Mysteries About The Human Body Explained So Even A Child Could Understand.

The human body is a weird and fascinating sack of bones, organs, nerves, blood and a couple other things I can't be bothered to list. But, you know, they're there.
I know I do some basic things like breathe, eat, poop, sleep... but the WHY and HOW behind the body is shrouded in mysterious scientific jargon and... probably some other stuff. Pie charts? I dunno.
Either way. It's MYSTERIOUS.
But remain calm, because all your burning questions are about to be answered in the next 6 pages.
Thanks to all the fine folks in the Redditverse that took the time to ask and answer these questions. You humans are truly heroes of the internet.
1/12. Answered by: jpsky Ratsarecool asked: Why is it that before an orgasm you have a feeling willingness to do anything, but as soon as the orgasm passes you come to your "senses"
It's because of your limbic system. It's the more animal part of your brain that controls optimal urges, like hunger, or sex. It's responsible for your fight or flight urges as well. It resides in the back of your head.
Meanwhile your prefrontal cortex, located in your forehead, is more responsible for logic and reasoning, as well as houses your morals, or your decisions about what you are and what you want to be, and behavior that is okay, and other behavior that isn't.
The more "in charge" the limbic system becomes, the less ability your prefrontal cortex has to apply reason.
And as you start down the road of sexual arousal your brain floods with chemicals, like dopamine, which reward your behavior and makes you want more. And it feeds into your more limbic desires. At some point it takes complete control and you may lose all rational thought momentarily.
But after orgasm your body...
releases tons of chemicals, some of which counteract the dopamine high you were previously on, and prefrontal cortex logic and reasoning are restored. This can lead to the feelings of guilt or shame if you went outside your normal boundaries that your prefrontal cortex decided you wouldn't previously. And it can make you even feel scared that you lost control (depends on the individual, the stronger your prefrontal cortex the stronger these feelings may be).
And it could also be that a momentary loss of control feeds into the feelings of pleasure. For some people, who feel a need to be in constant control, that moment when you feel "it's okay" to lose control let's out some pretty wild stuff. It's why BDSM is a thing. And more extreme stuff too. It's also why you see stories about autoerotic asphyxiation, people like losing control, and add to that the high feelings of oxygen deprivation, and they feed into it so much that they push it a little too far. I mean your prefrontal cortex isn't going to try and kill you. But your limbic system might if it got animal enough.
Answered by: TheDunadan29
2/12. thomhurst asked: Why does your face physically change (E.g. Get puffy or bags under the eyes) when you get little sleep?
When you don't get enough rest, the blood vessels under your eyes can become dilated, bringing them closer to the surface and causing the area underneath the eyes to swell (causing puffy eyes) and/or appear purple, blue or even blackish in color (which causes dark circles).
Answered by: MagicWade
Continue reading all the answers to your unsolved mysteries on the next page!
3/12. Schaabalahba asked: Why is it pleasurable to stay in bed an extra five minutes? Is there any physical benefit to this?
You're generally warm and comfortable, and your brain is "booting up", which mostly has to do with cranking up its metabolism and seeking glucose. In those 5-10 minutes you wake up a bit more, blood flow changes a bit, and you finish waking up completely (which is not as cut and dry a process as it may seem, ask anyone with sleep paralysis!).
There is also pleasure to be found in following a strong urge, which might involve the dopamine reward system, but I honestly don't know if this applies here.
Answered by: Aelinsaar
4/12. becauseyouhadtos*it asked: How does my body know it's time to orgasm?
Imagine a balloon.
Imagine it has tiny gates over it's entire surface that can be open or closed, but imagine them all closed, and also that they can only be open at a certain pressure lets say just double (2x) the pressure of the atmosphere and once open the will stay open until the pressure decreases back down to 1 atmosphere.
Now imagine you blow into the balloon. None of the gates are open yet but pressure is building up. 1 & 1/4 atm., 1 & 1/2 atm.
1 & 3/4 atm.
Now the gates are starting to rumble, with each breath you blow into the balloon, they can almost feel that it's time for them to open and release all of the air pressure inside the balloon.
