Top Stories

People Reveal When A Gut Feeling Saved Their Life

People Reveal When A Gut Feeling Saved Their Life
Pexels

Whether you call it instinct, intuition, juju, gut feelings or whatever - most of us have a word for that feeling when you just know something.


Most of the time that intuition saves us from things like bad dates, or that iffy tuna in the fridge - but sometimes it swoops in to save you from a whole lot more.

Reddit user CommanderDinosaur5 asked:

When did a gut feeling save your life?

And yeah... a lot of people are only still here because that little tug in their gut said something wasn't right. A few of these stories feature times when mom just knew something was up. So what have we learned? Listen to the juju, folks. Especially if it's mom juju.

Mom's Gut Feeling

A couple weeks ago my sister's ex tried to kill her when she was dropping their baby off at his house.

My mom got a gut feeling that something was wrong, so her and my dad showed up at the house and were let inside by the ahole ex's mom. When they got to the back bedroom and knocked, my sister screamed "he's going to kill me" and a gun shot went off. My dad knocked down the door and tackled him.

When my sister had heard our dad knock, she grabbed her ex's arm and wrestled the gun away from her face so the bullet went into the ceiling.

It's so crazy that she was saved by my mom's bad feeling. Also, he said after he was done killing her, he was going to kill the rest of her family, so all of us were saved by that. He is in jail right now and we are all hoping he gets a good long sentence. He has two felonies under his belt from the late 90's and he's been charged with two more.

- what-in-the-actual

Pouring Rain

Giphy

I was a young, naive freshman in college and had basically no experience talking to boys. This guy had sat next to me for My whole 2 hour psych lecture and casually talked to me the whole time. Just little comments about the lecture, showing me things on his laptop. Innocent stuff. When lecture ended and we got outside it was POURING. Like, to this day I've seen rain like that maybe twice in my life. Rain that would physically HURT to walk in. He offered me a ride and I said yes, but as he was pulling the car up I thought to myself "don't get in" and took off running to my dorm. Saw him on the news a few months later for assaulting two women.

- fiestiier

Walgreen's

When I was in college, I lived in a sketchy part of Chicago (Humboldt Park/Logan Square before gentrification).

I liked to take late night strolls, even when I was living in that neighborhood as a 20-year-old woman. Yeah, I know. Pretty dumb of me.

One night, I was feeling stressed out so I embarked on one of my late night strolls.

I was walking along a somewhat busy road. Cars were zooming past me. Pretty normal. I wasn't paying much attention because I was too wrapped up in whatever was stressing me out that night. Suddenly, a chill shot up my spine. Hyperviligance washed over me and I became more alert than I had ever been. Something was wrong. Someone was watching me.

I quickly spotted a car. It was driving in the opposite direction, a little slower than usual. It was too dark for me to see anyone inside the car, and the car was pretty unassuming. But I still knew something was off. They were watching me. I just knew.

The car drove past me and then made a u-turn. Now it was right behind me, creeping along the curb.

Luckily, there was a Walgreens a few blocks ahead. I started walking faster, and the car eventually sped past me and disappeared into a corner. I somehow knew I wasn't safe yet, so I still sprinted to Walgreens.

I told the security guard what happened, and we both went outside. The car was parked up the street, about 50-100 feet away. The security guard was a big guy who looked intimidating. He marched toward the car, and the car immediately backed up, made a u-turn, and then booked it out of there. The security guard called the cops, and they drove me home.

I never took a late night stroll again.

My gut made me more alert, but it was really the security guard who saved my life. I'm positive that if he wasn't there that night, something bad would've happened to me. I wish I could find that security guard to thank him.

- Waltermittyslife

The Ciggy

Relaying a friends story: He was living in London and about to catch his usual bus when he felt like a cigarette. Just as he lit up he could see his bus pull around the bend. He considered throwing out his Ciggy but thought, bugger it, I really want my smoke, next bus was six minutes away. So he didn't board his bus and watched it drive a bit down the road when suddenly he was knocked to the ground by a powerful unseen force. His bus was the victim of a terrorist bombing and exploded just after the stop.

- CommanderDinosaur

"I'm Pregnant And Something Isn't Right" 

Almost 8 months pregnant, normal, complication free pregnancy. Walking through the grocery store I had a twinge of a headache. Told my husband we needed to go home.

