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People Share The Bravest Thing They Have Ever Done

I have superpowers... briefly!

Over at Quora the other day people were having a chat about the surprising strength of the human spirit. Fear is a given in life. It;s how we handle our fears and how we overcome is what matters. Often we surprise ourselves with the power that lies below. We are our own heroes... even just for one day. The question was asked....

What's the bravest thing you have ever done?

Dad is Coming!

Giphy

I'm going anonymous on this heart-wrenching story as it has legal implications, still in process.

This is written against the backdrop of a very messy divorce wherein my deranged wife was trying every below-the-belt dirty trick to try and get what she wanted - $12 000 per month for herself so she could live like a princess without working - in essence to fuel her life she chose which was basically a non-stop erotic cabaret.

Up until our split, we lived in a beautiful house, 2 full-time servants, luxury cars - I did all the work AND looked after my two most exceptionally beautiful, smart and sensitive boys, aged 3 and 5 years respectively. She contributed nothing, except sleep, have coffee meetings, party, and as I suspected was messing around with anything that moved - as in dead policeman and rolls of barbed wire weren't safe!

At this point it is important to note that at this stage we were living apart and the children were living with me - her choice. She was advised by both her lawyer and our independent arbitrator that her chances of getting anything were slim. She went to the Family Court, fabricated physical abuse (I have never hit a woman ever), obtained an interim protection order forcing me to pay her the $12 000 per month PLUS all the boys' expenses, thereby enslaving me whilst simultaneously denying me access to my children, whom I loved and cared for more than anything…and then she did the unthinkable…

Under the pretense of 'taking the boys to a birthday party,' she put them on a plane, taking them to a city 1000 miles away to live with her grand parents. The protection order forbade me going within 150 yards of her or her abode. My boys were so confused - they had suddenly been ripped away, without preparation, from their home, their main psychological reference points, their dog and cat, their au pair, their friends, their school… they sounded so, so devastated when I spoke to them by phone. I took advice from lawyers, a psychologist and social workers, all saying pretty much the same thing:- "You have to get the boys back quickly!"

On a Friday morning, being day 5 after their snatching, I surreptitiously established they had been dropped off at relative's home. I knew she would only be back the next day - after all it was Friday and she would have to party all night! I caught the last plane that night, fetched a rental car, drove to the suburb where they were staying, put the seat down and tried to get some sleep.

At 6:30 the next morning I drove to the house where they were and parked half a block away. The house was ultra-secure, high walls, electric fencing, CCTV etc. Looking through a gap in the gate I could see my youngest playing in the front garden. I pressed the buzzer and the gate opened! I walked inside, picked up my surprised youngest in my arms, I was then greeted by the also very surprised maid who knew me, as well as the situation. She asked what I was doing there. I said I've just come to drop some clothes and toys off for the boys. I asked my youngest where his brother was, he said still sleeping and showed me where he was. I picked him up out of bed and carried both, asking the maid to open the gate for me. She asked why and I said I just need to fetch the clothes and toys from the car. She opened the gate!!!

I ran for the car, one boy on each hip, telling them we were going on holiday, and trying to assure them that everything is OK. I hit the highway, turning my phone off whilst trying to hold back the tears. We drove 8 hours and finally booked into a guest farm in the desert.

That night when I put my beautiful boys to bed my eldest said to me "Dad, I want to thank you for saving me, this is the best day of my life." Anonymous

Better Luck Next Time. 

Long story ahead!!! Be careful…

Manager of my 1st company is in jail now, as police took strict action on my F.I.R.

It's very long ago, That was the beginning of my career. I joined a very small company after passing out from college.

That was a small organization which had hardly 24-25 employees (including 1 team leader and 1 HR)

The boss or the owner was not good overall in nature, (I heard a few stories from female colleagues about sexual harassment)

Everything was going fine till the day when I needed 2 days off from office for a personal reason.

I approached my team leader to follow the hierarchy. But he said boss(owner of the company) had strictly warned both the team leaders not to allow anyone to grant leave without his permission.


So I went into the cabin of our boss for the same reason. I told him the whole scenario. He said, its ok you can take leave but asked me to meet him at 05:00 pm so that he would make sure, no one else is granted leave on those days.