Finally.. you blow enough air for the pressure inside the balloon to reach 2 atm.
The front velocity of the air blown by your mouth causes the gates at the back of the balloon to open first but the others follow in a wave pattern around the outside of the balloon, so that in about a full second or two, all the gates are open but you can see the wave.
The air rushes out and the balloon deflates.
Then you apologize and say we can try and inflate the balloon again in about 10-15 minutes.
Answered by: OncewasaBlastocoel
Continue reading more about weird body mysteries on the next page!
5/12. faaaabulous1867 asked: I see kids that are younger and younger with glasses every day. How do they measure how they can see and how bad their eyes are when it's literally a baby that can't even walk or talk, let alone read letters aloud from an eye exam?
Awesome question! (I'm a pediatric optometry resident)
So for children too young to give us a reliable subjective "1 or 2", we base the prescription on objective measurements. We can objectively measure their refractive error with retinoscopy (as mentioned above). That's when we shine a light in their eyes and use lenses to determine the prescription. It's very versatile, and we don't need a machine so it's perfect for kids. They can do anything (eat, watch tv) as long as their eyes are open for us to get the measurement.
In kiddos, it's best to do this when they're dilated because the dilation drops force their eyes to relax their focusing/accommodation ability (which they have a lot of). Kids can accommodate through far sighted prescription/refractive error. Prescriptions for kids under 7 should almost always be determined with dilating drops. It's normal to be a little far sighted when you're young, and as you grow up you tend to become more near sighted.
As paediatric optometrists, one of our greatest worries is amblyopia or lazy eye. That's when a child either has an eye turn, or high prescription leading them to favor one eye over the other. The non-favored eye doesn't develop the proper connections in the brain to see 20/20 because the kid will always favor his "good eye". That's why you'll see some kids wearing an eye patch. It's to force them to use their "bad or lazy eye" so the brain can recognize and developed clear vision through that eye. It's important to treat lazy eye when they're young while the visual system is still malleable.
6/12. The_Hindu_Hammer asked: Why is it that when I wiggle my finger in my belly button, I feel it in my penis?
So, I've never experienced this, but I can give a reason from Anatomy and Embryology. During development as a fetus, the testes originate right around the level of the abdomen near the belly button. Here, they develop nerves that run to the spinal cord at this level (vertebrae T10-12, if I remember correctly).
During development, the testes move downward, travel through the inguinal canal (basically a small tunnel where your leg meets your abdomen), and descend into the testes. They remain connected to the spinal cord via the same nerves, the nerves just get longer. In the spinal cord, there's a network of nerves that integrate signals coming from the organs and the overlying skin at that area.
Those signals, 'sensation from the testes' vs 'sensation from the belly button' remain mostly separate, but there are a few overlapping connections. Because we're not really used to feeling things from our internal organs, often times our brain interprets signals coming from them as coming from the same level as that sensation. In the case of the testes, this sensation is referred to the belly button area, so often pain from the testes occurs in the belly button area (this is called "referred pain"). I suppose it's also possible that the reverse could happen as well, that sensation from the skin can be referred to the internal organs.
Answered by: BCSteve
Why do you fidget? Find out on the next page!
7/12. F--Jokes101 asked: What causes the urge to fidget?
Its a natural reaction through your nervous system little impulses and such almost like putting electricity through say a wet noodle, makes it move about.
There's also a biological and evolutionary method, basically if you sit still for too long blood begins to pool, veins and arteries are cramped and clenched... So the more you fidget the less of a risk there is for developing a blood clot. Its basically a mini survival instinct.
When its cold, fidgeting and shivering causes you to keep warm through movement and keeping your blood circulating. The reason this works is the same reason fidgeting helps you from forming a blood clot.
Answered by: ValaskaReddit
8/12. AlanSleeper asked: Why do Humans get aroused watching others having sex?
Our brains have mirror neurons, which fire both when we do thing X and when we see thing X being done by someone else. They allow us to hurt when others suffer, be happy when others are joyful, and, well, become aroused when others fuck.
Continue reading about your body on the next page! (Isn't this like grade 4 health class?!)
9/12. creepsmcreepster asked: Why do we see black spots after looking into a bright light?
