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Spooked People Share Their Most Unexplainable Experiences With The Paranormal

Spooked People Share Their Most Unexplainable Experiences With The Paranormal

There's no such thing. Right...?

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Well, maybe, but, maybe not, too. The world is full of unexplained things, and the paranormal--a subject of great controversy--is so impossible to prove, aside from word of mouth stories. Even skeptics have had their fill.

Redditor u/MegaMango000 asked: Redditors who don't believe in the paranormal, what's the scariest experience you've had that you still can't rationally explain? Serious Replies Only.

Here were some of the spookiest stories.

Poltergeist

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I had a lot of weird things happen at my parents house growing up, but I still consider myself skeptical of anything paranormal.

The master bedroom has a walk-in closet where the light would constantly come on by itself, especially when I was home alone. The dogs were also weirdly obsessed with the closet. One would sit in there for hours, and the other would always stand and growl and bark. Even years after I moved out, my mom still has this happen on the regular.

The freakiest time was when I was 15 and my parents were out for the evening at a work party. I was in my room playing a computer game and listening to music. Suddenly I got a really uncomfortable feeling like someone was behind me. I turned around, and there was a black shadowy figure in the middle of the room. As soon as I saw it, it moved towards me and I could literally feel it move through me. I noped the f out of the house and sat outside until my parents came home.

The most recent time was after I moved out and was at my parents to do some laundry. As I was loading the dryer, I clearly saw somebody walk by the laundry room door and into the furnace room. I assumed it was my dad, but it turned out they were both upstairs at the time.

My mom is also a complete skeptic, but she almost wanted to come stay with me one time because she swears she saw a dark figure crawl across the kitchen floor. She also says she's seen the chandelier swinging one time during the night.

I've never had anything weird happen to me anywhere else but that house, so it's kind of freaky. I'm really not sure what to think.

Poor Puppies

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Stayed with a friend for a couple months post divorce. He had an old farm house and I bunked in the top floor room. One night as I had just gone to bed I heard creaking on the floor just in front of my bed. After a couple seconds, I rolled over and just ignored it.

After a few minutes, I hear it again. I roll over and sit up. I see what looks like a blur (mist perhaps, who knows) pass by the end of the bed. At this point I'm more confused than anything.

Suddenly, I hear what sounds like light footsteps on the stairs - about 7 in total. A small creak, possibly the door opening to the downstairs and then the dogs go ballistic. I run downstairs and now we are all awake. The dogs are focused on the stairway and bark like mad for about 3 minutes.

No real explanation, but after telling my buddy and his wife what I heard we were all creeped out for a few days. I stayed there for a few weeks and nothing else ever happened.

WTF

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I was laying in my bed sleeping one night and I woke up feeling uncomfortable. My daughter has health issues and years of worry about her condition caused us to be light sleepers. When I woke up this night I watched a white figure come down the hall from my daughters room and go by my door. At the same time my dog slid off of the bed (he didn't get up just slid) and followed the white figure.

I was freaked out so I got up and followed the dog to our front door. The dog was facing the door looking out the glass in the door down the street. The moon was lighting up his face and I noticed his eyes were completely shut. I put my hand on his neck and he jumped... He was 100% asleep.

I checked my daughters room and she was happily sleeping and in good health. I've often wondered what visited and how often its visited our home. Ive also wondered if I've ever been the one staring out the front door instead of the dog completely asleep...

NOPE

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1. On my first nursing job, I would work in a unit that served as an overflow, and that unit would close if the census was low (less patients in the hospital). The hospital was only a few years old, but there were strange things happening like the TV turning on its own in a room where one patient died and patient doors closing. I always joked that sun-downing in a hospital could might as well be someone being possesed.

2. Two of our coworkers has the bright idea of going upstairs to that unit, turning on phone video, and asking aloud to the spirits to show themselves. I didn't join them since I was busy. But to their disappointment, nothing came of it and even the possessed TV did not turn on. But later, when they reviewed the video, they turned up the volume on their phone. They started to hear audible whispers and that freaked them out.

