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.
One thing that comes to mind is the vintage advertisements for weight loss pills targeted at women. Everyone wants something that will make them skinny by magic right? Wrong. These pills actually contained tapeworm. So these women were giving themselves a parasite with medical approval just to lose weight...pairs well with the cigarette ads of the time.
Curious of others experiences Redditor pinkyfirefly asked:
“What is something that used to be considered safe/okay but now we know is harmful?"
Oh yeah greeeeat idea!
“Lead and Asbestos- what great products!!! Let's put them in / on everything!!” 24KaratMinshew
It caused the Victoria Hall disaster...
“Single entry/exit points on large buildings. IIRC the creator of push bar doors was a survivor of a child stampede that killed over a hundred kids.” ThrowThisTeaAway
The use of Radium...
“Back during, like, the 40's and 50's (IIRC) 20's, the U.S. military and other institutions were producing watches with glow-in-the-dark dials painted on. The paint in question contained radium, which is radioactive enough that it can be harmful to humans.”
“Now, at this point in time, radiation and its adverse effects on humans wasn't very well or very publicly understood, so there were basically no safety regulations involved with handling the radium-based paint. There also wasn't really any sort of automation in the watch-painting field, so these watches - thousands upon thousands upon thousands of them - were being painted hand-painted by a majority-female workforce...”
“These women were being closely exposed to high volumes of radium for hours on end almost every day for months and years. Some of them - liking the glow-in-the-dark effect - even reportedly used the paint as lipstick or other forms of makeup so they could go home and show off to their husbands.”
“Unsurprisingly, the eventual results were nothing short of gruesome - cancer diagnoses being the least severe consequences in many cases - and the case of the radium girls is part of how the public at large learned about the dangers of radioactive materials.” PaniqueAttaque
It's become a sad epidemic...
“heroin. it was originally sold as a cough medicine by bayer.” WhenTardigradesfly
“Bayer called it "heroisch", meaning heroic in German, because it was believed to have the same properties as morphine without the addictive side effects” psycedelich
An accident waiting to happen...
“Solid metal dashbaords in vehicles without seatbelts. A friend of mine in the Army had a vintage car from the 1950s before seat belts were mandatory equipment. He was a reckless driver who liked to speed and weave in and out of traffic on the interstate. I only rode with him once.” wzl46
X-rays anyone?
“Radiation. There used to be devices to measure children's feet. Basically, the children would put their shoes on, stick their feet into this machine, and it would blast their feet with radiation so that nervous parents could see the children's feet inside the shoes to be sure they fit. Congrats, the shoes fit, but now your child has a ton of other health concerns!” TechyDad
Cigarettes...
“Cigarettes are full of feel good compound and grade A vitamins! 50 yrs later: ..uh, just kidding?” livesquared
superman smoking GIFGiphyBaby formula even?
“Melamine. Up until 2008, multiple Chinese baby powdered formula manufacturers secretly added melamine to their products. Melamine has high nitrogen content and mimicked the effect of high protein content in tests.”
“Babies who consumed the products were diagnosed with kidney stones. As it turns out, melamine damages one's urinary system in many ways. I could not stop wetting my bed until I was 10 years old.”
“The scandal caused a huge distrust in the Chinese food industry that persists today. It also caused the phenomenon where mainland Chinese tourists bulk purchase baby powder for friend and relatives when travelling abroad.“ GtYuhanZhang
Babies should be on their backs, with no blankets or soft toys in the crib for safety...
“So much stuff with babies. Not just the obvious car seats, but all sorts of sleeping stuff. Most of Reddit probably slept in a crib with a loose blanket, crib bumpers, and stuffed toys. You might even have been put on your stomach, or had a pillow. None of that is considered safe anymore.”
“Babies are supposed to be on a flat surface, swaddled only under a certain very young age, with basically nothing anywhere near them. The CPSC just banned a bunch of things in common use, in fact, including ‘baby boxes’ similar to the ones given out in Finland.” Grave_Girl
YeeHaw Paw-Paw...
“Standing up in the front seat of your grandfather's '58 thunderbird as a 6 year old and saying ‘Pawpaw, I bet you can't go 100.’ And him saying ‘Hang on buddy.’ Then going for a snow cone.” IC--XC--NI--KA
These responses show just how far we've come in understanding safety. It also gives us good reason to always question new things that come out that are “too good to be true" because they probably are.
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And the most satisfying joys in life are simpler than you might think.
After coming home from a long and stressful day, there's nothing quite like being greeted by a loved one, a spastic puppy that's been eagerly awaiting your return, or even a glass of wine. Or two.
Curious to hear about the little things that bring smiles, Redditor SlugsLoveBeer asked:
"What are some of the small things in life that make you happy?"
It's the little things we don't think of that can relieve us of life's many burdens.
Free Da Feet
"Taking off my work boots at the end of a shift."
"This. So much. I have about 2 hours left in my shift. Can not wait for that 530 am beer on the back porch with my boots off."
Simple Comforts
"Freshly washed sheets on the bed + just shaved legs + the windows open with a perfect cool summer breeze."
Pets are given when it comes to making us feel all the feels.
Loyal Protector Of The House
"When coming home and your dog sees you from a distance and gradually gets more and more excited as your approach, to finally greet with joyous love and show you what a good boy they've been protecting the house."
A Purrfect Companion
"When a cat sits on me."
"My cat will often sleep in bed next to me and usually gives me spiky back rubs at bedtime.Sometimes though when he's really happy, he'll reach out and hold my hand with his paw."
Cat Talk
"My cat has a specific special meow she only uses when I sneeze. It's super cute and makes me laugh a little every time."
Our positive reactions with people can truly influence our mood.
They Nourish Our Souls
"Having people genuinely care about you. Mutual love and respect is one of the best feelings in the world. I also love food. Food is comforting."
Showing Teeth
"A genuine smile in return of mine."
"Yes. Like, when someone sees you and you can just tell they're really happy to see you, they're not just smiling to be polite."
Love Embrace
"Falling asleep with someone laying in your arms next to you. That calm kinda peaceful feeling of just relaxing. Not the part when your arm falls asleep or when you have to get up to pee though lol"
– mre4you
My joy-inducing thing is a little bizarre, but I trust this is a no judgment space.
I love to sit down to read in my love seat situated in the corner of my living room. But the act of reading itself is not the thing that makes me happy.
It's the smell from the pages after opening a new book that brings me such joy. It lets me know I'm about to be transported and it evokes a childlike sense of wonder that grounds me.
And it is one of the most comforting feeling. A literary aroma.