Women Share The Most Obnoxious Things The Men In Their Life Do Regularly
| Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay |
Men... can't live with them... end of sentence.
There's something really infuriating about men, as much as we may love and appreciate them. Why don't they listen? Why is it so hard for some of them to understand when "no" means "no"? And why is it so difficult for some of them to wrap their heads around the idea that a woman's lived-in experience is entirely different from their own?
After Redditor KristianBerg asked the online community, "Females of Reddit, what's the most annoying/obnoxious thing that males in your life do regularly?" women told us about their experiences.
"I've been driving..."
Unsolicited advice about driving and parking. I've been driving a manual car for 6 years now, I'll ask for help if I need it.
"Trash women..."
Trash women and in the same breath complain about how women don't like them.
"Suggest..."
Suggest I should have my husband handle it when discussing any home repair or maintenance.
"I'm sorry..."
Write off period cramps as nothing serious. I'm sorry do you puke because you're in so much pain on a monthly basis?
"Thinking I need..."
Thinking I need to have a boyfriend and making it a big deal when I say I prefer being single.
I enjoyed the time being single, ngl. I wasn't against a bf neither, but I was fed up with idiots, so being my own boss was perfect.
My mom: "your standards are too high, you won't ever find a bf like that!"
I mean, WTF?? I wasn't exactly looking for one and I definitely wouldn't settle with just anybody for the sake of what? Not being alone?
"I was raised..."
Reprimand me for not being feminine enough... I was raised with only brothers so I think I kinda walk, talk, sit, and behave like them. Especially when I just try to relax. But apparently, that's scandalous and not ladylike. Please kindly f*** off.
Ugh. How feminine I am changes on a day to day basis by a LOT and I've been criticized for being not feminine enough or being too feminine by the SAME F**KING PEOPLE. Please, Trevor, tell me what the correct amount of femininity is, so that I can avoid it because I never want to give you the satisfaction.
"My dad and my friends..."
Cut me off. Be it involuntarily or not. My dad and my friends both do it and when they see that I'm annoyed they wait for me to take it back to the start, but... don't interrupt in the first place.
"Hard to fix"
This is so common and hard to fix (though always can be improved on, no excuse for not trying to be better)
I think part of the problem (at least in American males) is that in a lot of mostly male friend groups it basically becomes ingrained as "if I don't interrupt, I don't get to talk", and that just becomes how you communicate. Wait for others to finish, the topic is passed up, no one gives others room to speak, etc (especially for introverts). When I've been in predominantly female friend groups / hang outs, it doesn't seem to be a problem so much.
So males don't even think about it because it's been trained essentially. Still a big problem that people should work on, and if we were less "gender isolated" growing up it would probably be a lot better.
"I really do sympathise..."
Dismissing our problems is something that annoys me and I see it all the time on Reddit.
This is gonna be a bit spicy but I see this on the tinder subreddit. If you're a woman, you can't complain at all about the amount of creepy and sexist dudes on dating apps. If you do, you'll get dozens of men saying they get ignored on tinder so you should be grateful to even be messaged.
I really do sympathize with men who don't get any messages and who are lonely. It absolutely sucks but I wish in turn men would be sympathetic to women's struggles. The worry about being assaulted or stalked isn't just us being paranoid. I don't think I have one friend who hasn't had a scary dating experience.
"When you smile"
Not recently but when I bartended—telling me to smile or "you're prettier when you smile". I would hear that one ten times a night.
"Act like what they have to say..."
Act like what they have to say automatically has more value than what I have to say/they have more right to speak.
Don't interrupt me. Don't talk over me. If we start talking at the same time you shouldn't automatically get to be the one who talks first. Don't interrupt halfway through my damn sentence to tell me I'm wrong, I haven't even finished my sentence you don't know where it's going! Don't talk for twenty damn minutes straight lecture-style without allowing me to contribute to the conversation when there's only 2 of us. If you notice other men doing this, HELP because they obviously aren't valuing my voice but if you help give it value by asking me what I said or listening to me they might too(and if not at least I feel heard). If you're in a group with 4 women and 2 dudes, the conversation should NOT be predominantly male voices.
