Aging is a reminder that the end is near.
But life is constantly finding ways to expedite the aging process.
So many variables contribute to our looks... it's almost shocking.
Redditor sabletoothtiger_ wanted to hear about the things that can cause us to age rapidly, so they asked:
"What instantly ages someone?"
Weight.
My flipping and flopping with my weight has aged me.
It never gets easier to lose too.
Lack of Sleep
Wide Awake Insomnia GIF by MOODMANGiphy"Lack of sleep."
Yasmin947
"Can confirm. I have an aunt who looks older than my grandmother because she regularly gets 3 hours of sleep a night while my grandmother will fall asleep anywhere."
SCG414
Farewells
"Grief, nothing ages you like Grief."
TheGreatGrappaApe
"My brother died 2 years ago, I aged so much since and now look older than some friends of mine who are 15 years older than me. On top of not sleeping well due to autoimmune issues, I notice new grey hairs every day. Grief, lack of sleep, stress. I have the trio and it's just awful. Losing a sibling is a nightmare, especially at a young age. My deepest sympathies."
ScissorsOfJealousy
Flare-Ups
"Back pain. You can't move like a young person if your back hurts."
AdWonderful5920
"I went from being active and spry to barely able to move and in constant pain. It changed so much about my personality as being active and sporty was a huge part of who I was. I also gained some weight."
"I’m way better now and not in constant pain, but there is always a risk of flare-ups now so while I can exercise and be active, it’s always in the back of my mind and I can’t do it with the carefree attitude I once did."
"I also believe it makes me susceptible to other aches and pains as the nerves all connect so sometimes a flare-up sends pains to other extremities such as my hips or shoulders. If there was one thing I could go back and change in my life, it would be to prevent the back injury."
nononanana
Seemingly Healthy...
"F**king cancer. Have watched my brother-in-law age 30 years in a month."
imapassenger1
"I have been a witness to this many times. '30 years in a month' is an accurate measurement."
WimpyZombie
"This hits close to home. My (seemingly healthy) uncle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two weeks ago. Within the last two weeks, his body has completely broken down. So sorry for everyone here who has had to see loved ones go through this."
JosjeAB
"My mom had breast cancer (in her 50’s) like 7 years ago. All her hair turned gray and she looked frail and old for a couple of years through treatment. After the cancer was gone, her hair all grew back brown again and she looked like she did before. It was really weird."
a-ohhh
From the Top
American Horror Story Fx GIF by AHSGiphy"Hair loss. Not me personally but I used to work with a guy who I swore was like 35, and he was 19. Poor kid."
Kaiserhawk
"When I have an interview, I let my baldness show a little bit. I look older, and I'm taken more seriously by recruiters that way."
lord_machin
Keep It
Nft Child GIF by Pudgy PenguinsGiphy"Buccal fat removal."
arieljoc
"Surprised this wasn't higher up. People with baby cheeks don't realize how well they will serve them thirty years down the line when their buddies who teased them for it look like Skeletor."
Burly_Bara_Bottoms
Deep Breaths
"Stress."
gablamegla
"When I was younger and first entered the real world I remember working with a white-haired woman that had an always tired look about her. She had a picture of her daughter on her desk, young, blonde, that looked so incredibly much like her I mentioned it once. Turned out that wasn’t her daughter, but was her prior to her going through the FBI academy."
F_is_for_Ducking
Work of the Devil
"Troubleshooting printer problems. I swear these devilish machines only exist to trigger me to smithereens."
Philitt
"A couple years ago I decided to officially give up on having a personal printer and only use the one at the library because when it f**ks up, it's someone else's problem. I still have my old printer and I've considered dropping it off my roof for fun."
Painting_GatoI
"Had the opportunity to throw one out of a third-story window. The absolute joy I felt watching that a**hole machine soar through the air and smash to smithereens was the best kind of natural high. It's been 15 years, and I still get goosebumps thinking about it."
Natural_Garbage7674
Bad Relations
My Big Fat Fabulous Life Kiss GIF by TLCGiphy"Having a spouse that contributes nothing to your relationship and allows your family to slip further and further into debt without caring that you're all only a couple of bills away from bankruptcy."
Xmenenslaver
Life is just an endless well of aging.
No cream is coming to save us.
