Chances are you remember what a cringeworthy idiot you were in school, especially when you expressed interest in another classmate. Don't blame yourself: It's practically impossible to come off smoothly at that age; you become suave with both time and experience.
But your teachers remember what an embarrassing little mess you were, we're sorry to say, thanks to Redditor red_x21, who asked today's burning question: "Teachers of Reddit, what's the Romantic thing a student has done for someone they liked, that failed terribly?"
"I was teaching..."
GiphyI was teaching a class of second- and third-graders some years ago and one of my little boys sent a note to a little girl in his class with 'I love you' scrawled on it, covered with hearts and smiley faces.
Her response? 'You are stupid'.
I had to leave the room to cry my eyes out laughing in the corridor.
"During our first game..."
Used to coach a coed middle school basketball team.
One of the girls on the team was barely 4' tall but fast af. She was an awesome point guard but not much of a scorer. The kid who played center was this nerdy kid who was kind of a bully. We constantly had to put him in time out during practice. But every time he was put with on the girls team, he started to behave and try his best. We just kind of went with it. After awhile, he started to only pass the ball to her. If he got a rebound, pass it to her. Someone passed him the ball, pass it to her. He picks the ball up off the ground, pass it to her. It was all this kid did. We coaches just let it go, but this kid was obviously starting to crush on her.
During our first game with another school, we were losing pretty badly. We expected it but tried to make it at least fun for the kids. Center kid kept passing to point guard girl and the other team eventually picked up on it. At one point, 3 players are marking her and he tries forcing a pass. The other team goes on a fast break. This girl walks up to him and yells "Stop passing to me all the time. I don't like you." and the boy runs off the court crying. I had to have a fun conversation with an 11 year old boy with about not smothering girls if you like them.
"I'm a teacher..."
I'm a teacher, so officially I can answer this... But it was one of my classmates, ages ago.
He was super into a girl I knew and he acted like she was some unobtainable wonder. She was kinda to be fair, because all the usual stuff hadn't worked on her.
So he wrote and drew a comic book. 60 pages, in which she was the hero and he was there as a romantic interest.
He presented it to her. She was kinda polite about it, but couldn't handle all this attention. And the class, in which he had been seen a nice enough guy up until then, people categorised him more as a r/niceguys kind of person.
"Last I saw..."
Former 9th grade science teacher here:
The class bookworm finally got the guts to talk to the sweet, quiet girl that shared his class schedule. He approached her before classes started one day with a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a rose. He presented his gifts to her and asked if she'd like to sit next to him every period. She was immediately flattered and blushed. For the rest of the day, the two could be seen holding hands down the hall, sharing sweet gestures, and just smiling at each other in general. I had trouble keeping their attention on the lesson. Even as classes ended, that rose never left her hand. All-in-all, seemed cute... until the next day.
Just before classes started, a fight broke out in the hall. Turns out, bookworm and three other boys (including a senior) were getting into it because sweet, quiet girl told each of them separately that they were her boyfriend. Not sure what punishment, if any,was brought down on the four boys, but the principal thought it was ridiculous and tried to make the whole incident forgotten.
Last I saw, the girl would only be seen hanging with the senior boy after that.
"Not really..."
Not really a fail, but awkward. 13 year old boy wanted to give his gf a Christmas gift. He waited until the end of first block and just kind of threw it on the desk. (They shared a desk pairing) It was a necklace. Her friends had to help her put it on as he was already out of the room by the time she opened it.
"He gave..."
He gave a girl an entire set of the hunger games movies and she got really weirded out by him after that.
"Tried..."
Tried beating up some kids to win her affection, of course it didn't work out.
"Compiled..."
Compiled the conversations of their web chat and wrote a love letter in the form of a diary. He let his friends look through it before confessing to the girl and yeah. It didn't turn well for him when the girl became embarrassed and stormed out as everyone talked about it in the class.
"There was this one kid..."
GiphyThere was this one kid who was bullied quite a bit and she made a big card for her crush on valentines day (these are 4th graders so they still have the party and hand out valentines), crush gets deeply embarrassed and kid gets picked on even more.
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.
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.