Sometimes it's all fun and games... until a child grows up to be a very confused adult.
1. Do they do refunds?
"My father used to tell my sister that he bought her at a Walmart like store for $25."
- blaziken
2. The moon is my biggest client
"My brother convinced a group of like 9 year olds that he was the moon's lawyer once."
- MeltyMint
3. This lie was taken way too far
"My daughter, when she was six, I convinced her that swallowing a mentos would grow a mentos tree in your stomach... One day I accidentally swallowed one in the car, had a discussion with my wife about "oh, I'm sure I'll be fine, etc etc" then let it sit a few days.
Used her bathroom a few days later. After I flushed, I threw a couple dead leaves on the toilet...
Waited a couple more days...
Woke her up for school with a twig placed behind my ear...
Waited a couple more days...
Woke her up with a branch sticking out of my mouth and me "screaming" for her to remove it... She looks at me, screams "MOOOOOOMMMMMM!!! DADDY NEEDS A DOCTOR! A DOCTOR MOM!!!!" and runs out of the room...
Best part is she was nine before she finally realized it was all a joke. Her friends all believed I had a tree in my stomach... I found out she took the twig from behind my ear to show and tell that week and the teacher didn't have the heart to tell her it was a joke. She just believed it so much. She's fifteen now and loves this story... Good times."
- comp21
4. I hate to break it to you, but you weren't always human...
"I convinced my sister that she was originally an origami dolphin, and my mom wished really hard she turned into a little girl (a Pinocchio-esque situation). She cried and asked my mom, who went along with my story. Sis believed for years that she used to be an origami dolphin."
- HellaDawg
5. Yum! Delicious lies
"We convinced my younger brother that those giant bales of hay wrapped in white plastic were marshmallows on the marshmallow farm.
Which he believed until he was about 18 or so, when he angrily came home after embarrassing himself in front of his friends and got mad at us for lying to him about the marshmallow farms."
-transmogrified
6. Everyone needs to use this one
"That if you sit quietly in the car, it makes the (Continued)
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car go faster so you'll get there quicker. This one worked on me for an embarrassingly long time."
- table_fireplace
7. Stick it like a gymnast
"Not exactly a lie, but I taught my kid to jump up, do jazz hands and yell "Tada!" whenever she fell down as a toddler. She'll come tearing down the sidewalk, trip, skid a few feet, and then pop up, a little shaky, and say "Ta...(deep breath) Daaaaaa..." I feel bad every time I laugh at this."
- paper_liger
8. The splendour of impressionable young minds
"When I used to babysit I would tell the kids that the popcorn wouldn't pop unless they started jumping. They would always say "nuh-uh" but with popcorn it takes a about 30 seconds at least to start popping. I would say, "it sure does, watch" and commence jumping. POP POP POP. They're eyes would get huge. I'd feign getting tired so they would help, and I wound up with a kitchen of 3 and 4-year-olds jumping for a few minutes until movie time. During which they would usually fall asleep, and I would get to work on homework. :)"
- spar3chang3
9. Wow, this is genius
"Sleeping with different blankets give you different dreams. Got nightmares? Change the blanket."
- cptwacky
10. Santa's elves hard at work
"I live in south-central TX and we have a place on the coast, I've made the trip there & back hundreds of times at this point in my life. When we were small kids doing the drive down late one night, my uncle told us that the incredibly large, well-lit and operational refineries and chemical plants we were passing were outsourced factories full of Santa's elves churning out presents shortly before Christmas. 10/10 would fall for this lie again, it added a nice layer of wonder to that part of my life."
- kali_is_my_copilot
11. Uh-oh
"Whenever a kid at work tells me they have a loose tooth, I tell them I have a loose foot, then I wiggle my foot around. I tell them I think my foot's going to fall off soon, but it's ok because it's just my baby foot, and my grown up foot will come in soon. I'll put my foot under my pillow, and the Foot Fairy will bring me a dollar for it.
If they say something like "That's not true! It's just teeth that fall out, not feet!" I'll say "Well, why is my foot so wiggly then?" and wiggle it some more."
