Not everyone has the "Happy Birthday" we wish them. For some people, birthdays are an outright disaster.
Personally, I've only ever had one really tragic birthday - the year my grandfather died and I got pulled over twice (once to give me a ticket, and then the officer pulled me over again just a moment later to tell me Happy Birthday.)
Reddit user kaancanpinar asked:
Dear askreddit what's the suckiest thing that happened in your birthday?
And as bad as my one birthday was, it was just one birthday. There are some people who seem to have a weird birthday curse and just can't get away from having bad ones! We're looking at you, person whose parents keep getting married and divorced on your birthdays. Jeez.
Tipsy Girlfriend
Giphy"My girlfriend at the time got a little tipsy and proceeded to act like an absolute wreck. She left me sitting alone at our "romantic" table for two - twice, for about 10 minutes each time, to go outside and smoke. This was during a meal that only lasted, maybe, an hour and a half."
"Then she told me she loved me for the first time, but proceeded to get angry with me, because I didn't say it first."
"On the drive home a Beats Pill (a very small speaker that weighs about a pound) dropped from the dashboard onto her knee - so she obviously had to have a fake freak out and tantrum - to the point that I pulled over at a gas station and had to come to her side of the car and inspect her knee. Which, of course, became perfectly fine and a non-issue in about 15 seconds as she stood up."
"Jesus christ, I've never written that out and it makes me cringe."
Sleep Apnea
"My cousin died suddenly of sleep apnea the day before my birthday, he was 23. We spent my 20th birthday driving across the country to attend his funeral."
- terminater112
US Invasion
"The US invaded my country when I was turning 10. Cool thing was they took down the military dictatorship of Noriega..."
"Sucky thing was I was not able to go to the movies and catch a Baby Herman & Roger Rabit short film I wanted to see."
"Oh yeah... and the dead. Yeah... all the dead also sucked."
Scared She Had Done It
"On my 17th birthday, I woke up at 2 am to realize that my mom was not home. The day before my birthday she and my brother had a huge fight."
"My mom would always threaten to kill herself because "no one loves her and nobody understands her." She always pulled this whenever we didn't back her up with what she believed or when she couldn't control us anymore. I grew up with her doing this all the time so it made an impact to me."
"I was always scared that she'd actually do it. I would even choose to go home rather than play outside after school so I could watch over her."
"So, back to my birthday, it was 2 in the morning and she wasn't home. Because I was scared about what she would do, I went out to look for her. I was crying the whole time because I was scared that she had finally actually done it. Also because I was scared for my own safety - I was a kid wandering around alone at 2 am! AND IT WAS MY FREAKIN' BIRTHDAY!"
- missjnrs
A Morning Stroll
I was a fat kid. On my 14th birthday, my dad took me with him on a morning stroll. I didn't know he was going to turn it into a workout. I gave up as soon as we started - so he kept yelling at me as army sarges do in the movies."
"When I had finally given up he called me "mara مرة": A degrading word directed to women in general and whores specifically."
- Tuebimur
Mom Stole My Party
"I'm Filipino, the 18th birthday for girls is like a big deal. You throw this huge party and everything. Ever since I was young I always wanted to have one, so when I was 17 I asked if I could have one. My parents said no. So I kept on asking and asking, and told them I would do all the planing, the venue stuff and everything all they needed to do was pay."
"So they finally agreed, after months of planning my mom decided to tell me last minute that she wants a part of the party to be dedicated to their anniversary. So I was like "uhh okay then..." Cause I felt bad for saying no since they were paying for everything."
"All I really asked them to do was to pay, make a speech, do the decorations and tell me what they wanted to do for their anniversary. I did all the plannings the guest list, the program etc. All my mom told me was my dad was going to sing for her. So I'm like cool that's easy enough, shouldn't take up too much time. I consistently told them to make a birthday speech, make a speech."
"On the day of the party, my mom insisted that the MC should follow her script instead of the MC script - which made the whole event longer than needed (which kinda annoyed me, but I was trying make the best of it.) Then when I was suppose to perform and whilst I was getting ready, my mom decided that it was time for their anniversary part and went on with it without letting me know."
"Then they proceed to have their vows renewed, a video of them throughout the years, my dad singing 2 songs and a dance with just them two. Which took up a whole hour."
"What pissed me off the most was that she didn't even make a speech, didn't bother saying happy birthday to me, and even got mad at me for not wanting to take photos with her friends whom she invited last minute and who I didn't even know. When I confronted her about it the day after, all she said was "Uhh I didn't know I had to make any speech."
The Favorite
"My mum decided to Celebrate my brothers birthday and not mine. Cards, cake, presents, etc..."
"F.Y.I. This was my TWIN brother."
- Kirkn97
Divorce
"My parents decided to use my 17th birthday to announce they were getting divorced."
Only One
Giphy"My 21st. My girlfriend at the time arranged for a surprise party for me inviting all my friends."
"Only one person showed up."
