Sometimes, I write these articles sitting at the table with my kids while they work on school stuff. The 'communal office' feel of the dining table has its ups and downs, but today was definitely an up.
My teenager, peeking over my shoulder as I filled in the title, quipped:
"My nonbinary a$ would LOVE to know what it's like to sit in a chair normally - but all I got is goblin mode."
Reddit user Lemonkainen asked:
"What is a simple pleasure that the opposite sex rarely/never gets to experience?"
My kid may be doomed to spend eternity sitting in chairs like they think the floor is lava, but they're not the only one missing out on things the rest of us take for granted.
Here's what Reddit came up with.
And Constricting Wees
"Having to squat to take a piss on dirty bathrooms."- Suryyur
Summer Fashions
"Wearing a light sundress on a hot day."- TheLadyRica
Unleashing The Beasts
"That feeling when you take off your bra after a very long day."- Euro_Girl
Give Women Pockets!
"Getting to put their phone in their pocket."- BAD_TIME_MAN
"My girlfriend is exceptionally mad that I can even put a Kindle in half of my pockets. The difference is insane!"
- gregedit
Happy Fashion GIF by Rosanna PansinoGiphyDrunk Bathroom Besties
"The amount of camaraderie from drunk girls in a bathroom."- sharkyshark303
"Amusingly, my wife met some drunk girls in a bathroom, helped them a little, and I got a promotion out of it!"
"I had won a sales contest for the company I worked for."
"All expenses paid cruise, they rented the whole boat."
"Norwegian cruise lines. 4000 sales people globally, 100s of us won."
"She was in the bathroom, and two women were just drunk on the pre-party for the cruise ship. She helped them out, they liked her."
"It turned out that their husbands both worked for the SW region manager of the USA, and as such things go, they introduced me to their husbands, who introduced me to the regional manager, who hired my sorry butt and had the company pay for my green card."
"So the drunk camaraderie in the bathroom was the key element to the whole thing. Thank you drunk women in bathrooms! It changed my life."- likes2gofast
"Drunk girls in a bar are amazing."
"I had a group stop me to hug me so they could smell like me."- Dudeidk247
So Stiff
"Morning wood so stiff you feel like you could use it to rip open the hatch on a submarine."- macrotron
"Fall asleep in a bed."
"Wake up in a tent."- sabrefayne
Late Night Games
"When you're in a bar and they put the leftover ice cubes in the urinal, and you make a game of how many of them you can melt before you run out of pee."- Beginning-Bed9364
excited the sims GIFGiphySmall And Safe
"Feeling small in someone else's arms."
"My husband is bigger than me and I've now become dependent on his body for sleep."
"Curling into his warm enveloping embrace is a pleasure I want everyone to know at least once."
"Hugs and cuddles."
"The safety and comfort are immeasurable."- katz332
Let It Down
"Not completely unique to women, but taking out a tight pony tail or bun after it being up all day."
"I’ve had short hair my entire life."
"When covid hit and I couldn’t get a haircut, I decided I was just going to grow it out because why not."
"Ended up growing it out for about a year and a half, to the point where I was tying it up to keep it out of my face."
"Letting that down at the end of the day was pretty incredible."- BimmerJustin
"When my daughter was little, at the end of the day she’d rip hers out and come to me and say 'shake it'."
" She’d want me to shake my hands through her hair and let me tell you the ultimate relaxation and bliss on her little baby face was something I cherished and still remember years later!"- lulu-bell
"Taking boxers off after long day and workout."
"The same could be said for women and bras/panties tho."- Graybo95
Smothered
"When you don't have to smother you vagina with pads after a full week of being uncomfortable."- island-breeze
"Just had a baby. "
"5 weeks of wearing a pad everyday."
"The first day without having to wear anything was life changing."- ProfessionalCoyote54
breathe mandy moore GIF by NRDCGiphyUp Close And Personal
"When we are wearing jeans and the sewed hem between the legs rides right up my tw*t through out the day."- Asparklingtreasure
Are They Really Missing Out
"C*CK AND BALLS TORTURE."- M0RYYY
To All Be Equal
"To be f*cking sexless for once."
"Aka to be neither masculine or feminine."
"Aka: objective, It's like trying to overpower a Machine gun or trying to manipulate a nuke/ make em love you."- Content_Watch_2392
The Itch We Almost Hope For...
"That awesome feeling of scratching my sack when it has one of those intense itches."- MasturMechanic
Sloth Scratching GIFGiphyBut Did Everyone Know They Were Missed?
"Orgasms."- johnwayne344
"Multiple orgasms."- Dr_JoJo_·
Potty Tricks...
"Cutting a turd in half with your piss."- OGproztate
Sometimes We Literally Can't Hide Our Excitment...
"Being able to hide how insanely sexually attracted I am to someone."
"No boners here!"- FriendlyGanache5519
james corden will my boner ever go away GIF by The Late Late Show with James CordenGiphyYou've gotten to experience a little bit of joy with Reddit, but now it's your turn to get in on the fun.
What's a simple pleasure you just don't see other genders getting to experience?
The contemporary moment is out of whack. Never has everything felt so utterly chaotic across the board, and people are hankering for some quiet calm.
Chaos breeds more chaos. There is a common, knee-jerk response when things feel too speedy, like every thread flies in countless directions that overlap and intersect without any pattern. We get worked up. We join the rush, adding one more tangent to all the others.
But even amidst those frantic conditions, there are stolen moments when slowness prevails.
