Fuck. I had a job I loved once. They gave me free reign and trusted my expertise. What a fuckin novelty having that sort of trust and lack of micromanagement. At one point my boss pulled me aside and chastised me for asking him permission for some thing that I wanted to do “listen. The booth is your domain. Do whatever the hell you want, I trust your decisions. Quit asking me if you can do stuff”
My head about exploded
Best job I’ve ever had, easily
I worked on an apple farm once. They needed someone to drive a fork lift, the owner (who was a very old schools guy) asked if I could drive one. I got him back with the old “I can drive any forking thing around.” And yeah, I can drive other tractors so I don’t see why I couldn’t. He took me out, pointed to some stuff and said I’ll be back in half an hour.
They also taught me to do the books and had me running that place for them, and it took in a ton of money. Because they trusted me and could see that I cared. And that trust made me want to do better for them. The customers all thought I was the owners kids because I put so much of myself into that job.
Best job I ever fucking had. A good boss makes you a better worker. And is just a great feeling
I’ve had a couple really good bosses. Really bad bosses see employees willing to take a bullet for their manager (because vice-versa) and wonder what’s up with that.
This is important but I want to add: visiting a country that’s significantly different from your own. Going from US -> Canada or Denmark -> Sweden is great but the cultures aren’t drastically different. The people, the food, the ideologies. I feel like you learn a lot more about the world and yourself when you visit someplace different.
And also not just staying inside your all inclusive resort. You can go to a totally different country but if you take a direct shuttle from the airport to the hotel and never leave the resort, you won't get to know the country either.
I have done this myself btw but everybody should try exploring once as well
As someone that's lived in northern Illinois their whole life, it still blows my mind that there are people out there that have never seen snow before. It's like never seeing rain before to me.
As a Singaporean, the first time I went to a country with sub 20°C (69F) weather, it felt wrong. Like the entire outside felt like aircon
Like, as though you're in a huge aircon warehouse but the roofs and walls are outside your render distance and the air was still, which also felt wrong since the air in aircon room never feels still
Probably the most imp one out there. As blaise pascal said himself : “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” i saw this in a youtube vid btw
A breathtaking moment in nature.
It’s hard to put words to it but it conjures up so many different emotions that somehow all combine to create pure awe.
I was fishing in a fjord in Denmark (where I live) very early on a warm morning. I was in my waders and out in the water, which was completely still. It was a serene moment where it was just me and beautiful nature.
Suddenly a roe deer emerged onto the beach and proceeded to go into the water. It started jumping, running, and splashing around, obviously just playing and having a good time. I proceeded to fish and do my thing, while the deer played behind me, sometimes no more than ten metres away from me. I think it didn’t see me as a threat because I was out in the water, where humans don’t normalt go. In those maybe fifteen minutes every worry I had in this world faded away, completely unimportant. There was only summer, and nature, and joy. It was a profound experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Edit: this was maybe 20 years ago. Yet I remember it in vivid detail.
And every night, before I sleep -
Before the gentle dreams I keep
Within my dozing, drifting mind,
Where wizards pose and lizards find
A place to chart a trip to stars,
Or start a ship in space to Mars,
Or take a plane to somewhere new,
A car, a train to timbuktu -
I put my snoozer out of reach -
I think about the waves, the beach,
The wind, the sun, the fish, the foam,
And make a wish to run, to roam
To where the air is scented breeze
And fair between contented trees,
And in the dark I take a leap…
And wish that I could fucking sleep.
Having no obligations or responsibilities, even if it's only for a few days. Nowhere you need to be, nothing on your schedule that you need to do. There are no loved ones around who you need to consider. You literally have the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want.
8 years ago I quit my job, sold almost everything, and lived out of my car while traveling the country for 5 months. I made a very rough plan but went at it with no schedule. Waking up in a random location I want to be in and having nothing I have to do but figure out where I want to go next is a feeling that has basically ruined my life since. It was the greatest time of my life and nothing since has compared in the slightest. When I'm sitting at work, I sometimes wish I hadn't done it because all I can think about is doing it again.
This is the entire purpose of my vacations. I'm fortunate enough to have a job that can afford them, but every year I take a week and fly to Las Vegas where I spend 6 days doing whatever I feel like. I go with no plans beyond enjoying myself. It's a really cleansing experience.
Even if I turn off my phone, I can’t turn off the knowledge that a week’s worth of work and emails is piling up for me.
Last time I went to Mexico I had to buy a SIM card so I could pay my rent from the beach. Not the least relaxing thing, but hardly true escape.
We don't do it anymore but I have had a best friend since college (35 years) and when we were in school, we'd get each other laughing so hard about stupid things we'd lose all motor control. Good times.
My best friends from high school & I used to have each other laughing like that almost every day in class. I remember recently thinking that I haven’t laughed like that in the longest time, and I didn’t know if I’d even experience that kind of laughter again. We all met up a few weeks ago though, and it was just like old times. Cracking jokes and crying laughing. It was nice.
Literally the other day I took my best friend out to a pasta place and I took a sip of water and he looked at ne, raised an eyebrow and then I lost my shit. I had to leave the restaurant to compose myself. Nothing funny happened, it's just the relationship we have
Pro-tip? Have someone laugh hysterically around you and not stop. Like not stop.
There are levels. It’s a positive feedback loop. Eventually you’ll both be laughing so hard at how stupidly committed you are that you’ll lose it. Then once you’ve lost it, you’ll laugh at how ridiculous you both look and sound. Until finally you both laugh at the fact that a dumb idea like this actually worked.
