Sometimes we want to hold onto stories so they continue to live within us. So much of our world is an open book, shared with everyone in possession of a smart phone and a bit of spare time. However, some stories deserve a that extra bit of attention, a little more focus, to truly grasp their importance.
These stories today are not game-changers in the sense they'll shift your whole worldview, they've just never been told before this moment.
Reddit user, u/BelvitaBiscuitz, wanted the secrets unfolded when they asked:
What's that story you've never been able to tell?
A Punishment Too Far
around 42 years ago, my little brother was playing with matches and set the woods on fire, burned about 10 acres.
everyone assumed that it was me smoking in the woods so he and I just let it be me.
I took the blame (and the a-- whooping) because Dad was kinda rough on the whoopings when he was mad. and I didn't want my little brother to have to take it.
Being that Dad got a little carried away this time (broke my arm) we've just never told anyone the truth.
The Tiniest Of Errors Leads To The Biggest Changes
Recently found out my big buff uncle who goes on hunting trips and is redneck as f-ck went to college to be a teacher. He was an assistant at a school and a little girl fell off the monkey bars, age was crying so he picked her up to calm her down. He was fired for this and couldn't teach in that area (this was back early 2000s). He told my grandmas friend who was helping him find a job that he wanted to help kids. He was hired to work in a juvenile detention center as a security guard, quit 6 weeks in and now works in a warehouse, already he gets better pay so he can provide for his family.
But jeez
Deep Intuition
It happened a long time ago. I have two younger brothers, one was 11 and the other 7. We were watching tv as the my youngest brother suddenly looked confused and looked everywhere like he was searching for something. I asked him what's wrong and he said "someone's doing something wrong, something bad, he hurts someone".
About an hour later, police shows up to arrest a neighbour of ours who apparently abused his kid and stole lots of money an hour before. I never really knew how I felt about it so I just asked my other brother (the one that was 11) to not say anything bc it would freak out out parents. My youngest brother doesnt remember this
...Teenagers.
When I was 17ish my dad had moved me into this 100 year old cabin in our back yard. (Small mountain town) I was.... difficult to say the least and it got me out of everyone's hair. It only has electric. Heat is a stove almost in the middle of the cabin.
Fast forward a couple months and it's winter. F-cking cold. I get home from work and it's freezing. I start a fire. Takes a few min but that thing really worked. I'm bored by myself. Look down at a 12 pack of mountain dew. Get stupid idea.
My brilliant brain thinks " put a soda in the fire it will be awesome". .... So I did. I'm sitting there watching TV and after like 20 min the can has still yet to explode. So.... without hesitation....I get down on my knees....open the door to see what the f-ck....in flows oxygen....can just HAPPENS to be facing with the top looking directly at me. My face at this point is about 2 feet from the can.
BOOM. Can cuts loose and hot pressurized liquid diabetes smashes into my face. I'm gripping onto my face and rolling around with nothing but the thought that I was blind.....f-ck what a stupid story about how to go f-cking blind. I scrambled around till I found something to clean off my face... I was fine.....never told a soul.
It's A Kitten. You Don't Need A Reason.
One day at work, my mom FaceTimed me and showed me a small kitten on her shoulder. The official story is that she saw some awful person throw it out the window and she rescued it. She had to pull over on the freeway on-ramp after she saw this small fuzzball fly out the window of the car in front of her and searched the grassy area until she found it.
The first clue that something was off was the speed of the vehicles. The second was that she used to be a dispatcher and apparently didn't remember the make, model, color of the car, or the license plate.
A couple of days later I was told the real story. She was at the dentist and apparently a stray cat had given birth to kittens in one of the gardens of that lot. She lured one toward her and decided to take it home and rescue it. She told me that I'm not allowed to tell anyone that story until she dies and then I can tell it at her funeral. Every once in a while she checks in about that story and asks if I told anyone yet.