I thought it was logical and fine. (So I went again to his cabin at around 5 while everyone else was leaving the office)

Some of my colleagues were passing a smile at me. (They must have thought I had compromised to my boss)

I entered the room, the boss was relaxing on his chair. I repeated the whole scene once again.

He got up from his seat and touched my hand as he was telling, "its okay, take leaves of as many days as you want."

I felt something fishy there, but I wanted to be sure about his intention.

Then he said, As you are going on holiday next week, why don't you join me on dinner today evening. After which we can take a rest on the hotel.

The whole scene was clean now. He was offering me a night stay with him in indirect words.

well, as I already mentioned my friends were passing a smile at me when I entered, exactly at that time. I turned on the camera of my phone and put it on the side pocket of my jeans.

So now this was my turn, there was no one except a peon, I and my bloody boss in the office. Peon was busy in the pantry which I know.

I held his both the shoulders and kicked on his testicles very tightly and said "better luck next time." I took out my mobile phone and played the video from starting. He was sweating badly and asked me how dare you to do this?

I sat on the chair next to him and said, "Do you know what I can do with this recording"? I left the office for the day and came home. I left that job after clearing all my dues.

My intention was to give him 1 more chance to realize his mistake. But after thinking for 2-3 days, I went to the police station with my father and registered an FIR.

That person is behind the bars now.

This is something which changed my whole life. Also, this was the bravest thing Which I have ever done. Sarika T

Everyday. 

Okay... Certainly there are people out there who have faced harder life than me and much more brave than me... But nonetheless, this is my story..

I dated him for more than two years and were totally in love with each other..at least I thought so. Then one day he told me that he is getting engaged to some other girl and we broke up. Details of the break up are not so necessary here but it's impact on me is the point.

I had suicidal thoughts on my mind for two months after the breakup. I lost 7kgs of weight in 3months. I stopped taking care of myself. I saw him every day. We worked together every day in same team. He seemed unaffected and was preparing well for his engagement with good diet plan sitting right beside me. I wanted to quit my job or at least switch to another one. I became a loner and went inside my shell. Watching him chat with his fiancee was killing me. And among all this he got engaged. He came to office with sweets. And yeah.. All this while he didn't forget to give me a sympathy dose from time to time. There was still 4 months time between his engagement and marriage... And this is what I decided to to:

1. Had two pieces of sweets he brought after engagement and congratulated him.

2. Did NOT block him on WhatsApp or Facebook but never spoke anything personal with him after that.

3. I ate well. Dressed well. Mixed up with people and watched movies.

4. I did NOT quit or switch my job. I never like to quit succumbing to circumstances without giving a tough fight. I continued to work with him professionally.



5. I ignored his requests to meet or speak to him. It was very tempting to get back to all that.. But I didn't.

6. If I wanted to, it was easy to create a scene. Mess up with his fiancee or involve parents or emotionally blackmailing with texts... BUT I CHOSE TO LET GO!

7. I smiled and laughed at the jokes and teases in office groups. *No one knows we were dating* It killed me at that time.

8. He got married and went on honeymoon. I was killed somewhere deep inside. But I shouldered his entire office responsibilities single handedly. Travelled alone to different cities during this time and focused on work.

9. He is now back from honeymoon. I still see him everyday. Things seem a lot more tough again but I will continue and I will not quit.

This to me is my bravest self ever... Peace. Anonymous

Why do you Worry?

Most frightening moment of my life, was a narrow escape. It was 9 years back from now. The city where my college was not a very safe one to roam around at nights, one of the infamous cities in western Uttar Pradesh.

At this particular day, my friend, who lived in the same city but another college, came to my place. We had fun, did crazy stuff, ran and laughed out loud on roads, ate street-food, went to watch the Bollywood movie Tare Zameen Par and felt awesome. It was one of those awesome days when your cheeks hurt because you laughed too much. We were back at my hostel by evening.

Now, she had to catch her train at around 10:45 or 11:00 at night, she had to leave for her hometown. We had had so much awesome time together that the idea of stopping the fun at 8:00 PM just like that didn't sound good.

