Life in full of the unexpected and all things that cannot be explained. I don't know about the rest of you, but déjà Vu is a daily visitor in my life. I am constantly wondering... "Did that just happen, again?"
Strange happenings abound in all of our lives. And finding ways to properly describe phenomena has never gotten easier.
How do you relay the details about dreams within dreams within nightmares that happened while we're awake? It's all part of the mystery.
Redditoru/TheCornishGameHenwanted to hear about some things that have occurred in life that we'll never properly define, by asking:
What is an experience you've had that you cannot logically explain?
I swear I've relived moments of my life. I'm convinced of it. Like... "I swear I already paid that bill." Does anybody else have that issue?
Hello?
Disappointed Talk To Me GIF by Dark IglooGiphy"My twin sister died suddenly at the age of 50. Two weeks after her death I get a text from her apologising for our last argument, which I didn't get at the time nor responded to. She died with us still estranged."
sorry for scaring you...
"Had a dream where someone interrupted my dream to tell me I only had 6 months left, 6 months after I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was the harmless type, and this was 15 years ago, but it still freaks me out to this day."
"There's actually another case like this. A lady who heard a voice told her to go to the hospital and get her brain scanned. Sure enough, there was a tumor. She got surgery to have it removed. In recovery, the voice said "sorry for scaring you. This will be the last you hear from us."
- Morvack
Call me Coco
"We were in a town outside Puerta Vallarta on holiday. In the middle of the outdoor market was a small church that we decided to check out. For some reason I felt really connected to it. I felt compelled to pray and light a candle. As we were leaving the church courtyard a little girl across the small brick road was pointing at me, pulling her mother towards us, and she was calling me"Coco Coco". The mother was pulling against her saying, "¿Quien? no la conocemos. quien es Coco?" (Who? We don't know her. Who is Coco?)"
"I froze. I locked eyes with the little girl. She was so excited and happy to see me. I didn't know her either but I smiled to be polite. And in that moment it dawned on me. My little sister used to call me Coco when she was very little. I hadn't heard anyone say that name to me in over 30+ years and had not thought about that nickname or told anyone about that nickname ever."
"It was alarming yet comfortably familiar. The little girl's mother pulled her along up the street and we went on our way. Years later my sister is getting really into genealogy and tracing our roots. She says 4 generations back, our dad's family is from that small town outside of Puerta Vallarta."
Just Stop
"I was taking my kid to a doctor's appointment and as we were walking from the car everything around us just stopped. It was only for just a brief moment and then everything went back to normal. What was weird was everything went silent too which never happens there since it was right by one of the busiest intersections in town. I could also blow it off as just my imagination but as soon as it happened my kid asked me if time just stopped."
- rhett342
I hear it...
Spike Lee Radio GIF by MauditGiphy"The other day I heard the radio station without turning on the receiver. I turned it on and it was exactly what was playing in my head."
- Schmevil
That radio thing happens to me five times a day. Or... I'll be thinking of a random movie that is YEARS old and then... BAM, it's on tv. Like, I made it happen.
In Nashville
GIF by OpryGiphy"In the mid nineties (I was about 14) my family took a weekend trip to Nashville to go to Opryland. The night before we go, I had a terrible nightmare that the shoulder harness on a rollercoaster we were riding was faulty, and I fell out. So the next day at the park, my mom, sis, and I get on the exact same rollercoaster. I sat in the car in front of them by myself and the shoulder harness would not lock in place!!"
"I freak out! The ride is about to start. I start screaming! A ride operator comes over and manually locks the harness in place so the ride can begin. When we get off the ride, they shut off that car so no one else can ride it. I will never again ride an upside down rollercoaster."
People Break Down The Strangest Rules Their Parents Enforced Growing Up | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The rules we follow growing up are often rooted in culture and circumstance, but that doesn't mean they always make sense for the world we live in. Or at lea...The Power of Christ
"My parents got the house exorcized by a priest (my mom claimed that seeing demons and being manic were unrelated, we just didn't argue). As the priest walked around the house, suddenly a flood of roaches spewed out from behind the priest, emerging from cracks in the pavement and fanning away from him like a wake, instantly disappearing as soon as they'd materialized. I've never seen insects act like one perfectly coordinated hive."
"Roaches scatter erratically, and come in different sizes. These roaches were all exactly the same size and color, and moved in perfect unison. It happened in seconds. My sister, also an atheist, saw it too, but everyone else had been walking alongside the priest. We later went back to investigate. We never saw a single roach in or around that basement before or since. Obvious explanation would be weird roach coincidence, but... I just don't know. It was weird."
Then the phone rang
"One summer when I was a teenager, my cousin came to visit with her then infant son, and my mom took the two of them to the zoo. My mom told me to call on my cousin's phone if I was going anywhere, since my mom wasn't bringing her phone with her. About an hour later I decided to bike to my friend's house. I instinctively called my mom on her phone to let her know, forgetting that she didn't have her phone with her."