The spots aren't, strictly speaking "black", they are "no signal" areas.
Sight is basically a chemical reaction. The rods and cones of your eyes produce dyes. (See "Rhodopsin" and/or "visual purple" et al.) These dyes are how your eyes see.
Photons come in, intersect, and change these dyes. This is what produces the initial chemical stimulus that becomes the nerve impulse response to light.
The photon(s) intersecting with the dyes "uses up" the dye.
Your body is constantly making new dye and cleaning up the used-up dye.
When you look at a bright light it uses up a lot of dye. Then those rods and cones don't have enough to really generate a good signal.
Similarly, if you've been in darkness for a while, you've got a lot of dye built up and you can see really well in the very dim light. Further the very dim light uses up very little dye and so you continue to see well in the dimness.
So this whole mechanism is why the room looks "darker" right after you turn off the lights, and then "your eyes adjust". It's also why the "blue spots" move with your eyeballs, because its the individual sensors that are exhausted.
Answered by: BitOBear
10/12. allboutthatlife asked: What is physically happening when your ear suddenly starts ringing?
The first thing to understand is how we perceive sound: We have outer and inner ear hair cells, and they both detect vibrations and pressure changes of the basilar membrane. The reason we have two types of hair cells is because, while vibrations travel very efficiently in the fluid of the inner ear, they require a lot of energy (think about trying to run on land vs. trying to run in a pool).
Outer ear cells, then, are designed as amplifiers. When they detect low energy vibrations, they vibrate in time with them, amplifying the signal and sending it to the inner ear. Most of the time, this system works perfectly, but - like any biological system - it can get buggy. Sometimes the outer ear cells will freak out and vibrate on their own, and that's when you get the sudden onset tinnitus. There's also a control system that will tell the outer ear hair cells to knock it off, but it takes about 30-45 seconds to kick in.
Answered by: Archchancellor
What happens when you need to fart but then it goes away? Find out on the next page!
11/12. Tinyshlo asked: What happens to a fart when you don't let it out but the need to fart goes away?
Your colon is an air tight tube. The ONLY way a fart is getting out is through the anus. When you hold a fart in, you pushing it back up above the internal anal sphincter. Pressure below the internal anal sphincter and around the external anal sphincter is that "I have to fart" or "I gotta poop" sensation. More pressure around the external sphincter leads to greater stretching of the sphincter. Greater stretching = greater urge. The fart will eventually come back down, you've just temporarily forced it further up "inside", beyond the physical point in the colon where you can feel the urge to let it out.
Answered by: Shmalpin
12/12. crazy_angel1 asked: why when you think or see very sour things, you start to salivate?
A sour taste comes from acids in the food, so it may be a response to help protect tooth enamel from being destroyed by the acid. This is why you salivate before vomiting, as well. So your brain could be deciding you're about to eat something acidic, and pumps up salivary production in response.
Answered by: MapsAreCool
Just about everyone has made a sizable effort to make themselves appear smart.
Be it to impress a potential boss, a prospective client, a first date, or the parents of your significant other, people often will use big words, make bizarre references that only a select few would understand, or simply nod along and laugh even though they haven't the foggiest idea what's going on.
Surprisingly, people also pretend to be less intelligent than they are almost just as frequently.
What's more, people usually tend to "play dumb" for the same reasons they try to appear smarter than they actually are, as a way to impress or climb up a social ladder.
Of course, people also play dumb for many other, sometimes bizarre reasons.
"Have you ever pretended to be stupid or not as smart as you are? Why?"
Coming Off As Over Qualified
"It was quite common practice in my home country to hide the fact you have a masters degree to get certain jobs."
"Because either you were 'overqualified' and they couldn't afford you or they instantly knew you will only be temporary asset until you find something matching your education."- Reddit
Conflict Resolution And Ego Massaging
"Has helped me out of sticky spots."
"And people seem to like it when they feel superior to me."- NecessaryImmediate93
Language Barriers
"I live in Germany and I speak C2-level fluent German, until one of those people on the street try to start handing me a bible or some charity pamphlet then i'm all like 'I no deutsch verstehe' lmao."- Zack1018
"I pretended to be less fluent in a language than I am before, if that counts."
