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People Explain Which Things They Think They Do Right But Aren't 100% Sure

People Explain Which Things They Think They Do Right But Aren't 100% Sure
Alice Dietrich on Unsplash

What is normal anyway?

We all have behaviors and quirks that some may look at with a furrowed brow, but they just don't get the genius.

And besides, all the other cool kids are doing it.

Aren't they?


RedditorShlegnogwanted to see who would fess up about some qualities we possess. So they asked:

"What’s something that you do that you’re pretty sure is normal, but you don’t know for sure?"

I talk to myself to go to sleep. It's soothing. Anyone else?

Pockets

Animated GIFGiphy

"Putting my hands on my pockets where I keep my phone/wallet when I closely pass by someone, just in case they may be a pickpocket."

TheYeti4815162342

Wiped

"That one dude yesterday and elsewhere on reddit posted that he only wiped once after pooping and was certain that he didn't need more than one wipe to get the job done. I definitely use multiple wipes until the tissue is clean... but now I'm questioning if there are secretly a bunch of (literal) nasty-a** people out there."

SmokeGSU

Keep Dreaming

"I daydream constantly. I'll sit there and be imagining I'm the hero of some story, or I just won a billion dollars and how I'm spending it. I just have an imagination I get lost in when nothing is happening. It's so easy to get lost when you have an extremely vivid imagination. Sometimes I think it's childish, but then I realize it's honestly just a relaxing habit that maybe some adults are too stressed to be able to practice."

__________lIllIl

Mind Reader

"If I'm out in public (grocery store, school pick up line, doc office, etc), I'll have a quick thought of 'I wonder if anyone is reading my mind right now. Quick! Don't think of anything weird!' and then I proceed to automatically start thinking of weird s**t or trying to tell this imaginary mind reader that I'm totally not a weird person or side-eyeing people that I see."

ArtsySAHM

Conversations

Talking Blah Blah Blah GIF by Wiz KhalifaGiphy

"Having imaginary conversations with people, that I know will never actually happen in real life."

Bulgasauri

Conversations with others who aren't there. That is a popular one.

LOUDER

Sea Lion Reaction GIF by CameoGiphy

"Whenever I haven't talked to a person for a couple of hours, I just say something out loud to test if my voice still exists."

Flux-bite

Popping In...

"Horrible intrusive thoughts. They pop in without warning, and without trigger. It's usually the standard 'what if I drove off the side of this bridge' or 'I bet it would hurt to stab myself with this thing' but they can even be worse: I was washing dishes yesterday."

"My wife was heading to our bedroom to pick something up. For some reason, I imagined her grabbing my gun and blowing her brains out. It really upset me. I had to pull her aside and give her a big hug, and I explained to her what happened, to where she reminded me 'I can't even load the f**king thing.' Do ya'll do s**t like this?"

GeauxAllDay

Guzzle

"The amount of water I can consume. I know they say you should drink when you are thirsty, but I can be thirsty a lot, especially during warm weather / summer days. I can easily drink 100oz (or about 3L) of water a day."

Jim105

"I drink so much water. I swear it's easily a gallon per day if I have water by me the whole day. It's funny too because everyone in my social circle hates water and almost never drink it and I just don't understand how that's even possible. Water is amazing!"

SimplyComplexd

Creeping in

"Against my will, my mind will imagine horrific scenarios wherein some tragic death scene of a loved one plays out. It used to be my doggies, but now that I'm a mom, I imagine *my* death, because that would be tragic to my kid (and maybe I just can't imagine my own kid's death, thankfully!). It's f**ked up and its gotten better generally, but when I'm stressed out, it'll creep back in."

epigenie_986

Name that Tune

Happy Dance GIF by benjamin lemoineGiphy

"If I have a song stuck in my head I often click my teeth to the drum beat. When my wife notices me doing it she asks me what the song is."

CornerMoon

Louder!

"When I have a cringe thought or something negative on my mind I'll make some noise out loud to interrupt said thought."

Favnonpornomag

"My therapist actually told me to do this. She said if I have a negative thought (about myself was the issue) she said actually saying no out loud interrupts the thought and keeps you from continuing it. I feel like it really works!!"

crashbanecoot

"I do this. I hate it. I’ve been caught occasionally and try to weave into a song, as if I just happened to be singing when they strolled by, like that is somehow better."

crescendo83

Add it up...