A Beautiful Moment Only You Witnessed
I used to work at a supermarket. One day I saw the most normal looking middle aged man come in pushing his cart, and then the child inside him took over.
He did a little hop and a skip, and then jumped up in air, putting all his weight on the handle. He then face planted VERY hard, and the cart went flying up into the air.
The store was fairly busy at this point, and amazingly NOBODY saw it. I remember looking around frantically trying to find someone to share my amusement with, but I was the only person to witness this fantastic display.
The poor man scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, looking around sheepishly to see who had seen what had happened. As he turned in my direction, I turned away in awkwardness and also to save him the embarrassment.
I then watched him continue his shopping, looking very happy with himself that he'd gotten away with it. He didn't get away with it. He probably never told anyone, but I saw it.
Such. Tangible. Awkwardness.
This will probably get buried, I'm a bit late to the party but here goes. Format, mobile etc.
Years ago me and my first long term boyfriend broke up. We had been living together in a large house with another girl my age (around 18/19) at the time.
We had been broken up for a couple of months but we all stayed living together as it made sense until we had separated our finances totally. So I was moving out of the house, I had packed up all my stuff and my parents came to help me move. My step dad came down to the kitchen after going upstairs to take my bed apart. He's usually a man of few words but he had gone pretty quiet even for him.
Turns out he had made his way into the wrong room, taken my female house mates bed apart, after removing the bed sheets himself and uncovering 2 giant pink dildos, which he moved to the other side of the room without a word.
My house mate went up stairs and was like "who took my bed apart?" And we all burst out laughing and went to see, and there were the 2 dildos that he had moved, on her dresser awkwardly.
It was pretty cringe for everyone involved but its hilarious looking back now.
Even Rainbow Road??
One of the first times I invited my girlfriend to spend the night at my college apartment - I went to bed early. We're both gamers, but I'm an early bird and she's a night owl.
She reassured me I could go to sleep without her because, little did I know, she had plans to unlock Toad, Toadette, and the Special Cup in Mario Kart: DD for the GameCube.
My apartment complex had very strict parking. There were only 2 parking passes for me and my roommate, but I encouraged my girlfriend to park in the lot anyway because I'd never seen a friend get towed in the couple of years I lived there. She really didn't want to get towed though, so I promised to pay if she got her car impounded.
So I go to bed while she plays Mario Kart all night. Little did I realize she's an absolute freak at the game.
I wake up early in the morning to find her passed out from a night of gaming. I fire up the Gamecube to play some Mario Kart with breakfast.
Not aware she unlocked almost EVERYTHING in the game. I proudly proclaim,
"You got Toad!"
Barely awake she responds, "I got... TOWED??"
"Yeah! You got Toad last night while I was sleeping, I can't believe it!"
"I GOT TOWED?!"
"YEAH! Don't you remember?"
She frantically checks behind the blinds to look outside at the parking lot.
"I didn't get towed."
"Yeah, you got Toad and Toadette last night..?"
One of our best moments for sure.
...That's Not Your Name.
I started doing one of those 5k running apps. On this app, the trainer is named Erin. She coaches you through each "training" session. I've never been a runner and now can do a solid 5k! But anyway Erin told me that I've got to have a mantra. Something i can repeat to myself when I want to give up. Her mantra is "you're strong Erin, be strong" I could never come up with anything better so now my mantra is "you're strong Erin, be strong"
my name isn't even close to Erin but it doesn't feel right using my own name at this point.
I'm surprised how often I want to give up on things and automatically think "you're strong Erin, be strong".
Edit: guys I am so overwhelmed and touched by these replies! Gold and silver and wholesome? oh my! We are all strong Erins!!
A 10-Second Change
The time my mum needed to go back into the house to get a scarf. Because of this we were held back and missed a bus by 10 seconds. That bus then crashed into a bridge at very high speed because the bus driver had mental health problems. It is the closest I have ever been to death. I will never complain about my mum going back to get a scarf in my life again.
