Grow food.
Even if it's just for one growing season, everyone should grow all the food they eat. Or as much of it as they can.
Why?
Because it's REALLY FREAKING HARD AND PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
Knowing how much work it takes to get one stupid little plate of salad might seriously change the way people relate to food, the land, water rights... just about everything changes when you understand the effort and balance it takes just for survival.
Reddit User bartertownbeer11 asked
"What should everyone learn how to do?"
You have my thoughts, let's see what Reddit says.
Swimming
Cat Swimming GIF by ViralHog
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"Swim There’s no downside to knowing and it could save your life"
- polp54
"You don't need to be an expert swimmer, but everyone should be able to swim at least a little. A terrible number of people (of all ages) drown every year despite being a very short swim to safety."
- brufleth
"My dad who could not swim made sure us kids knew how to swim. I made sure my kids could too."
- PrisonerV
"May I add: if you do not know how to swim, take a very deep breath and relax completely. Spread your arms and legs and just let your body relax completely. Once you found out that the human body actually floats start breathing slowly. No one I know knew that and everybody is amazed how my lazy butt just floats around without me doing anything. Found out through pure distilled laziness."
"It's no alternative to learning how to swim! Learn how to swim! There are very few humans who are not able to float, due to body density. Most humans, however can learn it. Try it, it might come in handy one day."
- HKD49
You Need To Eat
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"Cook. Even if you hate cooking you love to eat, cooking is an essential life skill. If it’s only one dish you know how to make, that’s still a meal you can prepare yourself."
- Sayurimai
"I totally agree. I know so many people who have no clue how to cook anything despite being perfectly capable of it. People are so scared of it when it's simply following directions"
- Welcome2_TheInternet
"As everything in life, practice makes perfect."
"Most people I know who can’t cook, have never really tried"
- West_Corgi8126
"Even if you hate eating, you still have to eat. Cooking means you can take care of yourself."
- notreallylucy
One Important Word
"How to say No without any hesitation"
- KalkiHill
"I agree, it’s completely okay to say no but some people feel that pressure to say yes"
- SlipnSlide78
"I have such a hard time with this when my only reason is "I don't feel like it." I can't accept that as a legitimate reason to say no so I just do whatever it is."
- asafum
"Go read Miss Manners. No is not only OK, it is polite. You don't need to provide a reason. Internalize that anyone demanding a reason is the rude one, not you."
- Grave_Girl
"I'm not joking when I say that, if you can, practice."
"Small things, big things, f**k it have a mate roleplay any scenario with you and you tell them no."
"I've gotten better at it since I told my mum I struggle to say no and she actually had me practice there and then with her."
- TheftMDom
"it’s okay to say no, because it’s very important to say no. if someone asks you why, they’re not worth it because if you say no they don’t need a reason why."
- SlipnSlide78
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
"CPR."
"I dragged my best friend with me when I had to get CPR certification because I wanted to be able to partner up with someone else that I knew. She was reluctant but eventually caved and did it."
"Her learning CPR saved my life. You learning CPR could save someone else's life. Go learn it."
- Jennyferr0412
"I worked at a homeless camp and someone overdosed on heroin. The 911 operator explained to my co-worker who explained to me how to do CPR while another resident of the homeless shelter administered narcan."
"We were extremely lucky that we got through to the 911 operator very quickly, and that he was able to communicate so quickly and effectively how to perform CPR. That 911 operator saved that woman's life, had he not come on the phone so quickly, she would have died. Learn CPR, you absolutely have to learn CPR because you can save someone's life with it."
"We got lucky is what I'm saying. Don't depend on luck, learn CPR. Right now."
- AntelopeElectronic12
"I learned CPR at work and a week later saved my mom's life when she was choking on food. Best 30 minutes at work I've ever spent!"
- No_Relationship1850
"The high school I go to makes us do a CPR lesson every time we get our athletic physical. If you’re getting the physical on campus and not from your PCP, you have to practice CPR with a paramedic before you leave the building, I think it’s great."
- Beautiful_Squash8854
Spot The Scammer
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"Learn how to spot a scam, especially in emails and phone calls."
- ral365
"Definitely a skill worth learning. I've gotten pretty good. But recently my friend's elderly mother got one of those robocalls asking her to enter in her credit card number and she did it. It's a good skill to learn in this day and age."
- Roook36
"I recently ordered something from Home Depot online and now I'm getting fake emails saying I've won a power drill, BBQ, etc. They look like they are originating from Home Depot, but just looking at the actual email address it's sent from shows that it's a scam. One was an address from Perdue university."
