Health & WellnessOCT 13, 2023

35 Things People Can Only Fully Comprehend After Going Through Them Themselves

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Some things, whether good or bad, can’t be put into words; they have to be experienced firsthand for a person to understand what they really feel like. For some people, it’s holding their newborn in their hands for the very first time, for others it can be something way less magical, like coming face-to-face with an alligator; but in both cases, there is simply no way to convey the experience with words.

Curious about such instances, redditor u/Slow_Inflation8701 addressed members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community asking what's something people don't understand until they go through it themselves. Fellow netizens shared their insight covering everything from abuse to parenthood, and much more, so scroll down to find their answers on the list below.

#1

35 Things People Can Only Fully Comprehend After Going Through Them Themselves

Being with an abuser (mentally, physically, or both) and how hard it is to leave

Proof_Category_7061, Anete Lusina

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364points

#2

Depression, actual clinical diagnosed depression.

If I had a dollar every time I had to explain to someone it’s not “just feeling sad, bro!” and can get over it just like that, I could retire.

MitchConnor555, Ron Lach

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344points

#3

Having to cut off your family because they are very toxic. It's almost impossible to come off as the reasonable person in this situation to others, even if your life was in danger. People just don't understand

SansevieraEtMaranta, Karolina Grabowska

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295points

The OP told Bored Panda that the reason they decided to start the thread was curiosity. “Just like everything posted on the ‘Ask Reddit’ forum, it's just something that came to mind. I was thinking about my own experiences and I wanted to know what other people's were.”

But little did they know that some of the answers would really move them. “I was surprised because I heard things about what people were going through that were unimaginable,” they said.

“But on the other side of the spectrum, I saw comments of people going through things I have gone through that I fully understand but they explained in a way I could never think to articulate myself. I spent days combing through the comments responding and trying my best to encourage everybody I could.”

#4

Chronic debilitating illness and disability. How quickly life can change permanently without you doing anything wrong.

melkesjokolade89, MART PRODUCTION

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280points

#5

Experiencing the death of someone you love

hollyjazzy, Pavel Danilyuk

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278points

#6

Struggling without anyone or anything to fall back on.

Fried-Pig-Dicks, Keenan Constance

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263points

In the redditor’s opinion, the main thing that no one can understand unless they’re going through it themselves is mental illness. “Nobody understands; it's proven true in both society and our healthcare system. Depressed people are lazy for not getting out of bed. People with anxiety are dramatic. People with OCD are said to be compulsive cleaners and neat freaks.

“Everyone lacks empathy and basic understanding of how mental illness truly works. And it doesn't help that there's people on social media claiming that they love their mental illnesses and it makes them who they are, when there's people like myself suffering and battling daily with our minds. It makes it hard to get through simple tasks,” the OP shared.

#7

Not having enough money due to unforeseen circumstances. Not every poor person is poor because of their own decisions. Finances are like traffic, you can do everything right on the road, and have your life completely flipped by some other a*****e driver.

WhereTheMoneyAtBoy, Towfiqu barbhuiya

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253points

#8

Sexual assault

Royal-Somewhere-849, MART PRODUCTION

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226points

#9

Living with PTSD.

SpykeATA, RDNE Stock project

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216points

#10

Mental illness.

RareAd3435, Liza Summer

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206points

#11

Homelessness.

NOTHING prepares you for it, no amount of knowledge about “ resources “ street smarts etc prepares you for the devastation that is homelessness when you’re not mentally Ill or high to the hills.

You quickly learn all the “ resources “ we like to lie to each other about and pretend those “ lazy bums “ have are a crock of s**t.

Shelters are dangerous, filthy, abhorrent places , understaffed and simply don’t have the funding to do much good.

Yiu can get food assistance, but that’s about it.

Everything is a waiting game, rapid rehousing in most of the country isn’t rapid, youl be on a waiting list for ever, AND when politicians want to save a few bucks or show how fiscally conservative they are, guess who’s funding gets cut first?!

Never mind the trauma of never having privacy, a bathroom, a place to sleep safely, a place to keep any belongings without them being stolen, the constant threat of being robbed in your sleep or assaulted if you’re female, or maybe some teens feel like pelting you with eggs. Etc

TheGremshire, MART PRODUCTION

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195points

#12

Anxiety or The Anxious feeling of something bad always feels like it’s going to happen, and imagining things before they even happen and not being able to cope.

Myrealgirlfriend, Engin Akyurt

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173points

#13

How extremely devastating being on cheated is. It's a truly sickening feeling in your gut, and nothing in your life is the same afterward. Some people are never the same ever again, others take over a decade to go back to normal. But that initial feeling is the worst. The suspicionions, the adrenaline as the truth unfolds, the severe depression, and the imagination all come together to bring you one of life's most devastating experiences.

visionsofcry, RDNE Stock project

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173points

#14

Losing a child.

rushray112, RDNE Stock project

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156points

#15

Nerve pain

LaughingIsAwesome, Andrea Piacquadio

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148points

#16

Babies who don't sleep. Especially if you have more than one child. It's relentless, unending torture from a tiny being who you love with everything you have but find yourself having terrible thoughts about. You plead and beg, soothe and hug, rant and yell, nothing works, they don't care, they won't sleep.

Every time you close your eyes, you know it might be 5 minutes or 2 hours or 20 minutes or 3 hours before you'll get woken again, and you have to go back in and be the best version of yourself for this tiny human.

If you have other kids, you then wake at day break (if you've slept at all) and then your other little ones wake, who also need you. It's not their fault you're completely deranged from the nightly torture, they need their Mum as well. Be on your game or struggle with the guilt, exacerbated by your exaggerated emotions as you're Just. So. Tired.

Driving becomes dangerous, you can't sort reality or process things, and again - small people who have no sense of the effect their regular little kid behaviour has, no empathy, just unleashing and you have to cop it and be a good Mum. And this is night, after night, after night, relentless, no hope in sight and no energy to summon any. And there's no real way to tell anyone how tired you are because there's no way to communicate a tiredness that is a physical weight you feel, like your body and mind don't belong to you any more but you've still got to perform.

Sleep deprivation is a war crime and babies are tiny terrorists. It's hell.

Haai_Vyf, Sarah Chai

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145points

#17

Having an abortion. When Roe was overturned I had to hear everyone's opinion on abortion at work (both sides). It's such a talked about 'hot button' issue that people don't really think about the fact that if you are in a room with 10 women, you are probably in a room with one who has had an abortion, and they might not want to hear what you think about it. Whatever side of the line you fall on.

opheliaonthelake

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143points