"Anyone who’s lived in Japan is familiar with the NHK man, who comes to your door and pesters you to pay the NHK fee."
"NHK is the national public TV station, and everyone who owns a device capable of receiving it is supposed to pay a monthly fee to fund it, but there’s no penalty for not paying, and quite a lot of people just don’t."
"The representatives can be veeeeery pushy though."
"Well, I didn’t even own a TV, but when I first started living here I somehow got pressured into signing up to pay the fee."
"Though after that I just ignored the bills until eventually they sent an angry one saying you’d better pay or legal action blah blah."
"So I called them and used my best foreigner voice to explain I didn’t understand what I signed up for and the lady was very nice and said, 'Of course, you couldn’t have known, I’ll cancel that for you'.”
"Problem solved!"- lygerzero0zero
Oh, To Be The Ringmaster...
"When you realize your family is a Circus, you tend to be the clown."- B-Town-MusicMan
Know Your Audience...
"In all aspects of life I've found reading (and playing to) the room is the best way to get by."- gosog28052·
As Long As You Don't Mind Never Being Promoted...
"It comes with benefits at work."
"Meaning less work."- doofusdoomed
Saves A Lot Of Trouble
"All the time because I don’t feel like arguing."- goodfaceman
"Yes, because I don’t always feel like arguing. Many people are closed minded."
"They won’t even entertain a new to them idea."- Errol-Flynns-Ghost
"Yes, because i think its a waste of time to argue with people who are very narrow-minded."- Separate-Trash2375
The Element of Surprise
"Yes."
"People like to feel more clever than others."
"It can also come in handy to be underrated."- Aluanne
Keeps The Peace
"All the time, it makes people more comfortable."- khamelean
"Often."
"Especially when dealing with police, or other authority figures."
"Also in general life so as not to alienate people."- captain_jeremiah
Wanting People To Like You
"The line is just too thin between being smart and seeming a know-it-all."
"The others will feel belittled."- kapaj55687
It's understandable that people feel inclined to play dumb to avoid conflict, or perhaps make others feel better about themselves.
Though it's important to remember that everyone should be proud of who they are, and no one should play dumb in hopes of making someone else like them.
Such people probably aren't worth having as friends.
Sex in the workplace is a problem.
Everybody sees it. Eventually.
The glances.
The stolen moments.
It's all on display.
And the one lesson I've learned most assuredly is... you can't hide the attraction for long.
My best advice... be cool. Ignore one another.
And even that can be a sign.
Redditor IndependentSwimmer67 wanted to discuss the times we've all suspected the scandalous relations of coworkers, so they asked:
"What are the subtle clues that indicate two coworkers may be involved in a secret sexual relationship?"
The number of co-workers I've witnessed have flings?
I could write books.
Scandal
"They laugh just a little too much and a little too loud at each other’s jokes."
GetOffMyLawnFFS
"They stare just a little too long…"
Meta_My_Data
Rimshot
"The new 17 year old kid where I work was overheard saying 'there's no way that Rimshot and the kitchen manager don't have something going on. You see the way they act around each other?' Me and the kitchen manager have been married for 12 years."
rimshot101
"My wife had that moment at her work. Patient transporter always stopped by and chatted up the unit clerk. Only 3 people in the department knew they had been married for decades."
DrunksInSpace
Disappear
"Always going to lunch together. Both call in sick or on vacation at the same time. Disappearing at the same time during team building or company functions. Both are working late. Leave work at the same time. None of these are conclusive but should create suspicions."
Impressive-Offer-404
"I worked in a place years ago with two co-workers who'd always disappear together for lunch and come back two hours later with McDonald's that they then ate at their desks. Not terribly subtle."
JimTheJerseyGuy
HR Ladies
"I had a boss who I was almost certain was having an affair with one of our HR ladies. They would always sneak off to go chat together, they'd go smoke together, they took lunch together every day, she'd go hang out in his office. They were both married."
