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People Who've Inherited Money Reveal The Worst Time Someone Asked For Money

People Who've Inherited Money Reveal The Worst Time Someone Asked For Money

Death is already difficult.

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But the politics that arise from inheritance can easily make it worse. Legal battles ensue, and people show their truest colors.

u/treoni was curious and came to Reddit wanting to hear about their trials and tribulations with inheritance:

[Serious] People who won/inherited a lot of money, what are your horror stories from people begging for your money?

Here are some of those scary stories.

Drug Money

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My grandmother had an education fund made for me and put money in it every month. I was pretty young and my mom was poor and wanted to use that money to buy pot and cigarettes and other stuff. She kept bugging me and bribing me with stuff. I told my grandmother who made sure my mom couldn't access the account.

Paper Route

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My parents did something similar with my college fund, but mine came from paper routes that I had. I started at the earliest legal age, either 9 or 10, with only 30 customers at first, but the size of my routes grew over time. At my height, I was delivering 3 different papers to ~350 total customers across 3 different neighborhoods. A lot of people subscribed to multiple papers, so in total I was pulling down between $1000 and $1500 a month including tips.

My parents took half at the time for "room and board" and forced me to put other half into a college fund. I figured that was still a lot of money and the interest would help it grow for the future (I was naive about bank interest rates), so I kept at the job. This involved waking up by 3:30 AM every day to wrap newspapers so I could be out the door by 4:30 AM, where I would walk the route (it was too much weight for me to balance on a bike) and have them all delivered in three trips by the time the school bus arrived at 9:00. After school I walked around doing collections, and on the weekends I was going door-to-door offering subscriptions.

I don't know exactly when it happened, but some time after I started high school I called my bank to check on what I had believed to be a substantial savings account from ~5 years of work, and it had less than $20 in it. My parents had raided it and never told me, and then just started routing my money to their own accounts. I told the paper companies I was quitting that week.

I did start underreporting my tips after I found out my parents wouldn't let me keep anything any other way, so I did pocket $20-$50 a month. They caught me a couple times and took the money, but that just taught me to hide it better. Still doesn't seem like it was worth all the effort, though.

Restraining Order

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Only child here, although I'm now in my 70s. I inherited a great deal of money from a bachelor great-uncle who I barely knew. We're talking 7 figures. I told no one, but my great-uncle's attorney did, the bastard. Long lost cousins, most of whom I hadn't seen since childhood began pestering, then hassling, then harassing me for money. Some of them would show up at my home at 3am and ring my doorbell for an hour. One actually broke into the house while I was there! I pressed harassment charges against three of them, had the one arrested for breaking and entering, and got a court order to have the other two stay at least 100 yards away from me. I legally changed my name and moved to a remote area of a southern state about ten months later.

Suit???

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Family coming out of the woodwork threatening to sue for the money. Family have "surprise" visits and looked like they thought I hid the money in the house somewhere. No amount of telling them we inherited less than 500$ would make them go away. They did not believe it. Now they all just hate us and I no longer get invited to family outings.

Parents Ruining Things

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I won around £5,000 on a football (soccer) accumulator a few years ago. Not a lot really, but a lot for a 23 year old.

To cut a long story short, because I didn't pay off my father's credit card debt with it he fell out with me and pretty much tried to ruin my life. He told my then partner I had a gambling problem (I didn't, unless spending £5 a week on football constitutes a problem), got my mother to call my work to tell them I had a problem which resulted in work getting a counsellor in to talk to me, and basically preyed on my family's love for me by making them all make me feel horrendously guilty for ever placing a bet in the first place. It all reached a head when I came home to my partner in tears and my mother and father sat comforting her on the sofa, proceeding to tell me if she didn't know if she could trust me, and 'why couldn't I just admit how long I'd been gambling for'. I physically removed my father from my house that night and told him to never darken my doorstep again. All over five grand!

Parents are sometimes toxic and an awful influence on your life. I cut him out because of it (which sadly has meant my relationship with my mother has taken a hit) but it was honestly the best thing I ever did. Don't be afraid of doing so if they add nothing but negativity to your life.