A Very Good Boy
It is not mind-blowing or anything of the sort, which is why I never told it, but when I first started getting sick and couldn't move around the house like usual, my cat would yell at me for two minutes until I sat down. He would proceed to purr furiously over my stomach, which was hurting, for about ten minutes at a time. He would chirp at me if I tried to get up beforehand and keep bumping my leg as I walked past if I never sat down.
Little did I know that he was trying to heal my cancer, that was growing into the muscle by that point. He's a little Siamese mix and he is very vocal, and I appreciate his little squeaks of support.
He is a very good boy.
Always Carry Vaseline With You
I moved to the UK from zimbabwe when I was 4. The first few years my parents spent their whole time trying to settle down, by the time I was 8 they realised we had never been to london. So on a hot june day we went into london. We went to the aquarium, Covent garden to see all the performers, on the london eye, it was a good day. To end the day we went to buckingham palace, I was tired so I was resting my head against the bars asking all the questions youd expect from an 8 year old.
After a while my parents said it was time to go, i pushed away from the bars and then felt the cold steel against the back of my ears. I hadn't noticed my head has slipped through. I panicked, a crowd gathered (I'm probably in many a family photo album) even a horse guard came to see what the commission was about.
Bet he wasnt expecting a child with his head stuck. By then I had accepted this as my new home, but I couldn't figure out how I'd go to sleep with a spike on the floor. Luckily an old lady had a tub of vaseline in her handbag and my dad was able to pull me out with my head smothered in vaseline.
A Little Sweetness In The World
I've told this on reddit before but never in person.
so i was at a water park with a girl I had a huge crush on and some of our mutual friends. i'm not a big fan of rides, she had been trying to talk me into going on one all day, and i finally agreed to try out this one really intense looking slide. basically you go down the slide while sitting on this big inflatable thing, and it was for two people so naturally i got paired up with the girl i had a crush on.
we both climbed into the inflatable, which had these little handles on it for you to hold onto when you went down. when we went down the slide, it was WAY faster than I thought it would be. I accidentally let go of one of the handles, tried to grab it again, and ended up grabbing her hand instead by accident.
i was really embarrassed but she put her other hand on top of mine until we reached the bottom. i guess she thought i was scared, which is also kinda embarrassing, but it was a nice moment. She later went on to be my first kiss about 6 months later, and we're still close friends today
"So Long Story Short, Don't Do That."
In 6th grade one night I was like, I really don't feel like going to school tomorrow, so I looked up how to get a fever... I found a tutorial that said to take a bath at the hottest temperature your bathtub will go, and then stay up all night. I decided to try it and I started the water for a steaming hot bath. It stung to get in it, and I somehow survived it for 30 minutes, when I was getting out I felt dizzy and then...
I fell on the floor and had a seizure...
I woke up and saw the blinding ceiling lights of the bathroom and the first thing I thought was ,"Am I dead?" And then I threw up in the toilet next to me and had a migraine for the night. And later found out I got 1st degree burns.
So long story short, don't do that.
Did you go to school the next day?
No. Not for a week.
What A TWIST
When I was 17, I worked at a grocery store with a guy named Brian. Normal guy, mid 20s, lil chub. Didn't really think much of him.
One day he tells me about how he lives in an apartment by himself and that his neighbours are absolutely crazy. Like they would yell at him to be quiet, pound against the wall to get him to shut up, even though he wouldn't be doing anything. He would sneeze, and his neighbours would scream at the top of their lungs from next door. It was that bad.
Tbh, I didn't really care much when he was telling me this. I just wanted to go home and not work anymore.
Couple days go by and I noticed that Brian wasn't showing up anymore. Whatever. Didn't think much of that either. A month or two goes by and he finally shows back up to work. So, being the nice friend I am, I asked him where he's been. He tells me he was actually fired because he was in the hospital. I didn't think that was a valid reason to fire someone, but what do I know. I didn't comment on that. I asked him why he was in the hospital and he told me it was for "personal reasons". I tell him it was good having him back, and carried on with my day.