"Her husband got offered a job at the company and I remember when my coworker learned about it he was like 'really?' And gave a wide-eyed glance and a nod over at our boss's office. So I wasn't the only one who thought this. As soon as her husband came to work there, all the visits stopped."
SweetCosmicPope
Restaurant Life
"Check to see if they have both significant others, if the answer is yes than they are probably doing it. Especially if it’s a restaurant."
NotGlumExamination
"If it's a restaurant, significant other or not, they're f**king. - 25 years working in restaurants."
sam_the_beagle
Oh, the restaurant life. Sex and food = Scandal.
Let's Play
"They don't work in the same areas but are constantly together, looking at each other too much plus referencing conversations they had outside of work. They are a little too playful."
Shepard_of_fire_124
“AGAIN?”
"There was a rumor at my last job that I was sleeping with one of the cashiers. The rumor got started because she was my best friend and I would give her a hug every morning when I saw her. Most people assume men and women can’t be just friends, so obviously hugs equal sex."
"The moment I found out about the rumor I texted her fiancée and said 'Apparently Haylee and I are having an affair. It came as quite a shock to both of us, because we had no idea.' He though it was pretty funny. When I told my wife, she said 'AGAIN?' This isn’t the first time a rumor like that has been started about me."
DieHardAmerican95
Oh Emma...
"Frequent eye contact, conversations that revolve around flirting, slight touches."
Inside-Currency9002
"One time we were in a meeting with just the newbies doing training (no management) and one of the girls very lightly brushed the arm of the guy next to her while getting a pen or something and this girl Emma just stops and shouts 'WHEN DID YOU TWO START SHAGGING?!'
Wind_Yer_Neck_In
How Strange...
"My wife was pulled aside once by her religious boss who pointed out that he had noticed her leaving the building at lunch times with a strange man and that he didn't think that it was appropriate knowing that she was married."
"What he didn't know was that the 'strange man' was me. We happened to work for different companies on different floors of the same building. Some times it's best to keep out of other people's business."
MickSturbs
Hang Ups
"I worked at a law firm a while ago and one of the partners and the receptionist were having an affair. Both married and the receptionist became pregnant. I’m not entirely sure who the kid’s father is. But the way I could tell was that I was her backup coverage so any time she needed a break I would cover. The partner would call and either ask for his secretary and hang up before the transfer happened or say nothing and hang up. They both divorced their spouses and are now married."
naturalguy38
We Notice
"When it happened at my old job we started to notice when their lunch breaks started to align and they both walked out of a private room together everyday. They were both on their cell phones at the same time and refused to really talk to each other in person."
sunshineandcats21
The signs are there if you look closely enough, especially in certain jobs like restaurants.
Do you have any signs that we missed or funny stories to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Sometimes learning about us humans is downright scary.
The things we're capable of... or the things we're too stupid not to be aware of, is mind-boggling.
And the more we know, the better we can cope and maneuver.
Redditor rui_xox33 wanted to discuss some of the darker aspects about this mortal coil, so they asked:
"What are some creepy facts about human nature?"
Get Naked
"On a recent date with a CSI agent I learned that a lot of people die naked on or near the toilet. Apparently people get very hot and try to strip down when close to death."
KingPnutticua
Like a Starfish
"We possess the genes for regeneration similar to starfish and salamanders. They are on the same chromosome as the genes for scar tissue formation. However they are not turned on whereas the scar tissue genes are."
"So technically, we could pull a Piccolo and regenerate limbs like a starfish."
"But we don't because it's waaay too metabolically demanding on energy. If we could do it, you'd likely shave years off of your life in exchange. Instead we make scar tissue to reinforce the injured area."
StopFool
Moving Parts
"After a back surgery, your organs might have been moved to perform certain parts of the surgery. The doctors don't move your organs back to their original place. This funny feeling you get after the surgery is your organs moving themselves back to their original place. Yes, they are capable of that."
VetreeleekYT
Separate Systems
"The eyes have a separate immune system than the rest of the body. If your body's immune system realizes your eyes exist, it'll attack the eyes and reject them from the body as it would a virus."
berripluscream
"I also have a fun (?) fact about the eyes: The retina isn’t really fixed in the eyes."
