2020 has really taken it out of everybody. You can just feel the stress pouring off of people. Of course life isn't always easy or fair; no one said it would be, so people are usually good at holding it together, but humans can only hold so much. There is a breaking point for everyone; a moment or a trigger (big and small) where the mind collapses. And this year is crushing those moments. Sometimes you've just had enough and you're not alone.
Redditor u/YourAverageTurkGuy wanted everyone to share about the times they've reached the brink by asking.... What can break someone mentally?
Those Closest
Destroy Diary Of A Mad Black Woman GIF by BounceGiphyToxic families leave people broken for a long time.
Lost Zzzzssss....
Lack of sleep.... seriously it's one of the most effective torture tactics out there.
You beat me to it. You're 100% correct. It's more effective than physical torture.
Add to that screwing with the victim's sense of time. Keep him in a room with the lights on all the time. Serve him breakfast at, say, 8:00 a.m., then lunch at 11:00 and dinner at midnight.
Breakfast the next day at, say, 10:00 a.m. Keep doing stuff like this, making it impossible to tell how much time has passed. Let him fall asleep for a few minutes, then wake him with by pouring cold water on him.
Within just a few days he'll have sleeplessness-induced psychosis. He'll believe anything. "Remember" whatever you tell him. Confess to anything.
Lost Faith
Seeing someone whom you had complete faith in, just switch on you and actively try to hurt you. Yeah it makes you question every little interaction with them.
Had this happen to me recently. Did not see it coming. My body and mind just shut down for a while. The sense of betrayal hurts more than the thing they did.
And then over time you'll start noticing from remembering that time that those little interactions you had actually had sinister meanings behind them.
Horrible realizations however I feel it helps the healing process, knowing and understanding they were never a good person and there's nothing to change from it but learn, grow and live your life.
9 to 5
paper airplane rage GIFGiphyNot being able to leave a crappy job with a toxic environment because people depend on you.
Alone
Loneliness. I suffered a mental breakdown because of that in 2017, and still didn't recover completely. It has made my depression worse and it has affected my life deeply.
I get it. I really do. With being separated,empty nest,now lockdown, I totally understand. I also had a few breakdowns. Have you tried any Vitamin B12 and magnesium sulfate supplements?
These will speed up your recovery. Studies show that those who are really depressed and anxious often are lacking in magnesium sulfate, and B complex vitamins. I tried it, and it really helps. As for the loneliness, keep coming to the online platforms, you will find that there are other people who are battling it too. My heart goes out to you. Heres hoping things look up for you real soon. 💛
Weapons
Emotional abuse. The abuser slowly learns to turn their partner's best traits into their weapons. They use and twist the love, compassion, patience and forgiveness they receive and fuel it with fear. Many victims need years to make sense of their story and trust themselves again.
Nothing can be off....
Perfectionism.
If you mean failure when you're a perfectionist, then this has happened to me. Nothing causes me to have a mental break except for when I fail at something that I check all the boxes to be perfect at.
The Public Evils
customer service do not want GIFGiphyWorking customer service.
My son is in customer service and tells me some of the terrible things people say to him every day. He tries hard not to let it brake him but after three years of it I'm afraid it's taking a toll on him.
Honesty Matters
Lack of trust.
When it's impossible to believe anyone, everyone becomes an enemy.
To add: when you create a system where everyone is afraid of everyone else, anyone can be cracked to collaborate with the state (just threaten their family or livelihood)... it changes the whole populace... and if you are all alone in this... it can totally break you.
A great quote I heard a while back went along the lines of "I'm not mad that you lied to me, I'm mad that I can't trust you anymore."
I feel that this is very similar to what you're saying. I've had a few close friends lie to me about some potentially serious matters and now it pains me to know that level of trust and confidence is gone.
Stressed Over It GIF by HULUI really don't think people understand how bad this is. I have a host of problems because of a few months of chronic stress, things that seem like a real disease. I now even make more mistakes while speaking and am super spaced out a lot. Stay away from hyper stress. And most of all, don't stress about being stressed.
the emptiness
Loss.