A deleted Redditor wanted to hear the best stories behind everyone's body blemishes, so they asked:
"What is the dumbest way you've gotten a scar?"
I have a scar on my upper lip from when I was 5.
I learned fast... don't dance to Madonna on your mother's bed, in her high heels, on a dark and rainy Saturday afternoon.
Save it for the light.
Killer Kitty
Mad Grumpy Cat GIF by MOODMANGiphy"Tripped over my kitten and busted my head open on my sofa."
Fragrant-Prompt1826
"This is definitely believable, I swear my cat tries to off me everyday"
ShadAppNKissMe
Damn tart
"Pop tart. Wild berry flavor. Permanent burn scars on my leg. I was young and dumb. Toasting my pop tart. When I pulled it out the frosting was so hot it was literally bubbling. I dropped it because it was burning my fingertips. Dropped it right onto my leg frosting side down. I went to wipe it away. Gave me almost third-degree burns. Had to go straight to the hospital. Still have the scars 20 years later."
Travelerofuranus
Tough
"I have one on the back of my hand from rubbing the skin off with a pencil eraser longer than the other kid did when I was 13 just to prove I was 'tough.'"
"The real tough kids did three on each hand. So it looks like that's where your Wolverine claws came out."
KielReid
"I did that stupid crap in school, thank f**k it didn't leave any scars. But yeah I was that troubled youth who had no outlet. I hated myself for it until both hands healed up."
faultydatadisc
Bottles Flying
"An old roommate and I had a snowball fight but with beer bottles. We were the only ones home, one wall of the living room was like natural rock. And it started with throwing bottles across the living room into the wall and devolved into throwing them at each other. I caught a bit in the arm when one smashed near me across the counter, haha."
Revenge
Cookie Lyon Love GIF by Empire FOXGiphy"I twisted the head off of my little sister's baby doll."
"She hit me in the head with a garden hoe. 11 stitches."
TrailerParkPrepper
Revenge is real when it comes to the dolls.
Don't lose your head... or the heads of your siblings' favorite doll.
Stumbled
Ice Cream Elmo GIF by SésamoGiphy"I got a glass bowl full of ice cream, stumbled, and didn't let go of the bowl, so it cut open my hand. It's a common reflex of small children because ice cream 'is precious,' but still stupid because I had to wear a bandage for 2 weeks."
cantSleepalready
Cracked Brows
"My brother, sister, and I all have the same kind of scar on our left eyebrow and got them at the same age. My brother opened an empty dresser drawer and smacked himself in the face, my sister ran into a brick wall and I fell off the couch onto a coffee table."
Alternative-Volume82
"My dad and brother have a similar saga. My dad climbed out of his crib when he was little and split his left eyebrow open, my brother got out of the bathtub and cracked his head on the toilet and they have matching eyebrow scars."
TallOne101213
Stalagmite
"For my 8th birthday, a classmate got me something like a 'grow your own stalagmite' kit you could buy at educational stores. Apparently, the purpose was to add water to some powder material and use a funnel in the kit to drip it down to make your own cave features. Exciting, I know. Anyway, I kept it and the other birthday presents I got in a cardboard box in my room. Evidently, at some point, moisture got into the box and the plastic the powder was in, and it began expanding."
"Having nowhere else to go, the 'stalagmite' material oozed its way out through the narrow slits in its box and hardened into razor-sharp edges. I found this out quite bloodily when I put my hand into my birthday box to grab another toy, and pulled it out with permanently altered fingerprints on my thumb, index, and middle fingers."
Real-Extent5559
Make the Cookies
"When I was 4 I got too excited to go outside and ran through a storm door. Ripped my arm up well and required a bunch of stitches. Due to the position, there was no way for them to numb it, so they stitched it without anything. Two days later, I was helping my mom make cookies, and I tripped and ripped them all over again."
"30+ years later and I now have a scar on my left arm that looks like a bite mark."
"I have another on my wrist because I once stuck my hand up a gumball machine, trying to steal a gumball, and it got stuck. When I finally got it out, it ripped the skin off a chunk of my wrist."
2PhatCC
The Fall
Falling Down Fall GIFGiphy"In fifth grade, I asked a girl to be my girlfriend. She said no. I turned around and fell down a hill and slashed my ankle open on a rock. I have a lifelong scar to remind me of the rejection."
drmanhattannfriends
We really have to be more careful.