At home I took a shower and relaxed a bit, but got an urgent "impending doom" feeling. Still just a tiny headache, not even enough for a tylenol. Packed my toddlers diaper bag and requested we go to urgent care.

The whole ride there I felt fine, wondering what I was even going to tell them at check in. But that "you're not okay" feeling was still looming.

We pulled in, I carried my sleeping two year old inside and basically said, "I'm pregnant and something isn't right."

My blood pressure was 256/148. I had a seizure 7 minutes after getting in the room. If I had told my husband to drive past and go to the ER, we would have been stuck in traffic, as a truck had rolled over. If I hadn't left the grocery store or my house when I did, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it.

We got a ride to the hospital when I was stable, I was induced at 35-ish weeks, and my son was born perfectly fine, albeit small. I stayed on blood pressure meds for 8 days before it went back to normal.

- RaisingWild

Lungs Full of Popcorn

Three years ago I was planning a major fundraising event. I was working ridiculous hours trying to make sure everything was going to run smoothly. I had worst case scenarios planned out like a crazy person. One day I was climbing the stairs after getting home rather late when I became unnaturally short of breath. As I sat on my bed my breathing returned to normal. My face became hot with what I can only assume is what's considered a hot-flash in older women. I started to tingle with fear. I don't know how to explain it exactly. It was like I could feel electricity in the air warning me something was wrong.

I immediately packed my laptop, paperwork, extra clothing, toothbrush, and so on, and I slowly walked down the stairs to my car driving myself to the ER. As soon as I got through the doors I collapsed, unable to breathe. I don't recall everything that happened right after, but what I do recall was being in the hospital for 8 days because both of my lungs were littered with blood clots. I had gotten a blood clot in my lower left calf from sitting & working too many hours on the event. It broke loose and spread throughout my lungs (the Doctor said it looked like my lungs were filled with popcorn). Had I not driven myself to the hospital when I did, the nurse said I would have died. I will NEVER ignore shortness of breath again, and I WILL trust myself when I KNOW something is wrong.

- Covertredditaddict

Pre-Owned Piece Of Liver

Was very ill, woke up to vomit and made it to the sink. Thought about rinsing it and go back to bed, but felt like I should turn the light on. Did, and the sink was full of blood. If I'd gone back to bed I would've bled to death in my sleep. I got a fun ride to the hospital at 2am. Luckily that bleed finally got me onto the transplant list. And 2 years later I got my nice pre owned piece of liver. September 30th will be my 8th liverversary! Yay!

- Utkarshg9

Bovine Intervention

Giphy

My husband,me, and our two young children were visiting my parents. They live in a rural farming area. There are steep hills, fenced acreages right next to the road. We left late the kids were asleep. We seat belted the kids in the back seat of the small car. Driving down one of the steep hills and around a curve I get an anxious feeling and say out loud, "it's a wonder we have never seen any cows loose out here."

Hysterical Teenager

Not my gut feeling, but my mom's. She wouldn't let me go out of town for a weekend with my best friend. We were supposed to go to an overnight picnic, where her older, responsible guy friend would "escort" us in his safe, new car. My mom categorically refused, and my teenage self became hysterical to the point of slamming doors and yelling profanities at her.

The next day I find out my best friend and another girl were decapitated in a car accident. The guy drove drunk waaaay too fast on a country road. The car hit the gravel on the side of the road, and the car flipped a few times before hitting a tree that ripped the car in half. My best friend's parents had to identify her remains through jewellery they found at the scene.

She was 17, I was 16. My mom saved my life that day. RIP Anna.

- myuniquenameonreddit

Phones And Money

It didn't exactly save my life, but I did avoid getting robbed. When I was in high school I was supposed to hang out with some friends after school. They were taking a long time to come out of class, and I just had this feeling that I should home. I tried to message them, but didn't get a reply so I went home. Later that day I heard from one of them that a group of guys came up to them as they exited the school and asked for their phones and money. Luckily they didn't get hurt since one of the guys had a knife. I felt bad for them, but I was glad that wasn't there because anything could have happened.

- JustChill4

Then we start up another steep hill and I say "can you imagine if a black cow was out on a night like this?" My husband immediately slows down and at the bottom of the hill a black cow was standing in the middle of the road in our lane. We were stunned. We slowly drove around the cow and looked for a opened gate or downed fence. We didn't see anything. It was surreal. Looking back I have said it was sixth sense or divine intervention.

