Finally finding the love of your life to settle down with after experiencing one disappointing date after another is pure bliss.
But it's what comes after the initial attraction that makes your soulmate one to stick around for.
To demonstrate this, Redditor Danielly13 asked strangers on the internet:
"What's your favorite thing your SO does?"
Understanding
"She is very understanding. I never feel dumb saying something to her."
– dodger28
"Damn wish my relationship with bf were like that."
– SleeplessNight21
Brain Like A Sponge
"He's just genuinely an optimistic person and it makes me feel better. He always finds the upside to something and focuses on the good and it's really refreshing - even if I'm being a negative nancy about everything."
"In addition his brain is like a dang sponge. He's so good at obtaining information and everyday I feel like he's telling me something new that he's been learning about, it's pretty cool."
– milkenema420
Peace Offering
"If we have an argument and are both huffing, she will secretly order us our favourite take away meal and leave it in the kitchen. I can't resist opening it and then she will come into me and say 'oh?' And we will both just start laughing and say sorry."
– luckycharms_889
"My Happiness"
"Always asks me if I'm ok or what's wrong when I'm quiet. I'm in my head a lot so it really helps to keep me grounded. She's my happiness."
– allthingsbangboomzip
Cute Voice Memos
"He can never remember the lyrics to any songs. That doesn't stop him from singing along at the top of his voice. We're long distance at the moment and he sends me voice memos of him singing along to songs he knows I like, always with the absolutely wrong lyrics. He's adorable."
– AHedgehogNamedSeb
Respect
"She'll turn off her phone and give me her undivided attention."
– kukukele
Dance Connection
"My SO is a bit of a music nerd, so when he discovers a new album he puts it on speaker."
"The thing is, he often gets so lost in the moment that he starts dramatically mouthing the words and dances along to the tunes. Soon enough he drags me into his little eccentric dance."
"Are we good at dancing? Hell no, but he's f'ken feelin' it and in those moments the strongest emotions I feel are happiness and gratefulness for his existence."
– I_must_not_buuut
What Mutual Passion Does
"Gets super excited about things he is interested in, but even more excited when they are things I am also interested in because it's something we can share."
– mkm577
"I can attest that when my girlfriend is interested in stuff I'm interested in it makes me really happy."
– MET90LX
People Explain Which Conspiracy Theories They Believe Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
It's often the bizarre, almost trivial conspiracy theories that take root in people's minds and a Reddit thread dedicated to plumbing the depths of these bel...Those Three Words
"He randomly says 'I love you'. Like we will just be sitting on the couch watching the news, and he'll say it. I know he means it then. It makes me tingle inside, even after 6 years."
– Denverleah74
"Mine does this too. We'll be doing something completely random and he'll just look at me and say I love you baby. Gives me the warm fuzzy feeling inside."
– anonymous2278
Human Pillow
"loves to fall asleep on me anywhere especially on vechicles."
– PaintComprehensive36
Comforting Sounds
"The sound of her voice when she's yawning or laughing makes me feel calm and relaxed like no other thing can do. She is the medicine to anything that puts me in s bad mood."
– Iskelmaikel
Random Gesture
"He buys me flowers. For no reason other than he loves me. It’s random too most of the time but he always buys flowers for my birthday. I am beyond lucky to have such an amazing husband."
– coffeeandjesus1986
Observing The Joys
"I love watching him watch the things he loves. The way he lights up and laughs is indescribable."
"I also really love when he randomly touches me. Sometime he’ll lean over and pat my head, or gently tug my hair, or bop whatever body part is closest with the remote, and I absolutely love it. And I especially love that he does it often and entirely unprompted."
– SmileIntelligent3940
Natural Problem Solver
"Her ability to just figure any situation out. Doesn’t matter if it’s finding new health care, dealing with the bank, fixing something at the house while I’m gone, or pretty much just finding a solution to any problem. She’s a natural problem solver and the peace of mind that brings me as a partner is amazing."
