Intimate and sexual are two very different things, but we treat them as the same so often that we use one to mean the other. When someone is called an "intimate partner" or we hear the phrase "getting intimate" we understand that to mean sex.
Words become ideas, and ideas become reality - treating sex and intimacy the same leaves you with a whole lot of people who cannot be intimate without being sexual. Some of you reading this right now aren't really sure what non-sexual intimacy even looks like.
So let's talk about it.
One Reddit user asked:
What is the most intimate (non-sexual) experience you've ever had and will never leave you?
We made it about 4 responses in before we got all misty-eyed and we've been in our feels ever since. Some of these examples are beautiful, some are heartwrenching - some are a potent mix of both.
Grab some comfort carbs or a stuffie, we're going in.
Bears Cry Too
sad panda GIFGiphyFour months after my mother died, I was out shopping for groceries. I helped a middle aged woman with getting something from a high shelf and thought nothing of it.
Later that day, I intervened and stopped the same woman from getting mugged.
She then looked at me and said the one thing my mother always told me when she was happy. "Thank ya baby, you're a life saver."
I promptly broke into a sobbing mess, letting out the pent up emotions that I had for the past four months. She just hugged me and let this giant ass teddy bear cry on her shoulder for an hour.
After that I never saw her again due to me moving across the country.
Shoulder Time
Back in 11th grade, this girl I used to sit on the bus with would occasionally hold my arm and rest her head on my shoulder.
When it first happened, I didn't understand. To this day, I still don't understand.
We weren't dating or anything. We've never talked or interacted that way otherwise. Honestly, the amount of distance she put between me felt pretty random at times.
Either way, she'd just... occasionally hog my arm on bus rides home.
I never said anything. I just accepted it and looked out of the window like usual. Gently let her know when the bus got to the stop.
It was a nice, warm feeling.
A Cat And A Cry
When my mom died, I'd gone to visit her partner while we arranged the funeral.
I ended up getting locked out of their apartment. While waiting in the hall for her partner to get home, a stray cat wandering the building came up to me for scratches.
This was an old-ass cat, looking a bit scraggly, but affectionate all the same, AND VOCAL!
I just snuggled it close and had a good cry...like the cat knew I needed it in my life at that moment...and I did...
6 Weeks Early
My daughter came into this world 6 weeks early. Small town USA hospital only had a hood for breathing and she needed 24 hour NICU.
Less than 8 hours after the C-section, they took her to a town 20 miles away while I had to stay for observation. For 4 days I was separated from her, getting updates via family and drs.
When I could finally get out, I walked into the NICU and she was crying while a lovely nurse held her. I spoke to her and she immediately looked toward my voice and stopped crying. I started crying.
This will never leave me.
Runaways
Me and my sister ran away when we were 17.
On our second week on the road we stopped at this field where there was nothing but grass and trees as far as the eye can see. We got out of the car and sat on the ground in front of it.
For the first time since we had ran away I started to cry. I cried and screamed and trust me this was not pretty, this lasted for hours and the whole time my sister just held me.
I didn't cry out of regret or because I was homesick. I cried because it had to come to this - that this is what we had to resort to just so we could live a happy life.
When I finally stopped crying all she said to me was "Forever and always, we got each other." I'll take that moment with me to the grave.
Human Bodily Needs
Went on a major hike I was NOT prepared for. No jacket, no light, barely any food or water for 3000'+ altitude change and ~10 miles on a winter afternoon.
By the time we were near the top, it was dark. The peak was snowy and icy. We were exhausted, frigid, and had no idea how we'd survive the trip back down.
We had passed a group of students on our way up, and they thankfully decided to wait for us and rescue us. I was still walking, but so cold and tired I couldn't think or say much.
A girl came and put her extra jacket on me, pulling it on over my head, zipping it up to my chin, and putting the hood up. A boy passed me his extra gloves, and she slid my hands into them. She unwrapped food, closed my hand over it and guided it to my mouth. She held her water bottle to my lips.
It was the first time I'd had this full acknowledgement of all my bodily human needs if that makes sense. I felt extremely human, cared for and non-judged.
Did I Snore?
Sleep Reaction GIFGiphyI was once on a connecting flight out of Chicago; I had come from Spain and was on my way home to California. I was on an MD80 (skinny, tight seats) and in a three-seat row between a very large Samoan woman and a very very large Chicago guy.