Our bodies are way too fragile.
Do you have an scar stories to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor Deviant55 wanted to talk about physical intimacy in relationships, so they asked:
"How important is sex to you in a relationship? Could you be with someone you love even if sex was off the table indefinitely?"
I learned how much sex matters in my last relationship.
Once I wasn't interested, it kind of killed everything.
Forever
GIF by moodmanGiphy"When my wife of 30+ years became too ill for sex to be even remotely interesting for her, I certainly did not end the relationship. I loved her and I took care of her until she died. No other course even occurred to me."
fvillion
Frustration
"When I met my wife we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. This lasted a few years. I was in my mid-twenties when we married. She developed a chronic medical issue. I’ve gone twenty years being sexually frustrated. There are stages and phases to this."
"What I came to realize is that I love my wife. Yes, sex is important in our relationship. But I would rather have her in my life with no sex than have sex without her."
"The thing is, I love her. She can’t help her situation. I can’t help it. One deals with it. Marriage is more than sex. It is building a life and memories, raising a family, and loving each other regardless of the challenges life throws our way. But sex is very important. It helps keep the closeness and the emotional bond. But it isn’t the only thing that does that."
QuietusNoctis
I Love Her
"It is complicated. I am in a near-sexless marriage. The wife needs antidepressants to function. And it kills her libido. So usually it is four to six times a year. My libido rages. And yeah, it sucks. I dream of more sex."
"But I love the chick. She loves me to the moon and back. I’m not willing to sacrifice her love so I can try dating again. Divorce rates these days? And I found a woman who more than tolerates me, she loves me. I’ll stay. And not to be crude but yeah I masturbate. A lot. She doesn’t begrudge me that. Occasionally she even encourages it."
"She went off her meds for a while. And man did we do it. But she was a mess. I need her healthy more than I need a shag. We travel together. We enjoy each other’s company. We actually like each other. I could claim that it is hell, but I choose to see all of the good I am blessed with."
painthawg_goose
Heartless
"Quite important. But I think it depends on where you are in the relationship. I've been married for 10 years. I have kids. If my wife suddenly couldn't have sex with me for some reason -- illness or injury or something -- I'm not divorcing her over it. That's heartless."
"Now, if she just decided we weren't ever having sex again because she didn't feel like it, that'd be different. Or if I was just starting to date someone and they told me they'd never have sex, I probably just wouldn't keep pursuing the relationship. Plenty of people out there who will."
Arkhangelzk
Necessity
"It depends on the circumstances. I LOVE doing it with my man but I love his heart and soul more. If we had to stop having sex for medical reasons or something I’d definitely stay with him and stay faithful. If I was single, I think it’s unlikely I’d start a new relationship knowing it would be sex free."
Fit_Technology8240
Heart and soul is just as necessary and hot and sweaty.
At least a lot of people recognize that.
Percentages
Giphy"Sex life is 10% of a relationship when it’s good and 90% of a relationship when it’s bad."
jakovichontwitch
"The other way I've heard it put is that sex is like the bathroom in your house. It's not the only reason you bought the house, but if it's not working it's a big problem."
molten_dragon
Age Related
"50-year-old here married for 27 years. It’s not important. It was important when we were younger but honestly, if sex wasn’t possible I would still love my wife and really nothing about our day would really change."
Kantforall
"I’ve been reading these comments and wishing that everyone’s age was flared on their post because I sense that there are a lot of under-60-year-olds. I am older than my wife but she is starting menopause and I can see the writing on the wall. Not super thrilled but I love her completely and understand. The real intimacy is in how we still (and will always) want to sleep touching each other and waking up next to each other."
caffeinated-hijinx
Kiss Me
"I honestly considered this before. I absolutely adored this guy. It was like a child relationship; we'd kiss and cuddle and hold hands and things, but he wouldn't have sex with me, nor would he commit properly. Any time we came close to sex, he'd go soft or back off."
"I couldn't understand it, wondered if I could keep doing that. My sex drive was wild. Why kiss and the rest but not sex?"
"Then one day he told me he was in love with me and asked me out properly. I said yes there and then, had a wonderful day with him, but when I went home, I was left questioning if I could possibly live without sex. I decided that yeah, I loved him but it would be tough."