3. Not my story but a veteran coworker. She got consent from family for a patient for a surgery who was paranoid "I'm going to die...I'm going to die...I know I am, you bring me there I die." The patient didn't have any significant medical problems, no red flags with anesthesia history, and the surgery was a simple ex-laprascopic gallbladder removal.

The dude died on the table.

Can't Explain

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Repost, not really scary just a portion of it I can't explain:

So, this was about 13 years ago. My wife and I moved into our brand new condo in July of 05. We were new to the area, and knew no one besides my dad. Fast forward to April 07. We had some "weird" things, such as the tv turning on in the middle of the night and a few glasses shattered on their own when no one was in the room. Strange... but we just explained it as new construction/wiring and perhaps the glasses were weakened by the move/age.

We joke about it, and eventually I'm due to drive back to Chicago to do my oral defense for my Masters Degree. I take showers daily, as does my wife. Don't remember the actual dates, but lets say Monday my wife and I take our showers, no worries. Tuesday, I take a shower and get out. Our bathroom has a full wall mirror over the dual sinks. In the steam, at the VERY VERY top is written, "Chicago". I'm like, "Uh... that's odd." Call to my wife and ask her, "Why did you write that?" She is just waking up and comes in, is confuse and starts to get mad at me cause SHE didn't write it. I quickly write in the steam below it without thinking... as does she. The writing doesn't match either of us. Plus, it is written at the TOP of the mirror. We have ten foot ceilings. Both of us would have had to have gotten on the counter and stood to reach it.

I run through the condo (its not very big) everything is locked. We had no people over inbetween the daily showers, and hadn't had anyone over in weeks (still didn't know many people here). My wife is not a prankster, she has never pranked me in in the two decades I've known her.

The kicker, the next night I had an incredibly realistic dream of my grandma who passed in 05. She was on my bed, rested her hand on my leg and said, "Don't worry Hyperion, that b-stard is gone." Nothing weird happened after that. I can explain away everything except that writing though.

Wormhole

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When I was in middle school, I had just come into my classroom and sat down in my desk that was directly across from the door, so I could see out in the hall. I had looked up and saw a black circle, or I guess a circular void (pitch black, no shadow or anything) perfectly centered out of the doorway. A really rough estimate, it was maybe two-three feet tall and wide?

And I do wear glasses, so you'd think it was vision spots right? But a kid out in the hall passed in FRONT of it so that freaked me out and I really don't know what it was. It was only there a few more seconds after that.

The Drink

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When I was about 9/10 years old I was with my friend and we went to my house to get something to drink. We got the drink and we heard something weird coming from upstairs even though there was nobody in the house but us (I had just opened the front door with the key myself and the door was locked).

So we went upstairs and directly on the left there is a door to the bathroom which is about where the noise seemed to be coming from. I looked at the door and realized the little marker that says if it's closed or opened was about 3/4 red and 1/4 white (so it was almost fully locked from inside). When we approached the door to knock on it since nobody was answering our calls to ask who was inside (it's about 3 meters from the end of the stairs) all of the sudden with some noise of force (it was not an easy lock to unlock, but required some power) the thing just popped to fully white like someone turned the lock fully open again from inside the bathroom.

The quickness and force of the movement caused me and my friend to both run out of the house to his house and when we told his mom about this experience she went with us to see what was up.

When we got back, there was nobody in the house nor was there anything missing in the house and there were no windows opened for someone to get away that was in there before. The strangest thing about it all to me was that there was just no way someone could have gotten in and out without a key, and the only people with keys were all away at work.

I still don't understand what happened to this day, but I'm convinced there was someone in that bathroom that day.