Fast forward a couple days to me talking to another coworker who was good friends with Brian. He says "Did you hear what happened to Brian?"
"Yeah he was in the hospital and was fired or something"
"Do you know why though?"
"No, he said it was personal"
So this is what happened a couple months ago before Brian disappeared. He was at home by himself, when his neighbours (surprise) start yelling at him through the walls for being too loud. Brian telling himself "I've had enough" decides to call the police and have them deal with it. The police arrived and started talking to the neighbours for quite some time. Hours go by with the police and neighbours. So he calls the police again to ask what's taking so long. The police respond with "..um.. We left like an hour and a half ago."
Turns out that the neighbours were never yelling at him. In fact, they were never there. Brian was schizophrenic and was hearing voices in his head. He had to go to a mental hospital for a month.
People Share The Wildest Conspiracy Theories They Actually Believe
Conspiracy theories are beliefs that there are covert powers that be changing the course of history for their own benefits. It's how we see the rise of QAnon conspiracies and people storming the capital.
Why do people fall for them? Well some research has looked into the reasons for that.
The Association for Psychological Science published a paper that reviewed some of the research:
"This research suggests that people may be drawn to conspiracy theories when—compared with nonconspiracy explanations—they promise to satisfy important social psychological motives that can be characterized as epistemic (e.g., the desire for understanding, accuracy, and subjective certainty), existential (e.g., the desire for control and security), and social (e.g., the desire to maintain a positive image of the self or group)."
Whatever the motivations may be, we wanted to know which convoluted stories became apart of peoples consciousness enough for them to believe it.
Redditor Lopsided_Confusion57 asked:
"What's the wildest conspiracy theory you fully believe?"
We can't say any of these are true but sometimes it's fun to speculate.
The time traveling cyclist.
"The Australian cyclist Mick Rogers is a time traveler."
"In the 2002 Tour Down Under, Rogers was in a great position in the breakaway and looking to move into the overall race lead but a collision with a motorcycle left his bike out of commission. With the team service car and mechanics way down the road, it looked like Rogers' chances were gone. Then a cycling fan, who just happened to be at that precise point in the road, offered Rogers his bicycle to continue on. The bike also just happened to be the *exact* model of Colnago that Rogers had been riding. It was the correct size, right down to things like the stem and crank lengths. It even had the same pedal system that Rogers was already using, so he could just clip in and be away. He finished that stage and took the race lead, which he held on to all the way to the end for his only career win in his 'home' tour."
"My theory is that in the original timeline, Rogers didn't win the 2002 Tour Down Under. He quit cycling in anger and devoted his life to theoretical physics and solving the problem of time travel just so he could arrange it to leave himself a spare bike where and when he needed it."
- jnhummel
"I'm on board for whatever book or screenplay you write."
"Wait, so if Rogers motivation to find ways for time travelling was losing 2002 race, and if he won, then Rogers never found time travelling and our time line is forever devoid of genius like Rogers who would have found time travelling and attended Hawkins party."
- Skulldab
"Yep, exactly. Our timeline is stuck with boring old Mick Rogers, 2002 TDU winner and 3x World Time Trial Champion while some other, much cooler, party timeline gets Mick Rogers, the second coming of Einstein. He probably even cures Covid for them."
- jnhummel
The best money making stunt.
"Information is leaked from a studio about an upcoming project that p*sses off the fan base. The studio will then change things to keep the fans happy. The conspiracy is the original leak was just a lie to drum up free publicity for the project."
"This made me think of the Sonic movie. No way in hell were they going to make Sonic look that bad. Put out a fake trailer with him lookin all scary, everyone is talking about it. Wala. Take a bit to say you're fixing his look, put out a new trailer. You just drummed up tons of publicity since people are now following the story."
"I have mixed thoughts to that one."