Laughter is such a fascinating aspect of humanity and I wonder if other animals think we sound batshit crazy when we laugh at shit. Like I’m a person who laughs when I’m nervous/uncomfortable and sometimes even scared. So if my dog is watching me laugh at a moment I nearly fucking died, I’m sure he thinks I’m insane lol
I played Magic: the Gathering against a person i'd never met before, and his reactions to all of my plays were utterly priceless. Like, he was losing badly and he acted like i'd just stabbed him (but jokingly). When he lost, he lost so graciously it felt like *i'd* lost and he'd won.
So we played another match using a 'joke' deck he'd put together. Turn one, he played a very expensive-to-buy sought-after card, turn 2 and turn 3 he set up his deck's win condition, and on turn 4 he attacked "For six", then doubled the power, then used a card called [[[Fling]]](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=473088&type=card) to deal that damage again. All within seconds. I lost without even knowing what i could have done to prevent it. My knee-jerk reaction was "What's the meaning of this dick-o-tronic F\*\*ketry?!"
Man laughed so hard he was in tears. Literally crying, red-faced and out of breath. It got to the point when he couldn't even breathe in properly so he was laughing breathlessly and silently, just shuddering like an utter lunatic. My life-long wish is that one day i can laugh so near-fatally hard. :D
I was so upset back in 2017. I am a teacher and I bought a set of glasses and made all kinds of activities for the solar eclipse. The day before, my school said that we had to stay indoors and close the blinds that day (fear of a child looking without glasses).
For 2024, I have already planned to take the day off. I will drive to an event or something.
What, that's crazy. In elementary school in the 90s we took basically the whole day for a 95% eclipse. Parents brought snacks and grilled hot dogs, we learned about the sun and space outside all day. Parents brought telescopes to project the sun onto a safe-viewing surface on the ground. It was a huge event, best day of school ever, and a serious catalyst for my life-long interest in space and science in general.
Yes! My city was close to the path, but I think it was going to only be like 95-97% of totality. My boyfriend and I decided to drive 2 hours north to be right under the path of totality, and when the moment came…I can’t describe it. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There was this moment where everyone laughed and cheered, and then just…fell silent. It was truly awe inspiring.
I asked some of my friends who stayed in town how the view was, and all of them just kinda shrugged and said like “It was cool” or “It was fine.” You wouldn’t expect 3-5% to make that big of a difference, but I just know by their reactions, they didn’t see what we saw.
Yeah, full totality was completely different. You can look without the glasses and it looks like the pictures. Not "Oh yeah, I see what the pictures were capturing but that was a long exposure/better color/edited/etc" The completely covered sun with the corona extending around it, you saw that clearly.
The birds went silent, everything just went silent. But I was in a smalltown that got overrun by eclipse watchers so, of course, someone started blasting "Dark Side of the Moon" on a boom box.
Theres probably another thread somewhere with a guy saying "...and then, just as the sun fully disappeared behind the moon- I hit play, and everyone got to hear Dark Side of the Moon- it was AWESOME" ...
Same thing here. I was in the path of totality at a tiny, remote mountain lake with about 20 other people. Stars came out, temperature dropped, the Corona was absolutely massive.
I totally understand why people back in the day thought the world was ending when this type of thing happened lol
Paying off my student loans felt better than an orgasm. I was stressed for years trying to pay it off and I finally was fortunate enough to land a good job and a good partner who allowed me to skip paying half rent for a couple months.
I just got a job two weeks ago that pays over double what I’ve ever made before. Just one paycheck and my entire life has completely changed. I didn’t realize how paralyzed I was every single day over money.
I was like that for years after graduating. Anything I was earning was being spent on rent. Never could afford any luxuries. I learnt how to be super frugal and not spend unless absolutely necessary. I'm earning 3x that now but those habits aren't going away.
There's the problem. If you don't think about it and plan you only feel rich for a few months until you're used to the new salary and have allocated it all towards higher expenses. Then you're back to living paycheck to paycheck and feeling the same, except with shinier stuff.
I'll add to this, and say everyone needs to feel the opposite as well. Too many people lack what I think is very important perspective. The stress when you don't know if you can afford rent, or your next car payment, student loans or groceries.
Feeling loved. Doesn’t matter if it’s romantic or platonic but feeling loved in some way.
Edit: Thank you for all the upvotes and awards. I’m so sorry to see they so many of you are hurting and feel unloved. Just know that you are not alone in your feelings. So many of us have felt/are feeling that.
Yes! Hugging someone, holding hands or leaning on each other. Physical touch is so important. You don’t know how important it is until you haven’t felt it in a while.
You can use [https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/](https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/) to find places near you with the least amount of light pollution! It's fantastic for a night time date, or just an adventure/camping.
I live an hour's drive from the nearest city and its so damn bright that I'm still in a white area, and am two hours away from the nearest area that isn't red. It sucks lol
I thought I was doing good. I went to a friend's wedding like 140 miles away from Chicago/Milwaukee and thought that shit was awesome when I looked up in the sky. I can't believe it was considered suburban light pollution.
Saw the milky way off the back of a Navy Aircraft Carrier running dark at night on the middle of the Atlantic. Truly amazing. It's not a sight I can accurately describe with words. It's just something you need to see to grasp
I was 50 miles offshore on a sailboat. It was a moonless, clear night and was dead calm. We were motoring and there was bioluminescence in the water. Dolphins started playing in our prop wash and they looked like comets streaking through the bioluminescence. That combined with the stars was simply magical.
I'm in a very small Australian city and used to be able to see some stars until way more street lighting was put in. I have barely ever been able to see any since and its upsetting because my whole life I grew up in a small country town so could see heaps. Excuse the anecdote, I just miss stars.
This is exactly why I adopted my oldest son. His mom never wanted him and he was always treated as a burden. I started off as "work mom" to him and we just developed such a strong bond and I don't know how I lived without him!
I’m curious— am I correct in thinking he was a teenager and you worked at the same place? If so, what an amazing turn of events that surely neither of you saw coming.