Lots of people just break when they lose their spouse, kids, friends or family. Either to death, or taken away by authorities.
I've always wondered how hard it must be for a parent to lose a kid. Basically your entire life's purpose ripped away unlike a child who knows that their parents will die and be gone someday and they will have to live through it. But most parents don't think they will have to live through their own children's death.
Being Still
Daffy Duck Waiting GIFGiphyDoing nothing for too long.
Maybe some people can handle it. But I remember many years ago I was not going to school or working for about 6 months and just about lost my mind.
Goliath
Bullying. (that's underrated, isn't it?)
Damn right. If you're a decent person you just think the bully needs to see what a good person you really are and it will stop, so you try hard to change their mind about you. When the bullying then continues, you can really start to believe there is something defective about you.
I was Wrong
Realizing that one has misplaced his trust in someone.
Even if trust was misplaced not because the other person was ill-intentioned, but just incompetent.
Points multiplied by the amount of trust one used to have.
Please Don't
Danny Devito No GIFGiphyThe threat of being tortured.
Experts say more information is given up while anticipating torture than actually during it.
bad education
School.
In high school, you learn a subject over the course of a year. In college, that is condensed down into one semester. It's just a lot of information in a shorter period of time so you have to really stay on top of studying or you will quickly fall behind.
A Time to Heal
My sibling works in a psyche ward. The answer: a lot of things. Like any part of your body your mind can break as well. Be it financial stress, drugs, even being kicked out of a band. What's surprising to most people is how common it is. The good news is it's also very common that, like a broken bone, it just needs a bit of time to heal. The vast majority of her patients are only in for a week or two before they have gone through their healing process, and are ready to move on in their life.
Career Moves
Being in an awful workplace where you are bullied, harassed and discriminated against will do it. It makes it even worse if your disability means you'll struggle to find elsewhere and you need a job to feed, cloth and put a roof over your child's head.
Life
For me is was a wave of tragic deaths.
My miscarriage
My mom's death due to alcohol induced organ failure
My step grandfather's death, who I just discovered was my biological grandfather
I was a wreck. I had always had depression but this was just bad.
My anxiety and stress was so through the roof that I put on 40 lbs and was starting to have major problems with my vision. I thought I had torn a retina, when it was actually just a great amount more pressure in my eye. And my cycles were so out of whack that my Dr thought I might be starting early menopause (which does runs in my family, and I will have to deal with eventually, but I'm not even 30 yet).
Anyway I'm all better now. In fact I'm happier/more content than I've been my whole life.
Living Single
living single dancing GIFGiphyDating can. You have enough people treat you like crap or refuse to give you a chance because of a trait you have that is totally out of your control, it makes you give up and just accept you will be alone forever.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
A recently deleted Redditor wanted to compare notes on parents, so they asked:
"What screams 'I’m a terrible parent?'"
I can't tell anyone how to be a parent.
But I have a few ideas on how to make a few tweaks.
recording homer simpson GIF"I'm SUPER fascinated in finding out how this generation of kids who are growing up with cameras in their faces turn out. Seeing as generations tend to do the opposite of how their parents raised them, it’d be funny if the babies born now, completely revolt against all things social media 😅."
WildflowerChickpea
Just Say It!
"Not saying sorry to your kid when you are in the wrong or made a mistake."
SuvenPan
"I used to struggle with this. I became so used to excusing my existence that I became habitually defensive. Admitting that I’m wrong is still a conscious effort for me."
"For my children, I try to model being magnanimous when getting something wrong; if they correct me and they’re obviously right, whether it be with discipline or information, I try to go out of my way to say I was wrong and thank them for telling me. I think I’m doing better? Hard to tell."
darklightner11
Crap Talk
"Talking crap about your ex in front of your kid."
Material_Ambition_95
"There was this woman who would rant about her ex-husband in front of her kids all. the. time. and their faces would look so sad and hurt. You may hate that man but your kids have part of his DNA and they take everything you say to heart. It's a poisonous and manipulative thing to do."