"Repeat"
Repeat what I've said back to me but as if they just thought of it.
What I actually find more annoying is when someone takes what's essentially my idea, and says it again as if they came up with it.
I play videogames, this happens to me A LOT. "what if we go over there and then we can surprise the boss"
"NO, why dont we go over there so we can surprise the boss"
cue to everyone nodding in agreement
"Assume"
Assume that you don't know anything.
I went into a fishing/hunting store to replace my favorite ultralight after a friend slammed the tip in my tailgate.
I told the salesman I wanted to replace my favorite ultralight. I said I wanted a 6' fast action rod, and he told me I didn't want an ultralight (they require more finesse, and it can be tough to land big fish, but I can play a fish with the best of them).
I told him thanks I didn't need help and bought a St. Croix premier, which I love only slightly less than my dog and favorite shotgun.
There was also the time I swung into a Harbor Freight that had just opened. A salesman asked if I needed help and I said I was looking for emery cloth but couldn't find it. He looked too but eventually concluded they didn't carry it. Then he started explaining to me what emery cloth is. Why the hell would I be trying to buy it if I didn't know what it was!?
"Taken the time"
I'm 22 and my dad has always taken the time to show my younger brother (16 years old) how to do such and such (things involving handiwork in general, how to fix things) but when it came to me he's always assumed I wouldn't be able to do it properly and preferred to do it himself. When I was a teen I didn't really mind because I didn't realize how much these skills would come in handy later on in life.
Now that I'm in college and living by myself, I sometimes wish I could be able to do things such as unblock the U-bend in the sink or restart the battery in my car, etc... without having to look it up on the internet or call my dad for advice beforehand. My brother is younger and still living at home but he knows how to do all these things because someone was there to show him.
My advice to dads out there: don't dismiss your daughter when she asks if you can show her how to change a tire or whatever. Girls are very much able to do these things if you can just spare the time to teach them!
I can so relate. For many years I was the only girl born on my dad's (who has all brothers) side of the family. When I was a teenager/in college my dad was complaining how none of my cousins ever wanted to learn certain things from him because they were dirty, like plumbing and stuff like that, as he was a part-time plumber. I asked him why he never once offered or tried to teach me any of that stuff. He seemed completely perplexed by the suggestion. It literally never occurred to him that I might want to learn those skills.
"Ignores my mom's concerns"
My dad constantly ignores my mom's concerns about like literally anything until it's too late. Especially the car. Oh god with the car it's the worst. Despite her being right about the car time and time again he continues this and claims she isn't right about the car that often.
The tires are starting to deflate! "No, they're fine." (Tires proceed to be practically flat a week later)
We need new windshield wipers. "No we don't." (Windshield wipers proceed to have bits dangling off of them a week later)
The oil light is on. (He proceeds to ignore this until mom has to just get the oil changed herself)
There's also the fact that he constantly says things he KNOWS are gonna irritate me, laughs about it when I get upset at him, and then is surprised that I don't want to be around him.
"These wonderful creatures"
Take over conversations about female issues, especially on Reddit. It can get pretty ridiculous. I once saw a post where a woman asked other women if receiving an injection on the cervix hurt and a man left a comment saying nope, you won't even notice. When asked how he knew (the OP checked his profile and saw it was a man), he said he had a wife and daughters and had become very empathetic after being surrounded by "these wonderful creatures" so long, as if you could experience someone else's pain through osmosis.
Actually, add that to the list. I don't want to be called a wonderful creature. I'm just a regular person.
