People Reveal The Things They Never Believed Until They Happened To Them

When we are young and our bodies fully agile there is nothing in life we believe is impossible. Our elders constantly warn us that this will happen and that. There are also so many life events that occur that we think couldn't possibly be that bad or could happen to us. Until it does. And we discover more than we had ever wanted through personal experience. Which is the only true way to learn.

Redditor cutietomlinson asked reddit_, _*What's something you never understood or secretly doubted until it happened to you? The results are in. *

GRANDPA SAYS TAKE A NAP.

My grandpa used to tell us that kids weren't allowed to be tired, only adults. I didn't get it until I was in my late 20s. Which was around the time he gave me permission to be tired.

That it would be hard to socialize/make friends after you are done with school. I always thought it was exaggerated and I would be able to meet people just as easily my whole life. But now I just wake up, go to work, eat/cook, and then sleep or watch something. It's hard to find the time and place to meet friends and converse with people. It's even harder finding a significant other.

Getting burgled doesn't just suck because you lose stuff. What's actually worse is that it is a serious violation of your personal space, and to be made to feel like you are not safe in your own home is horrible, and can lead to paranoia.

I never understood why people stayed in abusive relationships until it happened to me. Your partner does something violent, you brush it off as them having a bad day and give them another chance. They apologize, tell you they love you. After this happens enough times, you convince yourself (because of cognitive dissonance) that they have other qualities that make staying with them worth it. Or that they're improving when they are not. It takes a lot to admit to yourself that you've let yourself be manipulated into loving a monster and that you deserve better.

Plantar fasciitis. Before I was like "big deal, your foot hurts". Had no idea it was like suddenly stepping on broken glass. Over and over again.

I had a family nickname growing up that I was embarrassed about. Just before I left for the service, I jokingly told my dad that I looked forward to being called by my actual name.

He told me that one day, when you hear someone call you by your nickname, it will fill you with warmth and joy instead of embarrassment.

He was so right.

Panic attacks. When my sister thought she was going to die and wanted us to call an ambulance or go to the hospital, I couldn't believe someone was so dramatic. Then I had my first panic attack and thought I was going to die. I've had maybe 5 since then and logic does not work when you're having one. Knowing all this doesn't help at all.

I went through the majority of my life just not believing that people suffered chronic back pain. My back would occasionally get stiff or ache if I slept on it all wrong or something, but lying flat on the floor and elevating my feet for about half an hour always fixed it right up. "It's not nearly as complicated as people make it out to be," I would say. "It's just bone, muscle, and cartilage. The back is no different from a knee or an elbow. It's just another joint."

Last year I was helping a friend move, and I hurt my back while we were lifting the sleeper sofa. I figured I'd overstressed a muscle or something, no big deal. I went home, I rubbed Icy-Hot on it, applied a heating pad, and went to sleep. When I woke up, it still felt pretty bad, so I laid flat on the floor for a while. To my utter horror, I found myself unable to get up. Trying to roll over was agony, and just raising myself to a sitting position was completely out of the question. Eventually, I managed to scoot myself over to the sofa where, with an unbelievable amount of pain, I managed to get back on my feet. I don't want to say I was standing, because my knees, waist, and lower back were bent, which was the only position I could manage without wanting to cry.

To make a long story short, the doctor I saw took some X-Rays and ran some other tests and told me I have degenerative disc disorder. Apparently it will only get worse as I get older. The episodes will be more intense and more frequent, so at least I've got that to look forward to.

The worst part is that I never know what's going to trigger another bout. Last time it happened, I was going to sit on the toilet. The time before that, I was standing at the kitchen sink filling a water glass. I'm terrified every day that I'll have another episode. So to everyone I was dismissive of when they said they had chronic back pain, I'm sorry. I had no idea.

Toothache.

I always figured they were annoying, of course - headaches are similarly annoying, and people complain about them too.

Nope. I couldn't believe how completely debilitating tooth pain can be. It's all you can think about and it's all you feel. I was legitimately thinking about taking pliers and tearing that EVIL out.

Restless leg syndrome.

My dad used to complain about it keeping him awake at night. He kind of likes to complain and I was sure he was just whining about nothing. Seriously, restless legs? What a crock. Then I had it when I was pregnant.

The worst thing is how stupid it is. You can't even explain it. I had a friend with dysplasia when she was pregnant. Bones separating makes sense as something that should bother you. Me? I was regularly in tears - not a couple glistening tears, full on streaming ugly-cry tears - because I was sitting. It's impossible to explain. No pain at all, but absolutely unbearable. It's frigging nuts.

I still don't know how anyone ever gets a first job, and I've been at my current job for 5 years.

Always thought getting fired would be liberating, and better than quitting.

Boy, was I wrong. Being fired was one of the worst feelings I have experienced in my life. I totally thought i'd be like "Yeah forget that job!!" Instead i was more like "What did I do WRONG?!" D:

What happens when someone gets their purse stolen. Cartoons always made it seem so over the top and campy almost, with the woman screaming "help! He's stolen my purse!!" like your typical damsel in distress.

A month ago I was at Applebee's and a woman got her purse stolen and that's exactly how it went. She got it back though!

Seasonal affective disorder. Then I moved away from florida.

The way divorce of your parents affects you. I obviously knew that it sucked but I just didn't realize the way it sucks... I guess because everyone experiences it differently.

When my parents got divorced it felt like someone died. Like my family died and all I could think about were all the things we'd never do again.

How utterly concerned and protective you can be towards your kids. (For most parents. The shitty ones, not so much - of which there are plenty of examples here on Reddit and elsewhere, I know...)

When I was young myself, my mom always told me: "You will understand once you have kids yourself." Yeah, sure, mom, but you know I'll be fine, right? Jeez. And then you have a child of your own. And the most primitive urge arose to just protect that child from all the evils and harms of the world. You know, wrap in cotton and never let them get hurt, ever.

Of course, the sane part says: "Of course the kid must go out and run around and fall and get hurt and then you kiss it and clean it and bandage it and tell them you love them." And I let them go out and do stuff even if it sometimes really scares me: they go off alone, with friends, they go swimming, they go to high school for the first time (I live in The Netherlands, they go to high school when they're twelve). They surf on the internet and I have to trust them enough not to read diaries or their Whatsapp and so on. And I do. I just tell them: "Be safe" and I see them nodding and thinking: "Sure, mom. But you know I'll be fine, right?"

But I understand now, mom. I really do.

That there are people who, for a good time, go for a night on the town, to find someone to beat up. They're not trying to find someone who also wants to fight, they're not looking for someone who provokes them, it doesn't matter what you say or do or what you look like - these people just want to punch another person.

It's still hard to believe they exist.

I think a lot of people don't realize how intense drug withdrawals are and how sometimes they can keep you trapped. I think people have heard the idea you can lock someone in a room for 3-5 days and they feel better when they come out or so.

Alcohol withdrawal for example can kill you. It gets pretty crazy.

When adults would tell me "it feels like I was your age just yesterday" I always just took it as one of those random things adults like to say, but now that I'm older....time is literally going so fast. Faster and faster each year. Weeks feel like a day or two to me now. They were so right.

Why anyone would want a bunch of musical instruments. It just seemed dumb to me. Then I started to play guitar, followed by piano, and so far its been this downward spiral into wanting to be able to play and own every instrument in existence.