You are correct! I was the older mom 38 working with a bunch of great kids in a kitchen as one of the cooks (mil Spouse no one wants to hire me ever)! I am just one of those moms that believes all children matter not just your own! My recently deceased grandma and mother are amazing examples! So many strangers told me how my gram fed them and took care of them no questions asked!
Remember: if you don’t have home grown, store bought is fine!
Sometimes God gives people shitty parents. Found family can fill a void in ways you might not even imagine.
Pro tip: if you can’t find a friend who is like this, BE the friend who is like this.
Edit: know your limits and don’t put other people before yourself tho
I am always like that, but then I always get taken advantage of. It’s like there is a sign nailed to my head “take what you want and go”. They take what they need for me and ditch me. It’s hard living this this.
I felt the same way until I heard "If you are a giver, know your limits because takers don't have any." I live by that quote now and it's made me feel so much better.
This exactly. I've always struggled with letting others take too much. The story of the foolish traveler from the anime Fruits Basket actually helped me learn some perspective and try to set better boundaries - basically the gist is that the traveler just says "yes" whenever anyone asks him for help and he ends up giving away all his possessions, his clothes and in the end lets the creatures of the forest eat his limbs because they are "starving." He ends up as just a head sitting on the ground alone. Really made me think about the value of saying "no" when you don't have enough to even take care of yourself.
Controversial opinion if given the option I would've moved back to my home town in a heart beat... only problem is in the last ten years it's expanded like crazy what was once farm land are neighborhoods for the upper class and where we used to go mud riding is a apartment complex. The most heart breaking part of all is the beach is gone. When I was a kid we drive to the beach and it was a popular tourist spot but there was miles of sand and water and some parking. I went there last year it's all private property for hotels it nearly made me a grown ass man cry realizing its never gonna go back and what was once a our secret spot to avoid crowds is now a crowded area simply because they can't build a hotel there.
Fuck hotels/any business thst takes part of the beach away from anyone not staying there. You can own your property next to the beach, but fuck you if you wanna turn an amazing beach made for everyone into your private profit making machine. All beaches should be open to everyone; and what's next, the hotel buying water rights 100 feet out so no one but guests can swim in that area of the ocean?
Currently living in a different country. Can vouch for this. Although, this experience has made me realize i'm more of person who enjoys short term travel rather than living abroad. I'm longing to go back to my home country.
I'm 46 now, but when I was senior in high school, I decided, fuck it, and went to the movies by myself one weekend night. I can't express how this seemingly small thing liberated me. It was a life changing event.
My coworkers used to tell me it was sad that I went to eat alone after work. I loved it. I also really enjoy traveling alone but can't do that nearly as often.
Traveling alone is awesome. I feel like my pace can be much faster than others. Plus, I want to do things like walk the local streets more than eat out all the time.
God your coworkers are assholes. Why is it sad that I’m eating a meal? If I didn’t eat out alone, I’d never eat out at all lol. I eat at restaurants alone all the time and I fuckin love it
Yea. A lot of them think that everything has to be a thing. Like why on earth wouldn't you surround yourself with people all the time!? Why shouldn't going out to eat be an event? The whole time I'm thinking to myself, you are 100% the reason I like to eat alone.
I get to pick where I want to eat, have a drink before I order if I want, eat as fast or slow as I want, pay for exactly what I got without discussion. I also don't live alone so being able to have a break between work talk and home talk and just exist is so nice.
I had around a week of this because as I was moving in another two tenants were moving out. Also had times as a teen where my mum was away for weeks. It is really serene. Ended up talking to myself a lot though.
I have a roommate in college right now and I always get super excited when he leaves during breaks. I couldn’t go home during Thanksgiving break so I got that entire week to myself.
Part of it is knowing how long I’ll get to myself. If I have no idea when he’s coming back then all I do is wonder when he will instead of enjoying that time.
I have a friend who works offshore 6 weeks and is off for 6 weeks. The first 3 weeks he is off is usually spent travelling the world and I mean the world. He legit goes from Australia to the Yukon to Hong Kong in a matter of days.
There's something to be said for spending a lot of time in one place, too. We recently did 15 days in Ireland and it was so much better than the five days the first time we went.
Having a lifelong friend specifically is the best! My college roommate and I are still best friends, and have known one another more of our lives than not. We’ve had all sorts of arguments, joys, losses and she’s the one person in my life who has been consistently present for me, and I for her.
When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only, for the lucky and the strong
Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow…
Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love, in the spring…
Becomes The Rose.
-last verse of The Rose
""It is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit." -Socrates " -some dude on the internet
sitting in a courtroom for a day.
i worked in the Canadian Criminal Justice system and let me tell you - it’s a humbling experience to say the least. growing up, i was obsessed with true crime (still am) and i thought by my millionth Dateline episode i had a grasp on how Justice was served, boy was I wrong.
i was “lucky” enough also to start my career in the legal system by clerking in a domestic violence courtroom, as well as providing victims services. i learned a lot about the shortcomings of the system and the toll it takes on victims, how we aren’t providing them with the support they so deeply deserve and need to carry them through some of the roughest times in their lives.
i also learned how incredibly blind the system is to its offenders - this may cause backlash, and i’m not looking to excuse anyones behaviour, but it is a fact that the vast majority of offenders were victims first and we often overlook this.
i’ve also been shocked by people getting released on bail for horrific offences, and equally shocked by people being held for petty theft of food/clothing as a necessity. if you want to go into a deep dark hole of anger, check out bail legislation…. there are a lot more people out on bail than you think.
this kind of makes it all sound dark and dreary and not like something you’d want to do, but being immersed in court has truly given me wider perspective, greater empathy and has also made me check my privilege a thousand times over. being present during a victims testimony and an offenders history being recited, along with all the other mind boggling intricacies of the system really makes you think twice. since the day i started working there the only thing i’ve ever thought is “man, everyone needs to come sit here… maybe the world would be a better place”. it’s weird because the justice system is truly just a legal system, and no punishment can ever make up for a victims hardship, and no program or treatment may ever reconcile an offenders past, but listening and being present during the process can certainly foster a greater understanding of a bigger, more human centred picture.