Someone said we will go Railway station to drop her and will be back within time. For reference, Railway station was at another end of city and it usually took more than an hour to reach there. I was little uncomfortable with the idea but, so high was our energy that I would have sounded a spoiler if insisted them to stay. And I was feeling little awkward that she was actually my friend and everyone except me was excited about seeing her off (yeah, seems funny now).

Then I thought to myself "there is risk everywhere, you can't sit back home scared. And moreover it's just this natural instinct of fear which is almost always there but does something horrible happen every time? Nah. you are being too timid. We are five girls, will handle anything."

After a small debate and session of getting ready, we left hostel chit-chatting and giggling and laughing. The only commutation to station was City Bus.

We boarded, continuing our jokes and all. After one and a half hour, we reached station. Station was almost stranded or at least no considerable number of trustworthy people there but it was safe inside at platform.After checking platform number and train running status and finally seeing her off, we started back, exiting the station. Suddenly all the noise and laughing we were making started echoing in our heads. The silence outside the station was horrifying. It was quite dark and station was nowhere near the city. We had to cross a road with jungle both the sides. Sound of railway announcement was still heard in background.

We were tired by now and little scared too. Though we kept on talking, because maybe no one was saying that she was actually scared.

In front of the railway station, at the other side of road, was the city bus stand but no bus seemed ready to leave. And oh it was 10:30 by now, somehow we were late as per our plan. We got really scared for how would we go back!

Suddenly a sigh of relief! There was one bus with a driver inside and lights on.

We ran towards the bus, the bus driver looked at us and started the engine. I stopped for a moment as there was no one else in the bus and my gut wasn't telling me anything good about it. But aha! As soon as we came near the gate there was conductor running towards it and other passengers who must have been waiting for the bus to be started, appeared and took their respective seats.

We confirmed with driver if this bus would go to the place we wanted to go because the sign was for somewhere else, he was affirmative but seemed in hurry. I thought to myself that he must be starting bus hurriedly because he was being nice that few girls were there alone in a winter's night, that too at a place where no other female was in sight.

Everyone of us knew what kind of risk we had taken and by then I had started feeling a mix of depression, discomfort and excitement. Between those moments we talked about Empowerment. And beneath our words was lying a truth which mocked the shallowness of this word and kept us scared all the time.

We got seated, relaxed. Our smiles were back and now we started recalling whatever we did whole day, laughing and swearing….suddenly me and my room-mate started feeling weird, we were not able to explain this to others but we sensed something was wrong. We got quiet, noticed that the passengers who were sitting at random places are all now sitting at the seats beside driver. And they all are friends. And we all were just noticing, without talking to each other. Then I realized that the conductor and driver and everyone else were friends. All fun vanished and brain started to calculate every possibility of worse. It was hard to believe that they were not random passengers.

I looked out of the window and this was the beginning of the moment when I was most frightened. We were not on the road towards city, it took us somewhere off road. By this time we all knew where this was heading. I don't know when did this happen but we all were holding each other's hands. I looked back inside the bus and what I saw was worse than a bad nightmare, dramatic, scary and unimaginable.

They were happy as if preparing for a feast. I just can't tell anyone ever what actions they were doing, most of which I did not understand then and realized later in my life when grew up.

Those were almost 8-9 men. This was the moment I was most frightened ever in my life. That moment was passing too slow, I saw everything in slow motion. I am still not able to explain the horror. All my senses faded, I could only hear their devil laughter over bus's running sound. One of us started crying and trembling and said she was going to jump out of the bus, other one was holding her religious locket and started praying.

Somehow my brain was still working and I took my phone out. In the mightiest effort of my life, as loud as I could be, I pretended to talk to someone and said "Hello, uncle! Yes, we have started from here."

That railway station was near Cantonment area, one thing in our favor. So, I used this fact and said "But these guys are not taking us via the cantt road in front of your house. What? Bus number?"

I shouted at driver, completely ignoring what was going on (believe me that was the most difficult thing I have ever done, ignoring those) "Bhaia! Bus ka number kya hai? aur ye kaha se le kar ja rhe ho, mere uncle cant road se idhar aa rahien hain gaadi lekar. Apna gadi ka number batao jaldi."

