Life hacks are supposed to make things easier for us.
Reddit user, u/Amandadams, wanted to know how to make life simpler when they asked:
What life hacks have you personally found that improve your life?
Want that easy fix now? Try these. Stand up from your computer, put those clothes in the laundry basket, and buy a tray.
No. Seriously. Trays.
We Do Sit Down A Lot...
"Stretching. Fixing a general feeling of lousiness or discomfort is usually just as simple as stretching for a few minutes I've found."
"People don't realize it, but sitting all the time actually makes your quads and lower back very tight. Leaning forward to look at a screen, or looking down to look at a phone, also really screws up the muscles in your neck."
"Everyone should be stretching and doing some range-of-motion exercises like yoga, or tai chi... but most people also think this is stupid and they have zero interest in even trying it."
Get It Done Now
"Cleaning a little bit every day"
"Get your sh-t done in the morning, future you is already cheering"
"If it can be done in less than 2 minutes, do it right away. Saved me from so many undone chores that waited around for days before."
"the shirts hanging on the back of my chair right next to the hangers has entered the chat."
Seriously. One Word: TRAYS
"OK I'm going to put a relatively boring one: I got a tray. Not a fancy schmancy one but one from a dollar store but it's super sturdy (made from some kind of wood) and I literally use it every day. One trip up and down stairs safely transporting hot drinks for my SO and I. It can carry multiple snack bowls. I can deliver food to the table faster when I have guests over. Afterwards I can stack dirty dishes and it's one trip to the kitchen sink. I can keep my drinks on it at my office table and because it has sides if anything spills, it's contained on the tray and not on my table."
"I got another tray when I was fostering kittens and it was one of the best tools for fostering. I can transport all the food dishes so no one is left behind during feeding time. I have all the meds and syringes and towels and wipes all ready and together on the tray when it was time to give meds."
"I highly recommend getting a tray, even a small one. TRAYS."
Visualize The Improvement
"When cleaning the house, always take before and after photos. It gives you an extra dopamine boost to look at them when you're done (especially if you're slightly adhd)."
...wait, what?
"The tip about using a pistachio shell to pry open other, not-open-enough pistachios is literally the best thing I've learned in the past year. I have not had much of a year"
Former Anti-Vaxxers Explain What Actually Made Them Change Their Mind | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Some life hacks need a little readjusting, a change to your current way of thinking. This can feel strange, like you're going against the grain, but the outcome on the other side is well worth the change.
Turns Out They Can Do A Lot More Than That
"Train your dog. When I was a kid my parents definition of 'trained' was sh-tting outside, a very low bar to meet. So as I got older turns out you can teach them to not jump up, charge though the door, pull on the leash, actually come when called, leave the room on command, get off the couch, even keep them off the couch when you aren't there, and hold still when you clip nails. A year or two worth of consistent training with positive reinforcement will give you a life time of stress free pet ownership."
Manage Their Expectations
"Underpromise, overdeliver."
"I'll have this over to you tomorrow evening!!"
"Awesome! Thank you!"
"Send it at 8:00 pm the same day. It's the first thing in their inbox, you are SUCH a hard worker!! Gobble gobbble, more bizz."
Treat Yo Self
"Date yourself, as in take yourself on dates."
"You're the only person you'll spend every moment of the rest of your life with. It's worth developing your relationship with yourself. Treat yourself to nice evenings where you do nice things for yourself. Make yourself a steak dinner and eat by candlelight. Take yourself to that show you want to see."
"If you treat yourself like someone you love, you will love yourself. When you love yourself, your life will feel incredible every day."
Set Up That Safety Net For Yourself
"If you have friends that you rely on to have fun but they are always unprepared, make a few plans you can do on your own and enjoy, then ask them if they want to join you or do something else. If they don't have the time, you still won't be disappointed (works 95% of the time)."
These ones are a different cut. They're not so much changes to something like your home organization or how you interact with people at your job, but more philosophical. Change the way you think, they way you observe your world, and watch the positivity flow in.
Write It Out
"When I overthink, I write. The length or the grammar doesn't matter. Just let it out whatever you're feeling too."
"It helped me while I was recovering from covid-19."
Look For The "Desire Paths"
"There's a concept called the "Desire Path:"
It is a path created as a consequence of erosion caused by human or animal foot traffic. The path usually represents the shortest or most easily navigated route between an origin and destination.
"There are two ways you can handle the Desire Path:"
- Trying to fight them (i.e. re-plant grass, block them, etc).
- Accommodating them (i.e. turning them into real footpaths).
"I've found that life is much easier if I look for "Desire Paths" elsewhere day to day and try to accommodate them. For example:"
- I'd often not untie/re-tie my shoes, and bend the back out of shape. Instead of assuming I'll one day get the motivation to do it correctly, I just purchased Moccasins.
- It was inconvenient to charge my phone, so it would often be dead when I go to use it, so I put wireless chargers in the "lazy" places I often set down my phone.
- Adding small trash bins to areas where trash would sit. Adding small trays to areas with loose bricker-brac. Etc.
"The Desire Path is a human psychology phenomenon. My only point is that it applies to all walks of life, rather than just walks of life."
25 Minute Segments To Get It All Done
"Pomodoro technique."
"Got a task you keep procrastinating on because it's too hard, boring or time consuming?"
"Set a timer for a short amount of time (no more than 20 minutes) and just get started, knowing that when the timer goes off, you get to stop."
"Set another timer (maybe ten minutes) and do something rewarding or enjoyable for a bit."
"Repeat until you've had enough, and then realise you've actually made a huge dent in that task."
"Seeing a job that's gonna take you four hours of boring grind is daunting. Knowing that you only need to do ten or fifteen minutes makes it far more approachable, and the alarm will go off quicker than you expect. And when you see how much you've achieved in that fifteen minutes, you get a nice dopamine hit that helps you come back to it for another fifteen minutes. And the breaks mean you're regularly doing something enjoyable."
"If you've been putting things off for a long time you might need to change the timings, but even five minutes of chores and 25 minutes of pleasure will still get you 45 minutes or so further into that tedious job over an afternoon than you would have otherwise."
Iron All The Kinks Out
"If you are having a problem or have to make a decision, explain the situation to someone or talk to a toy out loud. A lot of the times you'll find your solution."
"AKA rubber-ducking (talking to a rubber duck to vocalize their problems)"
I have practiced many presentation by giving them to my cats. They're usually pretty good audiences. Although I do sometimes have to bribe them with treats and ear scritches to keep their attention.
There's Too Much Going On In The World To Think You Can Fix Everything
"Just focus on things that you can control. Trying to care about things you just can't do anything about will lead you to burn out."
"This is Stocism. This practice really is a game changer."
"Lord, please give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference."
"That last part is the tough one for me..."
Categorize The People In Your Life
"I've reduced how I categorize folks in my life to three areas:"
- People I love
- People I wish well
- People I hope heal
"Nothing else. No grudges, no lingering anger, no longing lust, no wishful thinking - if we interact in a way that leaves you memorable, there's only one of those three places to sit."
"It's been therapeutic to not need to hold on to things."
Time to get to work and start making the shifts to have a better day.
And buy all the trays you can find.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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