A Car, A Car

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I was alone in my house. When I was just about to open a door leading downstairs to my basement I heard what I swear was a person running up the stairs towards the door very quickly. Can't recall if I opened it or not but I was certainly the only person home. I noped out to my buddies place. I'm sure it was actually just something stupid but at the time I was scared af

I Do Believe In Spooks

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My ex and I were the last ones to move out of his house, so it was large and empty, no furniture, very creepy. We lived in his room in the basement. In my time living there I heard alot of unexplained minor things. I used to hear footsteps upstairs, like his dad had gotten home in his work boots and was walking around, but id go upstairs, and he wasn't home yet. In the basement, there was a door to the unfinished half of it (next to his room) and I would go out in the hall and it would be open, after we had already closed it. He had told me also, he used to hear voices and footsteps when no one was home.

This one particular time is the point where we were living there alone before moving out. I was alone, and was upstairs in the empty living room, broad daylight, midmorning. I had the laundry I was bringing to my parents house to do, and had stopped upstairs to say bye to the cat. While I was petting the cat, someone laughed. Clearly laughed out loud like they were right behind me. The cat all of a sudden bolts and runs into an empty run and i follow, looking for anyone at all who could have been there. No one was there. the cat ran again and disappeared into the basement. I grab the laundry and run.

All very minor things, I'm one to believe more if I see it, kind of thing. Those are my only stories to lead me to believe in ghosts or spirits. That story still creeps me out. But I now believe more in it than I used too.

Sudden Music

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I'm a police officer and I was working a fresh homicide (had occurred within the last hour). We'd checked the house, and it's me, 2 other patrol officers and a homicide detective standing there talking and waiting for the medical examiner. All of a sudden the stereo kicks on, playing a song I don't know the name of, but sounded like something you'd hear at a funeral. None of us were near the stereo or had the remote (it took us like 5 minutes to figure out how to turn it off).

Was very eerie to me.

Awww

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My dad died when I was 5. Was raised by my mom and I have a twin brother who I'm really close to but we aren't inseparable. I was on my second year of college bombing all my classes, had not seen family or friends in months and one of my best friends died a month earlier. Not trying to complain but it was a hard time in my life. Anyways I'm alone in my dorm on my bed trying to to homework while I'm panicking about my future. All of a sudden my blanket moves up my bed and around me while i was all alone, I hear a mans voice say "your going to be ok"

Aliens

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I was in bed one night and for no reason at all I woke up.... heard scratching going on above my head and then every single electronic in my room turned on at once.... I'm talking TV, computer, monitors, xbox, laptop.... I summed the scratching up to mice... but I still cant explain the second part....

Weeeeeeird

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Not scary exactly, but pretty weird.

My coworkers disappeared for two or three minutes one day. This was about 10 years ago, about a month/six weeks or so after I started my first office job. The company was in the top two floors of an office building, and I think the set up was a bit jury-rigged somehow because the only way up to the top floor was through the fire escape - the lifts didn't go that high. We had to keep the top fire escape door permanently open because you couldn't open it from the inside - I've got no idea how you were supposed to get up there originally.

It was the last day in that office before the company moved to a new building and we were packing our things up; boxing files and labelling computers and all that. My boss, who had a major sweet-tooth, got peckish and asked me to get some lollies from the 7-11 that was at street level in the building next door. I went down, bought something and took the lift back up. The lights were out.

I went to my office - we were on the lower floor - and it was padlocked shut. The other office on that floor, which had a glass door, was dark and empty. I knocked on the padlocked door, and when there was no answer, I went to the fire escape to check the upper level. The door was closed. I couldn't get right back to my floor, that door had closed behind me, so I walked back down to the ground floor and took the lift back up. Everything was back to normal. The lights were on, doors were open, there were people. I mentioned what had happened and no one knew what I was talking about. I thought it might have been a practical joke for a little while, but no-one ever said anything about it.

Brother//Uncle

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The first one happened when I was about 7 years old. I had my own bedroom and always slept with the door open. One night as I was laying in bed, on my side, facing the door, I saw my little brother (who would have been 2 at the time) run by my bedroom door wearing those old 90's LA Gear light up sandals (If you grew up in the 90's you know the ones, with the red lights that blink on the back heel area when you take a step). I sat up at bit when I heard/saw this as I could hear the distinctive crumple sound of a diaper being ran in and saw the lights clearly. I whispered his name and asked what he was doing. I saw him come back to my door way, sandals lighting up, and then stop at my doorway looking at me. At that point I could tell something was off, I could not make out any features on him but I chalked it up to being dark and he ran back down the hall and I went to sleep.