- NotMyNameActually
12. Toys R Us: the museum
"My dad had some good ones: Toys R Us is (Continued)
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Toys R Us is a museum, so no, we can't bring anything home. All the animals at the zoo are different kinds of dogs."
- duckspunk
13. You're being watched...
"My teacher girlfriend told her class that the smoke detectors were CCTV cameras. Every time one of them obviously lies, she goes "Well I'll just go check the tapes and see who's right", and they fess up. Works every time."
- Rwandrall
14. God is having a bad day
If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
- Spongewordy
15. It's totally true, which is why only I should play this game
"When I was younger and spent my weekends at big arcades, I would often play this one rail shooter game that required you to sit in a chair in a big plastic sphere. I would often tell the kids waiting in line, "If you die in the game, you die in real life". The looks of horror fuelled me for years."
- DemonRemover
16. I'm one of you
"I had my three year old niece convinced I'm six years old, just super tall, for a bit this weekend. That was pretty funny."
- angela_bee
17. Who is going to get the family curse?
"I have large, sharp canine teeth. My nieces have flat canines. I told them this is because I'm a werewolf, and when they turn 10 (twins), I will choose one of them to pass the curse on to. This started when they were around 3 -4, and they are just starting to really question it at 8, but the fact that my mother and sister agree with every aspect of my story is really confusing them. I'm going to start using fake blood and other props to reinforce it."
- Parictis
18. Humans start off as dogs
"Told my sister that humans start lives off as dogs. It was so funny, she waited (Continued)
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patiently for our dog to turn into a human so she wouldn't be the youngest."
- nothingbutsass
19. Oh honey, she's got the salt shaker out again...
"When I was a kid my parents convinced me that if you pour salt on a bird's wings they can't fly. I spent years chasing birds after dinner in the summer (never succeeded). My parents told me it was some of the funniest stuff they've seen in their lives."
-adrienneirda
20. Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal in the princess world
"My buddy tells his daughter about all the different princess' he used to date, until she figures out which Disney movie he's referring to."
- moosecakems
21. I've got an in with Santa
"I told my young cousin that I had lived next to St. Nicholas before he became Santa Claus and that if I called him up he wouldn't get any presents."
22. I'm still working past this one
"Follow your dreams. He he he."
23. Always. No matter what.
"No matter how fast you run at automatic doors, they'll always open for you."
24. Let me tell you the monster gossip
I was terrified of the dark as a kid.
So when my son was little, and he was scared of the dark, I told him monsters have really bad eyesight and if you sit still in the dark, there is NO way they'd ever find you. In fact, being in bed increases your chances of survival because who eats anything out of a bed? It wouldn't make any sense.
Anyway, they don't attack little kids anymore because (Continued)
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a few years ago, some red-headed 4 year old girl down the street went wild and really messed up some monster with a plastic guitar and now they are kind of nervous around kids. Especially those armed with plastic guitars. Also they have NEVER trusted teddy bears. They think teddy bears still have the vestigial claws of their ancestors, which is kind of a racist thing monsters believe. Good night, and here's your teddy bear and el kabong guitar.
I did all KINDS of stuff like that when he was little.
25. Microwave towers. It doesn't seem too far fetched
"You see those big red and white towers? Those are microwave towers. That's what powers the microwave in the house. Kinda like a radio."
Mixing truth and lies is always the best bet.
26. I lost my butt!
"If you unscrew your bellybutton, your butt will fall off."
27. Your parents definitely don't have that much skill
My younger step-brother was questioning Santa and the Easter Bunny. We were outside building and spray painting something and a loose tooth he had finally fell out of his head. He told me he was going to save it to put under his pillow and all that jazz but he didn't think the tooth fairy was real.
I wasn't about to spoil it for him so I gave him the run-around. Where does the money come from? How can your parents get it under your pillow without waking you up? Why would your parents give you money for losing a tooth but not for when you ask for something you want?
And then he said "Well where does the Tooth Fairy get all the money?" And I said without missing a beat "She sells the teeth to the companies that make spray paint." I shook the can, rattled the bearing and a wave of understanding washed over his face before he ran off to tell him mom he'd finally lost his tooth.