The two of them talked about food the entire flight, with the Chicago guy talking about bratwurst cooked in beer ("Ya come fer da brots, but ya stays fer da onions, ya know?") and her talking about Pisupo ("It's easy! Corned beef, eggs and rice—maybe little soy sauce.").
I tried to be polite and smile and be alert but my head was pounding, I was still a little drunk from the free wine on Iberia Airlines, I hadn't slept in days and I just nodded off. Woke up around an hour or so into the flight and found I had been fast asleep on this Samoan lady's very ample bosom.
I lifted my head and started to apologize but she pulled my arm under her and pulled my head back down into her neck and shoulder and said "Nonsense. C'mon sleep. I got you." Total darkness, all warmth and I could hear her breathe. It was like being in my mom's arms as a toddler.
She held me while I slept until we reached LAX. I'm just glad I didn't drool on her.
When I woke I asked "Did I snore?" She said "Did you snore?!?! Oh my god did he snore?!?!"
And everyone within three rows started cracking up. Everyone was so understanding of this weary traveler and she was so sweet, I'll never forget her.
- Shah357
Helping Mom Let Go
Hugging my mom as she died in my arms.
It's been 5 years and she was in the hospital for a stroke, so it was not entirely unexpected. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
The last thing she heard was my voice telling her how much she was loved, the last thing she felt was me hugging her. I'd be a liar if I said I'm the same person I was before that.
No way in hell was it not going to happen as long as I could help it. It still hits out of nowhere sometimes, but it passes.
- tedlyb
I Knew I Mattered
Preface: Girl and I no longer with one another. Was in a very depressed low point of my life. I'm ok now. 👍
Was seeing a girl, a very kind and special one to my heart. I've been kind of deprived of affection before her.
One day after work, I came home and told her I quit smoking. That I didn't want to tell anyone because it has to be a personal battle I needed to win, but I told her anyway.
Her eyes got big, she smiled wildly, rushed over and planted a kiss on my lips. The kind that tells you it really means something. That it's real.
Her arms wrapped around me and she laughed at me because I had began to tear up I was so happy my self.
That feeling and that memory will never leave me until the day I die. That's when I knew I mattered to people.
It Made Her Hate Me More
Getting into a sleeping bag with a very hypothermic girl who I didn't like very much (and the feeling was mutual) to try and bring her body temp up. Then having her cling to me like her life depended on it.
We were in a group of people out for a hike and we got caught in some bad weather. And no, it didn't make us like each other any better. If anything, I think it being me who was saving her life made her hate me more.
I haven't seen or spoken to her since a few months after this happened and it was over 20 years ago. So I'm going to say our friendship never really blossomed.
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Very few people enjoy being scared.
Those very few that do enjoy being scared often seek it out, by watching scary movies, going to a haunted house, or enjoying a thrill ride.
But even those brave souls who seek out being scared do not enjoy the feeling when it comes upon them by surprise, in real life.
Finding themselves or loved ones in life-threatening situations, and leaving them with a memory they would give practically anything not to have.
"What's the scariest experience you've ever been through?"
Narrowly Avoided Drowning
"At about 10 years old, I fell through ice on a pond."
"When I came back up, I smacked into ice...instead of the hole I fell through."
"The water was too murky to see any light from the hole, and I thought that I was witnessing the end of my short life."
"I was lucky to find the opening again, but as I tried to get back up, the ice kept breaking and I'd go under again."
"The whole event probably lasted 30 seconds...but to me, it was a lifetime."
"It's been 35 years, and I'm still nervous on a frozen body of water...even if cars and trucks are driving on it."- jekern
"Drowning."
"I was jumping off some high rocks into a river."
"It’s was a place in the town I grew up in that everyone knew."
"One day I somehow got turned around in the water after hitting and swam down, when I realized and turned around I was too deep to make it up."
"About 8 feet down I inhaled water."
"It burned and was cold at the same time."
"I could feel the pain in my ears as I tried to exhale the water."
"I don’t remember surfacing, my friends pulling me to shore or coughing up all the water."- WhatWouldTNGPicardDo
Chainsaw Accident
"I survived a chainsaw accident to the throat, 16th March 2022."