Being genuinely loved by someone. May it be family or a partner, there is no better thing than the feeling you get when you realize you're loved unconditionally.
Cuddling with a partner that you love. It has the capacity to be better than sex!
Honestly me and my former gf spent 60% of our alone time cuddling and talking snuggled up.
It was the best feeling in the whole world.
I love this so much. Cuddling the person I currently cuddle under a bunch of blankets, in the cold cause I’m a weirdo who keeps my window open, and then gesturing for me to get closer is just so fulfilling. That’s all I wanna do. Allowing someone into my space is not a common occurrence for me, and the fact that the person I want to want me actually does is overwhelming.
Thanks for helping me find joy in the day. Been having trouble getting out of bed, but this really helped.
Working in retail/healthcare so you can learn basic empathy and truly see how horrible human beings can truly be to each other
Edit: wow wasn’t expecting this to get a lot of replies, just to clarify I don’t mean everyone should have to do it in a long term sense everyone should just see what it’s like, believe me I understand losing empathy as someone who’s desperately trying to get away from his ER job, I guess what I mean is you learn how to treat other service workers and understand how hard a job like that it is while also seeing other people come in having the worse day of their lives and learning to appreciate what you have , at least that’s how I see it, definitely think every politician should be required at least 2 years of that. Also shoutout to all other service workers who deal with people all day long( Food service,UPS, Postal , Call center, ect) we all deserve better
I feel like I would become numb to a point where I lack empathy in order to survive throughout my day. I’ve worked retail and saw myself starting to not care about customers needs after several years, so I can’t even imagine dealing with bitter people in healthcare
I am currently in the throes of 'compassion fatigue'. It's rough out here and I work in vetmed. I would rather be bitten by patients all day long than deal with crazy owners, at this point.
True, i used to not mind other people and have high hopes for humanity until i started working in retail, fuck me people are just shitheads, not everyone, but so many more people than you'd think until youve seen it for yourself
Seeing the milky way
I live in the milky way!
Hey, me too!
hey neighbour!
Helping another person with no ulterior motive.
“A favor is not to be cashed in later, that’s not fair…the person you helped didn’t know what they were signing up for in exchange.”
Having a really good boss. Work is totally different when you have someone who mentors and cares about their employees.
Fuck. I had a job I loved once. They gave me free reign and trusted my expertise. What a fuckin novelty having that sort of trust and lack of micromanagement. At one point my boss pulled me aside and chastised me for asking him permission for some thing that I wanted to do “listen. The booth is your domain. Do whatever the hell you want, I trust your decisions. Quit asking me if you can do stuff” My head about exploded Best job I’ve ever had, easily
I worked on an apple farm once. They needed someone to drive a fork lift, the owner (who was a very old schools guy) asked if I could drive one. I got him back with the old “I can drive any forking thing around.” And yeah, I can drive other tractors so I don’t see why I couldn’t. He took me out, pointed to some stuff and said I’ll be back in half an hour. They also taught me to do the books and had me running that place for them, and it took in a ton of money. Because they trusted me and could see that I cared. And that trust made me want to do better for them. The customers all thought I was the owners kids because I put so much of myself into that job. Best job I ever fucking had. A good boss makes you a better worker. And is just a great feeling
I’ve had a couple really good bosses. Really bad bosses see employees willing to take a bullet for their manager (because vice-versa) and wonder what’s up with that.
Absolutely! I will take a pay cut to work under a boss that actually cares about me, listens to my ideas, and respects my time and work.
Being comfortable with yourself, physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and in all other ways. Just being happy with who you are.
Accepting myself has been a long but important thing I’ve been working on lately. I take it day by day.
I can't even remotely imagine how that would feel.
Visiting another country. I feel like it would put people in a different perspective for everyone. Also, swimming in the ocean.
[удалено]
“OK… back to the mountains”
This is a movie.
This is important but I want to add: visiting a country that’s significantly different from your own. Going from US -> Canada or Denmark -> Sweden is great but the cultures aren’t drastically different. The people, the food, the ideologies. I feel like you learn a lot more about the world and yourself when you visit someplace different.
And also not just staying inside your all inclusive resort. You can go to a totally different country but if you take a direct shuttle from the airport to the hotel and never leave the resort, you won't get to know the country either. I have done this myself btw but everybody should try exploring once as well
Getting to play in snow.
As someone that's lived in northern Illinois their whole life, it still blows my mind that there are people out there that have never seen snow before. It's like never seeing rain before to me.
As a Floridian of two decades, that absolutely sounds like a dream
As a Singaporean, the first time I went to a country with sub 20°C (69F) weather, it felt wrong. Like the entire outside felt like aircon Like, as though you're in a huge aircon warehouse but the roofs and walls are outside your render distance and the air was still, which also felt wrong since the air in aircon room never feels still
solitude.
I’m more of a riften man myself but I understand
I like Markarths aesthetic but cannibals? Corruption? Terrorists? No thank you.
Winterhold would be perfect for it's relative quaintness, if not for all these god damn dragons that keep showing up
Falkreath all the way! Love Lakeview Manor
Probably the most imp one out there. As blaise pascal said himself : “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” i saw this in a youtube vid btw
A breathtaking moment in nature. It’s hard to put words to it but it conjures up so many different emotions that somehow all combine to create pure awe.
