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People Share What They Wish They Could Tell Their Past Selves

People Share What They Wish They Could Tell Their Past Selves

There are so many lies that we tell ourselves when we're younger. Things that it takes us countless amounts of time to get over, like, "You're not good enough," or, "You're ugly," or any number of self loathing things. We also have no idea what's in store for us ten years from now. So when Redditor AakSin asked:

If you could call yourself 10 years ago and had 30 seconds, what would you say?

The answers were all so familiar.

Riches Make The Man

10, 16, 19, 27, 48, 25, pick 3 as the powerball.

Ummmmmm

"Hi. It's me (you), from the future. In about four years time, you will be on a date with a woman LET ME FINISH and you'll think you have to fart. Don't. It's not a fart. Bye."

We Knew, But Did We Know?

You absolutely CAN get fat.

We're Getting Nowhere

I'd spend 30 seconds arguing with myself that I actually was future me.

So Many Things

Stop drinking soda

don't date your best friends ex husband

pay more attention to Michael hes going to kill himself

something about something to invest in

Lesbian-est

You're gay. Stop trying to force yourself to like boys.

Mining For Gold

Hey, start a youtube channel playing minecraft, you'll be sooo rich.

Another One We All Know, But Don't

Play ball with your dog more, you have no clue how much you will miss her when she is gone.

The Future Is Bright

"It's going to be okay."

I went backpacking last summer with my three best friends from college, and I brought along a little notebook as scratch paper. I didn't realize it was the same notebook I'd taken on a backpacking trip when I was about 16.

The first 20 pages were filled with 16-year-old me me talking about how I was wildly unhappy, had no real friends, was super unattractive/flat-chested, would never get into my first choice college, had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and was a failure for my lack of belief in God.

It made me cry. Then I read bits of it out loud to my best friends, and we laughed until we cried.

Rich In Spirit

YOU'LL MEET A GIRL AT COLLEGE, WHEN SHE BREAKS UP WITH YOU AFTER 6 MONTHS, DON'T BOTHER WINNING HER BACK!

Invest in Bitcoin and Netflix. Sell Bitcoin on December 17th 2017, keep Netflix for a while longer.

Life In The Now

Nothing. If I changed stuff, I might not be where I am now. I might have more money from bitcoins or something, but would I have still met and married my wife? Would I still have my same daughter or would she be erased from existence?

I feel like these questions are basically an indicator of how happy and satisfied you are with your life. My life's not perfect, but I'm happy enough with it that I wouldn't want to give it up, even for the chance of financial gain or something like that.

Our Parents

Four years ago my mom had died, she passed away from heart failture. I would tell myself to thank her for the sacrifices she made for me and everything she had done for me. Tell my self to not complain when I didn't get what I wanted, I'd tell myself to never ignore her phone calls even though she was too overbearing and she annoyed me. She made me feel special and always told me i was smart.

No Bounds

Don't live your life worrying people will judge you. They will judge, anyway. So live a little.

Be Proud

Your uncle is going to find a brain tumor and pass after several years fighting it. And then your mother is going to as well several years later. You do a good job loving and being there for them/the family and I'm proud of the man you become.

Today's the 1 year anniversary of my mom passing and coincidentally my uncle who passed about 6 years ago birthday.

Miss you mom. Love you. Thanks for everything.

Self-Love

Finding someone to love you isn't as important as loving yourself.

Taking The Challenge

To be more relaxed about finding a serious relationship. Having an SO solves a lot of problems, but creates a whole new set of them. Everyone acting like being in a couple is just the best thing ever and single life is pathetic has either just afraid of breaking up, never been really single, is in the honeymoon phase, or is just lying to you, themselves, or both.

Make Someone Happy

Make mom stop smoking. It's going to be so, so awful. She'll believe you, too.

Setting Up For Success

It'll get better, but you still have to work hard. Those online games you're playing are a phase and are not worth your time. Ask to change schools, it will only get better after you do it. Take the 100 bucks you have and spend it on a thing called bitcoin after googling it.