28. I'm calling your real parents up and they're REALLY mean
"If you don't eat your greens, you going back to your real parent!"
29. A lot of these can be used on adults as well.
The world's largest number is 188,343,242,341
The theory of evolution states that your both your parents are frogs
Pluto became a star because (Continued)
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it was too small to be considered a planet.
A lion's roar can be heard from the moon.
Blue became a color in the rainbow in 1999.
Issac Newton invented gravity.
Thomas Edison invented the Earth in the mid 1500s.
Saturn is the only planet whose gravity pushes instead of pulls.
The letter 'Q' appears twice in the alphabet.
The iFell Tower in Paris, France was built by Apple Inc. in the mid 1960s.
Penguins are the only flying reptiles.
Monkeys are their own uncles.
The Leaning Tower of Pizza is not actually made of pizza.
China is on the other side of the world.
7000 children are hospitalized annually by running into walls trying to get to platform 9 and 3/4
Botanists (scientists that study robots) are all born in Spain.
If you wear 3D glasses for too long, everything becomes 3D permanently.
Giraffes are the only dinosaurs that are still alive today.
Circles are the world's biggest shapes.
Genetically, cars are more closely related to boats than they are to trucks.
NFL players account for 12.6% of the world's population.
Laws were legalized in 1823.
"The fox jumps over the dog" is the shortest sentence in the English language to contain every letter of the alphabet.
0 is not a number. Numbers start at 1.
The knight chess piece was invented when scientists noticed that horses can only move in an L direction.
Bicycles have 5 wheels, but 3 of them are cut off at birth.
It takes 4.28 years for the Earth to make a full rotation around the sun.
The ocean is more wet during the night than during the day.
Owls and bats are the only birds that are nocturnal.
Clouds are made of the smoke from cigarettes.
Windows were put on planes so that people wouldn't get cancer from the clouds.
Square bubbles can be blown by blowing square breaths
People are originally born as monkeys and then evolve into humans when they are 3 weeks old.
When a bear and a deer mate, they make a beer, a popular carbonated beverage.
Check out more lies here: Source
When in the beginning stages of dating, it's important to know as much as humanly possible.
The element of surprise is no longer a fun aspect of romance.
Ask the small questions. Ask the hard questions.
Interrogate. Grill. Investigate.
Of course, you should do it with a subtle hand instead of an interrogation lamp.
The truth is all we have.
Ask everything.
Redditor RedditPenguin02 wanted to make a list of the best inquiries to make when starting a relationship, so they asked:
"What is a good question to ask before you start dating someone?"
From what I've learned in my past, always ask... "Are you into Buffy the Vampire Slayer? The TV show."
If it's a no, then it's a dealbreaker.
I Do
"Are you married?"
wrenchmonkey135
"I would ask that. If they said no, the next question was 'Would your wife agree?'"
"If they laughed, they were telling the truth. If they got indignant and pissed off that I thought they were lying…they were married."
"Worked every time."
Squibit314
We Lived!
"Do you clap when the plane lands?"
dont_u_know
"I swear people used to do this all the time when I was a kid (early 2000’s), and I don’t think I’ve heard anyone do it in 5+ years. I guess 9/11 really made people afraid of flying for about 10 years and then most folks decided they didn’t need to applaud when the plane landed safely?"
jmims98
Family Planning
"Do you want kids in the future? If one person wants kids and the other wants to stay child-free, then they are not compatible. And it is better to try dating someone else."
GoodAlicia
"It confuses me whenever some couples who disagree on this end up in a conundrum because one expected the other to change their mind. This is something I bring up early cause I see no future with someone who wants kids when I do not."
GoodAlicia
"You should always put childfree on your dating profile. It's not a small thing. Either you agree on it or not. If I had to date, I would put childfree on my profile too."
GoodAlicia
Carb it on...
"Do you like bread? That is the extent of my flirting skills."