The next morning, I went to my Mom and asked why my brother was up running around last night. She told me that he wasn't, I said that I saw him and he even had on those sandals that light up. She looked at me funny and said, "Your brother slept in our bed all night last night, and I threw away those sandals over a month ago....

The second one, I was about 9 years old.

Our front room was a wide open space with a couch on the left wall, a couch towards the back of the room and a bay window you are able to sit in at the front. A family friend named Tom came over to stay with us. He was going to sleep on the couch in the front room, and me, wanting to hang out with my older cool "uncle" Tom (who was about 20 years older than me) asked if I could sleep on the other couch as a kind of slumber party. He of course said yes and my parents could care less.

We go to sleep and in the front room through the blinds on the bay window you could see some light filtering in from the street light outside. I woke up at some point and was by default staring at the bay window and I saw Tom casually sitting on the bay window looking out towards the street. I whispered his name, he slowly turned his head to look at me, and then slowly moved back to looking out the window. I looked at the couch and did not see him there, so I got up and walked towards him asking what he was doing. As I got closer and closer, he became more and more translucent until I got right up to him and reached out to touch him and my hand went through thin air... he was gone. I looked at the couch and he was there sound asleep.

It wasn't sleep paralysis because I was wide awake in both situations but I have no explanation for what it might have been.

Hands

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When I was still a kid I stayed with my cousin at my grandma's house, it's a very old ryad in Morocco (like 400ys+ old). My grandma left us alone and went to visit a friend of hers and she was the only one with the keys. As I was playing with my cousin we heard heavy banging on the door, we went running to the door and checked who it was but there was noone outside, so we went back playing in a room till we heard a very loud bang on the window overlooking the interior patio, and there was a huge man's hand on it, we got out of the room running to the patio but noone was there. We went hiding in another room for like 2hours super scared till my grandma came back. We told everyone the story and noone ever believed us.

A Song

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Once, i was laying in my bed and was about to sleep while listening on my ipod the song : hell awaits from Slayer for the first time. So there is a 1 minute intro to the song where the phrase "join us" is repeated backwards. When the intro was over there was the sudden drums. Right then i saw the door right against my bed turn into white as if striken by lightning. My 15yo self almost s--t my pants and straight up ran to my mom in the kitchen. My guess is that it was a near-sleep hallucination triggered by the sudden drum beat. Never heard this song again, neither am i planning to!

Mystery

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I was about 6 years old, playing with some toy soldiers out front of my house. I turned my head to the left (towards the house) and vaguely saw some man watching me. As soon as he saw that I had seen him, he looked like he quickly jolted back behind the house. I got up and followed and... he was gone. But there was no where for him to go from where he ran. He just vanished.

Strange Figures

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As a teenager I would babysit for my cousin, let's call her A. I was about 16 at the time. Her and her husband had just moved into this large house and had a newborn daughter. I never liked the vibe of that house but just thought I was being irrational. One morning I'm alone with the baby and I hear someone going down the stairs, a bang, and some murmuring, I tell myself the house is new and it's just settling and maybe the TV is on. I pick up the infant and make my way downstairs. Once you get to the bottom of the stairs it opens up to a large living room to the left with a TV on the floor, to the right is the kitchen area. I go to the kitchen to make a bottle and it feels like someone is watching me, I shake it off but start packing up a diaper bag just in case. Not 2 minutes later I hear the TV turn on, volume all the way up, to static white noise.. I. Flip. My. Sh-t! I run to the living room and turn it off. I call one of my cousins who lives near by to come get me, let's call her S, as I'm talking to S on the phone the TV turns on again. I waited for her outside after that. Later that night my cousin S, another cousin who is the sister to A, and I go back to A's house to drop off the baby and get my stuff I left there. We ring the door bell no answer. We hear them running up and down the stairs, we saw someone look at us through the window, and we can hear them talking and laughing. We have no clue what game they're playing so we ring the door bell again and start yelling at them, they're laughing at us now. All 3 of us are getting irritated and start to leave, as we get in the car, here comes A and her husband coming up the street in their car... We have no clue what the hell happened that night, I don't believe in the paranormal but I have no explanation for that.