"The part where the nerves leave them is quite inflexible but towards the outside/lens the retina is staying because of osmotic pressure. I know because I had a blood vessel that somehow leaked and a couple of months later the retina in that eye detached in a big way. It’s not so funny when several doctors say something like, 'that doesn’t look good' when examining your eye."
Awkward_Volume5134
Object Around You...
"If you happen to have brain injury, there is a condition that makes you unable to recognize objects around you. Like, you will see a fork, the colors and the shape of it, but you can’t know how to use it, if it’s edible or not, etc. Pretty scary thing to imagine."
Big-Bridge-6142
Brains and forks, not always a great combo.
From the Top
"The call of the void. This occurs when humans are on high places, like rooftops or cliffs, and get the urge to jump. It’s actually pretty common."
jstclair08
'Clearly Remember'
"Learned memories, i.e. people 100% sure they remember things which actually never happened but were told many times by media/memes/others. I observed this for certain episode which happened less than 10 years ago and which everyone whom I asked witnessed themselves personally, but they all 'clearly remember' it in a way it was presented in memes and jokes and not how they actually saw it happen."
p17s82
Head Issues
"Risks during birth are abnormally high compared to other species. Because of our upright gait (mother's narrow pelvis) and big heads, fetuses cannot 'fully' gestate until being born. Humans have to be born prematurely while the head is still tiny and squishy. Otherwise, childbirth would not be survivable at all."
deepestfish
"Gives Out"
"Most people that die due to hypothermia get naked before dying."
"This is because, blood stops flowing to your extremities, so you don't lose body heat. Just before death, the brain kinda 'gives out' and allows blood flow to return to normal. This sends warm blood to your cold limbs, making you feel very hot and sweaty, so you strip."
diamondhound2509
Evil
"That pretty much everyone has the capacity for extreme evil given the right circumstances."
Affectionate-Goat896
Humans are weird. I wanna be a spider.
How about you? Do you have anything to add to this list? Let us know in the comments.
Friends Of People Who Won The Lottery Describe What Happened After They Got The Money
Most of us have had one of those fantasies about all the magical things we would do if we won the lottery, like starting an antique car collection, buying a mansion, or even more humbly paying off their or their family's debt.
But most of us have limited knowledge about what it's actually like to win the lottery or what their lives look like after winning.
Redditor RivalxGames asked:
"Have you ever actually met or known someone who has won the lottery? What happened to them?"
Cottage Core
"Friends of ours won 30 million dollars. They took a group of us on vacation. Then they bought a cottage and built a house."
"Not much really changed. They are doing great."
- Blondefarmgirl
Responsible Purchases
"My MIL (Mother-in-Law) won $33k on a scratch-off. She paid off some debt and got new windows installed on her house. The new windows in an 1890s farmhouse are amazing, don't think I've seen a happier woman!"
- CaseyBoogies
Spending Where It Matters
"I knew a welder who won a 30 million jackpot."
"He retired, bought two Ford GTs, and spends his time doing yard work, playing low-stakes poker tournaments, and raising his two young kids."
"His wife bought a crib from me used for their second child."
- PigStickerOnStone
Two Kinds of People
"I've known two people who won, actually."
"One was a friend of mine in high school who won $15k on a scratch-and-win. She rented a house downtown and threw a party."
"Somebody said I should stop by and check in on her, because they'd been down to the party and hardly recognized anybody."
"Sure enough, I got there, my friend met me at the door, put waaay too much money in my hands, and told me to go get a bottle of wine. She just partied with whoever was around until it was gone, which took about three weeks."
"Next was a friend of mine from Toronto who is mostly known for doing zombie walks. She won a 'cash for life' dealio and I think it's around ten thousand a month. She bought a theremin and started making 50s-style monster movies and is generally living a high-rolling rockabilly lifestyle."
- greihund
It's All About the Goats
"My neighbor won the lottery in his sixties, it was something like 1.2 million in the late '90s. We lived in a trailer park in a rural part of the US, a pretty low-cost-of-living area so the money stretched pretty far."
"He bought his trailer and land outright with the money and pretty much just spent every day drinking on his porch and yelling at his goats."
