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People Share The Nicest Thing An Internet Stranger Has Ever Done For Them

People Share The Nicest Thing An Internet Stranger Has Ever Done For Them

This day and age is interesting, because you can meet and become friends with anybody, anywhere around the world.

And that's one major advantage of always being connected by technology. And in addition to friends, you can also run into total strangers. Sometimes, unexpected things will happen between you and a total stranger.


u/TheGingerGlasses asked:

What's the nicest thing an internet stranger has done for you?

Here were some of those answers.


A Positive Review

Left a detailed comment on a story I wrote and how I made them happy, how I wrote the characters perfectly, etc... It really filled me with joy since I was so convinced nobody was going to read it anyway. I was just writing for myself.

zagreusfromhell

Sid Meyer Shed A Tear

A number of years ago, I had lost my job, and my girlfriend really wanted the latest Civilization game. I wanted to get it for her, but it wasn't responsible to spend the money.

I mentioned something about the situation on a forum where I posted regularly, and one of the guys there happened to have won a copy recently, and didn't care for that kind of game. A few days later, she had a brand new copy of the game.

cdskip

Help Across The Board

Back in 2002, when I was in school, they had cool Windows XP machines there. At home, we just had a crappy Windows 95 and we didn't really have the money to invest into something as silly as a Windows update.

As a joke with my friends, I wrote exactly that to Steve Ballmer's corporate Microsoft email address that I somehow found online. Of course, slightly exaggerated: I'm a poor boy from Germany, all my friends have Windows computers and can do cool stuff with them, I am stuck with Linux because we can't afford anything else.

I never thought anything would ever come out of that. A few days later, however, I receive an email from someone claiming to be his assistant, saying they've received my email and would like to help me out and asking for my address. I gave it to them, again, expecting nothing, and three weeks later, I had a brand new Windows XP Pro box waiting for me at the post office.

effjaycee

Noticed AND Cared

Very long time ago I was super depressed and was doing the equivalent of sh!t posting in a chat room / forum kinda thing, I think it was on battlenet. Anyways, I was absent for like a couple of weeks because life got busy.

Well this girl PMed me to ask if I was okay. I didn't even know who she was but she recognized I was missing, said she sort of read between the lines about the stuff I wrote, and said she hoped I was okay.

It was just a little thing, but it really meant a lot to me that she noticed me, and cared enough to just check in. I was honestly in a really dark place, and that simple act really lifted my spirits.

billbapapa

Gone Without A Trace

There was a guy me and my friends used to play COD4 with online constantly. He lived in BC, and we lived in the Southeastern US. He and I would live chat just about every night regardless of what we were playing, and I even got to talk to his mom a couple of times. He was such a genuine person, and we talked about everything from depression, to God, to relationships, etc. As I got to know him better, he opened up that he had Lyme's disease and that his father had left him and his mother a few years prior because he couldn't handle the stress or medical bills any longer.

My birthday was coming up and he was adamant on getting me something. Breaking all rules that a parent gives their 15 year old, I gave him my address. A few weeks later, I get a package that included a wireless 360 headset and an Atlanta Falcons keychain, along with a handwritten note thanking me for my friendship. We still talked a lot after that, then one day he just stopped getting online. I checked at least twice a year up until the past couple to see his last logon, but it's still at the date it was when I first noticed.

dirtybirds233

Unconditional Kindness

A long time ago, when I was 15 or so, I was living with my sister because of a bad home situation. She was only 18 and barely making it as it is so we frequently didn't have anything to eat. My mom lived 15 minutes a way and made 250k a year but wouldn't help us. I was talking to a random person on AIM about what was going on in my life and he brought me like 100 worth of groceries. He brought it to the outside of our complex (it was gated and locked) and said things will get better someday and left. Never to be heard from again. Looking back I realize it was stupid to give an internet stranger my home address but I was starving. The sweetest thing was he threw in a candy bar because "everyone deserves a treat once in a while."