"I have to be excellent"
I work in a lab testing construction materials and site conditions and it is infuriating when the field guys won't listen to me or think I don't know what I'm talking about. It doesn't help that I'm young and look a lot younger than I am. I usually have to resort to an info dump and prove a level of competence that is way beyond what is necessary for my job. I'm lucky that I can do that in this field. I feel like I can never just be good at my job. I have to be excellent or I'm invalidated forever.
The other thing is how so many people automatically think woman are being dramatic about pain. My girlfriend has several physical issues that cause extreme pain from time to time. If she actually lets it interfere with her daily life it would be debilitating in most people. Many a guy has brushed her off as exaggerating.
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People Explain Which Things They Thought Were Fancy As A Kid That Totally Weren't
Reddit user SinkingFeelingBruh asked: 'What did you think was fancy as a kid that isn’t?'
Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash
Have you ever gone back to your elementary school as an adult and been amazed that everything looked smaller than you remembered?
It's a great example of how our perception of the world around us is shaped by our own experiences and where we are in life.
As a child everything seems big because we're small.
Our childhood perceptions of other things were also skewed. Things that seemed grand luxuries became ordinary or mundane as we aged.
Reddit user SinkingFeelingBruh asked:
"What did you think was fancy as a kid that isn’t?"
Mc's Steakhouse
"Getting to eat McDonald's all the time..."
~ 02red
"This was my first thought, and it was also the first comment I came across opening the thread."
"You are so right..McDonald's used to be so exciting. I don't even eat it anymore."
~ kasparzellar
GiphyWith or Without Crusts
"Cutting sandwiches diagonally."
~ 787la57la47al
"As a college student, I love dressing up my husbands plate when he eats mediocre meals. If he wants a sandwich, I will dress it up like it’s fine dining."
"I made us air fries nuggets and had the ketchup dots and swirls garnishing the plate lol. It makes things more fun."
~ ireallyamtired
Cocktails for Children
"Shirley Temple/Roy Rogers drinks."
"I remember when my parents would take us to a 'fancy' restaurant and we would be able to order these."
"I felt so adult! With the skinny straw and the maraschino cherry..."
~ Iron_Chic
"Okay but low key though… I still love myself a Shirley temple."
"Like if someone were to offer me one I definitely wouldn’t turn it down."
~ faithle97
GiphyWelcome to the Club
"As a kid I thought going to a restaurant and having a club sandwich was the height of sophistication. Probably because I learned about club sandwiches from a family friend who introduced me to them."
"I used to think the little toothpicks with the plastic frills that held the sandwiches together were sooooo fancy. I always brought my toothpicks home with me to play with."
~ Bebe_Bleau
Processed Foods
"My friends whose kitchens were filled with junk food like Captain Crunch, Twinkies and Ding Dongs, hot dogs and American cheese."
"I thought they were so fancy and I was so jealous."
"My mom cooked from scratch every day, and we thought we were so neglected because she wouldn't buy that sh*t for us to eat."
"We were so lucky. Thanks, Mom."
~ riceme0112358
GiphyOoh la la!
"Viennetta ice cream cake was the peak of fancy for me."
~ KaleidoscopeVast9290
"I came here to say this! They marketed it really well to 7-14 year olds."
~ Holiday-Armadillo-34
The BIG Box
"Back in my day, kids who had Crayola 120 colored pencils were considered the elites of society."
~ Prism_Red
"Or the Crayola Crayons with the sharpener on the back."
~ Spoozle64
GiphyA World Tour in a Mug
"A cup of General Foods International Coffee to cap off your five star evening. Might I recommend the Suisse Mocha?"
~ Smooth_Riker
"That was upper class shiz that I begged my parents to buy for company."
"Turns out, Folgers out of the red can was all encompassing; for home and company. Sigh."
~ burgerg10
"My 10 year old self would walk around my room sipping a cuppa and pretending I was grown in my own apartment."
~ odd_kumquat
It's the Foil Wrapper
"Ferrero Rocher chocolate."
~ SirRobynHode
"Richard Gere did the commercials in a tux. I thought these must be the most fancy and expensive chocolates imaginable."
