We all have our vices. Mine was gaming on my smartphone.
Passing a level is like a high, and once you're on a roll, it's hard to stop crushing candies.
By the time I realized I was glued to the phone at work during my breaks, I had to tear myself away. But when I realized my colleagues were engaged on social media and I had nobody to interact with – it was back to my gaming world.
So much for trying to be more socially active.
Others found more success.
Redditor Clear-Chef asked strangers on the internet:
"What is something you thought you enjoyed but then learned you are actually much happier without?"
Those who pried themselves away from the things they thought were bringing them joy discovered they were much better off without them – like smoking or even cooking.
I understand the benefits of deleting my gaming apps, and there may be another attempt in the future.
Just don't ask me to give up coffee. It will never happen, and if you deny me my cup of joe, I'll scratch your eyes out.
Smoking
"Cigarette, smokers know how enjoyable smoking is, but after enjoying smoking for years I realized I had to stop, because even in a small work or activity I get out of breath easily. Now that I had stop smoking, my stamina begins to improve and I got a lot of work done everyday without worrying of getting out of breath."
– MyNamesBrandon
One-Sided Friendships
"Energy-draining friendships."
"I'm just tired of supporting friends through their hardships all day long and only talking about issues etc."
"Notwithstanding the fact that it's often one-sided, friendships were you just enjoy one another without constantly talking about your/their issues is a breath of fresh air and a very welcome comfort bubble where you can just escape reality."
– Terroa
Getting High
"Weed. My boyfriend is a huge stoner, so for a while I felt pressured to try and keep up. But I'm one of those poor souls who spend the entire high ruminating on how they are not having a good time, so I don't smoke. More for the boyfriend anyways."
– Blue_Moon_Rabbit
Out All Night
"Partying, doing drugs, and staying up all night. Turns out I actually enjoy waking up feeling good and well-rested."
– NativeMasshole
Extracurricular Activity
"I used to be super involved in post-work activities- volunteering, running groups, leagues, etc. The pandemic shutdown made me realize all these things were draining me as I wasn't getting enough time at home just unwinding. I was racing from work to whatever, and then getting home just in time to sleep."
– wrilbo67
It's In Everything We Eat
"Sugar. The first few days are hell but once you get over that hump, being sugar-free will change your life!"– impatientimpasta
Gaming
"A specific kind of video game. Anything that wants daily play to manage progression. Gacha Games. Destiny. Whatever. If it plays off my fear of missing out I'm just done. They create a stress that I neither want nor need. It's manipulative. It's awful. I am of the opinion it's unethical and want it and the micro transactions that often go with it regulated because many times they're aimed at children who are far more susceptible to it than I am. There's too many horror stories of kids dropping hundreds of bucks off their parents stolen credit card to get V-Bucks, Clash of Clans Gems/what have you."
– Aminar14
Booze
"Alcohol."
"I figured I'd give sober October a spin. So far it's been pretty amazing. I haven't missed it at all and I don't think I'll go back to drinking. It's only been a couple of weeks and I've already lost a bit of weight."
– Stormryder87
Certain Gym Memberships
"Going to the gym. It was a specialized strength gym in a warehouse, gritty and full of people who trained hard. I was there for 7 years, made friends, met my husband, competed, and set gym records. Huge part of my life."
"But it was actually full of drama and bullies and law breaking and it was unbelievably dirty and unsanitary. People I thought were my friends turned out to be catty and awful. During quarantine they secretly stayed open (we did not go), cops were called a few times, they had online bullying witch hunts, and currently nobody wears masks or distances at all - according to the idiot members posting on social media (our state mandates masks)."
"Good f'king riddance. We built our own garage gym and it's like a huge weight was lifted (ha)."
Chop Chop, Bye Bye
"Cooking. When I was younger I used to love helping my mom and grandma cook. Now its just annoying to me. It sucks cause I know that when I start to live on my own, I'm going to have to know how to cook for myself to survive."
– gottochoose
Wanna jump off the bandwagon? Then keep reading!
U/lit3rallyuseless asked: What doesn't deserve the hate it gets?