"We had sex the next day. So yes, I think I probably could."
Adventurous_Train_48
Touchy/affectionate...
"It's very important. I'm a very affectionate and physical person and touch/caresses and anything physical is one of my love languages. I couldn't function with someone who is the opposite of me or who's uncomfortable with how I am. I already was in a relationship with someone who wasn't that touchy/affectionate and it created frustration for both of us."
Borboleta77
Don't Look at Me
"I am in a sexless relationship. He has erectile dysfunction and I really don't like sex in general. I'm really uncomfortable naked or even vulnerable. I'm shy around him despite the relationship being 10 years nearly, I'm even shy around my family and friends. Everything about sex makes me feel so embarrassed, and I feel nothing but negative feelings when I used to be sexually active. Not through choice of partner, I just hate that sort of attention."
NucularOrchid
Definitive!
Shake Handshake GIF by OriginalsGiphy"10/10. Sexual incompatibility is a deal breaker!"
oeeiae
Sex is important but not everything.
Until it is everything if it becomes an issue.
Good luck couples. Open and honest communication is key.
"What is the biggest design flaw of the human body?"
Would Make A Lot Of People Less Cautious
"Unable to regenerate body parts."
"You lose an arm or a leg, you can't grow a new one."
"We can grow hair and nails forever, but not body parts."- drygnfyre
And Maybe The Whole Childbirth Process While We're At It...
"The size of the average baby head vs the size of the average vagina."- Ruggiard
"The Obstetric Dilemma."
"Basically, the human body isn't built for easy birth."- strykazoid
Season 3 Baby GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyIt Isn't Terribly Practical If You Think About It...
"IMO the whole 'we put food into the only air hole we have and can choke and die if we aren’t careful' thing is a pretty big miss."- el_rico_pavo_real
"Throat has a built in flaw - we breath n swallow food through the same area."- coolguy1793B
A More Direct Route Would Be Helpful
"I like the example of the recurrent laryngeal nerve."
"It runs from the brain to the larynx."
"However, to get there it goes from the brain, down the neck, into the chest, around the aorta and then back up the chest, up the neck and then connects to the larynx."
"That's a massive detour."
"It also means a blow to the chest can damage your ability to talk."- The_Thunder_Child
GiphyNever Underestimate The Damage Teeth Can Do
"The fact that I sometimes accidentally eat the inside of my mouth."- -Grey_Area-·
He Does Have A Point
"'Nostalgia is the greatest human weakness. Second only to the neck'... -Dwight Schrute
In Plain Sight...
"In our eyes, the blood vessels supplying our photoreceptors are in front of them and therefore in the way of the incoming light."
"Probably not the biggest and there are some good justifications for it being set up this way."
"But it still must be such a pain for the brain constantly having to edit these out when forming our visual experience."- oliwoggle
Loop Eyes GIF by Doze StudioGiphyMaybe Just Every Illness And Ailment?
"A stroke."
"My aunt had one when she was 31 and the healthiest person in the world."
"Ran an aerobics class at the Y, just perfect perfect health."
"Went to Pizza Hut with her the night before, next day, massive stroke, almost died, critical surgery, twenty years later she still has trouble speaking."
"It sucks."
"There is no reason that should’ve happened."
"Perfectly healthy person damaged for the rest of her life."
"She’s still amazing and lovely and my favorite person but damn is that annoying."- Jibber_Fight
"You can kinda just die at any moment from a brain aneurysm, even if you're perfectly healthy."- mcsteve87
All Our Bones Could Be Stronger...
"For upright walking creatures, why is our head so (relatively) delicate?"
"Trip a single time and you're blinded, have brain damage, bit off your tongue, or lost teeth."- kmn493
Episode 15 Pain GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyThey Arguably Also Weren't Built For Stairs...
"Our knees for sure."
"They just weren't built to last past 40 years."- TopShelfCrazy
A Couple More On/Off Switches Would Be Helpful As Well...
"That we cannot delete or sort unwanted/not needed info and memories from our brains."- PickAName616
As the saying goes, "nobody's perfect."
Or rather, "no BODY is perfect."
Otherwise, we'd all stop complaining about aching limbs or worrying about choking or other injuries.