~ Either-Durian-5517
"Dude I'm 22 and they're still fancy to me."
~ rubbersoulelena
GiphyUnder Glass
"Desserts in the display cases (eclairs, bon bons, petifores, etc...)."
~ Med_Vamp
"This jogged my memory of those iced cookies they’d have on display at Giant (American grocery store)."
~ nicheencyclopedia
Pardon Me, Do You Have Any?
"For some reason, as a kid I thought Grey Poupon was some fancy delicacy by the French. I imagined some fancy guy with a gray wig slathering it on a baguette."
"Like only the rich had access to it."
"It’s just mustard. WTF. Still haven’t had it."
~ JackfruitCurry
"When I got married, my dad insisted upon renting a Rolls Royce to take hubs and me from the church to the reception."
"I jokingly asked the driver 'pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?' in my snootiest faux-British accent. He popped open the glove box and there it was!!!!"
~ RefugeefromSAforums
GiphyBeep, Beep
"Old cars from fancy brands."
"Kids are always like 'whoa he drives a BMW' without realizing it's not impressive to drive a 1999 BMW in 2023."
~ slightofhand1
Get Some Quarters for the Bed
"Hotels were the fanciest as a kid, weren't they?"
~ Non-opisthokont
"I thought a motel or an inn was fancier than a hotel."
~ tobiiam
"Omg, yes! Lol, the vibrating beds were so fancy & fun! I’d always beg my parents to get me one."
~ Sad-Comfortable1566
Jumping Michael Chiesa GIF by UFCGiphyBut There's Cheddar in the Biscuits
"Red lobster."
~ MonsoonMermaid
"A guy I worked with (in the 90’s) said he treated his women right."
"When he went out to eat, he took them to places like Red Lobster. What a baller!"
~ eastcoastme
"Oof, I took my junior prom date to Red Lobster back in ‘00. Sorry, Michelle…wherever you are."
~ kyd712
The Beer Fridge
"I thought that having a second, older fridge in your garage meant your family was rich.
"Actually, hell, if you had a garage at all I thought you were rich."
~ CoolBugg
"Didn’t realize people used their garages for cars for YEARS. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it."
"It feels like such a waste of storage space to keep a car in there. Where else do people keep lol their tools, holiday decor, and sh*t they don’t want to throw out but also don’t want to use anymore?"
~ Ithinkillgrowthis
"When we bought our house it came with a fridge in the garage."
"I audibly gasped."
~ Aggravating-Dig-8987
GiphyMy Father was in the military, but didn't want to live on United States Navy bases, so we lived off base in a trailer.
Back then, trailers were much smaller and easily moved from place to place. So each time my Father was stationed at a new base, our trailer was packed up and moved to a new trailer park near the new base.
Because of this life of trailer parks, my idea of luxury living wasn't a mansion—it was a double-wide trailer.
What did you think was fancy as a kid?
CW: suicide.
When we're asked how the "lonely guy" in high school was, we can all think back and come up with an example.
Some peers may have referred to them as weird for keeping to themselves, but sometimes, it's surprising what they end up achieving after all those years of seeming isolation.
Curious about others' experiences, Redditor Sad-[c-word]-420 asked:
"What happened to the lonely guy in your high school class?"
Major Career Move
"Well, I just googled him, and he's a Georgetown law professor."
- BulletDodger
A Simple, Happy Life
"The person I always thought of as possibly lonely retained the same couple of friends for the past 13 years, and they still seem to enjoy getting together and doing the things they did back then. Video games, anime, etc."
- ptbus0
The Lost Friendship
"I lost touch. You can't be a one-way street to someone forever."
- NewPickleballer
Data Science Things
"He is sitting in a data science conference reading Reddit."
"I am sitting in a data science conference reading Reddit."