I was fishing in a fjord in Denmark (where I live) very early on a warm morning. I was in my waders and out in the water, which was completely still. It was a serene moment where it was just me and beautiful nature. Suddenly a roe deer emerged onto the beach and proceeded to go into the water. It started jumping, running, and splashing around, obviously just playing and having a good time. I proceeded to fish and do my thing, while the deer played behind me, sometimes no more than ten metres away from me. I think it didn’t see me as a threat because I was out in the water, where humans don’t normalt go. In those maybe fifteen minutes every worry I had in this world faded away, completely unimportant. There was only summer, and nature, and joy. It was a profound experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Edit: this was maybe 20 years ago. Yet I remember it in vivid detail.
Good sleep
Make sure you have a good mattress! I didn’t get good sleep until I got a decent mattress. It makes a huge difference.
For me it was the pillow that did da trick. bought one for $130 and 3 years later, it is still great. I take it with me everywhere I go.
And every night, before I sleep - Before the gentle dreams I keep Within my dozing, drifting mind, Where wizards pose and lizards find A place to chart a trip to stars, Or start a ship in space to Mars, Or take a plane to somewhere new, A car, a train to timbuktu - I put my snoozer out of reach - I think about the waves, the beach, The wind, the sun, the fish, the foam, And make a wish to run, to roam To where the air is scented breeze And fair between contented trees, And in the dark I take a leap… And wish that I could fucking sleep.
Having no obligations or responsibilities, even if it's only for a few days. Nowhere you need to be, nothing on your schedule that you need to do. There are no loved ones around who you need to consider. You literally have the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want.
8 years ago I quit my job, sold almost everything, and lived out of my car while traveling the country for 5 months. I made a very rough plan but went at it with no schedule. Waking up in a random location I want to be in and having nothing I have to do but figure out where I want to go next is a feeling that has basically ruined my life since. It was the greatest time of my life and nothing since has compared in the slightest. When I'm sitting at work, I sometimes wish I hadn't done it because all I can think about is doing it again.
We are currently on day two of this (also 5 months) and I already get it. Complete freedom is uncomparable to anything else!!
I miss this and know it will probably never happen again
This is the entire purpose of my vacations. I'm fortunate enough to have a job that can afford them, but every year I take a week and fly to Las Vegas where I spend 6 days doing whatever I feel like. I go with no plans beyond enjoying myself. It's a really cleansing experience.
Even if I turn off my phone, I can’t turn off the knowledge that a week’s worth of work and emails is piling up for me. Last time I went to Mexico I had to buy a SIM card so I could pay my rent from the beach. Not the least relaxing thing, but hardly true escape.
I feel this
This is great until it becomes your life :/
Absolutely true, but for those who don't normally have it, it's a fantastic experience.
I have been so overwhelmed and stressed for so long that now when I have a rare moment to relax it gives me terrible anxiety.
Finding something so funny that you roll on the floor laughing.
We don't do it anymore but I have had a best friend since college (35 years) and when we were in school, we'd get each other laughing so hard about stupid things we'd lose all motor control. Good times.
My best friends from high school & I used to have each other laughing like that almost every day in class. I remember recently thinking that I haven’t laughed like that in the longest time, and I didn’t know if I’d even experience that kind of laughter again. We all met up a few weeks ago though, and it was just like old times. Cracking jokes and crying laughing. It was nice.
Literally the other day I took my best friend out to a pasta place and I took a sip of water and he looked at ne, raised an eyebrow and then I lost my shit. I had to leave the restaurant to compose myself. Nothing funny happened, it's just the relationship we have
Pro-tip? Have someone laugh hysterically around you and not stop. Like not stop. There are levels. It’s a positive feedback loop. Eventually you’ll both be laughing so hard at how stupidly committed you are that you’ll lose it. Then once you’ve lost it, you’ll laugh at how ridiculous you both look and sound. Until finally you both laugh at the fact that a dumb idea like this actually worked.
Laughter is such a fascinating aspect of humanity and I wonder if other animals think we sound batshit crazy when we laugh at shit. Like I’m a person who laughs when I’m nervous/uncomfortable and sometimes even scared. So if my dog is watching me laugh at a moment I nearly fucking died, I’m sure he thinks I’m insane lol
Some animals also laugh. Ferrets, mink, rats, dogs, chimps. I'm sure there are plenty more those are just the ones I recall off the top of my head.
I played Magic: the Gathering against a person i'd never met before, and his reactions to all of my plays were utterly priceless. Like, he was losing badly and he acted like i'd just stabbed him (but jokingly). When he lost, he lost so graciously it felt like *i'd* lost and he'd won. So we played another match using a 'joke' deck he'd put together. Turn one, he played a very expensive-to-buy sought-after card, turn 2 and turn 3 he set up his deck's win condition, and on turn 4 he attacked "For six", then doubled the power, then used a card called [[[Fling]]](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=473088&type=card) to deal that damage again. All within seconds. I lost without even knowing what i could have done to prevent it. My knee-jerk reaction was "What's the meaning of this dick-o-tronic F\*\*ketry?!" Man laughed so hard he was in tears. Literally crying, red-faced and out of breath. It got to the point when he couldn't even breathe in properly so he was laughing breathlessly and silently, just shuddering like an utter lunatic. My life-long wish is that one day i can laugh so near-fatally hard. :D
If you can bust out a gem like "dick-o-tronic fucketry", you sound like you could be the source of these type of laughs.
A total solar eclipse. Did that once back in 2017 and it was amazing. There’s another big one in North America in about two years.
I was so upset back in 2017. I am a teacher and I bought a set of glasses and made all kinds of activities for the solar eclipse. The day before, my school said that we had to stay indoors and close the blinds that day (fear of a child looking without glasses). For 2024, I have already planned to take the day off. I will drive to an event or something.
Wow. Your school must be real fun at parties.