"Trachia, thyroid and epiglotis (hope I spelled those right) were each in two parts."
"The operating doc came by two days afterwards, with huge eyes, and told me about the puzzle pieces he had to put back together."
"I’m basically fully recovered except for my voice that sounds a bit hoarse because of nerve damage."
"It is slowly recovering and I am going for speech therapy."
"At the beginning though I did sound a bit like Lemmy Kilmister and thought about reviving Motörhead."- TokoloshNr1
Family In Danger
"Getting a phone call at work to tell me that my wife’s routine surgery had gone wrong due to an anaesthetists mistake and she was now in a coma in the ICU."
"I dropped everything and ran."
"What greeted me when I walked in was the stuff of nightmares."
"Tubes everywhere, machines beeping."
"My wife was in ICU for 23 days before they took her off life support and she died in my arms."
"Life has never been the same since."- M1r9f7i9sh
"Watching my 3yr old son whither away due to Leukemia to the point he was so weak he couldn't walk, sit up, talk, and we would have to hold his head in place so that he could watch 'Paw Patrol'."
"He's now almost 4 and back to walking again, and seems to be winning this long hard battle."- -Alter-Reality-
Held At Gunpoint
"One night I was working in a rural old wooden gas station."
"A masked man kicked the door open and robbed me with a shotgun."
"He was more scared than I was, which made me more scared than he was."
"I got him out of there with the money and all the cigarettes."
"The next day the newspaper published my name and address."- eightfingeredtypist
Infectious Disease
"Tick-borne encephalitis."
"I didn't even know a tick had bitten me and went from headache to shivers and extreme fever until I wasn't able to walk without my wife supporting me."
"Even reading made my head spin like crazy and I didn't know what the reason was."- DifferenceDependent6
Near Abduction
"I was 13 years old and my dad had just picked me up from high school but had my grandma in the car too so I sat in the back seat."
"We were driving back home and my grandma wanted to quickly run into a shop so we parked up outside the shop."
"My Gran was having trouble getting up the steps out front of the shop so my dad jumped out to help her, at that exact moment I noticed my dads gold chain he lost a couple of weeks ago under the seat in front of me so ducked down and reached under to get it, as I'm trying to reach under the seat someone got in the car."
"I looked up and they kinda looked like my dad from behind so I said "Dad?"
"They turned around and I immediately saw it wasn't my dad, they clearly didn't realize anyone else was in the car and were a little startled but quickly replied 'sit back and shut up, I'll let you out in a minute'."
"The key was still in the ignition and they started the car and peeled off."
"I have never really felt fear like it, all the worst kinds of thoughts rushed through my head and I was convinced they had stolen the car because I was in it but they drove down a couple of streets and pulled over and just said 'OK, get out'."
"I ran back to the shop and halfway ran straight into the arms of my dad who had been running after the car."
"I could literally feel the relief that he was feeling through that hug."- PeyJ
Unknown Illness
"I was in a hospital for months because of something else, couldn't get up and had already lost a ton of weight which made me severely underweight."
"Then caught some kind of virus (the doctors couldn't figure out what it was) and got weaker every day, I couldn't eat or drink and vomited all the time, at some point what I spat out was entirely black, probably dried blood."
"I can hardly remember that time of my life, but looking in the mirror and seeing my bloodshot eyes where all the veins popped and my chin and neck with burns from the acidity in stomach fluid and my skinny arms and ribs was horrifying."
"I think I was around 14 at the time and was sure I'd die."
"It went on for days and then just stopped."
"We thought it was that hospital virus that happens sometimes but apparently it wasn't, still don't know what happened and how I survived."- fluorishingStripe
Near-Fatal Car Accident
"Back in the early 2000s I lived in northern Minnesota."
"I was born and raised in Louisiana, so direct opposite side of the US where the only ice on the roads was when someone dumped out a cooler into the street."
"At the time I was dating a Canadian girl and went to spend Christmas with her and her family."
"Drove across the border, went to Ontario, had a good time."
"I came back across the border a few days after Christmas, sometime late afternoon."
"It was a 5-ish hour drive from her house to mine."
"Being the middle of winter, the sun went down very early so it was dark by the time I got to the first town in Minnesota."
"I drove down highway 61 which runs along Lake Superior, and is dotted with blink-and-miss towns."