- zykezero
Tragic Therapy
"He didn’t like to be around people much, so he spent a lot of time riding his motorcycle alone, which he said he found therapeutic. He died at 20 in a motorcycle accident."
- Disastrous-Year571
Sometimes The Loneliness Sticks
"Still lonely, However, he worked his way up within a KFC franchise through high school and bought his first house early on even though he didn’t do well at school. Then he worked in the army for 10 years and bought properties number two and three. "
"Now he works as a director on a cruise liner and goes from country to country by himself."
"No partners or girlfriends ever, but he's financially well off."
- ethereumminor
Secret Model
"He became an actual model for high-class perfumes and brands and not one those Instagram or TikTok 'models.'"
- dkguy90
"I was in the suburbs of Buffalo. A super quiet, shy, plain girl everyone kind of ignored, was modeling on runways in Paris or doing high fashion photo shoots in NYC from about age 13. No one knew until Senior year when she had her portfolio with her because some journalist was going to interview her at school."
- NYCandleLady
Shoutout to the Late Bloomers
"I got a degree, got married, and started a career. Not much different from others, just started later."
- Ben_Thar
Success Stories
"He grew several inches after high school and went into tech. HE was very successful and now has a supermodel wife and a beautiful family."
"Another guy became a pediatric surgeon. He was married and had a daughter... Over the years his wife disappeared from his Facebook post and it was just him and his daughter. In a few years ago, he married a supermodel Eastern European nurse."
- wastingtoomuchthyme
Nothing Short of Tragic
"He joined the army and then literally went AWOL two years later. No one has seen or heard from him since. His mom posts his missing person flier up on my hometown's Facebook page every year on his birthday. It's really f**king sad."
- nails_for_breakfast
Funny in the End
"He became an entrepreneur of a really successful company."
"He employed the three jokers who used to bully the heck out of him. They still don't know who he is."
- AbsurdFormula0
"'Employed the three jokers.'"
"Is he Batman?"
- panzer22222
Hard Work Pays Off
"That was me. I always sat at my own table with the occasional foreign exchange student."
"I got out of school and worked really hard. I just turned 48 and I still haven't peaked. I have a large portfolio of real estate and do a lot of traveling."
"I wanted something more for myself but I didn't really have that confidence until after school. I now live an incredible life. There is hope for us losers who aren't afraid of a little work."
- kjschaben
Wishing Them Well
"He was the smartest person I ever met. He was very quiet, kept to himself, and did 110 percent on anything he was ever given to do. He always got the best scores."
"Me and my best friend were the second and third place, but it wasn’t worth chasing first place with him around. We always tried to be his friend, but he wasn’t interested in friends. He was always polite but didn’t seem to want friends. He always accepted me as a friend on social media though, and we were always friendly."
"I was 21 when he posted for the first time on Facebook. It was a suicide note. Thank God someone got to him in time. I messaged him after and let him know I understood and he could talk to me."
"He sent me a long message back, and I understood so much of what he was saying. The constant pressure to be perfect, the trap of trying to please your parents, the spiral downwards when you realize you aren’t a superhuman… I had no idea how much pressure his parents were putting on their kids."
"We talked for a bit, but he eventually stopped responding, and I moved to a different country."
"I hope he’s doing well now, he is an amazing guy. Love ya Scott, if you ever see this."
- lorealashblonde
A Thriving Life
"He ended up graduating top of the class, got a full-ride scholarship to Cornel, got his master's, makes seven figures a year, and is happily married with two kids."
"I was one of his few friends in high school and the dude is doing amazing in all aspects of his life."
- Superb-Pattern-1253
Doing Just Fine
"I don't really know what happened to anyone from high school, and I'm okay with that."
- FireyToots
"Found the fellow lonely person."
- Kiltemdead
"So it seems the lonely guy from your high school class is doing fine."
- CleaningMySlate
"I don’t know why, but this made me really proud of myself. Thank you random internet person for making this other random internet person feel good."