Redditor Ok_Security_8657 wanted to hear about the times we've had to suffer through, so they asked:
"What is the most painful thing you've ever experienced, *on purpose*?"
Let's see what stories Reddit had to contribute.
Twice?!
Season 2 Couch GIF by The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirGiphy"Novocaine doesn't work on me. For submarine service you have to have all of your wisdom teeth removed. The Navy does not use anything other than novocaine. They only pull two at a time though. I went back the second time."
LeepII
Salted
"I cut my thumb pretty bad years ago while using a knife in my kitchen. And looking at the salt shaker on the counter I got the idea to literally. Pour salt on a wound. It was like an electric shock was sent through my nervous system. A short but very intense feeling of pain. Use salt water/saline instead."
SidOfBee
"Technically it is an electric shock as salt has negative ion that if the condition is correct it would shock your nerves."
Kaperal
Feel It
"I have a friend who got a lung biopsy WITHOUT numbing and pain meds. She was 14. She said she wanted to 'feel it' like the biopsy on her knee (which did, in fact, use drugs). She says it was the most painful experience of her life. She had 26 cancerous tumors big enough to show up when on the scan of her lungs. She is happily married, alive and well, and a total bada**."
_ohhello
Welp
"I cut my arm open trying to catch a falling glass once. Saw the insides. To be thorough, I cleaned the wound by alternating squirting isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide in it. A little later my surgeon friend told me soap and water would have been good enough to clean it. Welp."
sbvp
"Next time use coffee grounds. I've also heard of people using chili powder but that seems like it'd be nasty."
Lordofdogmonsters
Motionless
Jake Johnson Pain GIF by New GirlGiphy"IUD fitting. Thought it was all fine because I didn't have too much pain during the procedure... 12 hours later I could not move from the pain and had to get my mum to deliver pain killers to my flat at 7am next morning bc I'd gone through everything we had."
Chance-Bread-315
Painkillers 24/7 for somethings please.
WHITE HOT AGONY
madeline kahn flames GIFGiphy"Recently, I had a couple plantars warts cut out of my feet. The shots they use to numb you suuuuck. Went right into the bottom of each of my feet under the big toes. WHITE HOT AGONY. Thankfully, the pain doesn't last very long, and the operation was pretty much painless after that."
NervousCap
Not Cool
"Getting my eyes washed after being Pepper sprayed. We were given a chance to experience the proper stuff while in military. My mind went 'Hell yeah, that will be cool!' Well, got sprayed, had to walk 5 meters to a person holding a water bottle so he could rinse my eyes. Motherf**ker had warm/hot water in the bottle and he poured it to my face."
"It burned even more and I got waterboarded at the same time."
"I've heard that you can experience pain that makes you fear you will die. Maybe, but at that moment I learned that you can feel pain that makes you fear that you might not die, and you have to suffer that pain."
Tit_U_Lum
Bad Removal
"The most painful experience of my life was passing a kidney stone, though whether or not it can be considered to have been experienced on purpose is debatable. I certainly contributed to its development through my choices, but that’s another story."
"On the other hand, I had an ingrown toenail removed before."
"After removing the entire side of the nail, the doctor chemically burned the exposed nail bed with a chemical called phenol. Even though my toe was entirely numb, it was the most white hot searing pain ever. It hurt so bad it took my breath away. The best part is that the toenail came back, and I’m getting it done again in two weeks."
Gordoniscool666
Truth Hurts
"Decided I had to tell the woman I fell in love with that I had feelings for her. I knew before I told her that she would reject me. She was not in a mentally healthy place and didn’t want to be with ANYONE. But I wanted her to know the truth. So I took the rejection like a man and we are still friends."
Horror-School-6713
Done
"Putting my wedding ring on our bedroom dresser (knowing my marriage was over) while my wife was across town doing a police officer she had met at the shooting range. I walked out of our house and have not spoken to or seen her since. That was over 40 years ago."
wyoflyboy68
Bye Bye
Sad Rabbit GIF by Muffin & NutsGiphy"Putting my dog down. She passed in my arms. There's a song that I associate with her which I can't hear without tearing up, despite her exiting my life more than a decade ago."
GeebusNZ
These are some brave folks who have been through some enormous pain. We thank thank for sharing!
Do you have anything you'd like to add? Let us know in the comment section.