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Worried People Share The Fastest Way They've Seen Someone Wreck Their Life.

"Don't do drugs. Make good choices. Stay in school." We've heard that mantra over and over again from teachers, parents, and guidance counsellors but in the end we will make the decisions we make regardless of the advice we've been given. Sometimes it all works out for the best, but there's always negative consequences to making risky decision.

People on Reddit were asked: "What's the fastest way you have seen somebody screw their life up?" These are some of the saddest answers.



A doctor in an emergency department writing prescriptions for oxycodone and diazepam to be filled by their partner in crime who would then sell them for recreational use. They were caught when a patient in the emergency department shouted out "That's my dealer" as the doctor walked past.

EM_doc

Caught a CPA candidate cheating on the UFE last week. 4 years of college and 4 years of prep to become a CPA. Student now banned from the CPA for ethics violation. Immediately lost job. Sucks to be them. Professional code of ethics violations are serious issues. 

Ack_Nak

My cousin got too drunk one night. His brother put him in a taxi home and told the driver he would get paid when dropped off at his mum's.

Cousin is so drunk he doesn't realise this and starts freaking out about having no money and demands the taxi driver lets him out. Cousin getting angry about it so taxi driver does.

The road he is out on is the M8, the biggest motorway in Scotland - quiet at night, but still cars coming down.

Cousin is walking ON the motorway, all over the place. Two cars swerve round him, one of which pulls over and rings the police. While on the phone to police she hears a massive thud and screeching breaks. Some poor guy on the way home from work, on the same road he always drives down, at the same time, hit him.

My cousin is dead. If he hadn't of drank so much, or reacted in such a way he would be alive. The driver who hit him will be scarred for life, the taxi driver will have the "what if" in his life for ever. My aunt is severely depressed, a recluse who doesn't go out, after 10 years she still hasn't cleared out his room. Four lives screwed up quite quickly.

HearingSword

At my school this week some idiot posted a picture of a fake gun on his Snapchat story saying "Don't go to school tomorrow." That kid is now in jail.

lllELIOTOlll


I had a friend in high school who got a full ride athletic scholarship to a regionally-prestigious college. He was all set to go when his mom and girlfriend begged him to stay in town instead because they loved him so much and couldn't bear for him to be away. So he gave up his full scholarship and stayed home instead.

Within a year his girlfriend had dumped him and his mom had kicked him out of the house. The opportunity had passed, and now he was living in town without the things he'd sacrificed that opportunity for.

Granted, it looks like he's happy based on current Facebook (who doesn't look happy on Facebook, really) but things really went to crap for him quick.

Kijafa

The night of my high school graduation, one of the valedictorians got arrested for underage drinking. She was supposed to go to some big-name college but ended up at community college because she lost her scholarships. I don't know what happened to her after that.

krisfunk27

I have a relative that married a guy she thought she could change. She couldn't.

cpqarray

A friend I met during Freshman year of college came in with thousands of dollars saved from refereeing for youth sports, which I guess pays pretty well. He spent all of that money in about a month--he did ecstasy nearly every day and had a 2 week coke binge on top of that in the middle. Despite my and others' efforts to get him to get his life together, he was kicked out of the school with a .28 GPA by the end of his first year. 

From there he was kicked out of family homes for stealing money and prescription meds and ended up living out of a yellow convertible someone sold him for $300. From all this was born some sort of eating disorder, I met up with him and bought him some food and he couldn't even fit 3 garlic knots in before he felt sick. He was so screwed that his skin was basically purple with a yellowish sheen. It was awful.

We lost touch because he kept being a jerk and did some pretty meh things on the friend-scale, but I ran into him a few years ago and he was actually doing pretty well--a girl had helped him clean up and he had some life in his face again.

HelloIAmHawt


Rich kid shot a parking attendant and killed him. The short story is he went to a basketball game, wanted to park in a handicapped spot and tried to bribe the parking attendant. Guy wasn't having it, so he got out of his car and tried to start something. Rich kid ends up getting beat up by parking attendant and goes back to his car, gets his gun and shoots him dead. Dude had a young son. 