HumpieDouglas
"Being German, bread is like a frickin' cultural phenomenon here, we have around 300 kinds of bread, there's a bread museum, every time I go on vacation I'm like yeah it's nice here but the bread ain't it yall, never as good as home lol. So yeah, valid question and the only answer to this is an enthusiastic yes."
Nayeliq1
Room Temperature
"What temperature do you set the thermostat to throughout the year?"
OneFingerIn
"Haha this one always gets me as someone who needs low temps - you can always put on more clothes, I can't peel my skin off to get cooler."
djdante
The thermostat is a dealbreaker for me.
It's gonna be 60. Love it or move on.
Discovery
"When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
"Opens a window to how they think."
youcantkillanidea
"If that was really early on in the dating I’d think it was a bit of a head-f**k question. I’d probably find that question a red flag, tone dependent, although I agree with the sentiment."
LivestockMarc
Personal Time
"Aside from major differences about finances, kids, politics, or religion, a big one is; What are your hobbies? If they don’t really have any, you may be the next hobby, which isn’t going to work unless you’ve got that kind of time. If the hobbies are time-consuming ones generally done with a SO."
"But you have no interest in them, that could be an issue as well. If only one of you likes camping, wanted to spend vacation lounging instead of exploring, didn’t like sports, etc either that partner is annoyed or the other feels like they don’t get to enjoy what they love."
Githard
Past Issues
"Ask them about their exes. If they think every single one of them is an a**hole... they are likely the real a**hole."
CantTakeMeSeriously
"I have mixed feelings about that - I've been in three previous relationships and all three were emotionally abusive towards me (one wasn't nearly as bad as the other two, though) in various ways. I know this is a common sentiment and it always makes me afraid that people won't believe me or something.
"I mean, I realize in your comment you said 'likely' and not '100% sure' and there's plenty of room for nuance."
phiore
Values
"I would try to take care of any dealbreakers. If I find out that she has different political values than I do, it's not going to work out in the long run, so I wouldn't bother. Same thing with other factors (religion, financial values, etc.). I would also ask how much cuddling she likes to engage in, as I prefer a lot."
SkullKrusher9000
Essentials
"When I was dating my three essential questions were always kids, sex, and money. If you're not on the same wavelength for any of those three things, just don't even try."
KhaosElement
TRUTH PLEASE!!
"So, how much personal debt do you have?"
"Source: the guy who dated a woman with huge debts and was asked to pay for everything and then some".
"After that, I'd go with, 'Have you ever been diagnosed with borderline, narcissistic, or histrionic personality disorders?"
extracensorypower
The questions are basic.
Just ask for the truth.
Do you have any good Qs to add to the queue? Let us know in the comments below.
As much as we always hop for our dating efforts to be worth it and for every relationship to work out, we all know that some relationships are not destined to work out.
But sometimes relationships end for totally valid reasons, and sometimes the reasons are painful, if not devastating.
Redditor overIorded asked:
"What went wrong with your last partner?"
History Repeating Itself
"He cheated on me. And I was glad because that was finally reason enough to allow myself to leave."
"Now I know somebody who's in the same situation. They're trapped. And she's such a gentle and fun person who's afraid to leave him because 'well, it's always been like this, I'm used to it,' and 'I deserve it.'"
"She wants to leave him, she knows she should leave him, but it's so hard to do it, and I know that feeling."
"I'm thinking I should give her my phone number like when the day comes you've had enough, I'll gladly come to help you move out from that s**thole."
- NmlsFool
Mental Health Struggles
"I'm lost in my own trauma and mental illness and he deserves better than anything I have to offer right now."
- Last-Celery7146
"I’ve been on the receiving end of this, and mildly said, it absolutely ruined me. Her trauma and mental problems were BAD, but I still wanted to be with them. So if you ask me, as long as they can give you the space and support you need, and want to be with you, let them make the decision."
- emilersen
"It's also fair and mature to care very much about someone but realize that you only have the emotional bandwidth to take care of yourself right now."
"I'm sure it was very hard for both of you to come to terms with that decision. I don't think it's that he deserves better, I think it's that your attention needs to be on guiding yourself through this thicket of trauma and mental illness before you can be someone else's partner. You can love each other very much but also acknowledge that you don't have the tools to spare for a relationship right now."
