You don't need to sit in a movie theater for 3 hours, watching Marvel's Cinematic Universe finale, to see superhuman acts. Turns out, you can see them in your everyday life. All you have to do is find yourself in an immensely stressful situation, where life and limb are potentially at risk, and there you go!
Reddit user, u/JusticeReddNeck, wanted people to shed their secret identities when they asked:
What is the most superhuman thing you have ever seen anyone do?
Strength Beyond Size
GiphyHad my Chevy 1500 fall on me. The jack slid out and the Jack stand folded under the weight. The rotor pinned my thigh to the ground. My step brother who is like 5'6" mind you, grabbed the bumper and lifted the truck up enough that I was able to slide out. Didnt break anything, but tore a lot of muscle on my thigh.
I thank him everytime I see him, because it messed up his back. He's not a big guy, what he did was a feat if strength that I do not think I could do and I'm a lot bigger than he is.
Ninja-Skills!
My dad was trying to get into knife throwing. One of my younger brothers grabbed a throwing knife and throws it at another younger sibling. My Dad reaches out and grabs the knife, point first, before it does any damage. He was barely cut due to the thick callouses from his job.
I was only 12 at the time and I was really impressed about how good his reflexes were.
When People Are In Need
In New Zealand, after the Christchurch Earthquake a few years ago, there was random footage of people helping at collapsed buildings etc. In the background of one shot, clearly not really noticed by anyone at the time, was a dude picking up massive chunks of concrete walls/building and was just tossing it out of the way like it was made of paper.
The country as a whole nicknamed him 'Increadi-bro hulk'. His response, once media figured out who he was, was that the weight of what he was grabbing hadn't even occurred to him, he just knew there were potentially still people alive under it so it had to go.
A Mind Like No Other
when I was in college all students in our city used to go party in the same street that's filled with bars.
In that street there's also a fries shop where the owner would take like 10-15 peoples orders at the same time without writing them down and he'd never mess up an order. He was a living legend and I've never met a person who studied in this city that didn't eat at that place. Like it would be 4 A.M. and there would be lines of drunk students out the door and not once have I seen or heard of an order being messed up while nothing gets written down, it's insane.
Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago.
His son took over the business and shares the same talent.
To Know Everyone
I had a professor who learned the names of every single student in all of his classes (some of which had 300+ in a lecture) and a little bit about each of them. He could go up to anyone who had been in his class in the past few years and have a relevant conversation about their interests and what was going on in their lives.
To be fair, he had a great system in place to allow him to do this. He took photos of each student with their names and memorized them on flashcards. And he had a ton of student aides who each got assigned a subset of the students to get to know much better and talk about at the student aid meetings. And he assigned a lot of meaningful personal assignments, asked students to talk about how the subject applied to their lives in class, and held fun extracurricular events for extra credit.
But still, going to all that trouble care about and really get to know every single student was pretty superhumanly awesome if you ask me. He absolutely changed my life.
Thor?
in high school, my marching band director could control the weather. we lived in the rainy south near the coast, where summer storms were common.
It never rained during practice. All four years of high school. The one time it did, the director threw his little clipboard on the ground and just stared up at the sky and it just...stopped. He was a strange man.
Don't Let Them Catch You!
When I was a 6th grader I rode the bus home. Halfway through the route the bus would pick up kids from another school. These kids would often encourage the bus driver to speed over dips and bumps as it would launch the kids a few inches in the air. She never did it until one time when she took a bump at 45 mph. Kids hit the luggage racks, flew across seats, and the emergency door at the back flew open and this 10 year old kid fell out of the bus.
Now the bus was slowing down at this point but still travelling fairly quickly and this kid rolled back to his feet in one fluid motion, sprinted up to the bus and leapt the 5 or so feet back through the doorway like he wasnt forcibly ejected from a moving vehicle
Steel Your.......Will?
GiphyWatched a friend of mine get kicked in his junk while in a heated argument with some girl. He just took and and continued arguing like this attempt to ruin his day did nothing to him at all.
No Chance for Survival
I work in a Major Trauma hospital in London and we once had this young boy arrive in the middle of the night whose arm, from the elbow down, had been completely sliced off by a machete. The police-man arrived a few minutes later looking as white as a sheet, holding a bag with the arm inside. This boy is knocking at deaths door. The arm has a tourniquet on, but he has lost so much blood that even after 16 units, the highest we could get his blood pressure was around 87 systolic.
Within about 5 minutes of being inside our department, the boy gets rushed off to theatre and when we turn the corner all of a sudden we see the trauma surgeon running along the theatre floor, his sterile gown flying behind him looks like a goddam cape and it's like something out of a freaking movie.
I wasn't present for the surgery but I know he did it, he spent about 15 hours but he reattached all the vessels, the ligaments and everything that needed to be done for that arm. I think after a few months it was pretty much fully functional again!
Might seem pretty non-superhero, but to me he is a superhuman.
Sometimes, It's Not About Strength
I worked at McDonald's for a summer with this tiny old Aisan guy named Panya. He had three jobs and spoke very little English. Every now and then, Panya would spend $100 to pay for 100 ice cream cones, then say "Ice cream free today!" and let kids get ice cream without paying for it.
He also exemplified the "old Asian kung fu master" stereotype and did backflips in the store lobby, which was pretty cool.
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.
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.