"No one travels that highway that late unless they live there or are a trucker usually driving from Duluth to Thunder Bay."
"The roads were clear, no snow, no ice that I could see, so I cruised along at my usual 60 MPH."
"I hit a curve that had a patch of black ice and sailed off the road."
"One side of the road was an almost 90-degree drop straight into Lake Superior, the other was into a forest."
"I sailed into the forest, barrel rolled a few times, and landed on my wheels in a ravine."
"I credit my seatbelt for saving my life, so I'm now a hard a** about that when anyone gets into my car."
"So there were a few problems."
"First, cell phones weren't nearly as ubiquitous as they are now, and by extension cell towers weren't covering as much area."
"I had a cheap prepaid cell phone but no signal."
"Second, I was in a ravine so I was hard to see on a road that was hardly traveled anyway."
"Third, it was the middle of winter and I think in the single digits, somewhere between 0 and 10 F."
"I had a blanket I kept in my car in case sh*t hit the fan like that, but that won't do good for long since I had to stand on side of the road to be seen, and hope no one else skidded on the ice and squashed me."
"I for certain thought I was going to freeze to death."
"A local guy named John, who lived in the town of Schroeder, found me."
"He brought me to the hospital, I think up in Grand Marais, and even let me stay with him for a few days until someone could come get me."
"He had a long distance calling card (remember those?) that I used to call my roommates and girlfriend to let them know I was alive."
"I spent the first day sleeping from the painkillers."
"Nothing broken but everything hurt."
"The second day one of my closest friends said she would come up from Duluth the following day to get me."
"I slept a lot that day too and I found out John had this massive collection of musical instruments and played blues."
"That's what we bonded over, that and him literally saving my life."
"I found out recently he passed away a few years ago, though I'm not sure where his grave is but I've been trying to find out just so I can pay my respects."- SuperflyX13
Risky Surgery
"My son's brain surgery."
"He has epilepsy and had a small portion removed in 2020 to alleviate his seizures and give him a better quality of life."
"He spent a week with wires in his brain tracking his seizures as he had them in real time."
"They slowly stopped his anti-seizure meds to induce them, he had 26 in one night as he slept."
"Once it was enough data they removed a portion of his brain near his speech and memory center."
"This was the location of his misfires."
"The general consensus was that he had a good chance of losing his speech and memory."
"His personality could disappear."
"After his surgery as he was being taken back to his room he raised his arm to touch his face, the physician told him not to and my son said 'I'm not, I just want to touch it'."
"He spoke before he was fully out of anesthesia."
"Three days later he was home, three days after that he was being transported back for emergency surgery because of a nasty infection UNDER his skull."
"The surgeon later said he was maybe 12 hours from dying if he hadn't been seen."
"He had no symptoms other than a gross drip."
"No pain, no fever, nothing."
"Another brain surgery and six weeks with a drain tube and monitor on him at home with nurse visits weekly."
"He is now seizure-free and on a much lower dose of meds than he was previously."
"1500 daily down to 100mg."
"I spent a month in the children's center helplessly watching my son slip in and out of consciousness and have hundreds of seizures."
"The possibility of him waking up with no memories and no way to speak was horrifying to me as his father."
"So the scariest moment in my life was almost losing my 16 year old child 3 times in one month."- MardawgNC
Perhaps one reason people enjoy being scared at scary movies is they know that what they're watching isn't real, and the fear and adrenaline will eventually wear off.
Reality is far more terrifying than fiction.
Everyone has secrets -- those facts about themselves that they're either ashamed of or want to keep to private.
Some secrets are harmless and not even meant to be a secret -- it just so happens no one knows.
Others are shocking and may even make people look at your differnetly.
Redditors have some shocking secrets of their own, and they are ready to share them.
It all started when Redditor Difficult-House6853 asked:
"What’s a secret that would change how the people around you look at you if they knew?"
What Happened To Just Say No?
"In high school I kept my DARE pledge in my stash box until one day when I ran out of papers and used my pledge to roll a J."
– DanManKs
"How DARE you!!!"
– OkVolume1
Time To Leave
"All of my friends and family are Jehovahs witnesses, they think I am but I plan to leave. 85% of them will shun me when I leave."