"Edit: Appreciate all the concern about not letting your partner do all of the 'problem solving' by themselves (that is great advice). Thankfully in my situation we are pretty equally competent and so when we can do it together, we crush it. But when we need to divide and conquer, I know damn well she’s gonna handle her business no problem (and I will handle mine). This is especially apparent to me as my ex was essentially useless and if I didn’t do something, it didn’t get done."
– _Takub_
A Plush Accommodation
"Puts up with me."
"Sometimes, in the middle of the night I'll roll over, and she'll roll over too so she can pat my butt."
– Guvnuh_T_Boggs
Infectious Laughter
"His childish charm. He’s this 6 foot something bearded man but he will give me the sweetest smile, and hold me with so much care, and caress my hair, sing the most upbeat songs to me, and giggle with me when something is hilarious."
– [deleted]
Kindness Matters
"He is so kind and generous to everyone!"
"Especially homeless people. Not only he likes to give them money and food, but he always talks to them so he can understand their needs and provide the best donations."
"For example, he often gives rides to the store to this girl so she can buy food, he gives blankets every winter to this guy who is not homeless, but lives in a very poor condition. He also, sometimes, donates them his time and spend hours just talking and listening a lot."
"He is genuinely the most kind person I know and it inspires me so much!"
– suicidalsociety
Comfort
"He holds my hand and gently squeezes it in a rhythmic kinda way when we're in crowded spaces so I don't get overwhelmed and shut down."
– digerydonnut
Patience
"Explains every little detail of something to me with unlimited patience and in so much depth. Like, he’s a musician and he’ll tell me about something he’s learning to play and take all the time to explain the technical aspects to me, even though he has to start from scratch because I know nothing about it."
"We have a lot of problems that we may not be able to work through, but I could spend the rest of my life listening to him talk about things he enjoys or knows a lot about and never get bored of it."
– molotov_cockteaze
Whether your significant other performs grand gestures—or even subtle ones—to remind you they're grateful for you, is always appreciated.
But it's the quirky idiosyncrasies that will always prove you've found your person.
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Redditor r3tr0gam3r83 wanted to hear about which realizations in life have left people SHOOK, so they asked:
"What is something that blew your mind once you realized it?"
Avocados are not vegetables.
They're fruits, berries to be exact.
Like what?!?!
Colleagues
GIF by Bud LightGiphy"Sometimes it is more important to like your colleagues than the actual job."
"I had shi**y jobs with the most amazing colleagues and had shi**y colleagues and the most amazing job. I'd pick the first every time."
chr989
Star Trekking
"That you could legitimately travel at warp speed through the center of galaxies and never run any real risk of hitting a star. That’s how spread out space really is."
justanotherguyhere16
"Also, galaxies, stars, and even the Universe is constantly moving. I think time travel has been invented, but they can’t figure out the 'space' part of it.
"Yes, they can travel back in time, but relatively speaking, they can’t figure out how to navigate to the part of the planet they want to reach. So when they travel back in time, it’s relative to where they currently are, and end up not moving through space, thus ending up in the middle of an empty vacuum."
theknights-whosay-Ni
Jaws is Old
"That sharks predated the rings of Saturn."
BeardedDominant
"Sharks also developed the immune system that ended up in both dinosaurs/birds and mammals."
csiz
"We don’t know that. We can’t say for certain that the rings are only 100 million years old. It’s still debated."
The_Kek_5000
"I'm pretty sure that sharks are older than trees."
Cayderent
From the Trees
"One day I sat on a tram, passing a river. There was a duck in a tree. I realized I'd never seen ducks in trees. No one else seemed to notice, but I was puzzled. Now whenever I come across something that seems intuitive but I have never considered I call it a duck in a tree."