Something For Nothing

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My Great-Aunt and godmother was a lesbian. Her partner - my Auntie Kitty - had been with her since the 1950's, when my godmother moved to New York. Auntie Kitty was disowned by her family when it came out she was with a woman. My godmother died when I was 12 and left my Auntie Kitty everything in her will, which made things strained with my dad's family, though my dad and one of his brothers still talked to her.

I moved to New York at 18 for school and, knowing no one else in the city, we became close. She was thrilled that I wanted to have a relationship with her and spend time with her and didn't hesitate to think of her as my aunt, even though she technically wasn't. She was legit the greatest, and we spent holidays together and she would come to things I worked on and I knew all her friends and she knew mine. I basically spent a decade with her being like another grandmother to me.

She died a few months ago, and it sucks. I miss her a lot, to put it lightly, but she was in her 90's and lived a long life.

Thing was, she left everything to me. Now, I knew she had money - It was hard to miss - but I didn't know how much money she had. I ended up with a decent sized amount of cash and investments, a brownstone in the city, and a place in on the beach in the Carolinas.

Her family came out of the woodwork when she died, sniffing around for money and demanding I give them the beach house, or cash, or whatever. Her will states explicitly that they're not to receive anything from her estate, and it's all to go to me, but they're threatening to sue since 'they're sure she wanted to give them something' even though she hadn't talked to any of them in over half a century, and in some cases, had never met them.

On the opposite side of things, my dad's sisters and brothers are pissed they didn't get anything, because they'd occasionally send her a Christmas card. None of them view it as fair that I was given everything, when they were given nothing. None of them showed up to her funeral, none of them had properly seen her or talked to her in years except my dad. One of my aunts has gone so far as harassing my boyfriend since he's apparently only in it for the money, despite the fact that he had a better relationship with her than she did, and had to help me plan her funeral.

Ungrateful People

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My grandmother has dementia and her husband is dying of cancer. They have over a million in assets that have been divided between 4 sons. One son is a mentally ill, junkie who has been in an out of jail. He has already been promised their house as his share of inheritance but he has been doing all he can to get more from his mother while her husband has been in the hospital slowly dying the last few months. He steals her credit cards, opens new ones in her name, and attempts to access their money through online banking.

My step-grandfather is trying to get her declared mentally incompetent to prevent my uncle from manipulating her finances but between his health issues and being in and out of the hospital it is proving difficult.

When her husband dies (which will unfortunately be soon), he plans on moving into their house (which he already sees as "his") and most likely milking my grandmother dry. The sad part is she has dementia and has no idea what is going on.

It Ain't Your Money

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I had most of my college paid for through scholarships and a fund my parents set up when I was a baby. My roomate junior year would always bring this up as an excuse to not pay for things. Example: "well you have a college fund so you should pay for my dinner too" "I have to take out loans so you should pay for my rent this month." I ended up moving out and avoided her for the rest of my time at school

Wow

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A few years ago we inherited some money from my husband's grandfather. My husband's brother & sister also inherited equal amounts. His sister, we had not spoken to in several years, emailed my husband and his brother asking for their portion of the inheritance because her part-time personal trainer job wasn't enough to keep funding her lifestyle. LOL.

Vultures

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I'll share my current nightmare that started right before my Mom died. My mother was an alcoholic who ended up dying of liver failure last May.

After my mom died we opened the estate with the state of PA to begin the process of going through her finances and transferring the deed from her house to me.

As soon as my info was registered with the state, every realtor came out of the woodwork to harass me about selling her property. I got it phone calls, letters, people showed up and wouldn't leave. We had to call the police multiple times on one realtor. I luckily had a great estate lawyer who would hit the people with C&Ds and follow up with the police when they continued to show up.

My mom had a townhome is a very very desirable neighborhood. It's an easy sale for any realtor but I was still surprised on the sheer number of realtors who harassed us about it.

We still have two realtors who stop by our house every once in awhile thank leave a business card. I have a sign stating that we are not selling taped to our door.