Lezzylace

In Bloom

Just a few months ago. I'm the one who's been posting (a lot) about missing lilacs living in Florida. Most people simply dismissed it as "they can't grow here, learn to live without them," but one time I posted this a fellow Redditor told me they believed in me that I could grow it myself and prove everyone wrong, so I took their encouragement, bought a plant, and I've been nursing it and taking very good care of it.

I am really glad someone did tell me they knew I could do it.

llcucf80

Jaffa In A Jiffy

Years ago, before Reddit, and we all had to use internet forums, I was just making a casual moan on an expat site about how I really missed Jaffa Cakes.

A kind stranger said they were flying to my city from the UK in two days time and they'd happily bring me a pack or two.

They did and I nearly cried!

I rationed them and made them last a whole month. Talk about will power!

Also, not me directly but the animal charity I volunteer for needed a flight buddy to take a cat to Germany. An internet stranger saw the plight and happily volunteered to take the cat in the cabin with him on his already booked flight to Germany!

HadHerses

The Friends You Made Along The Way

Last August, I loaded some camping gear onto the back of my bicycle and left my home with the vague goal of riding to Seattle and down the Pacific coast.

A month later, I was crossing into southwestern Montana and I was faced with a bit of a predicament. It was going to snow, and even many of the nights where snow wasn't expected, it would be too cold for be to camp. Normally that wouldn't be much of a problem, I'd just put myself up in a cheap motel for the night, but this cold weather was supposed to last for weeks, so that would get expensive.

I did a similar trip –though on a much smaller scale– the previous year, and ahead of that trip, I created an account on WarmShowers.org, a website like couch surfing that's specifically for long distance cyclists. It helps those of us on the road find locals who are willing to put us up in their homes for a night. But despite creating the account, I hadn't used it on that last trip. But when I was passing through Yellowstone National Park, I met some other cross-country cyclists who had nothing but good things to say about it.


So when I found myself facing snow and sub-freezing temperatures in Montana, I decided to revisit Warm Showers. Now, I wouldn't say they're total strangers –they have their real names as their account names, they write little biographies about their travels and hope they host, and previous guests (or in my case, hosts) can leave reviews– but even so, I'd obviously never met them before. Of the 14 nights I spent in Montana, seven of them were in the homes of five wonderful people. My very first host, a PhD student in the large town of Bozeman, left her front door unlocked for me while she was out all day. Bring my very first host, I had no reviews on my account from previous hosts, so I was blown away by how trusting she was not only to host me for the night but to let me in while she was out. Another allowed what was planned to just be an overnight stay to turn into a rest day with an extra night when we woke up to the sight of snow on the roads my first morning there.

Biking across the country has been an absolutely incredible experience. From hiking in early Autumn in the Grand Tetons, to watching an orca swimming 500 feet below me as I cycled the cliffs of the Oregon coast, I have constantly been blown away by the natural beauty of our world. But more importantly than that, I've learned that the world we share if an overwhelmingly kind one, despite what many people may say. From those who welcomed me into their home, providing me a hot shower, a warm bed, and their wonderful company over dinner, to the kind drivers who saw me stopped on the desolate Wyoming roads and offered me an extra bottle of water, every single person I've met along the way had wanted to be a positive part of my story. And to me, that was fast more beautiful than the mountains of Montana or forests of the Olympic peninsula.

MasteringTheFlames

Healing Messages

i talked about my battle with my anxiety and my eating disorder on here a while back and a very, very kind older lady gave me a silver and wrote me the most heartfelt message I've ever read. she let me know that i'm not alone in this battle and she's always there for me if i need help or just someone to talk to. she let me know that she herself battled the same shit and just gave me a ton of hope knowing i'll get better and get out of my rough patch.

i always think about her kind words when i find myself in a bad place again and it just reminds me to keep fighting because even if i feel like no one in my personal life cares, i know that a stranger online does and sometimes that's enough to keep me going. she really helped my healing process and i hope i can find her user again so i can thank her for how much her kind words helped me.

urbanlulu

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.