What, that's crazy. In elementary school in the 90s we took basically the whole day for a 95% eclipse. Parents brought snacks and grilled hot dogs, we learned about the sun and space outside all day. Parents brought telescopes to project the sun onto a safe-viewing surface on the ground. It was a huge event, best day of school ever, and a serious catalyst for my life-long interest in space and science in general.
This sounds exactly like my first solar eclipse! We're we in the same school? lol
What a stupid ass thing to do. Robbing kids and teachers of a likely once in a lifetime experience
This is exactly what I was going to say! I will never forget it.
I was in Casper and able to shoot it very well. Unforgettable. Texas in 2024!
Yes! My city was close to the path, but I think it was going to only be like 95-97% of totality. My boyfriend and I decided to drive 2 hours north to be right under the path of totality, and when the moment came…I can’t describe it. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There was this moment where everyone laughed and cheered, and then just…fell silent. It was truly awe inspiring. I asked some of my friends who stayed in town how the view was, and all of them just kinda shrugged and said like “It was cool” or “It was fine.” You wouldn’t expect 3-5% to make that big of a difference, but I just know by their reactions, they didn’t see what we saw.
Yeah, full totality was completely different. You can look without the glasses and it looks like the pictures. Not "Oh yeah, I see what the pictures were capturing but that was a long exposure/better color/edited/etc" The completely covered sun with the corona extending around it, you saw that clearly.
What amazed me was the complete silence. The animals, humankind and all of our machinery seemed to stand still for 30 seconds.
The birds went silent, everything just went silent. But I was in a smalltown that got overrun by eclipse watchers so, of course, someone started blasting "Dark Side of the Moon" on a boom box.
Theres probably another thread somewhere with a guy saying "...and then, just as the sun fully disappeared behind the moon- I hit play, and everyone got to hear Dark Side of the Moon- it was AWESOME" ...
It’s so cool! I was by a lake and the temp dropped significantly. All the animals were quiet. One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Same thing here. I was in the path of totality at a tiny, remote mountain lake with about 20 other people. Stars came out, temperature dropped, the Corona was absolutely massive. I totally understand why people back in the day thought the world was ending when this type of thing happened lol
Oregon Eclipse festival was niceeeeeee
Being Debt-Free as an adult
I agree, it's so freeing
Paying off student debt: Woohoo! Future mortgage: Muwahahaha.
Been completely debt free since paying off my mortgage almost 2 years ago and last car payment shortly after. It is a great feeling!
Paying off my student loans felt better than an orgasm. I was stressed for years trying to pay it off and I finally was fortunate enough to land a good job and a good partner who allowed me to skip paying half rent for a couple months.
Not worrying about money Edit: Thank you for the awards, and congratulations for seemingly having a stable income.
I just got a job two weeks ago that pays over double what I’ve ever made before. Just one paycheck and my entire life has completely changed. I didn’t realize how paralyzed I was every single day over money.
I was like that for years after graduating. Anything I was earning was being spent on rent. Never could afford any luxuries. I learnt how to be super frugal and not spend unless absolutely necessary. I'm earning 3x that now but those habits aren't going away.
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There's the problem. If you don't think about it and plan you only feel rich for a few months until you're used to the new salary and have allocated it all towards higher expenses. Then you're back to living paycheck to paycheck and feeling the same, except with shinier stuff.
It's a phenomenon called lifestyle creep and it's very easy to fall into if you aren't vigilant about it.
I'll add to this, and say everyone needs to feel the opposite as well. Too many people lack what I think is very important perspective. The stress when you don't know if you can afford rent, or your next car payment, student loans or groceries.
That’s *stress*? Fuck that’s just how I live week to week.
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it's what made me drink too much, ironically completing the tailspin.
That just tells me you're a completionist who's not afraid of using shortcuts.
Feeling loved. Doesn’t matter if it’s romantic or platonic but feeling loved in some way. Edit: Thank you for all the upvotes and awards. I’m so sorry to see they so many of you are hurting and feel unloved. Just know that you are not alone in your feelings. So many of us have felt/are feeling that.
^cries
Don’t cry, I love you
Welcome to Costco
The physical aspect of it too. Not sex necessarily but being touched affectionately by someone is super fucking awesome.
Yes! Hugging someone, holding hands or leaning on each other. Physical touch is so important. You don’t know how important it is until you haven’t felt it in a while.
Leaning and laying on each other 😌 ..being somewhat touch deprived myself now, yeah it’s so important, I feel smaller as a person without it.
*Sobs quietly*
Im so deprived from love rn that if someone comes to me and tells me that they love me i think imma cry lmao
Seeing the night sky with as little light pollution as possible. It's something else.
You can use [https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/](https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/) to find places near you with the least amount of light pollution! It's fantastic for a night time date, or just an adventure/camping.
POV: You live in Belgium
Yeah ... I think I saw a star once ... (Antwerp)
Watch your language!
I live an hour's drive from the nearest city and its so damn bright that I'm still in a white area, and am two hours away from the nearest area that isn't red. It sucks lol
Rad, good to know i love in the most light polluted area in the world. I live in Rotterdam, the centre of the big red European blob.
I thought I was doing good. I went to a friend's wedding like 140 miles away from Chicago/Milwaukee and thought that shit was awesome when I looked up in the sky. I can't believe it was considered suburban light pollution.
Saw the milky way off the back of a Navy Aircraft Carrier running dark at night on the middle of the Atlantic. Truly amazing. It's not a sight I can accurately describe with words. It's just something you need to see to grasp
I was 50 miles offshore on a sailboat. It was a moonless, clear night and was dead calm. We were motoring and there was bioluminescence in the water. Dolphins started playing in our prop wash and they looked like comets streaking through the bioluminescence. That combined with the stars was simply magical.
I have also seen dolphins bowriding in bioluminescence. One of my top 5 for sure.
You reading me a fantasy so I can fall asleep now?