Static

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We have an office next to our living room. One night, my wife gets up in the middle of the night and the TV in the office was turned on. Nobody had been in the office for a few days.

Two days later, I get up for work really early, 6am, and I'm in the living room putting on my shoes. I notice the TV is on again. When I walked in the office to unplug the TV, I got chills worse than I've ever had in my life.

I can explain the chills as my active imagination, but the TV turning itself on, twice, still creeps me out.

OKC Creeps

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This is really confusing and still confuses me to this day. But as i remember it, I was in kindergarten and me and my family were living in an apartment in oklahoma city. It was in the middle of the day which is what still trips me out but my mom had went out grocery shopping and had been out for about over an hour while me and my dad were at home so we had been expecting her already. We both CLEARLY hear the door being unlocked, OPENED, and keys being set on the table. Almost like a routine for whenever my parents would get home. I exclaimed "mommy's home!" while both me and my father leave the room and go into the living room. No one is there. Me and my dad are both confused and search around then as my dad calls my mom to ask where she's at, she unlocks the front door and comes in like nothing happened. We asked her if she had already been inside and went to the car or something and she said she literally just arrived for the first time. It was a really small apartment so it was pretty clear we both had obviously heard something from inside the apartment just only 15 steps away. The weirdest part to me which my dad doesn't seem to find significance in because he was the "aware adult" but that I VIVIDLY remember that happening at one apartment while my dad says he clearly remembered that happening at the apartment we had lived in previously. I was old enough to distinguish the names of the apartments and we've talked about it to clear any confusion but it's just odd to me that we both have the exact same story with exact details but remember it as two different places

Jobs That Seem Easy But Are Actually Incredibly Challenging

Reddit user CeleryLover4U asked: 'What's a job or profession that seems easy, but is incredibly challenging?'

Woman stressed at work
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

When we hear about other people's jobs, we've surely all done that thing where we make assumptions about the work they do and maybe even judge them for having such an easy or unimportant job.

But some jobs are much harder than they look.

Redditor CeleryLover4U asked:

"What's a job or profession that seems easy but is incredibly challenging?"

Customer Service

"Anything customer-facing. The public is dumb and horrendous."

- gwarrior5

"My go-to explanation is, 'Anyone can do it, but few can do it for long.'"

- Conscious_Camel4830

"The further I get in my corporate career, the less I believe I will ever again be capable of working a public-facing job. I don’t know how I did it in the past. I couldn’t handle it in the present."

"I know people are only getting worse about how they treat workers. It is disturbing, embarrassing, and draining for everyone."

- First-Combination-12

High Stakes

"A pharmacist."

"You face the public. Your mistake can literally kill someone."

- VaeSapiens

"Yes, Pharmacist. So many people think their job is essentially the same as any other kind of retail worker and they just prepare prescriptions written by a doctor without having to know anything about them."

"They are very highly trained in, well, pharmacology; and it's not uncommon for a pharmacist to notice things like potentially dangerous drug interactions that the doctor hadn't."

- Worth_University_884

Teaching Woes

"Two nuggets of wisdom from my mentor teacher when I was younger:"

"'Teaching is the easiest job to do poorly and the hardest job to do well,' and 'You get to choose two of the following three: Friends, family, or being a good teacher. You don't have enough time to do all three.'"

"We all know colleagues or remember teachers who were lazy and chose the easy route, but any teacher who is trying to be a good teacher has probably sacrificed their friends and their sleep for little pay and a stressful work environment. There's a reason something like half quit the profession within the first five years."