"I mean 'No way in hell were they going to make him look like that.' Buddy have you seen the cash-grab BS that Hollywood has pulled off before? Hell, when was there a movie based off a game that wasn't exactly as bad as that Sonic looked?"
"I will admit that they may have done that as a publicity stunt, but I also admit that they could have thought it looked fine."
"Have you seen … CATS?"
- off-chka
Governmental assassinations.
"100% of the population believes that Putin has had people killed for political reasons but only a very small percentage of Americans believe that American politicians would ever do so."
"I mean, there's a reason the joke/saying is, 'The highest award a journalist can receive is being assassinated by the CIA.' There's probably been a handful who may've found out one too many things on the elites, and then had an accident before they could publish their findings."
"Ohhhh boy then south american journalists in the 60s-80s have been awarded way too much."
"MLK was literally murdered by the government."
"Lots of Black Panthers were too."
'"As part of the larger COINTELPRO operation, the FBI was determined to prevent any improvement in the effectiveness of the BPP leadership. The FBI orchestrated an armed raid with the Chicago police and State Attorney on Hampton's Chicago apartment.'"
"Quote from the Wikipedia article on Fred Hampton."
Conspiracies for the conspiracies to cover up the conspiracies.
"The CIA creates conspiracy theories to provide cover for the real conspiracies."
- Argle
"It's actually kind of scary how smug anti-conspiracy discourse is used to derail actual conversations. A moment that chipped my faith in humanity just a little was when I was arguing with some people about Guatemala in 1954 and people denied my version of events happened 'because it's a conspiracy.'"
"Like no the parties involved admitted to it."
"If you don't know what I'm talking about and are from the USA you should have a google. But, basically the USA destroyed a democracy because it made a corporation sad."
"What's worse is when people will talk about how corrupt insert what politicians they don't like are, but then when you mention something that is actually confirmed to have happened, they pull the conspiracy theory card and act as if the idea people in power don't want to secure further power for themselves."
"We have been conditioned to think like that from since we started school though (I guess that's my submission for this ask post)."
"I think I remember reading about some CIA agents AMA. Someone asked him the question, 'What's the point of area 51?' The answer was, 'To keep your attention away from area 50 and 52.'"
"Obviously not an exact quote, but the idea of it has always stuck with me."
​Extinct animals not actually being extinct for preservation.
"I think it is entirely plausible that the Thylacine still exists in the depths of the Australian mainland and the government knows it."
"It wouldn't be that crazy for misguided scientists to have moved or released a few in the late 1800s. Once the animal went extinct, they certainly couldn't reveal the existence of the mainland population lest poachers and local farmers destroy it. They also may have realized how significant the liability was for releasing large predators into farmland."
"Folks have found hair and scat samples that may be from the animal, but the university lab results always come back and say they are nonsense. That's probably the truth, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the government was strong-arming them into reporting BS results. TBH if I was a conservation scientist it wouldn't take much convincing for me to fake a negative test."
Robert 'Curt' Borton Jr.
"I believe in a LOT of really boring conspiracies. Stuff like. 'This person was about to expose corporate/government corruption, and then died suspiciously.'"
"But if you want to go for a more intense one, Robert Borton, who I just learnt about, takes the cake. tl;dr guy disappears in Vietnam and really strange sh*T happens to his family."
"This guy, Robert 'Curt' Borton Jr. turns 19 in 1965, he goes to fight in Vietnam. He lands in 1966 and vanishes 19 days into his deployment alongside 3 other soldiers."
"In 1976, two guys approach his dad and claimed to work for the Department of Defense. They asked him to sign a letter that would change his sons status from 'Missing in action' to 'Killed in action' and he refused. Arguing the military would not confront people in public to sign documents. However, in the following weeks he was approached again by these two guys in public places and eventually signed it out of fear. He later received money for doing so."
"His sister then claims that every time they've seen Curt's official files, the entries keep changing, and his sister claims her phone was being wiretapped. A cousin believes that everyone was being watched, claiming that he was followed to work several times and that two men would follow him from his home to his company and then back. After this went on for a month, he decided to confront them, but they denied following him. After that, for about a month, he was not followed."