"When I add 7 + 4, I break up the 4 into 3+1. 7+3 is obviously 10, 10+1=11. There is probably several other examples of math problems I break up in my head to make solving easier."

nivekps2

"This, believe it or not, is actually how common core math is supposed to be taught. Not the whole 'Put these numbers into boxes and break those boxed number up etc...'"

belac4862

"Actually I worked as a math tutor and that is exactly how we taught them that method lmao. like ofc they should break the numbers up into boxes, that’s how you learn to see 7+4 as (7+3)+1"

redbottleofpoison

Taps

"Slap my thighs as if they are percussion instruments when I’m bored."

XX_OVERLORD

"I do this with everything. I even change the shape of my hands to make different sounds, so I'll tap my fingers like drumsticks, flat hand for a similar style to you. I'm basically a one man band at this point."

KaleidoscopeInside

"If my keys are not in my pocket, I will sadly slap my empty pocket all day because I’m used to my hi-hat being there lol."

labamaFan

Tongue It

chips GIFGiphy

"Look at each side of a potato chip/Dorito to determine what side I want to put against my tongue."

Konebred

Where is It?

"Whenever I leave a spot I've been sitting in outside, I make sure to look back and check if I've dropped anything."

consciously_comad

"I look back at the spot where I was sitting, but only to see if I left a butt print. (Not outside though! Inside, like in a waiting room)."

Appropriate_Day_8721

"Always. Picked up the habit after I lost my PE kit 19 times in one term of secondary school. One time the lost and found lady returned my PE kit to me before I’d noticed it was gone."

carmina_morte_carent

Scene to Scene

"Create scenarios in my head of how conversations would go, even though they’re likely to NEVER happen."

ManufacturerLess7116

"I seem to pratice potential conversations all the time. Or re-act a scene from a movie in my head. Or Redo a conversation I had earlier with somebody. By the third or fourth time replaying the conversation I sound so much smarter and quick wit. You know what, I going to pretend that’s how that conversation really went with my coworker."

CH11DW

“wetting”

"I wet my toothbrush, put on the toothpaste and then wet it again. Always wondered if this was normal but never asked."

tehkitryan

"I used to do this until very recently. I was wondering one day if the second wetting makes any noticeable difference. After a bit of testing, no wetting is very noticeable and not recommended, but I didn’t notice any difference between one or two wettings. I now absolutely despise the word 'wetting' as of typing this comment, but I only wet my toothbrush once."

LucidLumi

Clear!

Rubbing Season 3 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy

"Clearing a notification off my phone as soon as I get it, deleting most of my texts after a few days, and then swiping up on any open pages/apps at the end of the day."

byah1601

Me and Myself

"I talk to myself all the time, will also speak gibberish and make random other sounds. I feel weird about it, but I'm convinced it's way more normal than not. I think maybe I just somewhat subconsciously hate when things are too quiet."

leotonius

"My wife and I do this so definitely not you. Do you also ever feel compelled to mimic a sound after you hear it? It doesn't matter what it is, speech or some random sound, I find myself almost forced to do it especially if it's a unique or standout sound. Most of the time I don't even register the compulsion, I just hear the sound and mimic."

BookooBreadCo

We're all gifted. Feel no shame people. That is all.

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Historical Events So Ridiculous They Sound Made Up

A Redditor asked: 'What’s an event in history that is so ridiculous it sounds fake?'

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

Keep reading...Show less
person holding photo of three girls near chainlink fence
Anita Jankovic on Unsplash

Life is all about learning new things, including learning new things about the people in your life. Sometimes, the things you learn are shocking, disgusting, or even scary.

I was the new kid in town when I was in fifth grade and my first friend was this quiet (and cute) boy in my class. He and I remained friends through middle school, and even though we drifted apart in high school, our interactions when we ran into each other in the halls or the cafeteria were really nice.

All throughout school and even beyond, he remained quiet, polite, and reserved. Just a few years ago, I read a news article written about him. He had apparently fatally wounded his father after an argument.

I had to reread the article several times to make sure it was really about my old friend. I think about it a lot, and still can't believe it!

I'm not the only one that has a shocking story like that. A lot of Redditors learned shocking or scary things about people from their childhood, and are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor ValuableHovercraft90 asked:

"What's the scariest thing you have found out about someone from your childhood (old friends, teachers, etc)?"

So Creepy

"That the boy who lived across the street and moved when I was 6 is still obsessed with me and my sister 30+ years later and posts ramblings on Facebook with our names and that he's going to be with us. Pretty terrifying honestly."

– mrscrawfish

The Worst List

"A neighbour died when he was 30. Police searched a trailer he owned and found weapons, bombs and a list of people he wanted to kill. My uncle was on that list."