Anyhow, he's in prison now, but his old man owns a business. So, he'll get out in about 10 years and have a lucrative job waiting for him. His life is just temporarily on hold unfortunately.

michaelscottspenis

A kid in school decided to show off by jumping off the school roof on to a mattress. He slipped and fell 20 feet on to his head. Can't move anything below his neck now.

AFTER_THAT_LION_DUDE

Drunk driving. Valedictorian, finished 1st year at Yale, decides to hang out with his high school friends back home. They had some drinks at the nearby college, and this guy got talked into driving the rest home since they were the "least drunk". Crossed a double yellow line, got pulled over and charged with DUI. 

Scholarship money, gone, expelled from the school, now trying to get into another school but explaining why you're leaving Yale is pretty tough. But that's nothing compared to the jerks back home who are so glad to see this guy fail: friends, teachers, strangers he doesn't even know.

SCM1992

One of my best friends is who it happened to. To preface this happened over a few months span. Basically super successful working for an Oil and Gas firm, 24 years old. For some reason, goes through a recruiting service to find a better paying job. Ends up finding one, but the deal was not 100% done yet. He takes a few months off and decides to quit his job knowing that he's about to start a better paying one. Also buys a house in the middle of all this (knowing he's about to make more money). 

A week before he is supposed to start... "Oh by the way we filled this position so you should probably just stay put until further notice." He burnt bridges to leave his old job so he was not able to go back to work there. Had about $500 to his name with over $3000+ in bills/truck/car notes/new mortgage. Had to work for a $10/hr job and sell off all of his stuff to get back on his feet. 

Again this is just the worse I've seen personally, he seriously had it made before this. He didn't get an offer letter, he didn't get an offer letter. Let me repeat, he quit his job without receiving an official offer letter. That's the level of screwing up we're talking about here.

gt35r


A guy, Dave, that I worked with at my first job out of university. We were both engineers that started at the same time. Around 6 months into our jobs Dave's long term girlfriend whom he had been with since the 5th or 6th grade cheated on him, they broke up and he took it really badly as anyone would. I remember his Dad coming to our office with him, and them having a meeting with our team leader and program manager then agreeing that Dave would take like 2 weeks or at least some amount of extended time off to get his life together.

The rest of this was all relayed to me by my boss some year and a half later as I never saw or spoke to Dave again after those few weeks he was gone.

During those weeks Dave was not coming to work he somehow got involved with a high school dropout and it all went south when one night she called Dave to come pick her up from a party or something that she really didn't want to be at or was in some kind of danger being at.

Dave agrees and drives ~800 miles to this 'party' that's three states away to pick her up. Once there it's the girl and her two friends that he picks up. During this car ride they do some meth and/or buy some meth and decide it's a good time to try and rob a convenience store on their way home. Dave doesn't physically do any of the actual burglary but drives his car to the store, lets the two friends get out and they rob the place. At some point during they threaten the cashier with a gun and hit him with it, then get back in the car with the money they took and Dave drives away.

They're stopped by state troopers some time later still in that state and all of them are arrested, Dave is booked for aggravated robbery, possession of a unregistered firearm and possession of the meth.

b8le

I was a cop in the Navy and was standing guard duty at the main gate. A car came up with some body damage, running kinda poorly. It had a good number of impacts and paint transfer from at least five different colored cars.

Driver was wasted, obviously, he tried to show me his credit card instead of his ID. Got him out and confirmed the DUI with some field sobriety tests. Arrested him and sat him in one of our cars.

Conducted a search of his card, incident to the arrest and found a letter of acceptance to OCS (Officer Candidate School), it was dated just a couple of days before. Dude got into OCS as a non-nuke, which is extremely competitive, and went out to celebrate. Got trashed and drove, hit five other cars on his way back to base.

We called the local cops and asked if they had any hit and runs, of course they did and told them to come meet us to get the guy's info.

End of the story, obviously he's not going to OCS, he got charged by the locals with five counts of hit and run, we charged him with DUI. He got kicked out of the Navy and eventually turned over for local prosecution.

Moral of the story; If you drink, don't drive, do the watermelon crawl.