"So if someone is trying to give you something for free, be suspicious. And just check the sending address at least."
- could_use_a_snack
"I got a scam email from “Paypal” from a scammer on Facebook Marketplace trying to get an expensive item without paying. They said that Paypal would give me the money after I shipped the item to them and inputed the “shipping verification”. They even sent a fake Paypal email saying the money was pending. The email address was a @gmail instead of @paypal though, so good thing I didn’t fall for that."
- reap3rrrx
Sew
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"For something thats less obvious/most people learn how to do one way or another anyway, I'd say basic sewing."
"Maybe it was just from my experience working at a craft store but a lot of people don't seem know how to do the basic sh*t like, sewing on a button, applying a patch, stopping a frey before it completely unravels, or hemming pants/sleeves. People could keep their clothes much longer or avoid paying a tailor for basic services if they just watched a few youtube vids lol."
- Reddittoxin
"I decided to learn some basic tailoring because i was sick of every shirt being so big in the gut. Its surprisingly easy to just take in the side seam a bit and makes the shirts look so much better"
- deathgaze5
"Came here to post this. Learned it in Home Ec in high school and has helped me soooo many times."
- Ender914
Light Agriculture
"Grow food."
"Even if it's a tomato plant, some green beans in a pot, or some herbs, home grown food tastes better than store bought, and tending to a garden, no matter how small, reduces stress."
- cinch123
"My needy a$ dying plant stresses me the fuck out…"
- Flyingdutchm3n
"To be fair, house and container plants tend to be much more high maintenance than plants you put in the ground. Plants are meant to be in the ground and many food plants are fairly versatile/adaptive in their soil/water needs."
"Once it's in a container though, it's tough to figure out exactly how much water it needs, and there's a finite amount of soil that doesn't replenish itself with nutrients naturally so you have to do that for it (not a bad idea for a garden either, but more nessecary.) And house plants tend to be lower light needing plants which means they'reore likely to need unusual soil types. Drainage is also more important because everything is contained in that small (as compared to the ground) pot."
"The only plant care bonus for potted plants is that yoy can adjust the amount of light they're getting much more easily than plants that are stuck in the ground."
- Wonderful-Custard-47
Basic Maintenance
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"Change a tire and car battery."
- StoneAge00
"Adding on, learning how to check oil as well. It takes two seconds to learn and can literally save your car. A friend of my girlfriend asked me to check her car because 'the lights were blinking inside'. I pulled out the dipstick and a plume of smoke followed it. The car literally gave out that afternoon."
- greenwasp3000
"Agreed. My dad taught me to check oil, top up fluids, jump-start a battery, change a tire before I got my license. It’s come in handy many times"
- purplegoldcat
Let The Emotions Talk
"Develop emotional language and how to use it."
"Usually this is something taught by parents like 'use your words' or 'how did that make you feel'."
"Along with this the ability to ask for what you want."
"I know many adults that have had to work at undoing old hangups about relationships and how their parents raised them. And it's hard when you have to teach yourself."
- Darkwaxellence
"This is a mega important skill in life. It’s vastly underappreciated."
- Dont____Panic
"I am always recommending 'love languages' to people. The whole thing is a bit 'woo' but the concept of expressing love/affections/emotions in different ways is eye opening for a lot of people. The first time I learned about it a lot of my interpersonal relationships suddenly clicked. I'd missed so many opportunities to feel and express love in ways that others understood. Expensive gifts for some = showing how much they love and are willing to sacrifice for you. Keeping your shoes polished is an act of love (because really, who likes polishing shoes), etc."
- Wtrset
"Wow this is amazingly succinct and it's so right!"
- fali12
Survival Skills
"The basics of surviving in the wild in this order:"
"How do you get freshwater"
"How do you get a warm and safe place to sleep"
"How do you get food"
- Fakedduckjump
"3 hrs for shelter, three days for water....three weeks for food."
- anewleaf1234
"Ok, yes, the order of the first two really depends on where you are. You are right, if it's really cold and wet, a shelter and fire absolutely has first priority. If it's hot you don't have 3 days time to get water, especially because getting water takes much time sometimes, when you have to catch vapor from leaves or wet ground for example, you should start that at first and let it run while caring about the rest. I had the latter one in mind, because I once nearby had been died by thirst."
- Fakedduckjump
Alright y'all, apocalypse prep team is a go!
Let's learn some things and be ready.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.