– Allegedlystupid
"I hear you, left evangelicalism 20ish years ago. It’ll be scary and lonely at first but as you become the person you were meant to be instead of the person they told you to be, you’ll bond with others over shared interests and build new relationships. It takes time, be patient, but it’s worth it."
– Mr_Lumbergh
I Don't Wanna Know
"People think that I’m a good listener, and that just makes them say things to me that they really shouldn’t. I’m only listening because I don’t want to be rude, not because I care. Don’t tell me your family secrets, please."
– A_Guy_From_The_ME
No Rhyme Or Reason
"A few years ago, I went to the zoo during their Halloween celebration month where costumes were allowed. I dressed up as a zoo keeper. I told people that the penguins were animatronic. That when the giraffes get sick we feed them to the lions. I told a group of children that scientifically speaking, snakes and apples are cousins."
– Binder_of_chains
"I love how bizarre this is."
– Pickingupthepieces
The Horror!
"I like Cheese Whiz"
– Peckerhead321
"Not going to lie, I put that on an apple cider donut once as a gag... sh*t was soooo good. Like... I finished it. And thought about more. Never did it after that, but I think about it every now and then."
– BludgeIronfist
The Travesty!
"I’m a Philadelphian and I think cheesesteaks are soooo f*cking stupid. They’re really not that good. It’s the most okayest sandwich and people around here will steal your catalytic converter if you don’t succumb to their Philly cult."
– asking_for_it
"Can't argue with this but as a "born in Philly" guy, I get irrationally angry when food places serve "Philly Cheesesteaks" and their default toppings are green peppers and onions."
– MarcusAntione
Social Media Is Beneficial!
"How normal I've felt since I started using TikTok. I've learned so many things I berated myself for and told myself I was a freak are in fact things many, many other people do. There's really no unique life, everyone has something in common with someone."
– LordyIHopeThereIsPie
Superhero! Or A Dog...
"My sense of smell is off the charts. I can usually tell if someone showers in the morning or at night by the way their hair smells. If someone ate a yogurt in an auditorium hours prior but threw out the container in the trash and I walk in on the other side of the room I can smell the yogurt. My memory is also sense-driven. I remember people by their voices or scent, not their faces, or if there is something different about them (odd gait, odd body proportions, etc). My touch memory is also weird. Did I lock the front door? I focus on my hand and go through what my hand has felt in the past 20 minutes and if the feeling of locking the door is there I’m good. I’m literally a freak and if people knew how much of their behavior/body-oddities/scent I actually have no choice but to remember, everyone would look at me like I’m a monster."
– crashmurph
Alien! Or A Frog...
"I’m from a different planet… I just don’t want to be stereotyped as having big eyes and skinny legs and green, I’m not anything like that."
– AdditionalCheetah354
"You just described a frog"
– MN_Hotdish
"Do you have a waggy tail and floppy ears? Do you lollop when you run? You may be a labrador."
– The_Queef_of_England
"This is fascinating! The closest thing is I don't read by letters, but by shapes. So if two words have the same peaks and valleys, I have trouble reading it. It's also why I can read upsidedown at the same speed as right-side up."
– hobbes8889
Net Worth
"I’m a janitor. But I’m worth over a million dollars because I own real estate."
– Flashy-Weather3529
"Thats awesome. I work in Wealth Management, and one of the most surprising things I have learned is how people seem as though they are poor, but are just humble people living a simple life. A guy I work with regularly lives out of his van with his dog, drives all over the US and Mexico but has millions. One of my favorite people to interact with because he is so kind and mellow."
– ItsbeenBroughton
Check The 'Yes' Box
"I’m a convicted felon. Nothing violent, a white collar crime."
– PhotographIcy600
"F*ck people who disrespect felons. In the face or the law, you have served your sentence and redeemed yourself. The moment you step out of jail, your criminal record should not interfere with your life in any way (unless special security checks). Everyone deserves a second chance, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an absolute idiot with no empathy."
– S0crates420
Woof Woof
"I get more of a rush out of training my dog than any experience I've shared with humans. Dogs just feel more intense and genuine. when you look at them you know they are there, present, with you. There's only a handful of people I can say have ever even come close to that level of understanding and none of them managed to achieve it without words the way the dogs I've worked with can."
– Avengerwolf626
"As someone who always had a dog growing up and not that many friends or people around, the connection you get with a dog is probably the most honest and pure form of love one can experience. I can't have a dog right now and I miss that connection very much"
– JoStormBorn
It's all about the love!