"If I remember correctly, he used a good chunk of what he won to put his son and grandkids through college. Died of liver failure at 85 or something. Not a terrible way to do it, all said and done."
- Kahazzarran
Oh, the Irony
"A neighbor won a few million, built an old folks home, named it after his mother, and she refused to live there."
- pascontent
People Letting Their True Colors Show
"Someone got 30k or something. Not too much, not too less. She got a lot of hate for not 'sharing her riches' whatever the f**k that means."
- Eveleyn
Family Matters
"I did see news footage before of someone in the US, I believe, who won a huge amount but somehow they worked it out that they could wear a 'Scream' mask or some sort of Halloween mask to the check pick up and photo session. And I can't blame that person at all."
"My favorite was I saw a legit story about an older woman who lived in a trailer park who won several million at least in the lottery."
"Her kids quietly moved her out of the trailer once they saw the ticket at her place and knew she won, they found her a new home in some retirement condo community that was nice with extra amenities and they packed all her stuff up for her. Whatever they didn't take from her trailer they just donated out and sold for her and sold the trailer off."
"Because they did not want her going back there after everybody found out she won all that money, especially when she was older and more likely to be manipulated with sob stories or demands."
"Some of the neighbors went on about how sad they were they never got to say goodbye and fair game, I can believe the odd one was sad. But I suspect most were sad they didn't get to see her to ask for a cut of that money or ask her if she could just help them all out."
- Dancingskeletonman86
Bragging Rights
"Technically, a kid from school's parents won a few hundred thousand. His parents were chill, and acted like they had the same money as before, but the kid was acting like a baller."
BaldEaglz1776
Romanticizing Life
"My aunt's husband won $36 million. They bought property and traveled. He liked to fish and drink and build stuff. He passed away three years ago, but he was an awesome dude."
Unable-Astronaut-677
Keeping It Simple
"I know two people who have won significant sums (well, significant for me)."
"The first guy won $100k back in the early 2000s. He and his wife agreed to split it between them. She bought a car. He slowly lost most of his half over the course of a couple of years playing in poker tournaments."
"The other people aren't friends, but I see them a few times a year. They won $61 million in 2013. They bought a home i my mom's neighborhood (lakeside property, but priced in the $200k - $500k range back in 2013, depending on which lot)."
"I'd met them several times before finding out that they were 'screw you' rich. You'd never know they were more than a regular retired couple who had enough money in the bank to take cruises and such. They are some of the most down-to-earth people I know; nice cars, but nothing fancy, etc."
- Nythoren
Blasts from the Past
"I had a patient, a hairdresser who owned her own shop, who won about 6 million. Her winnings were announced in the local newspaper."
"She consulted the right professionals, worked a plan to sell her salon, and mapped a way to retire on her winnings without a change in her lifestyle."
"But she told me that she had old boyfriends, and even guys that barely knew her in high school, who called her with some variation of, 'You know, I always loved you...'"
"She just laughed and blew them off."
- Earguy
An Epic Pizzy Party
"I worked with a guy who won like $3k/week for life on a scratch-off. He continued working for like six months before he bought a truck and went and lived the O/O life in the oil fields of North Dakota. He bought everyone pizza on his last day."
- 0100100012635
Keeping It Humble
"A friend won 1 million. They paid off their house. Saved for their kids' education and basically don’t live paycheque to paycheque anymore. Both of them still work full-time."
- hornblower_83
That Darn Pandemic
"I met a girl at a party shortly after the pandemic who won 1 million pounds. She won it about six months before the pandemic hit. Her parents are already millionaires and her dad convinced her to put more than half of it into reliable stocks."
"She also planned a huge family holiday all around Asia... Well, the pandemic hit, canceled the holiday and disintegrated all her shares."
"She said she bought a house for 200k, a new car for 20k and she has about 100k left, and still has her same job."
- TheBrazenBeast
While some of these were extravagant by everyday standards, most of them were heartwarming in how the person continued to lead a simple, if not also humble, life after winning a large cash prize.
It's a great reminder that while money can afford someone stability, that money doesn't necessarily equate with happiness.