We can all relate to having that 'aha' moment (as Oprah describes it) when we've finally pieced puzzle pieces together and have finally made sense of something. But once you have successfully pieced it all together, the next question you've got to ask yourself is...'why hasn't anyone told me about this earlier?'
Interested in reading more 'aha moments', take a look at the original thread source at the end of the article.
‘I Didn’t Have Conjunctivitis’
“I was suffering from pink eye for almost 10 years. I was told by a couple of doctors that it was because of my allergies.
So I would stop wearing contacts and treat my eyes with antibiotics drops or gel. My eyes would get better so I started putting my contacts in again. A couple of weeks or months later another conjunctivitis! And I’d treat them again and again.
Finally, a new doctor looked at my eyes for 10 seconds and told me that I was probably allergic to my contact lenses solution and eye drops. I just changed the solution for the one with peroxide in it and since then no more pink eye… Someone should have told me this a long time ago… (or I should have figured it out).”
A Prescription Free Way To Get Rid Of Dry Skin
“Coconut oil.
I have been struggling with really dry, flaky skin on my face – think light version Psoriasis. I tried a lot of expensive ointments, including various prescription drugs.
A colleague told me I should try coconut oil (literally the stuff you use for cooking), but I dismissed it due to his overall ‘alternative medicine’ tendencies.
On a whim, I bought a jar, because I saw a bunch of it stacked on the counter. I put some on in the evening, and I woke up with perfectly smooth and nice looking skin the next morning. It’s been around a year, and I’ve spent roughly $1 worth of coconut oil to have a normal looking face, applying a small amount every evening.”
The Joy Of The Holidays
“I never had a family growing up. Holidays were mostly just like every other day, I might get a few presents on Christmas or be served turkey on Thanksgiving but no big gatherings or parties. I didn’t even know that people really did that, I thought it was just a thing in movies. When we were dating my wife invited me to have Thanksgiving with her family and I was stunned to speechlessness. There were 20 people, all gathered together to enjoy each other’s company. They were welcoming, loving and just happy. It was the weirdest, most wonderful experience of my life. The food was amazing, no gravy from a giant institutional can, no rubbery turkey slices, I couldn’t eat enough. Since then I go all in for holidays, all of them. I throw parties, decorate, send cards, wear silly sweaters, and just generally make a complete fool of myself because I’ve got lost time to make up for.”
You Don’t Pronounce The ‘P’
“I pronounced the silent P in everything (puhfone, raspuhberry) until high school, and for some reason, nobody ever corrected me.
I’m pursuing the psychiatry training program now, and am worried someday I’ll say ‘puhsychiatry’ in front of my colleagues.”
How To Use A Computer
“I grew up in a house without internet – during the 90’s, when dial-up was coming into fruition. My days were spent playing outside, or going to the library, or watching little league games, and so on. School work involved paper and pencil. As such, I didn’t have a need to use a computer.
In high school, one of the classes involved doing some research and the class used to trudge to the computer lab. Everyone else plunks down and starts researching online, and I’m sitting there wondering how to use the dang thing.
The best part is that the teacher didn’t believe that I didn’t know what I was doing, and really didn’t want to spend the 40 minute class period explaining how to use the computer and look stuff up on Britannica Online. No surprise that I failed that assignment.
And for what it’s worth, this was in the early 2000’s.”
‘No One Cares If You Aren’t Perfect’
“‘No one really cares about what you think unless they are close to you.’
I’ve spent way too much time trying to anticipate how other people will react to me in certain situations.
‘You don’t have to be perfect. You’re smart enough to know what’s best for you.’
My pursuit of perfection actually hindered my growth without me even noticing. Those are truly wise words I wish I heeded sooner.”
Coming To America
“I came to America about 5 years ago. Where I come from it is kinda hard to talk to people. Walking up to strangers is considered odd and even rude. Actually, I believe it is like that in most parts of the world. Well while I was in college here in America, I was shy most of the time, except during my senior year where I actually decided to be ‘odd’ and tried walking up to people and saying hi. For the most part, people were great, friendly and welcoming. I wish someone had told me. I wish I had been able to do this since my sophomore year, I would have made many more friends.
God, I love America.”
My Job Sucked
“During this time last year, I was happily going to work because I was told a raise promotion was coming soon, on top of that, I was happy going to work because I actually cared about my coworkers and viewed some of them as actual friends.
Eventually, I got tired of being overworked and underpaid and I was mentally and physically exhausted. It also didn’t help that a physical problem started to get worse, which was a result of me constantly working my butt off. If I left untreated, I would’ve developed chronic lower back pain and I’m just now getting over it, nearly 2 years since it initially started.
It was towards the end of February when I realized that me busting my butt wasn’t worth it, even if I did care about my coworkers and I knew they relied on me.
It was only after I quit my job that people started to let me know that they had a feeling that things would end up that way. I wish they would’ve said something to me while I was still working there, but I doubt I’ll ever know why they didn’t say something along the lines of ‘you are being played, look for a new job or try to figure something out’.”
The Real Reason My Dad Never Turned Up The Heat
“For my entire childhood, my father was incredibly stingy about heating and air conditioning. He’d always tell us we were spoiled and should dress warmer or colder and toughen up rather than using energy for heating and air conditioning.
Then, when I was in my early 20’s, he started getting really weird about air conditioning. It would be turned up full blast all the time, and if I set the thermostat to a warmer temperature or even just mentioned that it doesn’t need to be so cold, he’d scold me and tell me to put on a sweater – and this was an extremely hot summer days! He was still as stingy as ever about heat, but had become completely bizarre about air conditioning!