- FireyToots
Thinking back on high school, it's surreal to think about all the people we knew but have lost touch with, unable to really know what's going on in their lives anymore.
But some of us might hold a special place for the quiet kids and wondering how their lives turned out. Just because they were quiet in school doesn't have to mean that they didn't make huge change after graduation.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
People Divulge Traumatic Things That Happened As A Kid That They Didn't Realize Were So Serious
Being nostalgic for happy childhood memories is something we do from time to time as we get older.
The stresses that come from adulting make us yearn for how much simpler things were when we still possessed a sense of awe and fascination with the world that was slowly revealing itself to us before we refined our critical thinking skills.
While there are the warm and fuzzy memories of being with family during the holidays, a favorite toy, or a beloved pet, there are certain incidences from the past that are not-so-pleasant when looking back through an adult lens.
Curious to hear from strangers online about their childhood, Redditor beesechugersports asked:
"What horrible thing happened to you as a kid and you didn’t realise the severity of it until you got older?"
For children, it's all fun and games...at first.
A Dangerous Game
"I lived in the countryside in a farming town. Alongside the road my family lived on was a small concrete ditch. It was visible for about half the road and then went underground the rest of the road until it flowed out into a large canal at the end."
"I was a really thin and small kid. When I was about 9 or so my sister and I and some of her friends were playing in the small ditch to cool off. My sister thought it would be interesting to see if I could fit into the pipe that led underground. So my 12 year old sister and her friends held me by my arms and lowered me into the pipe until my hips were in. I could feel the rushing water pulling me in. I yelled at them to bring me back out. They did and then we left."
"I didn’t tell anyone about it for years and when I finally did they looked horrified. So yeah if my sister had lost her grip, I would have gone underground and likely gotten stuck and drowned."
Playing Dead
"Oof… my sister was messing with me and pretended to be dead. I thought she was kidding but I was little and not completely sure cause I hit her, pinched her, checked for breathing (those classes where EMs show you what to look for and firefighters telling you to stop drop and roll and don’t be scared of their masks REALLY paid off!)"
"So I went and dialed 911 but thankfully my sister decided she didn’t want to have to explain to my parents wtf happened so instead she got chewed out by the operator lol"
– ovrlymm
Kids get an early lesson on death.
Dying On The Job
"Our babysitter died while she was watching us when my twin and I were 3. We had no concept of death, and tried to wake her up."
"She had spilled water when she fell, and I still remember getting a dish towel to wipe it up, thinking she would be proud of how responsible I was being."
"I remember going to get our little toy pots and pans to bang together to make noise to wake her up, we had no idea what a heart attack was."
– Mushrooming247
Strawberry Ice Cream To Make It All Better
"I always remember a paramedic talking about responding to a scene where an aunt had died looking after a three or four-year-old child. The aunt was slumped on the floor but she had some strawberry ice cream around her mouth. Apparently the child had tried to feed her dead aunt some strawberry ice cream after she'd collapsed and died because whenever the child herself felt bad, sometimes her parents would give her strawberry ice cream. So she tried to help her aunt that way. That image really stuck with me."
– skonen_blades
Childhood traumas never go away.
Addiction
"It took me almost 25 years to realise that alcoholic parents aren't normal and other people have it different."
– Veeyas
"I remember asking a friend how many times they’d seen their parents drunk in their life when I was 16 or 17."
"When they said a handful I kinda knew I’d been f'ked. My dad had driven while drunk with me in the back more times than they’d even seen their parents intoxicated."
"It killed him a few years ago. Not while driving, like organ failure. People don’t notice it as much if they’re all extroverted and likeable when they’re intoxicated"
– CauliflowerThat6430
Abandoned On The Side Of The Road
"My mom admitted after she got sober that she would stop on the way home from work (an hour away) and get a 6 pack and drink 3 of the beers before she got home, then would drink a bottle of wine when she got home. She did this every day."