"Once I remembered, I hung up and started to dial my cousin's number. Then the phone rang. It was my mom's number. Somehow, her phone called me back on its own, even though it was in her car, which was locked and in front of the house (I ran outside to confirm this). To this day, I have no idea how her phone was able to call me back. And no, I didn't answer the call."
In a Haze
"I was driving to a running workout at 4:30am and and passed the high school stadium near my house. There was a football game being played with a stadium full of fans. It made no sense at all, I kinda wonder if I was hallucinating. To this day I don't know why that was happening then."
Numb
Difficult People Comedy GIF by HULUGiphy"I once forgot how to read, speak and comprehend stuff for like an hour and half my body went numb. I called the ambulance cause I got freaked out, but they found nothing wrong."
Still haunts me...
"11 years old. Driving 1.5 hrs away on a school trip. I see my (very uncommon) name, first and last, spray painted, in reverse (like to be read in a mirror) on a train overpass. I have pictures of this to this day. I wonder if it means something, but not sure what. I'm 42 now. Still haunts me."
"Edit: for those wanting to see the picture. - https://twitter.com/michaelvannette/status/1445821275163615239?t=jayMB2iZPG0q-fdL63SjPA&s=19"
- vdthemyk
Dad sees it too!
"When I was a little kid, my dad and I would often sit on the front steps just before my bedtime. He'd just let me rattle on about whatever was on my mind. I always looked forward to it. So one night we're sitting there and a a big ball of light, sort of a pale yellowish color, flies over the house. It was moving fast and made no sound we could hear. It was headed straight north and quickly vanished over the trees across the street."
"I was predictably excited, jumping up and pointing at it. Dad calmly took me by the hand and herded me into the house. He had a brief, hushed conversation with Mom and I got put to bed. Next morning when I brought it up they said I must have dreamed it. Years later Dad admitted that yeah, he saw it too. But he still wouldn't talk about it."
- NoRumors
In a Dream state...
"Little late but… When I was younger I always saw the same person in my dream. It wasn't the generic man picture all over the internet. The person was hunched over, much more than normal and had massive teeth and eyes. These dreams slowly turned to nightmares and I was very scared."
"One morning I woke up after having a normal, not scary dream and there it was, for a split second. After I had that experience I never had a dream of it again… so that's good I guess? TL;DR - I saw my nightmare when I woke up and then I never saw it in my dreams again."
Funnely Enough
Infinite Loop Looping GIF by CmdrKittenGiphy"Was in a kitchen with a few kitchen implements on the wall. A funnel fell off it's hook, unlikely but not impossible, and flew 6 feet into the open oven. It was really weird."
"I love/like milk too"
"I remember it was during a drought in California around a decade ago, I woke up one morning and our entire backyard was overgrown with grass and weeds, when the previous day it was barren completely. We had no milk in the fridge, but had gained a jug of fruit punch, an entire untouched gallon."
"My dad drove me to the store to go get more milk, and we were talking about how much we loved the stuff and how it's one of the only things we ALWAYS keep in the house and never let go empty. We pull into the parking lot of our nearby Savemart and look at the license plate of the car in front of us as we're finding a spot."
"Something along the lines of "I love/like milk too" (cant remember the exact sequence of digits, I was a kid). We both were stunned speechless and brought it up in shock for years to come."
The "Person"
"Woke up in the middle of the night one day. My eyes were still foggy from sleep but I could see the shape of a person standing in front of me. It looked like they were half crouched, with their hands on their knees and their head kind of tilted, as if they were trying to get a good look at my face."
"I remember being confused because I thought it was my mom, and I was wondering why she was just looking at me like that. My eyes then adjusted and I realized this "person" didn't have any features. It was like a shadow person, but was grey and static-y looking."
"I got scared and closed my eyes hoping it would go away. I guess I must have fallen asleep after a while because next thing I know it was morning. Definitely really weird. I have a ton of other weird experiences too that seemingly have no explanation. That was one of the creepiest."
Quivers...
don't care ugh GIF by Adult SwimGiphy"Saw my late grandfather's lip moving. Seems normal but this happened to me during his funeral, after he had been pronounced dead for 5-6 days."
Sun Ting...
"I wear a sun symbol necklace, it was handmade out of a single bit of metal and has a loop at the top to thread a cord or chain through. I was walking along with my daughter on my shoulders, when I hear a "ting" on the floor in front of me. I look down and my necklace sun symbol is on the floor. I check the cord around my neck. It is still tied and in one piece, so I check the symbol, the metal loop is still solid. WTF...? how did the symbol detach from the cord, without breaking the cord or the loop? To this day I have no clue."
What's so Funny?
Golden Girls Lol GIF by HULUGiphy"Was driving home at night and heard 2 little girls laugh in the back of my car. Pulled over and checked the whole car. I just blamed it on my mental health but I never had a auditory hallucination before and haven't had any since that night."
The human body is beyond explanation. That's why they say doctors don't know everything. But so is life, beyond explanation.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
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.