Translation: "What is this Bus's number? And what weird route you are taking, my uncle is coming from Cantt road towards our bus in his car. Tell me the bus number."

"Oh it's written in front of me." I shouted and started citing the bus number on phone to my imaginary uncle.

In city buses the bus number is mostly written behind driver's seat.

He didn't respond. Other men carried on doing what they were doing. By this time I knew we are not going to reach anywhere tonight. I wanted to cry. Moreover I so damn regretted not forcing everyone to stay back. I felt extreme guilt and anger over everyone's immaturity, including myself.

They were celebrating. Driver seemed little nervous and I, with all my fake confidence, started shouting at him about the route. I was behaving as if we were not frightened and totally unaware that they were preparing for something devilish. Others got courage too and tried to not look frightened.

Something happened, he suddenly turned the bus and speeded like anything. In a short time we were at main road and market area was near. Our frozen blood started getting warm and we almost jumped off the bus and while we were getting down, the conductor hanged from the gate almost over me and said in that type of voice, you understand right?

"arey ghar tak pahuncha kar ayenge ham log tension kya hai?"

Translation: Oh c'mon! We can drop you ladies till your home. Why do you worry?

If I had claws I would have cut his tongue out, I swear.

We found another bus which was safer and full with people. Though most of them were laborers and workers (not that I am labeling laborers as someone you can't travel with, but just sharing what my mindset was at that time and still today I don't feel a lot safe around these people) but still it was inside city and there were few elderly people as well. We didn't speak a word to each other. Reached our hostel. Managed a late entry, banged the door and just didn't sleep that night.

Shubhanjali J

The Teacher.

Giphy

I was in 11th and in a new school. After 12 years of being in a convent school, it was difficult for me to adjust to this new school where people abused, made out in every isolated place they could find in the school premises, smoked in washrooms among others. Unfortunately I happened to date someone from the same school at that time (someone I could never think of dating today). For obvious reasons we had broken up when things started to get screwed up for me. And yes, it was my first love so I was heartbroken ( or believed in the illusion of a heartbreak). Now that I have explained the background details, I'll pen down what happened after that.

Someone supposedly from my previous school abused someone from my new school and this spread like fire. The English teacher (she happened to be a past student of the same convent) came to class and started abusing the girl and the convent. She went on to say how that girl does not deserve to live and many other derogatory things which were uncalled for. I stood up and told her how she had no right to comment on the integrity of someone's character and of the school she herself had studied in. She went and told everyone that I had back answered. From then on every teacher started discriminating me for no reason. They failed me in Physics and Maths for no reason. I got the lowest grades in English repeatedly.

My class teacher insulted my mother in every parent-teacher meeting. Also i had left her English tuition ( I happened to be one of her favorite students until I left her tuition). I was pissed. One day while I was returning from the washroom, coincidentally I happened to pass by my ex bf. We neither talked or looked at each other. The English teacher saw us passing by and caught me. She accused me of bunking class to meet him ( She didn't have the courage to say anything to my ex because he belonged to the oh-so-dreaded commerce section). And then she hit me for breaking the code of conduct. For the first time in my entire life a teacher had hit me. That too for no reason. She hit me repeatedly. I went and complained to the head mistress. Nothing much was done because I had a tarnished reputation ( during that time my dad had an heart attack and I was far from thinking about breakups, boy friends blah blah). And on top of that my ex-bf and his friends started spreading that I had slept with him. For a 11th standard kid, that was hell (I did cry my eyes out unless I realized I had no reason to. I was seventeen.).

He was in the school hall during the break time, making fun of me, explaining people how he did me ( for him I sure was an accomplishment). I went and slapped him 5 times stating him the reason for each slap in front of the entire school. What followed was not decent but it made me proud as I didn't choose to take shit from him or that teacher unlike many others would have. I had the courage to not think of the consequences and stand up for what I believed was right.

But, no matter how much I try I can never overcome the trauma that they made me go through in 11th. I literally stopped interacting with anybody in school after the incident. I have become more cautious in life about choosing my acquaintances. But something in me has not changed, I might be hurt, insulted, challenged, but I'll still stand for what is right without thinking of the consequences. I always will.


