We are all full of surprises.
We have talents we hide.
And some we are completely unaware of.
Can you open any bottle of pickles?
I can.
Useless, but once and every once in a while... life-affirming.
Redditor Middle_Ad_2619 wanted everyone to share about the things they do that make no difference in the world. They asked:
"What is a useless skill that you have?"
I can tell...
driving fast and furious GIFGiphy"Identifying cars’ make/model by their headlights at night."
sharksnrec
"Pre 2020s Mustangs look like big spiders with all their lights. I recognize a handful of them, but not all. Tail lights at also fun."
IcePhoenix18
Bizarre
"I can identify faces very easily even with age. People I've seen once in a film 40 years ago I'll see again in something current and say 'Oh that's the guy who played the 3rd terrorist in that film from 1980.' It's bizarre."
thewoodbeyond
"This has a name and might be a very good job for you if you're interested https://www.vice.com/en/article/ep487p/how-police-are-using-super-recognizers-like-me-to-track-criminals"
starfire2258
Waves
"I can do a wave with my eyebrows."
Kith-Kath
"Me too, and I can move them separately of each other and separately of my ears, which I can also wiggle with."
cainhurstcat
"I used to be able to do that... was about the only interesting thing about me, until I wrecked my moped and tore a muscle or nerve or something and it took 6 months for any movement, but now it's just enough to passably get emotion across."
PrinceDusk
World's Best
"Competitive Minesweeper. Was 15th in the world at one point."
SaltyPretzel97
"Back in college I had a friend who played minesweeper to relax. Just clicking at a screen. She’d been doing it for a decade. The speed at which she was playing was genuinely mind blowing. Like constant clicking at about 3-5 clicks per second. And all on purpose, winning a ton of games."
PM-ME-UNICORN-BUTTS
Characters
Fox Tv Fire GIF by Bob's BurgersGiphy"I do a really good impression of Teddy from Bob's Burgers."
boyvsfood2
"I can do Kermit, Bobby of Bobby’s World, and Gollum. Possibly others, I dunno."
vercertorix
Well that is all entertaining. Profitable? Who knows...
awkward jim carrey GIFQUAAAAAACK!
"I can play a blade of grass."
CaptianRed
"That reminds me when I was very young. I went camping and met a dude that said he could make a duck call from just 1 acorn. So i brought him one and he squeezed it and told me to get close. He took a deep breath and screamed, 'QUAAAAAACK!' Safe to say i never talk to random strangers when im out in the wilderness."
Elixr-z
Scales
"I’ve worked in a deli most of my life. I can weigh things in grams eerily accurately with just my hands. Some customers get pretty kind blown."
Origin_Of_Ebot
"I have a, uh, similar skill, because I've done so many autopsies that I can almost always guess the weight of any human organ within about ten grams. Don't really get to perform for many people but I get a hell of a lot of satisfaction when the heart weighs EXACTLY what I knew it would."
totally0real0account
WTF?!?!
"I can send and receive morse code at 65+ words per minute. Completely pointless skill."
008mantis
"Pointless?!?! That is f**king amazing my friend!!"
davvaz62
"That’s amazing, I’ve never learned morse code nor have I spent the time to get so good at it."
TheGalacticPenguin
Woof...
dog show GIF by Westminster Kennel ClubGiphy"Not me but my mum can name literally any dog breed you show her."
majesticles0
Random
"I know a lot of random things about animals. Both extinct and living."
TigBitties42069
"Tapirs have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each rear foot. But every tapir I've seen makes only two-toed rear footprints because the third toe grows too far up their hamstring to touch the ground."
onmyknees4anyone
Limbs
"I can lick elbows."
shadyfortheshade
"God i remember a kid in band would lick other peoples elbows. He would do it to one person specifically and the guy would never know unless we told him."
ChubbsthePenguin
"Same. No one believes me until I show them lol."
alwayssummer90
Threshold
"Ability to sneeze with 118 decibels measured. 120 is already threshold of pain as an interesting fact."
KerbalEnginner
"I have a loud sneeze too but not sure if it's this loud! My Dad's was even louder and it runs in the family. Does your loud sneeze run in the fam too?"
Wolkenflieger
"Sure does, I adopted my late grandfather's technique and my sneeze can be heard all over the village where I live.
If you want to measure it get a sound meter app on the phone."
KerbalEnginner
Where?
"I can always find the most in-the-way place near anyone who is busy."
themattboard
"I've always had this curse. When I was like 10 we rented a dune buggy. It was one with a pull start motor and it would occasionally die. About 30 minutes in it died so my dad and I got out to start it."
"Not paying attention I stood behind my dads right side as he yanked hard to start it. His elbow smacked me square in the head (I was luckily wearing a helmet) and sent me flying. I got up and moved to the other side of my dad not knowing he had switched arms. Again, he yanked as hard as he could and his elbow launched me back again. I just stayed on the ground until it was started after that."
WantedDadorAlive
Whipped
"I'm extraordinarily good at towel whipping. Made someone bleed once."
Thomasgraham76
"This is something that everyone in my family has advanced skill in. We love getting in playful towel wars. I have never found a girlfriend who wanted to do this with me despite always wishing I would. My mom and uncle will go at it until they are both bleeding and look like they were in a paintball fight."
PaticusGnome
Vibrations
Scared Dog GIFGiphy"I can vibrate my eyes back and forth."
probono_deeeeeeeeeee
"Me too. It looks like the cheap earthquake effect from TV shows from my point of view, when I do it."
Meranio
Twirl Special
"Twirling, flipping, and spinning writing utensils. Like, really intricate s**t, effortlessly. A skill built up with hours and hours of fidgeting. Seems to impress a lot of people, apparently. Gets plenty of compliments."
DocFishFight
"Pretty much anytime I've held a pencil or pen, I've tried to twirl it like Boris in Goldeneye, ever since the movie came out. I still can't do it, so respect to you."
MikeMcAwesome91
Well these skills may not be a career, but what great party conversation starters.
- People Debate The Most Useless Things Taught In School - George ... ›
- People Confess The Most Useless Skill They Possess - George Takei ›
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- People Admit Which Useless Skills They're Totally Proud Of - George Takei ›
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.
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.