- Iamjune

Circle Of Bees

I'm one of those sensitive people who are allergic to many things in varying severity, but I am deathly allergic to bees.

Many years ago when I was a teenager, I traveled to rural Pennsylvania in the fall with my boyfriend (at the time) to stay with his grandmother. We were to sleep in the basement, which looked like it hadn't been touched in a long time. I don't know why, but I had a feeling to check under the pillow on my side of the bed. What did I find?

A giant circle of dead bees.

It looked like something out of a horror film. We got the sheets changed right away, but I had a very hard time sleeping there after that... I literally have 0 idea what compelled me to check, and it probably saved my life.

A dead bee can still sting. A circle of dead bees can still sting... and horrify. Yuck. I have no idea how they ended up there or like that - but at least I have a creepy story to tell more than a decade later!

- KendrickLeMeow

Forgetting To Sign

When I was in fourth grade my mother told me that my grandmother would be picking me up from school, so I needed to wait instead of riding the bus. However, at my elementary school your parent had to write a note and sign it in your agenda or the teacher sent you home on the bus. My mom forgot to sign my agenda so I got on the bus, which would take me to my grandmother's house.

We went through the intersection near her house and there was her car on the side of the road, the driver side was smashed in to hell. She had been taking care of my older brother - he was home from sick that day.


A Marine from the nearby base's platoon had been given their orders to be shipped out and he had two hours to get home, pack and say goodbye. He was doing eighty-five in a fifty-five zone, ran the red light, hit right on the backseat behind the driver.

Nana's car spun something like seven or eight times, and she managed to get it to the side of the road. Everyone was fine, miraculously, just shaken up. But it was my seat that got hit. I always sat behind her because she was short and I'd have more leg room. If I had been in the car I probably would have been severely injured or even killed.

I don't know if my mother just forgot to sign it or she came to some strange decision to have me ride the bus, but it saved my life.

- carmelacorleone

Heyo Bear

Giphy

I was backpacking in the Yukon territory in Canada which has a lot of grizzly bears. I was walking along the top of a mountain with big 10 ft boulders everywhere, which isn't typically where you find bears cause there weren't any plants or other animals for the bears to eat. Because of this we weren't being loud like we normally would to not accidentally surprise a bear but, for some reason when I was looking at a huge 20 ft boulder I decided to yell "HHEEYYYOOOOO BEEEAAARRRR".

Immediately you can hear movement on the other side of a boulder and out saunters a gigantic grizzly bear and a second smaller one. The big one starts to fake charge us but stops about 10 feet away. He stands up on his back paws and towers over us close to twice our height. We yelled at it and came together into a group so he backed off. He goes about 15 feet and hides behind a shrub that is about half his size and is staring at us. We kept telling and eventually they both ran off.

We think they might have been there mating. If we had walked by the boulder we would have surprised them and had them cornered in what was essentially a small cave under the boulder. This would almost certainly have gotten a violent response and the closest hospital was 3 hours by helicopter away, which means they won't get back to the hospital for at least 6 more likely 7-8 hours. The gut instinct to yell out stopped us from surprising them and stopped an almost certain mauling by 2 grizzly bears.

- Jeff1737

Deer

I was driving home from work at 2am. About a mile from my neighborhood I, for no reason at all, felt like I need to slow down. Right as I decrease my speed by about 15 mpg a deer jumps through the bushes in front of me and runs across the road. I would have hit it head on at 55mph if I hadn't stopped.

- buckeyes621

Wife's Instincts

It wasn't mine...it was my wife's.

I'm an over the road truck driver and had just gotten checked into my room. It was a little after 10:00 and I was exhausted. As I was settling in when my wife called me.

The first words out of her mouth were: "Where are you?"

Me: "In the hotel room."

Wife: "Where's your truck at?"

Me: "In a parking lot across the road. Is there a problem?" (By "road" I meant 6 lanes of traffic going at 45 MPH with a 5 foot median in the middle.)

She took a deep breath and said, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but, is there any way you can sleep in the cab of your rig tonight?"

I told her that I had already PAID for the room and wanted a shower and she was like: "OK...take a shower, check out, and then go back to your truck. Try to get a refund, but if they don't give you one...fuck it. I just want you to sleep IN YOUR RIG tonight. Will you do it for me..PLEASE...? I just have a really bad feeling about it."