- bq87

Creativity Is "Easy"

"Some creative professions, such as designers, are often perceived as 'easy' due to their creative nature. However, they may face the constant need to find inspiration, deal with criticism, and meet deadlines."

- rubberduckyis

"EVERYBODY thinks they are a designer, up until the point of having to do the work. But come critique time, mysteriously, EVERYBODY IS A F**KING DESIGNER AGAIN."

"The most important skill to have as a designer is THICK SKIN."

- whitepepper

Care Fatigue Is Real

"Care work."

"I wish it could be taken for granted that no one thinks it's easy. But unfortunately, many people still see it as an unskilled job and have no idea of the many emotional complexities, or of how much empathy, all the time, is needed to form the sorts of relationships with service users that they really need."

- MangoMatiLemonMelon

Physical Labor Generally Wins

"I’m going to say most types of unskilled labor and that’s because there’s such little (visible) reward and such a huge amount of bulls**t. I’ve done customer service, barista, sales, serving, etc; and it was all much harder than my cushy desk job that actually can be considered life or death."

- anachronistika

Their Memory Banks Must Be Wild

"I don't know if I'd call it incredibly challenging, but being one of those old school taxi drivers who know the city like the back of his hand and can literally just drive wherever being told nothing but an address is pretty impressively skilled."

"Not sure if it's still like this, but British cabbies used to be legendary for this. I'm 40 and I don't think most young people appreciate how much the quality of cab service has gone down since the advent of things like Uber."

"Nowadays it's just kind of expected that a rideshare/cab driver doesn't know exactly where you're trying to get and has to rely on GPS directions that they often f up. Back when I was in college, cabbies were complete experts on their city."

"More even than knowing how to get somewhere, they could also give you advice. You could just generally describe a type of bar/club/business you're looking for, and they'll take you right to one that was spot on. Especially in really big cities like NYC."

- Yak-Mak-5000

Professional Cooking

"Being a chef."

- Canadian_bro7

"I would love to meet the person who thinks being a chef is easy! I cook my own food and it’s not only OK to eat but I make a batch of it so I have some for later. So, to make food that is above good and portion it correctly many times a day and do it consistently with minimal wastage (so they make a profit), strikes me as extremely difficult."

- ChuckDeBongo

Team Leading, Oof

"Anything that involves a lot of people skills and socializing. I thought these positions were just the bulls**t of sitting in meetings all day and not a lot of work happening but having to be the one leading those meetings and doing public speaking is taxing in a way I didn’t realize."

- Counterboudd

Not a Pet Sitter At All

"Veterinary Technician."

"Do the job of an RN, anesthesiology tech, dental hygienist, radiology tech, phlebotomist, lab tech, and CNA, but probably don’t make a living wage and have people undervalue your career because you 'play with puppies and kittens all day.'"

- forthegoddessathena

Harder Than It Looks!

"Sometimes, when my brain is fried from thinking and my ego is shot from not fixing the problem, I want to be a garbage man... not a ton of thinking, just put the trash in the truck, and a lot of them have trucks that do it for you!"

"But if the robot either doesn't work or you don't have one on your truck, it smells really bad, the pay isn't what it used to be, you might find a dead body and certainly find dead animal carcasses... and people are id**ts, overfilling their bags, just to have them fall apart before you get to the truck, not putting their trash out and then blaming you, making you come back out."

"Your body probably is sore every day, and you have to take two baths before you can kiss your wife..."

"Ehh, maybe things are not so bad where I am."

- Joebroni1414

Twiddling Thumbs and Listening

"Therapist here. I’ve always said that it’s pretty easy to be an okay therapist—as in, it’s not that hard to listen to people’s problems and say, 'Oh wow, that’s so hard, poor you.'"

"But to be a good therapist? To know when your client is getting stuck in the same patterns, or to notice what your client isn’t saying? To realize that they’re only ever saying how amazing their spouse is, and to think, 'Hmm, nobody’s marriage is perfect, something’s going on there'?"