"The family is convinced Curt was part of a secret government operation that brought him from Vietnam into the United States. Diane believes that he has tried to contact her and other family members on multiple occasions. She claims that she has talked to a man who is a "secret returnee" and that they are allowed to come back to the United States, as long as they do not contact their families. She believes that this was done because the U.S. government had already claimed that all of the living POWs had been brought home; since they were still left behind, they could not become known to the public."
We may never fully know if any of these are true. Given the track record and history of most governments in the world, maybe some of these aren't so far fetched.
Only you can decide what you believe or not.
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| Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay |
I hate ghosts, even if it's Casper. My life is already stressful enough. I don't need to creeped out by spirits from the beyond. Shouldn't they be resting and basking in the glow of the great beyond instead of menacing the rest of us?
The paranormal seems to be consistently in unrest, which sounds like death isn't any more fun or tranquil than life. So much for something to look forward to.
Some ghosts just like to scare it up. It's not always like "Ghosthunters" the show.
Redditor u/Murky-Increase4705 wanted to hear about all the times we've faced some hauntings that left us shook, by asking:
Reddit, what are your creepy encounters with something that you are convinced was paranormal?
I can't definitively say I've come face to face with the spirits. But I have had some unsettling feelings in the dark. Shadows are just shadows sometimes, but who can be sure.
I hear it...
Nbc Wings GIF by HULUGiphy"I was helping my dad clean my grandma's house after she passed and I went in and was trying to find a song in my phone and before I could I heard a cough plain as day come from down the hallway where her room was. She died of lung and throat cancer it was pretty crazy."
Running Past...
"When I was 5 I remember getting home from my grandpa's birthday party. For context my mom was pregnant with my brother at the time, so my parents had already bought his crib. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a women in a white dress and long black hair standing over my brother's crib. I managed to wake up my dad so he could take me to the bathroom. When I got back it was still there. It was only until morning when it disappeared. Every now and then I see a glance of what I assume is that thing running past the backyard."
The Cat
"My best friend and his wife had moved to a new apartment. I came over to visit a few times, and each time I'd see the motion of a cat in my peripheral vision. Not the image of a cat, but a sense of how a cat moves. Anyway, one day I finally cracked some joke about the ghost cat in the place and his wife was instantly saying "See! See! I told you we had a ghost cat!"
"excuse me"
"I worked graveyard shift in a dementia ward for 4 years and it was anything but quiet. I was working with a nurse one night when we both heard a resident say "excuse me." We looked around and no-one was there. I checked on the resident in question and she was fast asleep in her own room. Many of us also experienced someone whistling in the ward late at night and one nurse even managed to catch a video of it happening. It was unnerving to say the least."
Clueless
Skeleton GIFGiphy"I once saw someone short walk by me in my house. They walked into the laundry room which only has one way in. I walked into it behind them and they where gone. I thought it was my little brother but I went to his room and he was asleep. I still have no clue what that was."
- ImBolio
Now was everyone here positive they were sober? Just asking. Those are certainly spooky moments. I'd like some video footage please. Continue...
Reflections
ghost library GIFGiphy"I was up at 3am when I was maybe 7 or 8. I looked out the window and saw a woman in a white dress run across my yard. I could see through her. She was transparent like the reflections on the window."
"you alright?"
"So, my work place is haunted. I was having a really crap day, and as a cleaner, it's normal that me and my co worker will be the only ones left at night. So I was standing on the second floor, leaning on the banister for the stair case, when I heard this male voice say in my ear "you alright?" Clear as day. I turned around so fast and nobody was there and it scared the hell out of me."
- Rex-the-
Watching Me
"I remember as a young kid I usually use to sit in my bed and watch tv with my room door open while the adjacent guest bedroom next to mine would always have the door shut. I always remember seeing that door fully open and close by itself multiple times a day very slowly and gently. Never really bothered me much now that I think about it… but there were other creepier experiences I had in the same house that made me feel uncomfortable like I was being watched."