Being Used

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My mom doesn't call me anymore unless she wants something. Her requests vary: a house, a car, travel date, food money. If we don't give her what she wants, she sulks and has big, passive-aggressive tantrums. I wouldn't mind helping her every now and then, but she just uses people. It's never enough. Now that I'm no longer poor, I'm not her daughter, just another source of cash.

Good News For Once

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I do estate valuations for various attorneys and such, just as a sideline, and for fun. Got a call to do one, there were two brothers, etc. The way I do it, you pay me up front (usually about $500 for small stuff), and I come in, make baseline valuations of personal property (not real estate), and give estimates based upon what the goods would (probably) realize at auction. Usually the big stuff is liquidated and divided monetarily, so I don't fool with that.

Went in with my usual blather about "If you people have one uncivil word, I will walk and your money will be forfeit" speech, and proceeded to do a round-the-grounds listing/eval with one of my people. They were following us around, smiling and making small talk. One of them had a wife, the other had a girlfriend, they were all very amicable. When we got done, they asked if I would look and see if their division of property was fair, as they had done it prior to our arrival. They indicated that Salarmy was coming the next day to pick up everything else. I looked at their lists, and they were each for things that the other didn't want, and the lists were equal to within exactly $10 of my estimates. The brother who had the $10 advantage got out his wallet and gave his brother two five dollar bills. The other brother said "I owe you $5 from lunch last week", and he gave one back. Then they told me that it was worth $500 to know that they were even and it wouldn't mess up their relationship. They called me about 2 weeks later, asking if I had cashed their check, as they were closing out the estate. I had torn it up, and told them so. They sent the money to the Wind River Tribal Youth Program. Haven't thought about that in years. Thanks, Reddit.

Selfish Squandering

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When I was diagnosed with cancer, my job took up a collection for me. They were very generous and it grew to a fair amount of money. Which we used through out my treatment so that we didn't worry about bills and what not. My sister found out about the money and began to ask for money, never once offering help. But always having a sob story about why she needed the cash. When lied and said the money was gone. She stopped calling altogether. Oh and when I was a toddler, my mom passed in a car accident. I had bonds given to me from family friends to help me later in life. My Aunt who adopted me cashed all the bonds before I even finished elementary school, leaving me with nothing.

Revenge

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My dad has two sisters. One of them was an out of control mess that after stealing and making her parents life hell they finally had to cut her out of their lives. My grandma died and she didn't even bother coming to the funeral. My grandpa ended up in a memory care facility which blew through the last of what they had saved up and then my dad and his other sister took over the payments. When he passed away they had paid over 70k combined for him to live in a nice facility for the last years of his life. After he died the mess of a sister suddenly showed up demanding her share of the inheritance assuming that it would be a large sum of money. They sent her a bill for 1/3 of the 70k.

Ruined Family

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My grandpa was pretty well off and he suddenly died of undiagnosed prostate cancer a decade or so ago. The kids from his second marriage immediately swooped in and started claiming everything as their's, despite us being just as close to him as they were. It ended with a lawsuit and the family being split in half, with us not regarding them as family anymore. We ended up getting basically nothing and I'm frankly not impressed with how it was handled by either side. It's really sad seeing people you've known your whole life acting like that and ruining decades of being family in a couple weeks.

Grandma's Valuables

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Even more pathetic because it was so little money: Grandma lived off her pension after selling her house way cheap to Aunt. After she died, Other Aunt divided up her money and stuff, I think each grandkid got $1000, one piece of her inexpensive furniture, a few little things, none of it worth any money. But Cousin K, whose parents got a super cheap house that she keeps saying she wants, carried on about how she was promised everything. She wanted the ten year old freezer her sister with little kids got, she wanted the dishes, she wanted wanted wanted. Ten years later, I avoid talking to her because I'm sure I'll still hear about all of grandma's valuables that Other Aunt threw away. I think the rest of us should have just gone in together, said, "take one thing then someone else's turn" and we all would have left after round two and left the rest for Cousin K to take everything else and saved ourselves a lot of accusations.

Disappear

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A few years ago a family member was killed, my parents secretly sued the persons/company responsible and we were awarded millions in a settlement. To this day I haven't shared this info with anyone because it's very personal. We don't want anyone to think we profited from their death because that wasn't our intention. We wanted to make sure the spouse was cared for financially.