"My sister and I knew she was drunk, but my dad worked 2 jobs and wasn't home that much so he didn't see it like we did."
"The worst was when she drove me through the backroads at 10 PM and just stopped the car on the side of the road and told me to get out and that she didn't want me anymore. Luckily may dad was home when she got back and he came and got me."
"That f'ked me up for the rest of my life and she doesn't even remember it."
– TheGreensKeeper420
Daily Ritual
"My dad got drunk EVERY night, and his behaviour made us uncomfortable, but we didn't know it wasn't normal. He would send us to get him beers from the kitchen, and we'd gladly do it because it was one of the few things that reliably made him happy with us."
– LVL25_Lapras
These Redditors grew up in a hoarder household.
Moving The Clutter
"Having a 'cluttered house' and needing to spend a few hours carrying everything from the living room into my bedroom to make the living room appropriate for guests. I would sob and beg for it not to go into my room because I knew it would never leave, and the living room would get filled again with TJmaxx bags and garbage we don't need. Turned out a hoarded house isn't normal and it made me a pretty awful roommate to my friends in my teen years."
– plantsndogs
Symptom Of OCD
"A lot of people are unaware of the fact that hoarding is a symptom of OCD. Real OCD, and not the pop-psychology OCD that people claim they have."
"My bio-mom was a hoarder, and she had other OCD symptoms as well, everyone was expected to count the stairs as we climbed them, out loud, and one at a time, with no other options. Always monitoring the location of every person at every time (which was much harder in the 1970s than today), needing someone else to dial the (rotary) phone for them, because certain phone numbers were just "wrong," for various reasons (too many odd numbers, the pattern the dial sounds made were summoning demons, too many of the same number in a row, that sort of thing.)"
– Galaxy_Ranger_Bob
Ignorance is always bliss to a child until something goes wrong.
As a child, I was reckless and hyper and I would often ignore the warnings of my mother to dial it down a notch.
Kids, listen to your parents.
I ignored my mom when she told me to stop jumping up and down on the bed. I fell backward and slammed my head on the corner of the headboard that was also doubled as a low bookshelf.
Apparently, when your scalp ruptures, you bleed profusely. Even my mothers hands couldn't stop the bleeding. Since my dad was at work and my mom couldn't drive at the time, she had to call the neighbor and have them take me to the hospital where I got stitches in my head.
So yes, it's all fun and games until you get hurt. The consequence of refusing to heed my mom's warning is something that stayed with me and makes me appreciate all you parents out there who are doing the toughest job of all: Raising kids.
CW: Eating disorder.
Everyone remembers the first time they were in love.
Or, at least, the first time they thought they were in love.
Some people might very well have a true "one and only," remaining with their first love for the rest of their life.
For the majority of people, however, the first love is, indeed, their first.
The person who shows them what it is to love and be loved so they know when they've truly found the person they were meant to be with later in life.
With this in mind, some people find ending relationships with their first love easier than they might expect, as deep down, they knew it was never going to last.
Others, however, remember ending things with their first love as the first time their heart was truly broken.
Redditor xgc_promathia was curious to hear how people ended things with their first love and the lasting effects it had on them, leading them to ask:
"How did your first love end? Do you still think of them?"
The Folly Of Youth
"I was a dumb, selfish 23-year-old who wanted more than I had."
"Yes, all the time."- grow4road
"Summer Lovin'..."
"We talking love or 'true love'?"
"My first love was a girl I met at summer camp."
"Shel lived and hour away and since we were both 13 we relied on our mothers to shuttle us back and forth, swapping weekends at each others house."
"The next summer at camp we decided that since we would both be going to high school the following fall that we should enjoy that summer camp time together then break up."
"The last night they had a farewell dance and we spent all night dancing to every slow song."
"I still think of her from time to time but haven't talked to her in over 35 years."
"I spent a hour or so looking her up online and I'm pretty sure I found her but it's been so long and age changes people so I can't be 100% sure."