​Film and media are probably the biggest contender for being hated on randomly. It may seem harmless, but not always deserved.
Actors are people too!
Actors who played characters that people didn't like.
Really if you hated the character then the actor did a good job (assuming that was the role).
The best cartoons.
nice day summer GIF by PBS KIDSGiphyChild cartoons. Some are actually really good, even as an adult.
I feel like watching cartoons aimed at generally a younger audience allows for you to be reminded of some life lessons, I know I forget some things, or didn't realise others, or it at least partially renews my awareness of something I should still like or appreciate
This doesn't deserve awards, it's just my opinion that is apparently shared by many.
This man did nothing wrong.
Guy Fieri, he literally is the nicest person in the world but since he looks like he was electrocuted by mountain dew people want to saw his head off.
Even before that, I was witness to his other charitable work. A few years back, Santa Rosa was hit by some terrible fires and he showed up at a few shelters and personally cooked up and served some killer buffet food. No cameras, no massive team of PR, just a dude with an assistant to keep him on schedule to hit up other shelters in the area. Guy Fieri legit earned a lot of respect in my book for that.
You know who DEFINITELY doesn’t deserve hate? Animals. They’re just living their best lives, and need to be left alone.​
The best cats.
Black cats.
We got a black cat for the first time last year. I've since formulated the theory that black cats might get some of their reputation from the fact that people can't see them well in the dark and so they seemingly appear out of nowhere and they might be instinctually cautious because they know people have a tendency to kick them while walking in the dark. Our black cat is the sweetest cat I've ever known.
They get a bad rep.
Discovery Sharks GIF by Shark WeekGiphySharks. They are beautiful, complex creatures, deserving of respect and, like any wild animal should be left alone in their natural habitat, but they get this reputation as vicious bloodthirsty monsters. This is only because every shark attack is news, and only then because they are so rare. More people are killed EVERY DAY by mosquitoes than sharks kill in a year.
Any apex predator that has remained evolutionarily unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, whose existance predates TREES, is deserving or our respect and admiration. Shine on, you crazy cartlaginous fish, shine on.
So cute too!
Opossums. They're neat little critters. They eat tons of ticks that carry Lyme disease, (mostly) don't carry rabies because their body temp is too low, and they're the only marsupial native to North America! They get a bad rap because their first defense is to hiss and bare teeth, but failing that, they just play dead.
If you don't have the predisposition to hate them, you'll find they're pretty cute too.
E: this is about /opossums/, the north American species.
Kiwis, I feel for you, but this comment isn't about your possums.
​Hating on other people for just living their lives also seems to be a big contender for things that don’t deserve to be hated on.
This is so true.
Unemployed people. A lot of people genuinely are looking for work and did not want to lose their last job/it was beyond their control (like a layoff) but they get so much hate and called lazy by most people. I know too many unemployed people that are actually really trying hard. They definitely aren't lazy. (Not saying lazy unemployed people don't exist, but to be fair, so do lazy employed people too lol)
Leave the weather man alone!
Fox Raining GIF by Family GuyGiphyMeteorologists. They try their best to predict the weather based on patterns, models, and data. They're not perfect because predicting the weather is insanely difficult. When they get it wrong, I think we should go easy on them. It was probably an outlier result almost no one could have foreseen.
I've seen people get angry over the meteorologists for getting it right. Like they control the weather - it is their fault we are having rain, that kind of BS. Never made sense to me, but hey, I have plenty of relatives I clashed with growing up.
Please stop being d*cks to these people.
Customer service associates.
I hate when customers think that I, the minimum wage person forced to sit there and listen to them yell, am personally responsible for every policy they disagree with. Like, ma'am, if I had that much power and influence, I wouldn't be sitting here on a Saturday evening serving you.
Wholesome and necessary.
People don't deserve hate they give themselves when they are not doing too good at the moment.
I'm in a weird place and I didn't know I needed to read this. Thanks buddy.
If you haven't heard it from anyone else today, I'm proud of you.
It seems like people hate on things simply because they think they're meant to hate them. But you can always be the change and make an effort to stop being an a**hole about certain things.
No matter what though, sometimes haters gonna hate