Antidote_to_Chaos
"Adding to that, telling your kid about the 2 fraudulent lawsuits you’re creating against their other parent. And telling them how you’re going to hire a private investigator against the other parent. All while ignoring the child when they tell you 'Don’t talk to me about -other parent- you’re making me uncomfortable.'"
Fluffy-kitten28
That's Funny?
"Filming your child trying to mock them only because 'it's funny' when it's clearly uncomfortable for them, and then post the video on the internet."
arrastre
"I was an assistant manager at Spirit Halloween a couple of years ago and there was a couple there who filmed their clearly terrified young child screaming and crying at the animatronics, and they laughed. It hurt my heart."
carlykerfuffle
"Those videos of kids happily sitting down to blow out birthday candles, and then a pr*ck slams their face in the cake. WTF."
jpr_jpr
Bye Bye Bye
Sport Soccer GIF by Real MadridGiphy"If their kids are older, and want nothing to do with them."
spicy-bae
"Mom screams at me to move out and never talk to her again if she is such a bad mother. I move out and never talk to her again. Surprised Pikachu face."
No_Scale7584
No communication between adult kids and parents, speaks volumes.
Listen Again
No Way Wtf GIF by HarlemGiphy"Defending every action/behavior of your kid without hearing the other party's side. It's obviously natural and important to listen to your child, but you should not be disregarding the fact that your kid can make mistakes and is not perfect."
LeonLunaLola
"Or, for that matter, believing every story you hear about your child, no matter how outlandish it may be."
notthesedays
It's YOU
"When you use your kids as emotional support figures or use them to cover your own irresponsibility. You had a 20-year head-start on your kid, yet they're already more responsible and mature."
Osteo-Malaka-cia
"I just got the image of my dad in my head while reading this. No wonder why I don't pick up that f**ker's phone call. It's unbelievable how someone over 50 y/o can have the financial responsibility of an 8-year-old in a candy shop."
Zahard_Zj
Rude
"Trying to gossip with one of your children about the other one."
LennaPine
"My mother did this with all of her children - me, my sister, and our two older half-brothers from my mom's prior marriages. Before I cut contact with her, she'd call me and would bash my sister for 15-20 minutes."
"Or she'd talk sh*t about one of my older brothers and their wives/children. My sister would mention to me how our mom talked sh*t about me while on a call, etc."
"It's because of that; none of us siblings really communicate with or trust each other. We either fully cut contact with our mom or severely minimized contact."
shaoting
Are You Serious?
"An idiotic name (circa AITA Krxtxl) or anything similar. Any parent I’ve ever seen who does this crap treats their kid like an accessory. iPad/phone parents. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against screen time but there has to be some boundary) I had a child in my last preschool class who literally ONLY spoke in YouTube quotes or video intro styles."
"I had to have him at age 4 permanently removed from my class for hockey fighting a kid and screaming 'It’s a prank f***er.' So yeah... there’s been a lot of varying degrees of screen obsession but that was one of the worst. That and the kid who hit my co-teacher in the face with a poop-filled hand for putting the iPads away for lunchtime."
Sea-Butterscotch383
No Excuses
No Way Smh GIF by Amazon Prime VideoGiphy"Parents not punishing their kids. All kids are different and some things might not work but if your child is actively disrespecting a teacher or physically hurting another person and your first thing is to make an excuse."
nope123ee
Parenting ain't easy.
No one said it was gonna be.
And sounds like some of us may need to rethink doing it.
Redditor MightGuy420x wanted to share thoughts about some of the movies that left our brains and souls puzzled, so they asked:
"What movie had you saying 'What the f**k' the most while watching?"
Movies leave me aghast more often than not.
And endings are never easy.
Last Lines
"Swiss Army Man."
JawlessRegent64
"Isn't 'What the f**k?' also the last spoken line in the film?"
frygod
daniel radcliffe GIF by A24Giphy"Yeah lol, literally. It made me laugh so hard because I'd been saying that for the entire two hours I was sitting on my couch watching it. Never saw that coming from Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe is a strange man lol."