Betsy
"I went to the Betsy Ross House as a really little kid in the early 90s. Normal house but I was confused why the tour guide never talked about the woman on the chair crying at the edge of the bed in Betsy Ross's bedroom. So I asked about it. No one else saw the woman at the edge of the bed. I figured it was just a wax museum since there was a wax statue of a man in uniform rolling bullets in the basement."
"Years later, I was looking at haunted Philadelphia tours to go on with a friend and the Betsy Ross House was on it. I was like "woah! I was there!" and looked into it some more. Turns out there is a woman at the end of the bed crying and a uniformed man in the basement that people have reported seeing. There is no way that 8 year old me would have known about either of these things."
hello kitty...
hello kitty lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphy"I had this hello kitty Balloon In my bed room, it had a string and weight on it. So it was late, I had the lights on just Sitting on my bed. The Balloon turns, faces my door, slowly floats into my hallway and turns and floats into my sister's room. To this day I am scared of balloons."
They are among us and they like Hello Kitty. I'm probably rattling the paranormal cages and they'll come for me next, but I'm ready. I feel like this thread has prepared me.
Boo!
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The past year brought about much anxiety and it's been a challenge to find the light in what has felt like perpetual darkness.
"What gives you genuine happiness?"
Food brings people together, and that combination brings much happiness for these Redditors.
Nourishing Love
"Plenty of my favorite food eaten together with fam."
"Harvesting fruits/veggies from plants which I grew myself and then gifting the harvest to others. I love to grow blueberries and hope I will have lots next year."
– Sorarey
Compliments To The Chef
"Seeing people enjoy food that I cooked, especially seeing my fiancee smile while she eats my from-scratch chocolate chip cookies."
– Pennywise626
The Little Things
"It's difficult to tell the difference between genuine happiness and enough distraction. Food, like video games or playing the piano, makes me joyful while I'm eating it. I believe that the things that make me truly happy are the ones that happen infrequently, if at all, and are beyond of my control, such as being complimented or receiving physical contact."
Being alone with our thoughts can be comforting.
Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
"Being outside with no people around. Live in a city and I get up super early and just walk around before everyone else is out. Best part of my day."
– LuciferVX
In Between Consciousness
"I think it may be the only time I am ever genuinely happy when I am in that state of going to sleep where I think, but at the same time I am neither asleep nor awake. It feels like I am entirely detached from the physical world; free of fear, and pain."
"Don't try heroin."
– glaceto
Upon Reflection
"I've noticed that some things can make you so happy that they make you happy before (anticipation) and after (reminiscing) you've done them."
– norseOnAHorse
Being with loved ones, both humans and pets, can be the very definition of happiness.
Quiet Companions
"Weekend mornings sitting on the couch curled up with my husband and cat, both of us reading a book. It feels like quality time even though we aren't talking. Just a lot of peace."
– charrosebry
"Your comment made me imagine a cat sitting on a couch, reading a book, wearing reading glasses and that made me really happy."
Hide And Seek
"Watching my cat get stuck somewhere stupid, then yelling for help. The best place so far was in a cabinet over the stove."
– Glass_Teeth01
Our Inner Comedian
"When I manage to make my friends day by making them laugh. I honestly get so happy when they are happy."
– unknown_404_yep
What Brings Joy To Others
"I really love to hear about other people's hobbies/passions/interests. It never fails to make me smile."
"Equally, my hobbies/passions/interests make me happy."
– royals796
I'm a kid at heart.
So it's not surprising that going to a Disney park as an adult brings out the inner kid in me.
Having grown up in Southern California, I get nostalgic about all my trips to Disneyland with my family and friends.
Eventually, I got a job there in entertainment, where I've made lifelong friends and grew as a performer.
My glee quadruples when I bring friends who've never been to a Disney park before and I see the excitement on their faces.