– Flashy_Somewhere_648

"I'm glad this ended the way it did."

– CreepyCandidate4449

Terrifying

"One of my best friends (and locker partner) from high school was kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq. After a nightmare of 6+ months, all went silent. We buried an empty casket in his memory 10 years later."

– francois_du_nord

"This is horrifying. How incredibly sad for family to never get any closure. Very sad to read this. :("

– fizzycherryseltzer

"About 15 years ago my dad received a very good offer for work in Iraq, as a construction specialist. He was considering going, since at the same time the financial crisis started in Europe, but then one of his friends, a civil engineer, was kidnapped. Never returned back either."

– 19lgkrn70

"Same thing for my dad old coworker told him how great the money was. Dude got sniped working on a radio tower or something. My dad luckily was like, "I got a wife and family that would kill me for doing something so dangerous.""

– tristanjones

End Of The Friendship

"One of my dad's good friends, and my "uncle", just stopped coming around one day. I was told he was always busy with work, away, etc."

"Turns out, he killed 3 people in a drug deal gone bad and got life in prison."

"What's scary, is that we were over at his house for a weekend BBQ with a bunch of people earlier in the day of the night he did it, and it happened at his house."

– pnwking509

School Friends

"Don't know if it was scary, but I grew up with a kid whose birthday was the day before mine so we almost always shared birthdays in elementary school. We were friends, even spent the night at his house growing up. Later on in our teens, he started getting into some really dark stuff. I recognize that now as his being a sociopath, but like most everybody else at the time, figured it was just him going through some kind of emo phase. Over the years, we lost touch but I would occasionally run into him around town and our meetings were cordial, if not friendly."

"Last year, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing a man back in 1993, roughly 3 years after we got out of High School. Apparently he, his sister and another man lured this guy out to the boonies and killed him to steal money he had gotten in an insurance settlement."

"The only reason they were caught is the other guy got religion, felt remorse and went on the local TV station and aired a confession before turning himself in (He got 25 to life)."

– 530_Oldschoolgeek

"A girl I went to school with did the same thing. She was the nicest girl, got good grades & was kind of a dork. Mixed with the wrong people after graduation. She and two others lured an old man into an abandoned building, stabbed him and robbed him. He later died from his wounds."

– HereF0rTheSnacks

The Worst Afternoon

"I had a friend in grade school who was being raised by her single dad. She had a unique name and pretty face. She never talked about her mom, and she was super outgoing, so all us kids just made friends with her quickly. It was weird her dad never brought her to our birthday parties, even though she was always invited, but we didn’t think much of it. A couple times, she was allowed to ride the bus home with me after school, and we played and had fun until her dad came to pick her up. Later in the school year, she invited me to ride the bus to her house, and my mom agreed. I was 10. It was the scariest afternoon of my young life. I cannot articulate the extreme tension in her home. We weren’t allowed to make any noise, and we mostly stayed outside, me desperate for my mom to arrive."

"Her dad screamed at us for opening the door, and I was too nervous to go into the house to use the restroom. I knew she was embarrassed that there were no snacks or comforting interactions, like at my house. I didn’t really tell anyone how uncomfortable the experience was. After that day, I didn’t hang out with her a lot. We were in different classes, drifted apart, and decades later, when my own daughter asked to go to a friend’s house, I thought about that girl."

"As an adult, I figured out her dad probably worked a night shift and tried to sleep during the day…or he was an alcoholic who was really angry. Maybe both? I looked her up on social media, and thanks to her unique name and face, I recognized her immediately. She’s a perfectly well-adjusted woman with a beautiful family. She even had pictures of her kids with her dad and tributes to him as the greatest father and grandpa. Her whole page made me wonder what the hell I experienced that afternoon in the 4th grade?"

– OlderAndTired

School Is Supposed To Be Safe!

"In our school, we had something called "de halte." In English, it means "the halt" literally translated. Basically time out. BIf you had a meltdown in class or you were just a little sh*thead, you were sent there for 15 minutes or so to cool off.

The de hatle teacher got fired and jailed for breaking 4 different wrists of 4 different students by bending them the wrong way..."

– Ok_Win7358

*Skin Crawling*

​"There was this classmate a grade below me but all grades shared the same drama class. She was weird and kind of "off." I tried to befriend her at one point and was rebuffed. It later came out that she was actually an almost 30-year-old woman who would show up in a new area claiming to be a 15-year-old runaway. Kind of freaked me out."

jackfaire

It turns out it was a good thing that the friendship didn't work out!