"I do hope the woman I found is her because she has a beautiful family and from what I saw on FB she's doing really well for herself."- StuckInNov1999
What If...?
"My first true love, we were together for almost a year."
"I we lost our virginity to each other."
"We were making plans to elope after high school I broke up with her because I felt like she was hiding an eating disorder from me."
"She kept on losing weight and she started to look unhealthy, I kept on encouraging her to get help, I even offered to go with her and be there for support when she brought it up to her parents, she kept on refusing."
"I then broke up with her."
"I absolutely crushed her."
"She literally cried in school all day for a month straight."
"I felt really bad about it."
"Then she went NC with me for a few years and I stated to really resent her."
"We then reunited and buried the hatchet then remained friends."
"I haven't seen her in person for about 15 years."
"We are friends on Facebook."
"We comment on each other's posts."
"I think about her every now and then."
"Not so much the person she is now, but the fond memories."
"I have of 2 16 year olds intensely in love with each other."
"I wonder if we were really soul mates but we just met too early in life?"
"She has a nice husband and she seems happy."
"I'm happy for her."- Ill-Indication-7706
Forgive And Forget
"We were high school sweethearts, but we broke up shortly after high school because we were no longer good for one another."
"It was an ugly breakup, and we went several years without contact after I left the state."
"Five years later, my mother sent me a box of my stuff, and one of his old creative writing notebooks was mixed in with it."
"I reached out over fb to ask if he might want it back, and from there, we became friends again."
"Ten years later, we're still friends to this day."- Forward_Ad6168
Unable To Go The Distance
"Joined the military and long distance wasn’t working so I broke up with her."
"We tried to make it work but it was taking a toll on the both of us."
"Didn’t want to break up with her but I felt like it was the best decision for the both of us."
"This was over 3 years ago and yes I still think about her."
"I actually reached out to her for the first time since the break up last week lol."
"Was just curious to see how she was doing."- ReckSaber3664
Truly Love At First Sight
"Daily."
"I married him!"- Complex-Half8338
Ended Before It Could Truly Begin
"They died."
"All the time for last 20 years."- Deep_Ad_1874
Wrong Time, Wrong Place... Not Meant To Be...
"I was 18."
"He was 20."
"He was my first real boyfriend, my first sexual experience, and my first real love."
"We argued a lot all the time basically, I still thought we were good together."
"One day during an argument after he threw a plate of food at me I told him to get out."
"That was something I said a lot and it was a trigger for him because everyone in his life either died or abandoned him or kicked him out."
"He left, like actually called a cab took everything including his New flat screen TV and left."
"I spiraled."
"Eventually though after three years I moved on and met my daughter's dad."
"I have love for him and see that he’s now in recovery and having a baby with a new gf."
"This was over 12 years ago when we dated."
"I’m happy for him but also moved on and grateful for that."- SubstantialLove8330
"The Course Of True Love Never Did Run Smooth..."
"Long story short, my first 'real' love ended when she left to a different state."
"We were best friends for a long time but after she left, friendship ended too."
"We were young and I was too immature for a relationship."
"I was the one pursuing it and she wanted to just be friends which was one of the reasons it pushed her away."
"Like I said immature of me because I didn't consider her feelings and respect her answer at the time."
"Many many years later, I reached out and apologized for everything."
"Because I was the problem."
"She was in a broken relationship at the time and I didn't want anything but to say I'm sorry and become friends again."
"A few years later, she brought it up about a possible relationship with me and I agreed (and no I wasn't thinking about a relationship at the time because in my mind, that ship sailed LONG ago)."
"That caught me off guard."
"Years later after this conversation, we are married and have children."
"Not saying everyone's relationship will turn out this way but this was my experience."- VailStampede
As Nat King Cole once famously said, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."
Sometimes, to know what it is to truly love, we have to have our hearts truly broken.
Making the chance to have a "first love," be it at age 15 or 75, a right of passage everyone deserves.