a poker face, but I was actually losing my mind and felt like f'king Spiderman lol."

ZGMF-X09A_Justice

Fate Or Coincidence?

"Bought someone a Coke without looking at it and it had their name on it."

hypo-osmotic

Attitude Checked

"I got angry, so I crumpled up a receipt and threw it at the wall. It bounced off and landed in a vase on the counter. I stopped in my tracks and thought 'well I can't be mad after witnessing that.'"

waffleking333

The Oblivious Hero

"I had headphones in walking downtown a busy street, a kid almost hit me with his bike coming down the driveway so I stopped it by the handle bars. The mom came running down the driveway and I was thinking 'Oh great, a Karen.' After taking my headphones out she thanked me in a panic for stopping her son from flying into the street as a car passed by. Never noticed it drive by."

cowsareprettylit

Twice Charmed

"When I was about 14/15 I was rushing down the stairs and tripped about 7 or 8 steps from the bottom, going into complete freefall for a moment. To avoid an extremely painful tumble, I instinctively reached out with my arm and happened to grab the newel post (the end bit of the banister) with my hand at the same time that one of my feet only just managed to make brief contact with a step. The momentum then swung my entire body around the newel post, my foot lost contact with the step again, then when I finally came to a stop I had landed firmly on both feet and didn't have a single scratch on me. One of the scariest moments of my life."

"It's either that or the time I gave my brother in law ball-in-a-cup for Christmas (based on a long-running joke we had, I honestly pick good presents). After trying it out for a good while and having no luck, he got frustrated and jokingly said it was broken. To make him feel better, I grabbed it off the floor and said it took practice and that nobody ever succeeds at getting the ball in the cup right away. To prove my point, I had a go myself and nailed it on my first try. Neither of us really knew what to say."

ButteredReality

Lucky Guess

"I was taking a tour of one of the U.S government buildings, I believe the Capital but I'm not sure, during a school trip. During the tour, the guide showed us a chandelier and asked if anyone knew how much it was worth. Flippantly, I answered something like 4.7 million like I already knew the answer. Turns out, it was the correct answer: the tour guide said 'sounds like someone's been doing his research.' None of my friends believed me when I told them that I hadn't already known the answer. I believed me though."

uheardaboutpluto214

Tripping The Light Fantastic

"My dad accidentally had the best acid trip of his life at a Grateful Dead concert. I'm old, my dad is old, this happened way back. At age 18, my dad had to wear a body cast due to surgery for his scoliosis. His buddies heard of a Grateful Dead concert a couple towns over in California, and they invited him along. My dad was laid flat in the back of an old Studebaker station wagon for the ride. When they arrived, my dad's buddies asked him to hide their hits of paper acid in his body cast so they could be discrete, since all of them had been arrested for possession prior. My dad obliged and all was going well for a bit. Once the Grateful Dead started playing, my dad was dancing around, best he could, and began to sweat. Cue the paper acid being absorbed into his system and suddenly he's tripping balls at a once in a lifetime concert."

natgoeshome

Saving Christmas

"Christmas Party at a friend's new apt. She'd made the place lovely, after her return from Italy. She's set up her 1st adult Christmas tree. After dinner it's time for pumpkin pie and hot drinks, I'm getting my tea. From across the room I see someone accidentally brushed past the tree and it begins to wobble and spin heading for a fall with all of her hand blown Italian ornaments on it. Somehow I cross the room unspin the tree, set it back in its proper place (with all of its ornaments intact) and never spilled any tea."

oldbaldad

The Miracle Shot

"We were playing a game of dodgeball, and since there were too much people on the benches, the coach decided to add a rule: anyone who can throw the ball directly into the basketball-goal (spelling?) can immediately deliver everyone."

"I had one of the balls in hand when he said that, and the moment he signaled the game to continue, I threw the ball randomly (because I have the worst aim ever) and it somehow went straight into it! I never managed to pull it off a second time, but boy was I proud for the entirety of that day!"

Fire In The Hole

"Target shooting at a friends house. He wasn't having much luck with his new rifle so of course I was giving him sh*t big time. He got a bit frustrated, handed the rifle to me and said 'If you can talk all that shit, here you do better than I did' He told me to shoot the bowling pin that hangs by twine on the left. I sarcastically replied "I'll shoot that b*tch down by taking out the string" I put it up to my shoulder, aimed for the center of the bowling pin and pulled the trigger. By some freak chance I hit the twine and the bowling pin dropped. I was celebrating because I honestly had not aimed at the twine. He was a bit salty until I told him that I have no f'kin idea how I hit that string because I wasn't even aiming for it LOL"

Lasersandshit

All In A Day's Work

"I was a lifeguard on the ocean. I was having a pretty shi* day, and on top of it my lunch was postponed an hour."

"I headed up the beach to the nearest hotel to eat. As I was leaving the restaurant I heard a crowd of people screaming near the pool. As I came down the stairs towards, I saw a young child floating face down in the water. I immediately pulled the kid out and gave rescue breathing until the EMT could arrive."

"The next day the parents walked down to my stand to thank me. They were originally told by their doctors they couldn't have children, but a few years later were blessed with this young boy..their only child. The mother told me I was their guardian angel that day."

"I'm not a very religious person, but this story still gives me goose bumps knowing that I was the right person in the right place at the right time for that boy. I started off angry about my lunch time change, but this was the outcome. :)"

darth_nater79

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.