"To be able to ask questions like, 'Hey, we’ve been talking a lot about your job, but what’s going on with your family?' And then to be able to call them on their s**t, but with kindness and empathy? Balancing that s**t is hard."

"Anybody can have empathy, but knowing when to use empathy and when and how to challenge someone is so much harder. And that’s only one dimension of what makes being a therapist challenging."

- mylovelanguageiswine

Constant Updates

​"For the most part, my job is really easy (marketing tech). But having to constantly stay on top of new platforms, new tech, updates, etc etc is exhausting and overwhelming and I really hate it."

"Also, the constant responsibility to locate and execute opportunities to optimize things and increase value for higher-ups. Nobody in corporate roles can ever just reach a point of being 'good enough.' More and better is always required."

"Just some of the big reasons I’m considering a career change."

- GlizzyMcGuire_

Performing Is Not Easy

"Performing arts and other types of art. People think it’s a cakewalk or 'not a real job,' not realizing the literal lifetime of training, rejection, and perseverance that it takes to reach a professional level and how insanely competitive those spaces are."

- ThrowRA1r3a5

All About Perception

"I suspect everything fits this. Consider that someone whose job is stacking boxes in a warehouse has to know how to lift boxes, how many can be stacked, know if certain ones must be easily accessible, know how to use any equipment that is used to move boxes around."

"Not to mention if some have hazardous or fragile materials inside, if some HAVE to be stacked on the bottom, if a mistake is made and all the boxes have to be restacked, etc."

"But everyone else is like, 'They're just stacking boxes.'"

- DrHugh

It's easy to make assumptions about someone else's work and responsibilities when we haven't lived with performing those tasks ourselves.

This gave us some things to think about, and it certainly reminded us that nothing good comes of making assumptions, especially when it minimizes someone else's experiences.

Left-handed person holding a Sharpie
Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Many of us who are right-handed never even think about how the world is designed to cater to us.

It probably doesn't even cross your mind that 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

Because of this, there tends to be a stigma for being left-handed since society tends to associate the left with negative things.

For example, the phrase "two left feet" applies to those who are clumsy and therefore, incapable of dancing.

Curious to hear more about the challenges facing those with the other dominant hand, Redditor johnnyportillo95 asked:

"What’s something left-handed people have to deal with that right-handed people wouldn’t even think about?"

If only manufacturers appealed to an ambidextrous world.

Furniture Obstacle

"Those desks or couch chairs that have a small desk attached. They do make left handed/sided ones but they are few and far between."

– Prussian__Princess

"And they’re only on one side of the lecture hall, and it’s never a good seat. There is ONE front row, lefty desk in the entire room and it’s in the far corner, obscured by an ancient overhead projector."

– earwighoney

Everyday Objects For Everyday People

"as a left-handed person myself, one thing we often deal with is finding left-handed tools or equipment. many everyday objects, like scissors or can openers, are designed with right-handed people in mind, which can make certain tasks a bit more challenging for us lefties. we also have to adapt to a right-handed world when it comes to writing on whiteboards or using certain computer mice."

– J0rdan_24

Dangerous Tools

"The biggest risk is power tools. I taught myself to use all power tools right handed because of risks using them left handed."

"Trivial, I love dry boards but they are super hard to write on."

– diegojones4

It's hard to play when you're born with a physical disadvantage.

Sports Disadvantage

"Allright, Sports when you are young. Every demonstration from PE teachers are right handed. You cant just copy the movements they teach you you need to flip them and your tiny brain struggoes to process it. As well, 98% of the cheap sports equipment the school uses is right handed."

– AjCheeze

No Future In Softball

"I tried to bat right handed for so long in gym class growing up because the gym teacher never asked me what my dominant side was and the thought never occurred to me as a child to mention it! Needless to say I never became a softball star."

– Leftover-Cheese

Find A Glove That Fits

"In softball and baseball we need a specific glove for our right hand that's often impossible to find unless you own one, and we have to bat on the other side of the plate."