Second Base

Do not give up on baseball in highschool. Get over your fear of social interactions and pushing yourself because you have the talent to be something.

Don't Assume What You Know

Go back to school you dumb-ss you don't "do it on your own" and you never will, you need a degree to get that systems admin job. You could be ten years ahead of where I am now, make dad proud while hes still around. You will regret it every day if you don't.

Babies

It's a boy. Then 18 months later, you'll have a girl too. They're good kids.

More Time To Work On It

Care about how you look in high school, start hitting the gym earlier in high scool, don't quit exercising once you start college, worry a bit less about getting the highest grades and have a bit of fun in high school/college, don't be so shy with girls.

The Time It Takes

Pull yourself together and you're gay. You'll find that out in about 6 years.

College Professors Share Their Funniest 'I Don't Know How You Made It Out Of High School' Experiences

Image by Foundry Co from Pixabay

Now that college has become a standard requirement for so many jobs and careers, there is a massive push by high schools to get their graduating students accepted and enrolled at an undergraduate college.

On the whole, that's undoubtedly a great thing. A more educated workforce will be prepared to solve the most complex issues facing human beings in the next several decades.

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college

911 Operators Describe The Most Unnerving Calls They've Ever Received

Image by Gianni Crestani from Pixabay

*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.

The person on the other end of a 911 call has a truly remarkable job.

For those who don't play that professional role, we hope to never encounter the 911 call interaction. But if we do find ourselves making that call, the moment is an anomaly in our lives.

The chaos, the panic, the racing heart, and the desperation are all emotions we, ideally, don't experience on a regular basis.

But for the operator on the other end, our call is one in a long line of calls they've received all day, and all the workdays before that one.

It's difficult to imagine being embedded in those uniquely urgent, emergency moments all the time.

Some Redditors who are on the other end of that call shared their experiences on the job.

WhimsicalxxButcher asked, "911 dispatchers what has been your most creepy/unnerving call?"

For a few, the most unnerving moments were the calm callers.

There was something just so eerie about how level-headed the faceless human being on the other end could be through such a desperate, tragic moment.

Almost Clinical 

"I had a friend who worked as a 911 dispatcher and he always said the worst call he ever had was a ~20 year old kid who committed suicide by mixing a bunch of chemicals together in his car to produce hydrogen sulfide gas."

"He said that the most unnerving part was hearing him calmly listing off the chemicals, the type of gas produced, and the effects of hydrogen sulfide on the body (namely the almost instant death it causes at high concentrations)."

"He ended the call by providing the address of the parking lot he was in and saying that nobody should approach the vehicle without hazmat equipment."

"Apparently after that there was a whooshing sound as he dumped the last chemical into the mix, and then the line went dead silent aside for a quiet fizzing noise."

"I know that call screwed him up because he almost never talks about stuff that happens to him on the job. He quit a few months later to go into construction management, and frankly I can't blame him."

-- iunoyou

Planned Out 

"A woman called me, saying she was going to kill herself. She was gassing herself. Gave me her name & address then said she was just going to lie down and 'go to sleep.' And stopped responding to me."

"I kept the line open, trying to get her to speak to me, and eventually heard officers forcing their way in to find her body. I guess she just wanted someone to find her body."

-- mozgw4

Before It Set In 

"When I got a call from a 6 year old who got home from school and laid down to take a nap with his dad. His dad never woke up."

"The kid was so calm when calling it broke my heart."

"I ended up leaving dispatch shortly after. I was good at compartmentalizing the job for the year I was doing it, but it would've broken me in the long run."

-- tasha7712

Other 911 operators were unfortunate enough to receive a call from the very last person they wanted to hear from: a loved one.

These dispatchers' unique position gave them the unexpected access to a family member or friend at their most dire moments.

No More of That 

"My family member is a long time first responder, and 'retired' into doing dispatch. He heard the address (someone else was taking the call) and realized it was his daughter's house."

"He rushed over there just in time to see them wheeling her body out. Overdose."

"Five months later, he was called to his ex-wife's place because his grandson (son of the daughter who recently passed) had his door locked, lights on, but wasn't responding to his grandma."