Do you have any secrets you're to get off your chest? Let us know in the comments below.
CW: Domestic violence.
Losing interest in someone is a part of life.
It can happen in an instant.
You can be madly in love at midnight, and then at 12:10, you're running like Cinderella on fire from the ball.
"Let them keep the shoe!"
Pursuing someone isn't easy.
Because love isn't a guaranteed win.
And the more you learn, the less you may want.
It all can be a cruel universal joke.
A deleted Redditor wanted to hear about the times when the pursuit needed to end, so they asked:
"What made you suddenly lose interest in someone you were pursuing?"
I lose interest all the time.
A sneeze can turn me off. #foreversingle
Bad Swipe
No Way Beer GIF by BuschGiphy"Brought a kid she never mentioned on a tinder date (I’m 18)."
Relief-Old
Squeaky Clean...
"After dating a woman for a few months, I took her out for breakfast on her birthday with plans to see her again that night. She went completely off the radar only to emerge the next day to confess that she had spent the night in jail for violating the restraining order placed upon her after assaulting her previous boyfriend. Hit the eject button pronto. Never looked back. I was completely caught off guard because she held a very prestigious job, had extensive real estate holdings, and presented as squeaky clean."
drmonkeytown
No Womb For You
"After the second date he said he can’t wait to put a baby in me. And when I asked if we can get to know each other first he said he doesn’t have time for a 6-12 months courtship. He already knows what he wants. Anyway... I did let him know I’m not a womb for hire, and never talked again."
notyourusualprincess
No Reason
"Yelled at someone at a party for a miscommunication that was no one's fault. I get it, it was frustrating, but she just yelled at this woman for no reason."
KaRue3
"This is a reason why a standard question for me when starting to see someone new is 'What are the odds you’ll yell at me in public?' I always phrase it almost like a joke, so the way they start saying in what situations they would definitely yell at you will tell you all you need to know. Sometimes it’s very obviously a joke, and sometimes it’s obvious how dead serious they are."
The1Zackiechan
Succubus
Love Me GIFGiphy"I realized he was using me for favors. He was always needy, but never there when I desperately needed him."
blonde_77
When it's all about them... run.
Human Garbage...
Difficult People Reaction GIF by HULUGiphy"When he stopped talking to me after I didn't send him nudes, turns out he asks multiple girls for nudes, then sells the pictures to some of his friends. A complete human garbage, if you ask me."
Scarlet_Rot_Falke
True Evil
"They hurt my dog."
"Now, I was into this guy for a while. Bigger guy. Seemed really sweet. I invited him over after we hit it off, and my dog, being a dog, came up to see this new person. He responds to this inquisitive sniffing my kicking them in the face, and seeming proud of it, saying that you 'have to show a mutt who's boss.'"
"I told him to get the f**k out of my house and never come back."
"I'm still very single, but my dogs haven't been hurt like that since."
InkblotDoggo
Cheater
"They started flirting with my best friend."
Minibersy
"I was the best friend and I didn't even do anything but it killed our friendship. We were young so looking back I think it was just emotional but damn. His girlfriend was being an a**hole to him but he saw me as the problem. It made me feel so Go**amn helpless at the time. Everyone treated me like I was a cheater. Like I led her on."
Pencilowner
"Oof been there, my BF told me he was in love with my best friend. thankfully he told me at the exact time I was already planning on breaking up with him."
lifeisntsirius
Keep Looking
red flag GIF by Steve Harvey TVGiphy"The biggest red flag for me is pursuing someone who loves attention on themselves but is not very interested in your life. Basically drop the pursuit right there and look for someone who is just as interested in you as you are in them."
Pretend_Tea6261
Always follow the red flags and save yourself the trouble of becoming emotionally invested in someone troublesome.
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.
Life is beautiful.
But life is really damn arduous.
Every day we're witness to the unfairness of it all.
That can cause some deep internal struggle.
And then that's why people change.
Sometimes for the worse.
Redditor Brianna6871 wanted to compare notes on what makes us all... over it, so they asked:
"What has caused you to become bitter?"
Becoming bitter is easy. I try to fight against it.
Loyalty is overrated...