"I'm proud of you for focusing on your own mental health and someday, when you have more emotional stability and energy, I hope you find a wonderful partner."
- SpoonAtKnifeFight
Relationship Styles
"We disagreed on how many women he was allowed to date. I’m very strong on monogamy and have no interest in someone (in a supposedly committed relationship) that isn’t."
- Altrano
At Least There's That
"Her psychotic brother tried to kill me. Thankfully he has a Stormtrooper's aim..."
- Active-Plate7939
"Hate the attempted murder, love the 'Star Wars' reference."
- letmetellyousom
Childfree Living
"He wanted a big family, like, six kids, all-natural. Obviously, he wouldn't be birthing them. This was very important to him while I was pretty ambivalent about kids, and the further into my adulthood I've gotten, the more I've realized I just don't want to be pregnant."
"I broke it off so we could both get the lives we wanted. He was also quite a bit more conservative than me, and at the time closeted pansexual person, and some stuff he believed just didn't line up with what I believed. It hurt, but it was amicable."
"Now he has a wife and kids like he wanted, and I am happily partnered and childfree. It worked out for the best."
- Free-Government5162
Family Ties
"She hated that I had a healthy relationship with my family and was trying to find ways to sabotage it."
- Cobra-Serpentress
"Similar aspect to mine, she hated my sister and mother because she had a bad relationship with her sister and mother. She would get mad at me whenever I brought my family up."
- letmetellyousom
Quality Time
"My last boyfriend dumped me because I got mad that he was coming to Dallas after I hadn't seen him for two months, but didn't want to see me."
"He was going to meet up with some friends of his he hadn't seen in a few months. I told him that was fine with me, but I felt he should make time to see me too since we hadn't seen each other in two months and we were supposed to be a couple."
"He responded to my anger by ghosting me. That was two years ago."
- dallasmysterylover
Distracted with a Punch
"A girl contacted me about him talking to her. I asked him what was going on, and he sucker-punched me in the face."
- Brilliant-Victory128
Projecting Insecurities
"He cheated on me for all six years we were together and then accused me of cheating on him, even though I wasn't allowed to leave the house."
"I'm also pretty sure he slept with my sister-in-law when my brother and I went to pick up dinner."
- Affectionate_Egg1252
Children Come First
"He was and still is no father to his kids, has anger issues, and probably has other mental health issues. I tried for years to help him and help the relationship, but he wasn't having it. After seeing how my oldest suffered under him, I had to leave."
- rintan13
Poor Communication
"I communicated how I felt about many things in the relationship. He never communicated about anything."
- aj_oof0323
"Oh look, it's the last 14 years of my life..."
- empathetic111
"I'm guilty of this, and boy, do I regret not being able to open up about my feelings. It cost me my marriage. But now I'm trying to be more open and share my thoughts and feelings. Just wished I could've done this earlier than later."
Deserving Better
"I started drinking again and became a miserable a**hole due to my own depression and my s**tty job. As such, she didn't get the attention she deserved, and had to put up with my s**tty mood all the time... so she left. I don't blame her."
"So, it was me. I don't know if I trust myself with a relationship again, but aside from the shame of knowing I hurt someone who I loved, and loved me back, but I was too self-absorbed and selfish, I am trying to be a better human to everyone."
"And to my ex: You'll find someone again... someone better."
- cracksintheegg
Big Moves
"He wanted to move to Alaska to be with some girl he was 'friends' with before me."
- dont_be_trash
Alzheimer's Disease
"My ex's early-onset Alzheimers (at the age of 50) and the resulting violence, paranoia, and irrational thinking. I tried to honor my vows, but he was so far out there, I feared for my life."
- No_Transportation258
Different Definitions of Marriage
"She cheated on me after five years total together, the last one of which was while we were engaged. She cheated on me for months, all while I was planning the wedding, working part-time, and going to graduate school so I can support us comfortably in the future."
"I planned on giving her everything I could and sharing the rest of my life with her, and apparently she didn’t care."