"He broke the door down and found him deceased in bed. Overdose."

"He's very stoic after years of all sorts of traumatic situations but my heart hurts whenever I think of what all of this must have felt like. Like sand through your fingers."

-- bitchyhouseplant

Knowing the Address

"Not me, but my grandma. I was sitting in the dispatch office, (very small one only 2 dispatchers including my grandma) but she put out a dispatch that there was a gun shot from my best friends address."

"My heart sank to my stomach and broke later that day. He committed suicide."

-- OntaiSenpuu

When it Happened 

"My uncle passing away. Worked as a small town dispatcher for a year or so. Had a bunch of messed up stuff happen on shift, but this call came in in the still hours of the night. Small town, so not many calls after midnight."

"I answered and recognized the name and address on caller id. Aunt was in a frenzy so didn't recognize my voice. I remained calm and got ems and fire rolling to them, but by my aunt's own words he was already blue."

"I went thru debriefing and mandated therapy for a couple other things that happened, but never really talked to anyone about this. I just try not to think about it."

"That was the call I figured out I needed to find a different job."

-- dangitjon

Finally, some simply had a front row seat to sudden tragedy.

These operators were flies on the wall when disaster struck. They never asked to witness what they witnessed, but sometimes that came with the territory.

A Holiday Tragedy 

"My mom is a 911 dispatcher. Early on she said one Christmas Eve while working she got a call from an elderly lady who's husband had just collapsed(and died) from a heart attack and in the background Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas music was playing on blast."

"The lady was screaming and crying and begging for her husband to wake up but my mom could hear his gurgling in his last breathes. She doesn't listen to or watch Alvin and the chipmunks since."

-- Blueflowerbluehair

What is it About Christmas?

"Christmas night. 911 call with crying child on the other end. A neighbor had run her car over her mom during a domestic."

"The mom crawled to the porch bleeding and the child saw the car coming back. I had her hide quietly in a closet with the cordless phone."

"The 10 year old child was crying and screamed that she hated Christmas. She was afraid of the police when they got there."

"I kept her on the phone until she felt safe enough to give the phone to an officer. I almost fainted after that call was over. Had nightmares for a while."

-- 2FunBoofer

Close to Home 

"Not a dispatcher but I handle radio communications for the Coast Guard. One night I was on the radio and got a call from an 11 year old kid whose boat had started to sink. He was out with his dad and 6 year old brother."

"They had been hit by another boat and his father got knocked unconscious. I remember the entire conversation up until the radio had gone underwater."

"They ended up finding his dad floating on his back alive but the two boys didn't make it. That one really fu**ed with me because my two littlest brothers were around the same age as the youngest."

-- HIRSH2243

A Horrible Clock 

"Another one that stays with me was the man who called in. It was the anniversary of his adult son having hanged himself. He'd now come home to find his wife had done the same."

"That date is always going to be a black day for him."

-- mozgw4


If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

Again, we hope you never have to use the 911 call in your life. Nobody wants to be involved in a sudden emergency or a tragic incident.

But hopefully, if you do, an operator like one of these thoughtful, sensitive Redditors is on the other end.

emergency

Former 'Gifted' Students Explain Where They Ended Up In Life

Image by Nguyen Dinh Lich from Pixabay

When I was moving on from middle school to high school my parents had me tested for the "gifted" program. By some miracle I passed and was accepted. And then I turned it down. Everyone was irritated. "This will pave the way for any college you want! You'll learn so much!" his path will set you up for life!" Every adult tried valiantly to sell me this merchandise but in my gut I just wasn't buying it. So I "settled" a level below, merely advanced classes. And upon reflection... it was the best choice I ever made.

Redditor u/dauntlessdaisy was wondering how far some in life got by asking... For those of you who were considered "gifted" in school, what are you doing with your life now?
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former gifted students

People Explain Which Things Should Always Be Kept In A Car In Case Of Emergency

Image by Markus Spiske from Pixabay

There's a million things that can happen to you while out on on the road.

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