After about 2 years of my parents being involved in court, the settlement was finalized. During this time, my siblings spouse was cared for emotionally and financially by my family. After the case was settled, the spouse was awarded several million as one of the stipulations my parents set. Immediately after, they disappeared from our lives entirely. It was extremely disappointing to my family when that happened, especially considering all we had been doing to keep them going. Imagine having a son or daughter suddenly die and having to fight lawyers for years to give their spouse a happy life, only to have them take the money and run once it was all finished.

Yes my family did receive a rather large sum and we had a dinner on his birthday to which this news was shared with all the siblings. It was a shock learning why the spouse had completely cut us off, and that I'd suddenly become "rich" as a result of everything. It feels wrong and slightly embarrassing, but i'm sure my sibling would be proud that they could help the family after their death. Still, I'll never tell anyone what happened because I don't want my sibling's life story tarnished any further. I think everyone in my family feels the same, nothing has changed in our lives afterward. At first I felt extremely guilty spending a dime of that money, but over time I've learned to appreciated the opportunities that it has given me. All of us have continued down the same path as before, although my parents have been traveling a lot and I don't blame them one bit

No More Of This

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I won a lawsuit settlement after almost dying in a fire. I was under 18 at the time of the incident but was 18 when it finally settled. My mother told me unless I gave her half of my settlement, I would have to find a new place to live. I was in my senior year of high school when this happened. She said she deserved it because she was the only one in my life who was always there for me. I didn't give her the money, she kicked me out and tried to keep some of my personal belongings not like I had much since everything was lost in the fire. We didn't talk for months until she randomly showed up at my house one day. She asked me for rent money and gave me some BS sob story. I wrote her a check for $5k hoping it'd maker her go away. It did for a time - she and I barely spoke until years later when I was pregnant. A few years ago I was in a bad car accident (hit by an 18 wheeler) and got some money. I told no one - especially my mom. She has insisted numerous times I was entitled to a settlement for it and should speak to a lawyer she found. She took it upon herself to talk to lawyers on my behalf - or tried to. I just ignored her for months until she finally gave it up.

Bridge Burning Smoke Signals

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My aunt stole a large sum of money from me. When I turned 18 I was to get a check for 18 years of percap with interest. Six months before my 18th, she quit her job and started working at a small 5 location credit union. She asked me to move my accounts there to help her meet quotas since she just started and would do joint accounts so I could get the benifits too. Ten months later I thought she had a better job and was reaping the benifits when she started to remodel her house and spend her nights at the bar. I didn't think anything of it because she was my aunt and had a decent job. When I went to change banks because I was moving across the country she told me she already withdrew the money and I couldn't get it and since it was a joint account there was nothing I could do about it. While not fine the worst thing about it was that she claimed it was what my mother wanted and was in her will. Then when disproved said she deserved it more than me, and then eventually that because she did it in a legal way it was hers now. She convinced her boss that I was trying to ruin her life so I couldn't even go to them for help.

Eventually I got 60% of it back from a settlement but she burned all the bridges she could in the family. She would cut off any contact with people who asked what the problem was. Or would threaten to if they talked about it. Since she was getting free child care from her mom she said she would rather pay for childcare than listen to her mom talk about me. So my grandmother had to keep quiet or she would lose her other two grandkids and her last living daughter along with me because I was moving across the country. Total blindside.

Uncle Buck$

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I am fortunate that my father's family is well off. Everything is locked into trust funds since my grandparents death. Now my father has died I have control over my father's share. My uncle who is a weed dealing/smoking-in and out of jail- never held a job-dropkick-son of a loving women who always have him hand and brother to my father who tried to help support him even though he was sick for many years.

Anyways, I have withdrawn my share because that family sucks at financial management and I have reinvested it in my own trust, well uncle has started calling me monthly from jail asking for help with lawyers or to pay for something. He still has living brothers, but he thinks a girl three times younger than him should be supporting him because 'he can't get a job and I am family'. I feel nothing for the man who has thrown his life away and leeched off my father in his last years. I am glad though, better than him harassing my mum.

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.