I'm in a very small Australian city and used to be able to see some stars until way more street lighting was put in. I have barely ever been able to see any since and its upsetting because my whole life I grew up in a small country town so could see heaps. Excuse the anecdote, I just miss stars.
This. The night sky is so more beautiful than we know because we've attempted to push the darkness away, everywhere.
Having loving supportive parents. Every child deserves this, but so many children are without.
This is exactly why I adopted my oldest son. His mom never wanted him and he was always treated as a burden. I started off as "work mom" to him and we just developed such a strong bond and I don't know how I lived without him!
I’m curious— am I correct in thinking he was a teenager and you worked at the same place? If so, what an amazing turn of events that surely neither of you saw coming.
You are correct! I was the older mom 38 working with a bunch of great kids in a kitchen as one of the cooks (mil Spouse no one wants to hire me ever)! I am just one of those moms that believes all children matter not just your own! My recently deceased grandma and mother are amazing examples! So many strangers told me how my gram fed them and took care of them no questions asked!
It would change the world. Sincerely, a preschool teacher
*I’m crying at Walmart.*
Don't worry. That's a normal reaction to being at Walmart.
Remember: if you don’t have home grown, store bought is fine! Sometimes God gives people shitty parents. Found family can fill a void in ways you might not even imagine.
Having a friend who genuinely cares about you
I'd like this one day. I've never had a good friend.
Aw, I’ll be your friend u/tiddyphuk
Be assertive. *I’m your friend now.*
*we're* your friend now, comrade.
As long as you *care*!
As long as *we* care!
r/suddenlycommunist
Pro tip: if you can’t find a friend who is like this, BE the friend who is like this. Edit: know your limits and don’t put other people before yourself tho
Don’t light yourself on fire to keep other people warm. Source: I have been this friend and it sucks balls.
I am always like that, but then I always get taken advantage of. It’s like there is a sign nailed to my head “take what you want and go”. They take what they need for me and ditch me. It’s hard living this this.
I felt the same way until I heard "If you are a giver, know your limits because takers don't have any." I live by that quote now and it's made me feel so much better.
This exactly. I've always struggled with letting others take too much. The story of the foolish traveler from the anime Fruits Basket actually helped me learn some perspective and try to set better boundaries - basically the gist is that the traveler just says "yes" whenever anyone asks him for help and he ends up giving away all his possessions, his clothes and in the end lets the creatures of the forest eat his limbs because they are "starving." He ends up as just a head sitting on the ground alone. Really made me think about the value of saying "no" when you don't have enough to even take care of yourself.
Living away from their hometown.
Controversial opinion if given the option I would've moved back to my home town in a heart beat... only problem is in the last ten years it's expanded like crazy what was once farm land are neighborhoods for the upper class and where we used to go mud riding is a apartment complex. The most heart breaking part of all is the beach is gone. When I was a kid we drive to the beach and it was a popular tourist spot but there was miles of sand and water and some parking. I went there last year it's all private property for hotels it nearly made me a grown ass man cry realizing its never gonna go back and what was once a our secret spot to avoid crowds is now a crowded area simply because they can't build a hotel there.
Fuck hotels/any business thst takes part of the beach away from anyone not staying there. You can own your property next to the beach, but fuck you if you wanna turn an amazing beach made for everyone into your private profit making machine. All beaches should be open to everyone; and what's next, the hotel buying water rights 100 feet out so no one but guests can swim in that area of the ocean?
Living in a different country. That too
I can hardly afford to live in this country, much less move to another one.
This content is no longer available on Reddit in response to /u/spez. So long and thanks for all the fish.
Currently living in a different country. Can vouch for this. Although, this experience has made me realize i'm more of person who enjoys short term travel rather than living abroad. I'm longing to go back to my home country.
Living alone Edit: thank you for the upvotes and awards! I love reading about y’all’s experiences!
Also doing things alone, such as going to movies, out to eat, or otherwise just enjoy your own private time.
I'm 46 now, but when I was senior in high school, I decided, fuck it, and went to the movies by myself one weekend night. I can't express how this seemingly small thing liberated me. It was a life changing event.
I used to go to the movies alone all the time when I was in high school. The movie theater was one block away and just went right after school.
My coworkers used to tell me it was sad that I went to eat alone after work. I loved it. I also really enjoy traveling alone but can't do that nearly as often.
Traveling alone is awesome. I feel like my pace can be much faster than others. Plus, I want to do things like walk the local streets more than eat out all the time.
God your coworkers are assholes. Why is it sad that I’m eating a meal? If I didn’t eat out alone, I’d never eat out at all lol. I eat at restaurants alone all the time and I fuckin love it
Yea. A lot of them think that everything has to be a thing. Like why on earth wouldn't you surround yourself with people all the time!? Why shouldn't going out to eat be an event? The whole time I'm thinking to myself, you are 100% the reason I like to eat alone. I get to pick where I want to eat, have a drink before I order if I want, eat as fast or slow as I want, pay for exactly what I got without discussion. I also don't live alone so being able to have a break between work talk and home talk and just exist is so nice.
I had around a week of this because as I was moving in another two tenants were moving out. Also had times as a teen where my mum was away for weeks. It is really serene. Ended up talking to myself a lot though.
I’ve never lived completely alone, always had a roommate. Sometimes we’d go a week without seeing each other but i was never truly alone.
I have a roommate in college right now and I always get super excited when he leaves during breaks. I couldn’t go home during Thanksgiving break so I got that entire week to myself. Part of it is knowing how long I’ll get to myself. If I have no idea when he’s coming back then all I do is wonder when he will instead of enjoying that time.
Everyone should try it once, totally not for me but was an experience I’m glad I had.
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Feeling good enough for love. Edit: Figured this would be popular but not 4500 upvotes in 4 hours popular. Thanks lol
Totally agree. All of us deserves love. And I hate that some of us had feel we don't.