Ol_Pasta
"This realization happened to me this past year. We apparently have a family of wood ducks in one of the big trees in our yard. Our neighbor said she has seen a duck walking around on a branch. I made it 37 years without knowing some ducks can roost in trees. My wife caught a video of the mama leading like eight ducks into the field next to our house. We aren't even near water."
jwbourne
Artistic Timeline
Confused Eminem GIFGiphy"Pablo Picasso and Eminem were both alive at the same time."
leebon427
"I’d bet a lot of people think Picasso is a Renaissance artist."
editormatt
I admit it. I'm one of those people. Pablo and Marshall, in one lifetime.
New facts are fun.
The New World
Design Loop GIF by xponentialdesignGiphy"They were colonizing the Wild West at the same time as they were building skyscrapers in Manhattan. I always think of them taking place eighty to a hundred years apart. It's wild."
Emilayday
Oh the Power
"Nuclear power plants are just steam power plants that use nuclear reactions to heat the water. There's no fancy magic extracting energy directly from nuclear material. They just boil water and spin a turbine."
RenaKunisaki
"Most electrical generation is spinning a turbine. Photovoltaic solar power is pretty much the only exception, and it's not the only form of solar power. There's solar thermal power, which uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate the heat of the sun to make steam and turn a turbine."
Brawndo91
The Empire
"The Roman Empire fully fell less than 50 years before the discovery of the new world."
South-by-north
"The Romans also had copper wire, magnets, and battery acid. They could have invented electricity hundreds of years before it was actually discovered. But they didn't. The wire was used for jewelry, the magnets as lodestones, and the battery acid was used to clean the rust off of swords."
Kahzgul
"RIP Byzantine Empire. 1453 never forget."
crossbowman44
The Witness
"Owl‘s silent flight. I mean I always knew that but a while ago was the first time I actually witnessed it. Owl came flying towards me and landed only a few feet away and you couldn‘t hear anything. Crazy."
Zealousideal-You-324
"I saw a barn owl swoop down and catch a mouse while hiking at night, and the whole thing happened in complete silence. It gave me a deep sense of unease because it was literally like someone hit the mute button on life."
VulcanVisions
Bad Kermit
Kermit The Frog Meme GIF by IdentityGiphy"Poison dart frogs aren't poisonous in captivity."
"I own 5 of them and anytime I tell someone I own some I always get 'Do you ever lick them' or 'Can you go kill someone with them.' But yeah they get their poison from what they eat, and all I give them is fruit flies."
JMfury
Poison frogs?
That sounds like something Rose would have a story about on 'The Golden Girls.'
Redditor rentinghappiness wanted to hear about the things everyone really didn't know anything about until it happened to them, so they asked:
"What is something you used to think people were over-exaggerating about until you experienced it yourself?"
We never really know anything about anything until we try it for ourselves.
Mouth Issues
Dentist GIFGiphy"Dentist chiming in… tooth pain. I knew academically how painful they could be until it happened to me."
juneburger
"You know the pain is serious when you start looking forward to the inevitable root canal."
HailMari248
Wonders of Nature
"Giant sequoia trees. When I finally saw them in person, they looked fake. I could not comprehend a tree of that size."
schaefer001
"And we may have lost 15-20% of the remaining trees during some big fires in 2020 and 2021. A 2011 estimate puts it that there were only 80,000 remainings. They truly are wondrous organisms that I feel like everyone should have the chance to experience if they can."
"I'm a big believer in doing everything we can to protect and preserve these silent giants. It's really sad that so many were cut down by loggers when the wood is such poor quality for human purposes, to begin with. Such an utter and sad waste."
this_is_poorly_done
Just Me
"Loneliness."
Fried__SoapI
"I'm with you. Put all my cards into a girl who went suddenly cold and dark on me. Now I'm alone at rock bottom figuring out my next moves. You know, the smartest people in the world and also the happiest people in the world can be the loneliest?"
"I was only recently informed it's okay to talk to myself and hype myself. Enjoy my own company. I'm absolutely going to learn to do that. I'm thinking of painting, walking, and weekend trips out on a bus. Would be nice if you could have joined me even if we sat in silence."