I agreed to what she asked, went back to the hotel room, got my stuff, checked out, went back to my rig, climbed into my bunk, called her back and snipped at her, "OK, I'm in my rig...so you can quit f*cking worrying now. Go back to sleep, I'm going to try, and I'll call you in the morning."

About 6 AM the next morning, my alarm goes off, I crawl out of my bunk, put my boots on, get out of my truck, and look across the street at the hotel...and all I see is cop cars, police tape, and news crews.

I walk back across the street towards the hotel...and go to the Denny's next to it for breakfast and see the clerk who had checked me in (and out) sitting there...so I asked what happened. She just looked up at me, shook her head, and said, "I don't know where you went or why...but you should be thankful."

I asked her, again, what happened and she said that a little after 4 AM that morning, some people got into a shoot out in the parking lot. I asked her what that had to do with me and told me that about an hour after I left, another guy got checked into that room. When the shoot out happened, it was right in front of that room...and one of the bullets busted the window...and hit him as he was laying there in the bed.

"They carried him out in a bag under a sheet."

The next thing I did was call my wife, told her I loved her, and apologized for snapping at her.

- UncleJay74

Two Passengers Paralyzed

Friends offered to take me out drinking, wasn't really up for it as I knew the guy who would be driving had a habit of DUIs. Guess which vehicle was found in the ditch with the driver dead and two passengers paralyzed, yep.

- sasksasquatch

Rattle

When I was around 4, my mom went on a challenge to find a hidden bow in the wilderness. I went with her and ran off to play.

As I was running, I stopped short because of a rattlesnake's rattle. I didn't see it. It honestly took me a bit to see it even though I liked snakes and knew what to look for.

I had never heard a rattlesnake rattle before that, so it was a pure gut instinct to freeze.

- Karma-The-Wolf-Alpha

Cautious Driving

Giphy

When I was still taking driving lessons, I stopped at an intersection with an all-way stop sign, and I had the right of way to proceed (which my instructor also noted) but something told me to wait the stop out a bit longer and let the semi approaching from the right to go first. The driver behind me honked impatiently as I watched the semi blow through the intersection without stopping or even slowing down. Would have been t-boned had I proceeded.

- s317sv17vnv

Scared And Alone

I was heading to my moms house for dinner and my gut told me to go back and get my dog. I couldn't shake the feeling. I got home and rushed in as soon as I could cause I had this terrible feeling.

I walked in on him choking on who-knows-what. I was able to help him and he was okay. I took him with me to my moms. If I hadn't gone back I would have lost my baby boy. He would have been scared and alone, too.

- FuzzysKitty

Sprinting

Felt like someone was watching me when I was walking home from a bar. Decided to sprint home and looked behind me halfway there and there was someone running after me but luckily a distance away, like half a street away. I never ran so fast in my whole life.

- Candlecakes

Him And The Baby

I'm a bit late to the party and this didn't save my life. It did save two other lives and saved me and my colleagues from a whole world of pain.

In 2003 I was deployed to Kuwait for the invasion of Iraq, I was "voluntold" to be part of the advance party that went over the border first to set up a small field hospital before the main party arrived to make a much bigger facility. We were all pretty hyped/scared. We were on edge.

We set up a perimeter and a couple of us were guarding a particular road when a man in full local garb came out of the blue running towards us with a bundle in his arms. We cocked our weapons, shouted warnings (in English because the Arabic had escaped us at the time), and prepared to shoot him.

I suddenly felt a strong feeling that we shouldn't do this. I yelled at my people to stand down. The phrase "Wakev wala anna batushack" (sp?) sprang into my mind, so I yelled it.

The man immediately stopped and revealed that the bundle that we'd thought was a bomb was just his sickly baby.

If we'd shot, we'd have gone through him and the baby.

- Tubaplayer79

A White Trailer

I was driving to work at 430AM. Going up a ramp to the expressway, I checked my left hand mirror for traffic, and saw none. I can't really say why, but I touched the brake lightly, and just as I did, an eighteen wheeler with no lights on roared past, and came as close to touching my car as you can, without touching it. I still remember that it was a white trailer with corrugated sides, and the rear trailer doors were aluminum with a cross hatch pattern.

- Buffyoh

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.