- Mountaingoat1001
This conversation just goes to show that relationships can end for all kinds of reasons. Even in relationships where there is still a lot of love and committment, the relationship can still end, just like how the relationship can end suddenly because of a surprising and devastating realization.
We all had our aspirations about becoming a certain type of person or accomplishing different goals when looking towards the future.
But the goals we have for ourselves can drastically change once we're adults, and that's partly due to the influence of different life experiences.
Sometimes, despite our best intentions and respective strategies to achieve something by a certain age, we can never imagine experiencing different outcomes.
Curious to hear from strangers online who never saw themselves in their current positions in life, Redditor graces-taylor12 asked:
"What about becoming an adult caught you completely off guard?"
The following Redditors were not ready to process the inevitable when it came to their parents.
A Role Reversal
"Watching your parents becoming old and frail."
– Mrbusybaconandeggs
"Dealing with this yesterday and it is an eye-opener. Its hard seeing someone you’ve known as a pillar of strength for 30+ years in a position of such weakness, and knowing that he might improve but generally the decline is coming."
– Rook1872
Age-Defying
"I've had a weird atypical experience. My dad was pretty old when I was born and always had a bad knee he could never afford to get fixed. He could barely walk and has never been able to run since I could remember. It got so bad that he couldn't even walk up or down the stairs in our house."
"Well he eventually got a knee replacement and he's now more agile at 73 than he was at 53. It's weird to see."
– Downtown_Skill
Sad Epiphany
"I'll never forget when I first realized how frail they actually were. I went over to their house to help out with some chores, and they couldn't even clean out any of the pens by themselves. They ended up selling most of their animals that year because they couldn't look after them."
– thecanadiancowboy
Life Can Be Cruel
"It’s slowly beginning with my parents, small hints here and there, they’re in their mid 50s.The big freak out for me has been watching my grandparents slowly declining over the last 3ish years. One set of grandparents have been gone since I was a kid, so these two are all I’ve got now. My Pap’s arthritis and sciatica is to the point now where it’s a process for him just to stand up. 2020 I saved him from a fall, if I wasn’t there to catch him, he would’ve easily been in the hospital for quite a while. That was the first 'Oh sh*t, he’s not immortal' moment."
– NoinePiecesOfVinyl
These Redditors discovered older doesn't always mean wiser.
Wake-Up Call
"I can do whatever the f'k I want. But I don't really want to do anything..."
– IcarusWax
"Yup, the idea of doing whatever you want as an adult was the biggest scam cartoons sold us."
"Yeah, you can do anything you want but you're gonna need money. So you get a job, there goes most of your day to your job."
"So now you have money but that'll go to bills first and by the time you can do what you want you don't have the energy or funds. Then the loop continues.."
– JimmyJackJericho
Fake It Til You Make It
"How clueless other adults are. I really thought adults had their sh*t in order while in reality most people are winging it."
–= xepci0
"Maturity is a skill. Some people learn it quickly. Others never do."
"Children are limited by their youth. Their brains aren't fully developed. But adults are not guaranteed to get more mature without working for it."
"Some people never grow up. They just get old."
– snapwillow
Being Independent
"I'm surprised by the amount of people who genuinely couldn't live by themselves if they had to. They somehow never learned basic life skills like simple cooking or cleaning and always had someone else to do it for them."
– CliffExcellent123
People became more aware of time.
Not Enough Me Time
"How little free time you have. You have to work, you have to prepare for work, drive to work, drive home from work. You also have to do household chores. You have to take care of kids if you have some. When do I get to enjoy my hobbies?"
– lllSnowmanlll
Point Of Exhaustion
"Most of the time I'm so tired from the day, I just don't have the mental capacity to do anything but go right to bed and watch tv ;_;"
– WitherWithout
Never Going Back
"Transitioning from college student + part time worker to full time worker I gained a bunch of time back. I was shocked that I could just decide to do laundry tomorrow if I didn't feel like it. Every evening I had this huge chunk of time that was just open."
"But then, moving from an apartment to a house, now there's a bunch more chores to do. Then introducing kids, now there's all that. But still, I wouldn't go back to the hectic college life."