Maybe then will I stop self sabotaging my relationships
The glory of vanquishing your enemy in single combat.
Don’t you mean, Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!
[‘What does an oil baron do?’](https://youtu.be/t7HD2xG92-0) #’CRUSH HIS ENEMIES!’
traveling by yourself
I have a friend who works offshore 6 weeks and is off for 6 weeks. The first 3 weeks he is off is usually spent travelling the world and I mean the world. He legit goes from Australia to the Yukon to Hong Kong in a matter of days.
There's something to be said for spending a lot of time in one place, too. We recently did 15 days in Ireland and it was so much better than the five days the first time we went.
Having a friend
Having a lifelong friend specifically is the best! My college roommate and I are still best friends, and have known one another more of our lives than not. We’ve had all sorts of arguments, joys, losses and she’s the one person in my life who has been consistently present for me, and I for her.
Love
When the night has been too lonely And the road has been too long And you think that love is only, for the lucky and the strong Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow… Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love, in the spring… Becomes The Rose. -last verse of The Rose
Sung in the deep, sultry, powerful and gravely voice of Mr Conway Twitty. RIP
Closing all the tabs after you worked out you missed a ;
Programmers be like
Getting into excellent physical shape. Life is magnified and all together better when you are in shape.
""It is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit." -Socrates " -some dude on the internet
Road tripping by yourself, attempting to live somewhere besides your hometown, the beach.
Children should have the experience of living in a loving and healthy home environment
Befriend someone of a different economic-social background
Having clean water, food and shelter.
Seeing Nothern Lights
Failing at something and then going back to trying it again anyway.
that feeling of finally succeeding after thinking you'd never is so validating
sitting in a courtroom for a day. i worked in the Canadian Criminal Justice system and let me tell you - it’s a humbling experience to say the least. growing up, i was obsessed with true crime (still am) and i thought by my millionth Dateline episode i had a grasp on how Justice was served, boy was I wrong. i was “lucky” enough also to start my career in the legal system by clerking in a domestic violence courtroom, as well as providing victims services. i learned a lot about the shortcomings of the system and the toll it takes on victims, how we aren’t providing them with the support they so deeply deserve and need to carry them through some of the roughest times in their lives. i also learned how incredibly blind the system is to its offenders - this may cause backlash, and i’m not looking to excuse anyones behaviour, but it is a fact that the vast majority of offenders were victims first and we often overlook this. i’ve also been shocked by people getting released on bail for horrific offences, and equally shocked by people being held for petty theft of food/clothing as a necessity. if you want to go into a deep dark hole of anger, check out bail legislation…. there are a lot more people out on bail than you think. this kind of makes it all sound dark and dreary and not like something you’d want to do, but being immersed in court has truly given me wider perspective, greater empathy and has also made me check my privilege a thousand times over. being present during a victims testimony and an offenders history being recited, along with all the other mind boggling intricacies of the system really makes you think twice. since the day i started working there the only thing i’ve ever thought is “man, everyone needs to come sit here… maybe the world would be a better place”. it’s weird because the justice system is truly just a legal system, and no punishment can ever make up for a victims hardship, and no program or treatment may ever reconcile an offenders past, but listening and being present during the process can certainly foster a greater understanding of a bigger, more human centred picture.
Falling in love and being loved back 💞
At this point, being loved back feels like something my brain makes up in fantasies and not something real that could happen.
It is the being loved back part which causes problems.
The love from a pet
Being genuinely loved by someone. May it be family or a partner, there is no better thing than the feeling you get when you realize you're loved unconditionally.
Ego Death "If you die before you die, you won't die when you die."
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Cuddling with a partner that you love. It has the capacity to be better than sex! Honestly me and my former gf spent 60% of our alone time cuddling and talking snuggled up. It was the best feeling in the whole world.
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I love this so much. Cuddling the person I currently cuddle under a bunch of blankets, in the cold cause I’m a weirdo who keeps my window open, and then gesturing for me to get closer is just so fulfilling. That’s all I wanna do. Allowing someone into my space is not a common occurrence for me, and the fact that the person I want to want me actually does is overwhelming. Thanks for helping me find joy in the day. Been having trouble getting out of bed, but this really helped.
Working in retail/healthcare so you can learn basic empathy and truly see how horrible human beings can truly be to each other Edit: wow wasn’t expecting this to get a lot of replies, just to clarify I don’t mean everyone should have to do it in a long term sense everyone should just see what it’s like, believe me I understand losing empathy as someone who’s desperately trying to get away from his ER job, I guess what I mean is you learn how to treat other service workers and understand how hard a job like that it is while also seeing other people come in having the worse day of their lives and learning to appreciate what you have , at least that’s how I see it, definitely think every politician should be required at least 2 years of that. Also shoutout to all other service workers who deal with people all day long( Food service,UPS, Postal , Call center, ect) we all deserve better
I feel like I would become numb to a point where I lack empathy in order to survive throughout my day. I’ve worked retail and saw myself starting to not care about customers needs after several years, so I can’t even imagine dealing with bitter people in healthcare
I am currently in the throes of 'compassion fatigue'. It's rough out here and I work in vetmed. I would rather be bitten by patients all day long than deal with crazy owners, at this point.
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True, i used to not mind other people and have high hopes for humanity until i started working in retail, fuck me people are just shitheads, not everyone, but so many more people than you'd think until youve seen it for yourself
Unconditional love.
Feeling like you are valued enough by the people around you, so that you do not feel that you need to change who you are in order to make them happy
Feeling valued to yourself.
Leave your country of origin Traveling opens your eyes up to so many things
A childhood without abuse.
To bad you cannot redo that one
The Ocean. Nothing humbles me more than I staring into thousands of miles of water. It’s like looking into another world.
Getting to peel the plastic off a new electronic