And what brings me pure joy is hearing from these first-time visitors that, after a long day of running around for 12+ hours, they tell me they had the "best day ever."
Walt, you did a good thing.
Men Explain Whether They Would Take A Male Contraceptive Pill If It Was Widely Available
A lot of talk going on about women's bodies, isn't there?
Not necessarily with women front and center as part of the conversation, unfortunately.
One of the main talking points against these bans and laws being placed on women's bodies is the idea that it would never happen to a man. "If men could get pregnant, there'd be free abortions tomorrow," is a slogan thrown around quite a bit online. Is that true?
Let's ask them.
Reddit user, u/IAlreadyHaveTheKey, wanted to know what men really think when they asked:
Men of Reddit, would you take a male contraceptive pill if it was readily available? Why/Why not?
Genuinely, you might find yourself surprised at how many men are willing and ready to do their part in controlling what goes on during contraception.
Click, Click...No Boom.
"Yes. Makes more sense to unload the gun than shoot at a bulletproof vest."
"Without a doubt. I hate the idea of a vasectomy...nervous about the procedure. But I'd 100% take a male contraceptive pill"
Both Parties Are Making A Choice
"Yes. I world prefer both genders have birth control and that both are actively using it to give the best possible chance of no accidental pregnancies."
What Have Women Been Going Through?
"Honestly I would because I hate the fact how it f-cks with my girlfriend's body. And I rather deal with it than her"
"Absolutely ruins my day when I think about what a hormonal disaster the implant has been for her. It doesn't even bother her that much, but why should she have to deal with any of it at all? Saving up for a vasectomy so it can all just be done with."
Some men are not for a male contraceptive.
Hear them out.
Double Up
"Think I'd probably still rely on rubbers. Shooting a load without one and relying on it being blanks... I'd be too paranoid about it"
"Rubbers will still help against things OTHER than pregnancy too - so, wearing them is still a good idea"
Wait, What Day Of The Week Is It?
"Oh yes 100%. The only reason I'd be hesitant is i'm very likely to forget"
"Yeah my ex couldn't even remember to buy condoms so not sure I would trust him with a pill. I also wouldn't trust myself with it either, hence the condoms :D"
What's It Doing To Me?
"If it had the same side-effect as the female one and affected my mood or my libido? F-ck no."
"Not all methods have that effect on women. There are literally hundreds of contraception, it's finding the best one for your body."
"I imagine that if men were taking contraception there would be triple the research into making sure you guys were A-OK"
It's All In The Conversation
"Personally, I wouldn't take it. The pill messes with your hormones and that's why I don't expect a woman to take it and also, that's why I don't want to take it."
"If she does, because she wants to - ok. If she doesn't, because she doesn't want to - ok, too."
"If I happen to hook up with someone, I'll wear a condom, because pregnancy isn't the only thing to prevent."
"If I am in a relationship and my gf tells me that she doesn't want to take the pill (anymore), I don't have any right to argue with her and that's why I'll wear a condom."
"I don't care if it "doesn't feel so good" - for me, the best thing about sex is the shared intimacy."
However, really, it's the man in all of us that wouldn't mind shouldering some responsibility in the child-baring years of our lives. Cheers to that.
So Long As It's A Unity Effort
"Yes, I have this theory that every man's phone alarm would go off at the same time at the bar, and we would raise our bc pill in the air to cheers all taking it at the same time"
Why Make Them Do Something You're Not Willing To Do?
"Abso-f-cking-lutely YES a million times yes!!!"
"Straight away, it would be a d*ck move if I expected my girlfriend to take stuff if I'm not willing to"
...Is That Pun Or...?
"Yes! My wife has been carrying the burden of birth control for 11 years now. Lots of pain, discomfort and other effects over the years, its time men can share the load."
We won't know what the future brings. Science at this point makes it feel like anything is possible, so in the next century? Who can say?
Be ready, men. It's our turn, next.
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