life

Life is a funny and strange thing. It'll oftentimes chuck curveballs our way, and remind us that there's so much we'll never be able to plan for. Sometimes, that can manifest in crossing paths with folks you haven't seen for years in the most unexpected of places, at the most unanticipated of times. If anything, those moments can serve as a great reminder to expect the unexpected. 

You've got to love an AskReddit thread that pays homage to those basic skills that people are for whatever reason, plain old terrible at. It's funny how life works out like that. Sometimes, we just end up falling through the cracks when it comes to picking up tidbits of common knowledge that we should really have known in the first place. Some people's brains just operate at a different frequency, where they might have no idea how to write in a legible manner, no matter how hard they tried and were pushed to do so throughout their schooling. It ain't nothing to be ashamed of. Or, perhaps you're someone who has an impossibly hard time maintaining the flow of a conversation on the phone.

I mean, now more than ever we're so dang conditioned to communicate through texts, Snapchats, memes, etc. that when it actually comes time to formulate some words, and comprehensible sentences in a dialogue, your mind can end up going helplessly blank. Or, maybe you're one of those people who can't whistle to save your life. Whistling's hard, and shout out to the people in this world that can manage to whistle a tune. While others, can't even get the thing going in the first place.

An AskReddit thread like this can serve as a powerful, humbling, if not inviting reminder that you're not alone in your pursuit toward picking up those life skills and knowledge that you know you should probably know, but just can't quite seem to get. Maybe you have friends and family that have lovingly tried to help you put the pieces together along the way. Hopefully, not the opposite, where you're faced with fielding banter and roasts from people that love to make a mockery of you not quite being able to get there.

The overriding point is that patience is key, and above all else, who really cares at the end of the day if you can't whistle or write out a letter/card that other people will be able to read? The truth is, nobody really cares. Maybe for a hot second they'll get hung up on it, have a good laugh, and give you a nice old fashioned hard time. But then, then you move onward, and maybe you find in yourself a newfound desire to take the time to actually master the very thing that up until this point has escaped your attention. That can certainly be a proactive, productive way to lead a life. The very things that can initially give us the most trouble, can somehow evolve to be our special skills later on down the road. It's like, life loves to test you, throw you off your rhythm for a sec, and ultimately see whether or not you're going to accept the challenge. Challenges can be fun. There's always a nice little dopamine rush waiting at the end of mastering that thing that gave you so much trouble at the onset. So, maybe this thread will give you new inspiration, or at the very least, it'll make you feel better about those skills you're currently lacking.

Trees seem incapable of caring where they are or what they're doing. And we respect them for that. They could be on a cliff, in a pole, or be a hungry tree enveloping stuff and they wouldn't even give a rip. Not only do trees not care, sometimes people don't give a heck, and the results are wild.

This thread asks the question, why would any God of Death every really need to be a bad guy? Why feel the need to speed things up if it's guaranteed to win in the end? These Tumblr users flesh out the idea of a death who's not that bad of a person. For some more creative tumblr musings on life and death and gods, here's a story about a selfless farmer with a heart of gold, as well as a tumblr thread on demons bonding over sandwiches.

Careful, this post hits hard in the feelsplex. We get to hear some thoughts about life from a 24-year-old who was diagnosed with cancer, and too late for any good chance at survival. A definite big takeaway is don't sweat the small stuff. Make decisions from a place of courage, love, and positivity, and shape a beautiful life from there. 

Someone on AskReddit got a thread going about the various minor nuisances that are worse than wet socks. Now, topping the remarkably infuriating occurrence that is dealing with wet socks, is no small feat. But this thread certainly has some suitable rivals. You know, things like trying to fall asleep at night while one of your nostrils insists on whistling, whenever you breathe. Or, getting the sanitary towel stuck to you when you use a public restroom. No fun, no fun at all. 

People on Twitter are sharing various tidbits of advice that they'd offer to their 18-year-old selves. It's amazing how much one's perspective changes through the passing of time, and how things once thought crucial, end up being looked upon as utterly absurd. 

Everyone could always use a pro tip, here and there, to get a little ahead in life. These life pro tips might just end up helping folks navigate this chaotic existence with a little grace and flexibility. 

These intentionally sh*tty life pro tips are perfect for anyone navigating the dark and hopeless alleyways of an existential crisis. They are by their very nature, intentionally "bad" so at the very least, they won't do anything at all. At the most, they'll get a laugh out of you, over how bad they are. 

We've got some fails from people that might have benefited from a bit more thought before making their decisions. These bad choices did manage to make for some great stories. 

In the grand game of life, our 20s can impart upon us some seriously hard-earned wisdom. Whether it's learning to navigate nights of drinking with some moderation, or learning just how much you can hate taxes, the world definitely teaches you some big lessons at that point in your life. 

It's pretty well known that Tumblr can escalate quickly, such as taking a small thing and making it snowball into a grandiose rumination on life and everything. Just one image of a laminated paper towel inspired questions about life, existence and purpose.

If there's anything that helps drive home the fact that most of our lives are still pretty nice, it's the oodles of first world problems we endure from day to day. Whether it's having to use the worse wifi at your job, or having to manually open the lid to your faulty smart garbage can, these are the plights that make many of us grateful that these are actually things we think of as problems.

Here's a saga spanning years, ending in a wonderfully, expensively petty decision. Like she says, this lady does sound like LOTS. We've seen epic bridezilla moments from wedding shop workers but this one is literally years in the making.

They talk about "for better and for worse" but they don't really mention the 90% of the time in between where you just do things that are big enough to get on each others nerves but too small to make a deal about. Here are some relatable observations people in long term relationships will feel sum things up pretty well. For more, here are a ton of tweets about marriage that are too real.

Even if you account for every little variable in your life, something will happen that you completely didn't expect. Usually it's something bad. It could be as small as spilling spaghetti on your clothes, or as large as spilling a truckload of apples all across the highway. These people found out the hard way that life is packed with moments of failure and misfortune.