P.S- I got the highest in English in my boards. :)
P.P.S- I wish that English teacher's daughter never comes across a teacher like her mother. AnonymousAnonymous

The Strangest 'Wrong Number' Stories | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Before we all had caller ID, wrong numbers phone calls were commonplace. But now that almost everyone screens their calls, it's wrong number texts that have ...

The Bundle. 

This incident happened in July 2009 when I was returning home from work at 11 pm (yeah.. IT company).. It had become my routine working 13 hours a day in my company. I used to board the 1040 guindy to egmore (chennai, india) train and reach egmore at 11pm and wait for bus number 20 series to go to my home in ayanavaram. While i was waiting that day, there was a lady sitting on the bus stand with some cloth bundle beside her (couldn't see what was inside it). She was completely lost in thoughts and i was minding my own business thinking what to do with my life (i was 21.5 yrs old). Later, couple of street dogs came and started sniffing the cloth bundle and to my surprise the baby inside the cloth bundle starts crying (one of the dogs must have licked/touched the baby). I was immediately horrified and went near the woman who is still indifferent to what was happening around her and saw the baby inside the cloth bundle and the dogs beside it. I drove away the dogs and started asking questions to tat woman

Me : Akka, andha kolandha ungaludha??( sister, is that baby yours)

Woman: amam (yes)

Me: yen ipdi inga okarthirtkeenga?? neenga enga poreenga (why are you sitting here, where are u goin?)

woman(breaks down) and tells me that she belongs to thirukalugukundram village in chengalpet district which is near chennai and her husband is part of a construction crew working in chennai. He admitted her in Govt General Hospital for her labor two days ago and he absconded the next day after knowing that the baby was a girl. She went on to say that the wards at GH threw her out once she couldn't pay them and left her on the street that evening. she came to the railway station with the intention of going to chengalpet but she didn't have the money to go to chengalpet and then from there to her village. i inquired if her parents had a mobile to inform her whereabouts but she said they don't have one.

I asked her if she had had anything to eat and then offered the half packet britannia biscuits i had in my office bag. I took her to a restaurant and we ate there. She fed the child and we came to egmore station at 1230 am. i checked the charts for train timings and realized that there was no train to chengalpet at that time. i called a cab and we started the 70 km journey at 1am. throughout the journey i was also terrified n skeptical of being robbed, assaulted and all other bad things that could possibly happen to me(yeah.too many fims n stories).

We reached there around 215am to her parents surprise and they were thankful. i gave her 2000rs which was there in my pocket n told her to take care of herself.

Started the return journey at 3am and came back to my house at 430am. When my mother inquired i told her i had work and slept with satisfaction like a baby.

i went back to work at 9am sharp like i always do n there was a deep sense of satisfaction with myself. Maheswaran R

CAT.

In 2007, I was like really curious and excited to Clear CAT and get into IIMs (Top MBA college in India). But I failed, I got like 99 percentile but missed the cut off in verbal (Got around 90 percentile).

Again, I wrote CAT in 2008 with much better preparations. This time I got 95++ Percentile in each of sections with 99++ Overall but analyzing cut-offs , I figured I missed cut off by a mark each in different sections of each college. This really pissed me off and I decided not to bother to get into IIM again. But I was feeling totally dejected. So to prove a point , that it wont be IIM who reject me but other way round. I wrote CAT again in 2009. This time I got 99.88 percentile with 99+ percentile in each section. Had calls from IIMA , IIMC , IIMK and IIMI. But as I had already decided , I proved my point and did not attend interview for any of institute. I was feeling really good about me , that I proved a point that I wanted to prove.

In India , doing such a thing is never easy. My parents called my cousin in London , who had studied in IIT and IIM to reconsider my decision as it would really be stupid to let go of such an opportunity. All of family and friends tried to convince me so hard.

And what was most difficult in this was, my business had failed, I had small loan (2.5 lac) to repay. No current source of income. No money to pay my office bills too. But it all fell in place. Within a month after this I started new business, earned more then what 99% of CEOs in India would earn over next 3 years. Invested in a flat. Took almost complete year off on recreations activities and doing what I loved doing including travel (Earned enough to afford a year long holiday).