JawlessRegent64
A Midnight Opening
"The most audible 'What the f**k?' I have ever heard from an entire movie theater audience was actually from Pixar."
"It was their short film Bao, I think before Incredibles 2. A woman makes a little baby out of dumpling ingredients, there is a cute montage of them together, and then she eats it without warning."
"It was a midnight opening so the audience was all adults, and yeah nobody saw that coming."
AllBadAnswers
Weird but Funny
"Sorry to Bother You."
MCPanda6969
"I saw this in theaters having absolutely no idea where it was heading (like everyone I think). I must’ve walked out to pee at exactly the wrong time, when I came back I had to double-check it was still the right theater."
drownednotgod
"I freaking love this movie and you're exactly right. There was a point I went from like 'This is a weird one, but it's funny' to 'What in the actual f**k is happening?'"
"What's even better is if you go back and watch, they led you right up until that point. They're always hinting at it, but the protagonist makes everything about him and I think that's why it just hits you out of nowhere."
JackJackensworth
Gross
"Splice."
AnotherBadPlayer
"I feel bad for introducing this movie incorrectly to some friends. I really thought it was going to be some kind of science-fiction drama. And then Adrian Brody mated with it."
ddh85
"Well, that's easy the thing he was f**king was a human-animal hybrid that he raised from birth like a daughter and was made from his girlfriend's DNA the hybrid later changes from female to male and attacks the before-mentioned girlfriend which I guess is technically its own mother."
o_MrBombastic_o
30% Out!!
"Mother!"
GreatTragedy
"We had to refund AT LEAST 30% of the admissions for this movie every day when I worked in a theater. People were leaving the cinema pissed off because of this movie."
RepresentativeName18
jennifer lawrence mother movie GIF by mother!GiphyThat movie makes no sense at all.
Someone explain it to me!
No Light
"Human centipede."
Odd_Adhesiveness4804
"When Roger Ebert reviewed this movie, he gave it zero stars, saying such a movie could exist only in a universe with no light in it whatsoever, and hence there could be no stars in his review of it."
PhuckingDuped
Over It Rose GIF by HULUGiphyJan's Story
"Abducted in Plain Sight."
sodangshedonger
"My mom actually went to school with Jan and her mom was friends with my grandma. I’ve tried to get my mom to watch the show but she has refused because 'I have already had more than enough Jan Broberg in my life.'"
"From what my mom said, I’d take everything the family claims happened (especially Jan’s story about what happened while she was kidnapped) with a grain of salt because Jan was apparently super melodramatic even before the abduction."
"That said, I found the show to be less shocking than most people because their naïveté is incredibly unsurprising for a Mormon family in a small town in the 70s."
ToBeReadOutLoud
Unconvential
"The Lobster."
awakami
"Seriously had no idea what I was getting into. A couple and a dude bailed out of the theater when I saw it."
2ndRook
"The Lobster made me realize I had an unconventional taste for films. It’s my favorite film of all time next to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I tried to make my friends watch it, and they all would bail out mid-film."
areyousureyourealive
"This. What utter f**king bats*it crazy horseshit this movie was."
Tackit286
Hey John...
"'Being John Malkovich' is just one weird thing happening after the other, giving you very little time to process it."
LoopyPro
"I got to see an advanced screening of Being John Malkovich. I knew absolutely nothing about it going in. It was the first time I was ever left so completely speechless by a movie in such a good way."
"I was already in love with the movie before the portal was even introduced. It could have just been a really weird series of set pieces revolving around those bizarre characters interacting in that weird half-floor and puppetry recitals and I would have been happy. Then it gets all metaphysical and kooky... And it did it all so perfectly."
lingh0e
Unreal
"Cats. I was just constantly saying 'What the f**k?' under my breath as I watched it in theaters. I honestly don't remember much of it. It was so incoherent in tone and execution, and weird that it just feels like a fever dream in my memory."
daddydonetomuch
Taylor Swift Dancing GIF by Cats MovieGiphySo many movie WTFs for me are about... "How did THIS find funding?!"
Thank God for vodka.