– BowlerSea1569

"I was one of two left-handers in a 4-team Little League in the 1980s. Nobody could pitch to me. I got a lot of "hit by pitch" walks out of it."

– Jef_Wheaton

These examples are understandably annoying.

Shocking Observation

"Having right handed people make comments whenever they see us write, like we’re some kind of alien."

– UsefulIdiot85

"'Woah! You're left-handed????'"

"I find myself noticing when someone is a lefty, and sometimes I comment on it, but I try not to. I'm primarily left-handed (im a right handed wroter but do everything else left), and every single time I go to eat with my family, someone says, "Oh hey, give SilverGladiolus22 the left hand spot, they're left-handed," and inevitably someone says, 'Wait, really?' Lol."

– SilverGladiolus22

Can't Admire The Mug

"We never get to look at the cute graphics on coffee mugs while we’re drinking from them."

– vanetti

"I just realized…I always thought the graphics were made so someone else could read them while you drink. Hmmm."

– Bubbly-Anteater7345

"I'm right-handed and I often wondered why the graphics were turned towards the drinker instead of out for others to see."

– Material-Imagination

The Writing On The Wall

"Writing on whiteboards is a nightmare. I have to float my hand, which tires out my arm quickly, and I can't see what I've already written to keep the line straight."

– darkjedi39

"Also as a teacher, it means I'm standing to the left of where I'm writing, so I'm blocking everything I write. I have to frequently finish writing, then step out of the way so people can see, instead of just being able to stand on the right side the whole time."

– dancingbanana123

Immeasurable

"Rulers."

"How the f'k is no one talking about rulers? It's from 30cm to 0 cm to me, or I have to twist my arms to know the measure I want to trace over it."

– fourangers

Just Can't Win

"EVERYTHING. The world has always been based around people being right handed. As a Chef, my knife skills SUCKED until I worked with a Left Handed Chef. Then it all made sense."

"Literally, everything we do must be observed, then flipped around in our heads, then executed. This is why Lefties die sooner, on average, than Righties."

"I had to learn how to be ambidextrous, just to complete basic tasks (sports, driving a manual, using scissors, etc). I am used to it now, and do many things right handed out of necessity, as wall as parents and teachers 'forcing' it upon me."

"But, at least we are not put to death anymore, simply for using the wrong hand (look it up, it happened)."

"Ole Righty, always keeping us down."

– igenus44

The world doesn't need another demographic to feel "othered" for being different.

But if you're right-handed and tend to make assumptions about left-handed people, you may want to observe the following.

Ronald Yeo, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Texas-Austin told CNN:

"We shouldn’t assume much about people’s personalities or health just because of the hand they write with."
"And we certainly shouldn’t worry about lefties’ chances of success: After all (as of 2015), five of our last seven U.S. presidents have been either left- or mixed-handed."

Word.

Dog lying down on a bed
Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash

Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.

While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.

Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.

Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.

For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.

Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:

"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"

The Tiny Issue Of Water...

"Absolutely not."

"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649

Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...

"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."

"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."

"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."

"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep

The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...

"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."

"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3

Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen Giphy

What Do You Mean Allow?

"I have no choice."

"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412

"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show

Hug GIF by The BarkPost Giphy

Who Needs An Alarm Clock?

"I let my two cats sleep with me."

"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."

"And so do I."

"We've all developed a lil routine."

"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_

Whose Bed Is It Anyway?

"Yes."

"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."

"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor

"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."

"Would not come out."

"Got some food and some water in dishes."

"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."

"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."

"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."

"She was too busy eating."

"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."

"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."

"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."

"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."

"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."

"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."

"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."

"She would not go."

"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."

"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588

sleepy kitten GIF Giphy

Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...

"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."

"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."

"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle

Saying No Just Isn't An Option...

"'Let'."

"Lol."

"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren

Felines Only!

"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz

Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official Giphy

Is That My Hair On That Pillow?

"My dog is perfect."

"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."

"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."

"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester

It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.

Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...


Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.