Roofdragon
The Years Gone By...
"The physical pain of getting older. Damn."
marklikeadawg
"The emotional pain too. I get so nostalgic and teary over the past and how much has changed. It's a weird grieving process over losing your youth and the way things were."
heethersmeether
"On my 35th birthday, my wife woke me up with a cupcake and a candle, sang me 'Happy Birthday' and then congratulated me on being '15 from 50'... that really hit me hard. The other day I turned 45 and she said '5 from 50' and that hit me so hard, I just wanted to stay in bed all day. I still feel like an irresponsible teen but I'm pushing 50. Insane."
Opa_Kalaka
It's Hazy
Confused Always Sunny GIF by It's Always Sunny in PhiladelphiaGiphy"Brain fog. I had an alcohol withdrawal seizure in March. My short-term memory and sense of time are absolutely sh*t right now. On the plus side, I haven't had a drink in over 90 days and I don't want one."
Sideshow_Bob_Ross
Oh the wonders of the brain.
What a mess.
Scorched
Menopause Hot Flashes GIF by Kino LorberGiphy"Hot Flashes. I didn’t think they were this bad. I’m a 31-year-old man who took Wellbutrin for the past month and hot flashes are a side effect."
"I thought you just thought you were hot. No motherf**ker you are. You’re super hot legitimately, and you have to do something about it or you’ll go insane. It’s not in your head. It’s your brain raising your temps until you can’t focus on anything else."
_PswayZ_
Everlasting
"Chronic illness, there is absolutely no way you can truly understand the impact unless you experience it."
Disastrous-Phase-979
"Just that idea of always being sick and you will NEVER not be sick again."
"AND you're expected to participate in society just the same as everyone else. It's deeply f**ked up."
Farisr9k
"I like the part where I've been in pain for 25 years so I can kind of still function even when it's really bad."
"And then I try to get an ambulance guy or an admin assistant in a hospital to believe that I'm having an emergency and they're like 'You seem fine, take some Tylenol and go home' until I finally get a blood test, and then the doctor goes 'Holy crap, you're about to die, why didn't you come to the ER sooner.'"
"Like, listen up MF, I had to take a go**amn Uber to get here and then argue with reception for an hour."
BlahBlahILoveToast
Stoned
"How much a kidney stone hurts."
SpiritusSanctu
"Most people expect it to hurt the most when passing a stone through the urethra. Nothing prepared me for the pain as it passed through my kidney/ureter."
"One second I would be fine, carrying on conversations, prancing around nimbly-nimbly. The next second I would be keeled over, crying in agony, losing my lunch due to the sudden onset of crippling pain. 0/10 ... Would not recommend it."
King_of_Lunch223
Close Your Eyes
"Insomnia."
Successful_Fall7801
"Oh, what I would give to not have insomnia! I go through periods of sleeping more or less normal, and then for seemingly no reason, I’ll have weeks on end where a good night of sleep is IMPOSSIBLE. I’ll get 2-4 hours of sleep despite pills, tea, baths, white noise, meditation - everything."
"I’ll spend my days so deeply, utterly exhausted that I can barely think, and my whole body feels heavy, lifeless. It’s hard to feel any kind of emotion, let alone happiness or contentedness. Just existing as a human-shaped puddle until the time when I can go to bed and hope to god that tonight will be different for some unknown reason."
"Insomnia is a real bi*ch. It will tank your mental health and send you spiraling really fast."
thesmallshadows
Beep
Meme Reaction GIF by TravisGiphy"Tinnitus. It’s torture."
DissidentBliss
"I don't mind it much 'cause I've had it since I was born. That means I don't know what proper silence is."
77x5ghost
"Me too, they thought I had hearing issues when I was young because I couldn’t really hear some of the beeps well because they matched the pitch of the ringing."
ehter13
Don't judge another until you lace up their shoes and walk a mile in them!
Do you have anything else to share? Let us know in the comments.