Happy Season 5 GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Being with my company for 8 years then finding out new people that I trained make more than me."
km8907
"If it makes you feel any better, this is very common. Loyalty is overrated. The more you stay, the more they take you for granted. I also made the same mistake."
sensiferum
K.I.T
"Attempting to stay in contact with friends and then realizing they wouldn’t do the same for you once you stop."
Snowgoosey
"I agree. I used (and still do, to some extent) to have the mentality of 'don't make it into a competition, if you care about someone- contact them!'" And I did. But after 10 times of being the one initiating the conversation I just wonder if they'd bother to do the same."
"Each time they say 'I've been meaning to call you!' and they never do. And I'm talking good friends who share history together, not someone I met a month ago at the gym. I still love them of course, but this bugs me and leaves a bitter taste whenever I think of them."
Michelle_Evelyn
Hard Pills
"Expectations. I had these expectations about how life was supposed to go, how I was supposed to be. Life didn't work out that way, and I know it was my own doing by having those expectations, but I'm still bitter about it."
edgarpickle
"I find that going from 'promising and intelligent young person' to 'average middle-aged man' has been a hard pill to swallow that snuck up on me. I will say that having a young child and great partner still gives me lots of joy and hope."
GarconMeansBoyGeorge
Burned Out
"Working in healthcare."
RemoteForeign3300
"Worked a decade in healthcare, seven years in the military and three as a civilian. Every professional I ever met, from the doctor on down to the nursing assistant, was burned out and sick of seeing patients. It was amazing I stayed as long as I did."
BroScience4LYFE
"Yes, I feel like part of me changed drastically because of this. Don't get me wrong, I really like to work in a hospital but sometimes it make me lose faith in humanity."
Yeny356
Life
Angry Aubrey Plaza GIF by Parks and RecreationGiphy"Aging and realizing that good, kind people suffer and die far more often than the sh**heads of the world."
Josephdirte
Aging is a good thing but can be sad. Who doesn't miss the past?
Nothing to do...
I Have No Idea Reaction GIF by MTV Movie & TV AwardsGiphy"After realizing that hard work is not fairly rewarded. Someone else who is lazier and/or less competent can get something that you wanted/deserved, and there's nothing you can do about it."
kofed62181
The End
"The death of my wife."
Pitbull60usa
"I’m with you. My husband died 3 years and 4 days ago at the age of 42. It’s not just that your favourite person and best friend in the world is gone. It’s that everything you thought would be your future is gone too."
"Cancer f**king sucks."
Intelligent-Low6442
"Dude I'm so sorry I couldn't imagine. Just know she wouldn't want you to be bitter at the world. She would want you to be happy, easier said then done but do some s**t for you man maybe take a trip or something."
"Nothing will ever change the pain, but shaking life up might at least mix it up with other emotions. All the love!!"
knowledge-is-power91
The Past
"Realizing my childhood trauma left me unable to form meaningful relationships and now I have to invest a crap ton of money and time to maybe (!) achieve some sort of progress and peace. I envy the people who grew up with loving parents and have the confidence to choose good friends, partners and look at life with hope."
whatdrivesme_insane
Worse and worse...
"The unshakable hopelessness that the world is only getting worse and worse. No matter what we do to try and better ourselves financially will be met with some new corporate bullshi**ery that will knock us back down. I'm losing my motivation to keep pressing forward. I just want to retreat into my apartment and do what makes me happy until I die."
"Working on my masters in education right now, and as much as I want to teach in school, all the horror stories I see all over the place are making me wonder if this is the right choice. It really feels like I'm jumping into a bureaucratic hellhole, but I've invested this much time, money, and energy into this career that I have to see it through."
Cedrico123
Trust Fail
"My ex cheated on me. My job told me a bunch of lies to get me in the door and now I feel mistreated. Housing is a nightmare and landlords just take your application money and give the place to someone else. It feels like everybody is just out for themselves and I can’t trust what anyone says. I’m tired."
exhale358
Oh Humanity
Good Night No GIF by Robert E BlackmonGiphy"People."
JimAbaddon
"The general public has gotten so much worse over the years. I really dislike having to interact."
NCBadAsp
Life can certainly get us down. Even if we try squeezing the lemons into lemonade, you tend to get some pulp in your eye.
Do you have any experiences to share? Let us know in the comments