Mom V. Grandparents
"On my 16th birthday, my mother was in the middle of a several year long fight with her parents. She told me I should call them to see if they would like to come over for coffee (because she wouldn't call them herself). During the call I'm talking to my grandmother and get the usual "happy birthday" and "how are you" - it's important to note that I haven't seen them in months and we only lived like 10 minutes apart."
"So I ask if they would like to come over for coffee and my grandmother says she's going to ask my grandfather if he would like to go. Now, I don't know if she didn't realize that she didn't cover the phone, but I heard them talking back and forth a and heard my grandmother say "I don't want to hurt her feelings but I don't want to go over there."
"I already felt when I was a kid that they didn't love me as much as my older sibling, but this was the confirmation that it was true. They couldn't get past their bull and come see their granddaughter on her birthday. When she began talking to me she said some sort of excuse as to why they couldn't come over. I didn't hear it, I was trying not to cry so I could still talk. We said our "I love you's," though it was hard for me, and hung up. I just went to my room and laid down and cried. I didn't give a damn about anything and just wanted the day to be over."
"My mother had a small surprise party for me by having my friends over, I tried my best to pretend to be happy and have fun, but I just wanted it to end. I was so mad and so hurt that I just wanted to crawl in bed and stay there forever."
In My Bed
"Got told my girlfriend at the time wanted a break. Then she went locked me out of my house and slept with a dude she saw when she was out - in my bed!"
"It was my 20th birthday."
Love And Marriage
"My parents got divorced on my 10th birthday. My 11th birthday my dad got married to another girl. On my 12th birthday they divorced. On my 13th they remarried. 14th divorced. Yes these all happened on my birthday or during that birthday week."
He Needed Attention
"Someone broke up with me that day."
"I arranged a nice birthday party, invited a bunch of friends and I was so happy that my boyfriend at that time was behaving as a decent person (e.g. not causing a scene, but smiling and chatting with mostly everyone). Little did I know that he kept on acting like this only to build up to a huge scene after we headed home."
"He started to criticize all of my friends, how shallow and ignorant they were and how I should had stopped them talking about politics when I knew he was of a different opinion, so he would not had to listen to all the BS."
"Then he said he doesn't love me enough to put up with me, so he left me crying in the middle of the street at night."
"After a day he kept on calling me like nothing had happened. I did not understand what the F was going on."
"Quick disclaimer: you might already know, but it is worth stating, that most psychopaths don't like when the attention is not focused on them (in this case it was focusing on me, since it was my birthday), so they will cause a scene to get back the attention. I did not know that until years later when all the things just started to make sense."
Prove It
"My mother forgot it, then called me a liar when I told her. I had to get my driver's license to prove it."
"I was in my late 20s."
"Mom is just very self-centered. My mother is one of those people who isn't actively malicious but can't conceive of a world without her at the center. She knows best in all things and is always right, anything she dislikes is a personal offense created by the world at large and/or someone specifically to spite her, anyone with other views is objectively wrong, that sort of thing."
The Family Dog
"Last year our family dog had to be put to sleep on my birthday. His stomach flipped the week before and caused irreparable damage. He'd already had it turn a few years ago. My mum went to pick him up and the vet told her he wasn't going to recover and was in pain. I got a phone call on my way to work where she was distraught. Thankfully my manager was incredible and let me use a sick day to go home."
"I had to arrange the home visit to put him to sleep because my mum couldn't do it. I called my dad to tell him (my parents are divorced and he hadn't seen the dog in years.) I arranged everything so he could be brought home and go to sleep peacefully with me, my mum, and my sister. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. My birthday is two weeks before Christmas and I'd already got him a present."
"This big goofball got me through my parents' divorce and the hardest breakup I've been through. I'm in my late twenties and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."
Knock Knock
Giphy"High school one year, my birthday fell on thanksgiving. It was my birthday AND thanksgiving and my boyfriend dumped me. Through text. Using a knock knock joke"
"The joke was as follows:"
Him: "Knock Knock"
Me: "Who's there?"
Him: "Single"
Me: "Single who?"
Him: "Single you."
"He was not very clever, but he did tell the whole school about it proudly"
- ccc2373
Wasting Money
"On my 6th birthday my dad openly said on the phone he wished I wasn't born so he didn't have to waste money on me. He didn't know I heard him then got mad when I said I wanted to go back to my moms."
"Yeah we didn't get along for a long time."
Newlywed Flu
"Four months after our wedding, my ex husband told me he had a "football practice." He then proceeded to get obliterated at a bar, blocked me from calling him, slept with another woman and came home at 5am on my birthday. He was so messed up the next day, I had to pretend like he had the flu to my family who drove into town to see me."
"My whole birthday was spent trying not to cry and imagine what he'd been up to, faking like we were the happy newlyweds everyone expected us to be. No gift, no "happy birthday", no explanation until years later when he confessed. Just me wondering what I did to deserve it all."
Well, these certainly take the (birthday) cake!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
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.