I am still not sure what I did was right or wrong but am happy and willing to take responsibility for my decision. I am happy that I stood for what I believed in. Rohit B

Stay With Him.

On 8th July, a Tuesday morning, I was going to saloon, seen this poor thing beside a road side tea stall. He was drenched totally in last night rain. His body matted with dirt. First I thought he was dead. Felt little sad and left, walked two steps, turned to look at him, still don't know why, for one more time and noticed his chest is moving and he was still breathing. Got excited and touched him. He opened eyes and began to growl (he was in terrible pain). Caught him and took him to our hostel parking. He was afraid and trying to escape. But he couldn't. Something ran over him. His spine and hind legs were useless. All night he drenched in rain. He was tired and possibly hungry. Bought some milk and tried to feed him. But he was still growling and dragging his body away from me.

Secured a cardboard box to put him in it. This time he bit me. I left him there to clean my wound and went to find a veterinary center. Luckily found a veterinary hospital. Receptionist told me to wait till 9 am. Returned to the hostel and collected my things. But someone took the cardboard box. So I took him to hospital in a carry bag. A nurse cleaned him while I was holding him. When the nurse put a needle in his body to administrate saline mixed with medicine, my eyes welled-up tears. The doctor said his survival chances are very low and told me to bring him three more days. All the day I stayed with him, first in office and then in hostel.

It's sad that he didn't survive and died on the same day.

While feeding milk to him, cleaning him, being with him all day, I found a true meaning of happiness. Actually I didn't help him. He helped me by serving me some joyous moments staying with me.

Once, a long time back ago, I am still a child then, a puppy died trapped in a drain pipe. It was crying all night for help. No one helped and me too. My dad strictly ordered me not to do anything. His logic was that we didn't own the puppy and so it's none of our business and nobody was helping it, so you shouldn't also.

So helping the cat on that day is the bravest thing I ever did. Because I proved to myself that one don't need anything and anybody to do what is right, which i knew, but never did. On that day i broke myself free from my own confinement.

PS: Several people teased me for helping the cat. They said they would have used the money I spent on the cat in a better way if gave it to them. They laughed on me like I did something foolishly awkward for being good to a stray cat.

why people say such things? Srinivas R

Brave Vacation.

Giphy

I was home for my semester vacations. Complete family gathered under one roof of our native. It was evening and elders of family were sitting together outside hall and were discussing something that looked so important. The discussion was on it's heat or I say peak when I went there searching for my mother. Staying there for sometime I got to know that the topic of discussion was kids of neighborhood.

The discussion was something like "These days kid, they have forgotten moral values, they don't respect their elders decision. They roam out for complete night with other stupid boys & girls and lie about that home. They don't attend their classes, they expense money on illegal things, and more like that..."

The temper of the discussion was taking place in such a scene that at first someone else will get a thought either they don't have children or their children are total serene or role model staying all time in front of their eyes.

I don't know what happened with this idea in my mind, I interrupted their conversation. I have to tell you that it is considered a ill-manner to interrupt when elders at our place are in serious discussions. I probably have never done it before!

"Next, all eyes were at me, not for the interruption but what I said simply in a loud tone. What if, someone outside of our family will talk the same about your kids, Will you find it likewise interesting, funny or prestigious??" Suddenly all the noise and murmuring vanished. I continued, I too live at a different place, where you people are not present to observe me. Do you know that even I do the same stuff or as if that you are pretending that you don't know. Kids have to live life in accordance with the life of place. And things are not same everywhere. Things that looks wrong, may not be wrong. There are reasons for it. And, how could you judge someone and talk anything before knowing what is it."

Then I walked out from the place. That day on-wards no one enjoys about talking ill and judging behavior of neighbor or other kids of family. I don't know if they continue but I never found it again!

Well this is not something brave but this has changed the way my family receives me. I believe changing our home will change society. I feel good of that and it looks like my bravery at-least to me.

Thanks, if you have given me your time reading all this! Shashi R

Quora

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.