LaserSailor760

Girl I know overcame a household destroyed by drugs, did really well, and eventually became a physician assistant. She had surgery, got hooked on opioids like her parents, and started writing/filling fraudulent prescriptions with a couple other PAs at the hospital she worked in. Got caught, arrested, did her time, and cleaned up. She got off probation and immediately started doing drugs again with people she met in a rehab program. When I knew her, she was such a kind, smart, funny person. It's really sad.

princessblowhole

When I was in elementary school, our entrance to cafeteria were two big double-pane glass doors. One idiot was stupid enough to hold the doors and wait for a person to run inside. He saw one boy running towards doors that were open. And obviously, this idiot slams the door as he ran through. That poor thing dived head first through that pane glass door. 

The next seconds are burned in to my memory like with hot iron. Half of the kids were screaming and puking. Cafeteria staff locked themselves inside and called an ambulance. The idiot who did this straight up fainted. Why all of this? 

Because that thing, which was few seconds before human being, looked like a zombie, that went through lawnmower. He was choking on his own blood. You could see his insides and bones, that's how bad it was. Before ambulance arrived, kid died on blood loss. Guy who did it ended up in the hospital for the rest of his life. For whole week, the cafeteria and school were closed and when we returned, every pane glass door was removed.

SneakyBadAss


Guy I used to know at school who was quite clever and could've easily done something with his life started using weed, quickly jumped fully into weed culture, naturally got himself fired for smoking weed at work, and now can't get another job because of it. If he hadn't started his life would be very different.

Nambot

Knew a kid who was hanging out with his friends in his dad's study. He pulled out his dad's handgun from a hiding spot and was playing around pointing it at things and acting cool. His friends told him to knock it off and quit being stupid.

To show them that he knew what he was doing and it was safe, he took out the magazine, put the gun to the roof of his mouth, and pulled the trigger; only he forgot to empty the chamber and blew the back of his head off in front of his friends.

The saddest part of all of it was watching the aftermath as his friends, who watched it happen, and his family, who blamed his father, destroyed themselves trying to cope with what his stupidity brought about.

Hiddnsaccade

I have a friend who is bipolar. November of last year he was earning 40k+, taking care of his son, and doing well. He felt so good in fact, that he went off his meds. By January he was living in the streets, jobless, his ex-wife had a restraining order against him, and pretty much all his worldly possessions were stolen when he "hid" his shopping cart behind a dumpster. Current whereabouts are unknown.

thewiremother

College buddy, seemingly normal guy but got a little angry when he drank. Ok, maybe more than a little.

One night he went next level and a few of us were holding him back from a girl he was literally trying to fight. It went downhill from there, and soon the cops came. He ended up swinging on a cop, wrestling his gun from him and managing to fire it.

No one was hurt, but last I heard he was still in prison.

cubs_070816


He fell madly in love with a girl and would do anything she asked. She told him he should go rob a store so she could have some cash, so he went into a dry cleaners with a hairbrush under a towel (so it looked like he had a gun). He was caught and served 7 years in the state prison. It was his first time ever getting in trouble with the law. Once he was released from prison, he was unable to get a job, and eventually drank himself to death.

ExHokie

This guy's first day working at a diner he drops his tongs in the fryer, decides to pull him out with his hand. Surely the plastic glove will protect him.

That hot oil fused the glove to his hand and we never heard from him again at work or school.

Innersmoke

One summer, my younger brother's friends were partying at a lake. All in their mid-20's. I think they had rented a pontoon or house boat, can't remember for sure. But one guy dives off the boat into shallow water and hit bottom. He was instantly, and now permanently, paralyzed from the neck down. That's means he needs to be fed, bathed, clothed, everything, by somebody else. My brother and friends still take him out to movies and restaurants, hell even amusement parks, and they take turns pushing his wheel chair and feeding him.

My worst fear is being paralyzed like this. I am such a fiercely independent person that death would be better. Stay safe while partying, gang.

Strip_My_Skin

A guy I know was always a little obsessive when it came to women he's in a relationship with. In the most recent reception: he met the girl, quit his good/secure job, and spent most of his money to move across the country with her after 3 weeks of officially dating.

3 days later they break up and he moves in with his parents... No money, no job, almost no car after driving it back across the country again. He couldn't get his old job back due to "burning bridges" when he left. It was like a movie...

JustALittleJelly

Sources: 1, 2

Some of this material has been edited for clarity.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.