These small pleasures are quick and fly past if one isn't looking. Lucky for us, there are more than a few Redditors with their eyes and ears open.
They described their favorite simple pleasures in a recent thread on the site. Perhaps their examples will help us be a bit more mindful about our own delights throughout the day, and we'll have a glimpse of calm in all of this.
Ididntfollowthetrain asked,
"What is your favourite simple pleasure in life?"
The Vow of CleanlinessÂ
"Getting in bed with clean sheets after taking a shower." -- MartyVanB
"I always wash my sheets before I go on the road/vacation. That first night home in bed from travel, nothing like it." -- macmooie
"This. And also clean the house. Kids if you're sitting in the car waiting for mom and dad before a road trip... they are inside cleaning." -- WiseReflection5
Comfortably InsulatedÂ
"Sitting on the patio during a rainstorm. Even the moments before the storm comes, you can smell the petrichor and everything calms down. Monsoon season can bring some crazy thunder, it's always been a very relaxing experience." -- titofetyukov
"I lived in Iowa for a long time, (for non-midwesterners, it's windy, cloudy, thunderstorm and tornado-prone all spring, especially March and April) and whenever there was a big thunderstorm or wall cloud (cloud that means a possible tornado, maybe, probably not) we would set up lawn chairs in the garage and watch it roll in."
'If it rained hard enough we would go out and play in it. It's an amazing mix of thrilling and calming." -- FluffyClowd
Drawn to the FamiliarÂ
"Re-reading a favorite book. I find most well-written books are even better if you already know the ending." -- survivalothefittest
"I have never in my life re-read a book - I always imagine it won't be as good as the first time. But then again I really don't remember much, so I guess my logic is flawed. Must try it some day." -- BasketOfWhatever
"G2g, I have to re-read the Harry Potter series for the 80th time." -- calebpro8
Growing Longer
"Stretching: simply hanging from an overhead bar, you can target and stretch every muscle in your back, when you hit those knots, the feeling is orgasmic." -- macmooie
"A good stretch. Just standing up on my toes, arms out... ahh. I legit feel better just thinking about it." -- ZoomJet
"As soon as I read this I had to get up and stretch." -- Red_Banded
Warm Things
"In January, my wife ran a towel in the dryer for a few minutes and had it ready for me when I was done showering." -- jeff_the_nurse
"Heated towel racks!" -- rocknroyce
"A heated pillow under my feet." -- Croesus90
Best Meal of the Day
"First sip of coffee in the morning and smoking the first cigarette in silence." -- PsychologicalPrice98
"^ This! Except I do it with an energy drink, on my balcony in just my boxers. But yes, having that first jolt of caffeine with a smoke or two is an amazing feeling." -- BigBearSD
Crispy Stuff
"Going out of my way to step on a particularly crunchy looking leaf and getting a super nice crunch out of it." -- HSingh95
"The cold side of the pillow" -- Badger_Wadger_420
"A crisp high-five." -- WatchTheBoom
"Taking deep breaths of cold air." -- Kazutothompson
Quite, Nurturing, and Dusty
"Going to a library and just spending an hour in the stacks. Picking out a pile of books and being able to try new things without incurring any cost. Being able to sit and read without anyone hassling me to buy anything."
"Libraries are my happy place."
-- Portarossa
Surveying the Kingdom
"Mow the lawn and work in the yard all day on a Saturday. After about five hours you get done. Go inside. Take a long a** cold shower. Get out. Put on some shorts and a t-shirt. Grab a beer and a cigarette and walk around the yard inspecting the work I did."
"I no longer cut my own yard or smoke cigarettes but man that was an awesome feeling."
-- MartyVanB
Exciting Conditions, Once a Month
"Clear night sky, full moon. I open all my drapes and turn off all electric devices flooding my room with only moon light. Once your eyes acclimate, you'll experience your space is way you've never seen before."
-- macmooie
Ahhhhhhh
"Drinking cold water after being out under the sun." -- sharpie_head
"When your esophagus is dry, and you can feel the water moistening it after the first sip." -- densetsu23
"That feeling when you're hot and thirsty and you can feel the cold water going all the way down to your stomach. It's wonderful." -- Troutmandoo
Simple Connection
"I just love spending time with the people that love and appreciate me."
"Spending time with people that only criticize or take me for granted make me realize the people who care, really actually care."
-- Icehawksfh
Paradigm Shift
"Finding a new song you love for the first time."
" 'What's this? Oh my god, I have to listen to this constantly and share with everyone I know. How did I not know about it's existence until now?!?' "
Warm Splats
"Peeing off a cliff so high you don't hear your pee hit the ground." -- Imabearrr3
"Please check if it is a rock climbing area first!! No golden showers preferred while rock climbing, please and thank you." -- sadmangosteen
"Do not try as woman." -- IIRedZeroII
High Up Things
"Looking up. Clouds & trees mostly. Stars, too. Some birds." -- Ghitit
"Those damn birds." -- JadedEdge7
A Wonderful Start
"My ex would wake up first for work, make herself breakfast, and head out he door. I'd wake up an hour later and there would always be an extra plate of breakfast (eggs, sausage, potatoes) waiting for me in the microwave."
-- dj_lambylamb
The Great Purge
Taking a sh**, now hear me out, imagine you've been at work, your all tense, customers sucked dick like always, you come home sit down for a minute then walk into your bathroom pull down your pants plop onto the toilet then just let all your trouble out, blasting the toilet with all your built up hideous emotion."