– civilwarcorpses
Marking Time
"How it just goes on endlessly."
"When you're a kid, there's a summer break every year, and a new school to go to in a couple of years. Whatever part of your life you are in is clearly delimited and there is something new to look forward to after it."
"Once you're an adult, it's just 5 days of work and 2 days of weekend over and over and over until you die."
– Suitable_Mistake2208
After having a decent, long run in the entertainment business as a dancer, I've long held the belief I was invincible.
I was physically stronger, more agile, and foolish enough to think I could perpetually live in such a state.
All of a sudden, reality smacked me in the face one morning when I woke up and heard and felt various parts of my body crackle and pop like when milk hits a bowl of Rice Krispies.
My tired body had the audacity to inform me:
"Not today and from this day forward."
We're currently not on speaking terms.
Not much good can come from dwelling on the past.
Even so, no matter how hard we try to avoid doing so, we can't help but look back on things we've done in our lives which we regret.
In some cases, it's nothing which had any sort of lasting effect, like wishing we thought more carefully about where we had a birthday or spending more than we could afford on an outfit that didn't end up paying off.
In sadder cases though, we often wonder what our lives might have been like if he had made a different, and smarter decision.
If we didn't say certain things to certain people, not spoken up when someone needed us to or rushed too hastily into a life we weren't ready for.
"What is one thing you regret doing in life?"
Giving People Attention Who Didn't Deserve It
"Wasting time worrying about people that never spared me a single thought."- Eborys
Getting In With The Wrong Crowd
"I regret making friends with people who I knew were bad for me just because it was easier than becoming friends with good people."
"Now I don't have many solid friends."- misswallflowerr
Staying In, When They Should Have Gotten Out
"Not ending bad/unhealthy/unfulfilling relationships sooner."- Superseriouslyguys
"Hanging on to a relationship for too long."
"I should have up and disappeared the first time he was disrespectful."- Mirrorflute88
Not Taking Enough Risks
"Not putting myself out there enough."
"I probably missed out on a lot of opportunities because I'm so self-conscious."
"Working on this though!"- Fife_Flyer
"Not following my dreams and ended up sitting behind a desk for 30 years."
"Of course, I'm currently on Reddit sitting behind my desk."
"So, there's that."- CatOnTheHill
"Overthinking my way out of potentially rewarding choices."- mmmmike1590
Rushing Into Things
"Going to college before I had the slightest idea what I wanted to do with my life."- Mysterious_Shake2894
Taking Things For Granted
"Not spending more time with my mom."
"I visited her 2-3 times a week but still, there were other times she'd call and I'd ignore the call or tell her I didn't have time to talk."
"Would give anything to go back and take every one of those calls."- Fruitjustlistens
Putting Their Health At Risk
"Most of 2019–addiction bottom."
"Sober now for 432 days and counting."- CommunicationTop5231
"Smoking."
"20 years spent on expensive, self-fed poison."
"Biggest regret of my life, by far."- Itsprobablysarcasm
Undervaluing Self-Worth
"Mentally exhausting myself at work for companies that turned out to not give a sh*t about me or value my work."- fpuni107
"Being too nice to tell undeserving people to f*ck off when I should've been putting myself first."
"Lessons learned."- MrsHppy
Not Having Enough Fun
"So, this is gonna sound kinda dumb, but I kinda wish I had acted out a bit more."
"Taken more risks, gotten in trouble more, explored and pushed my boundaries."
"I was pretty sheltered growing up and really wanted to be this good person."
"It created a lot of conflicting feelings for me."
"It also contributed to me avoiding doing some stuff cause I thought it'd be bad for me."
"Now that I'm older and worked through some of those issues, I feel like I missed out on a lot of stuff other people got in their teens and 20s."
"I'm now at a point where I'm exploring that, but most people my age have already gone through it."
"I just feel like I'm trying to 'catch up' with everybody."- animewhitewolf
It's only human to look back on things we regret, or wish we had done differently.
But living in the past will only keep us in the past.
The only way to move forward and make progress is to accept the present for what it is: a present.