I just wrote it off my father being an oddball and moved out of my parents’ house soon afterward. I didn’t give much thought to the whole thing apart from repeating it as an anecdote in conversations about parents being bizarre.
Fast-forward a decade. I’m now in my 30’s, filling out a family medical history for a new doctor, who asks me at what age my mother reached menopause. I don’t know, so I ask my mother. And she said in her early 50’s.
Which is right when my father started getting weird about air conditioning!
Back in my early 20’s, I knew menopause was a thing, I knew hot flashes were a symptom, but I hadn’t put any thought or research into what age it happened. My grandmothers had reached menopause before I was born so I’d never seen anyone go through it before, and my mother never let on that anything was different with her, so it just wasn’t on my radar.
If someone had told me my mother was having hot flashes I would have cheerfully put on a sweater and cranked up the air conditioning so my mother could be comfortable, and I would have perceived my father as a loving husband.
But instead, I obliviously ran around resetting thermostats for my own comfort, thereby inadvertently making my mother uncomfortable, and at the same time concluded that my father was being a contrary jerk.”
How To Properly Wear My Earbuds
“Like 4 years ago my friend got me a pair of Shure earphones for Christmas. They were pretty good earphones, not the best, but they pretty good sound quality and decent noise cancellation.
In October (of this year) we took a bus up to Minnesota to visit a friend for a few days. We chose the late bus so we could just sleep during the 8 hours it would take us to get there. We were getting settled and I saw him pull out his earphones, which were the same as mine, and put them on over and into his ear. I never wore them like that. I just kind of jammed them in a way they fit. I asked him about wearing them like that and he said, ‘What do you mean? That’s how you’re supposed to wear them. How do you wear them?’ I showed him how I typically wore them and he laughed and said, ‘Wearing them the right way gets a better seal for the sound.’
I still wore them my way, until he fell asleep and then I decided to give his way a chance. And CRAP it made such a huge difference. The sound was better, they felt more comfortable, and they were so much better at canceling out the noise. When we got to the first stop I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you tell me I was wearing them wrong for so many years? This is so much better!’ He told me I should have read the manual, but in my defence, I didn’t think I had to read the manual for a pair of earbuds.”
Shorts Are Actually Comfortable
“Shorts feel great in the summer. I’m 27 and my entire life I wore nothing but long pants. I never understood why anyone would ever wear shorts. I thought they were impractical, they don’t cover anything up and if you bumped your leg while you work you were going to get scraped. If you work outside you’ll get your legs all scratched up by small bushes and plants. Then, my mom gave me a nice pair of cargo shorts on a whim. When I walked outside…it changed my life. It was a hot summer day and I was actually comfortable. In 27 years I never realized shorts could make such a huge difference.”
Fractions Are Really Just Divisions
“In middle school, we had a separate math book for fractions. It just tried to teach all these rules on how fractions work and they never made sense to me.
2 years later, my first year of high school, a math teacher says fractions are just divisions. Suddenly, fractions made a lot more sense because I knew what they actually represented.
I still want to confront whoever made that middle school fractions book which made it way more complicated than it had to be. To this day I don’t know why they would ignore the most important thing about fractions.”
Did You Know…
“Raisins were GRAPES.
It took me too many years to learn that.
All those years I thought they were an odd type of alien grain or nut until I learned in a socially humiliating way at a baptism.”
‘I Don’t Have Bronchitis’
“I grew up a sickly child. When I was a baby or toddler, my parents would discover me with blue lips and they’d rush me to the emergency room for a breathing treatment. I would get sick often, and if I got a chest cold I had it for weeks. I would be so sick, I’d have to sleep sitting up because I’d cough too much to lay down and also I wouldn’t be able to get enough oxygen into my lungs. When I was in grade school, I was so amazed that all the other kids would keep running even though their lungs were on fire. It turns out, only MY lungs were on fire.
In my senior year of high school, I got extremely sick for 4 months. I was so sick that I’d have to walk at a very slow pace, and I’d have to pause halfway up a flight of 13 stairs (to get to my high school’s entrance). On my fourth visit to the doctor, I was diagnosed with bronchitis. I was prescribed oral steroids, antibiotics, and an inhaler. It changed my life! Now I just recognize how it feels and tell the doctor that I have bronchitis and he or she listens to my lungs and gives me the drugs I need to heal me.
Finally, when I was 24, I was diagnosed with allergies. I now take a whole lot of allergy medication, but I can breathe. I’ve only had bronchitis twice since then (nearly 2 decades).”
Uniforms Were Gone At My Work
“We wear these horrible ugly uniforms at work (I try not to complain, as they’re fairly comfortable and hide my body from the many perverts on site). We were due to get new uniforms, with our names stitched and all that fancy stuff. I noticed a rack of uniforms sitting in the break room for a few days, but didn’t think much of it. The day after the uniforms were removed, a coworker asked if I had tried on the uniform sizes. Cue my look of confusion and a roundabout conversation, leading to the realization that I was supposed to figure out what size my 16 uniforms needed to be. Nobody mentioned anything about it to me, including my supervisor. The uniforms where supposed to arrive yesterday, but I wasn’t working so I don’t know what is waiting for me next time I go in. Anyway, that’s my ‘why did nobody tell me until AFTER the trial uniforms were gone’ moment.”
About Menopause
“I knew since about age 7 that one day I would have a period and it would be one of the worst experiences of my life, and it would be repeated over and over and over again.
I dreaded it for years until one day at around age 11. My mom and I were visiting my grandparents at their beach condominium. My mom unexpectedly got her period and sent me and my grandmother to the store for tampons. My grandmother was super embarrassed. She said that everyone would know I’m too young for the tampons she was buying and that she was too old.
Too old?! You mean it stops?! I don’t have to bleed until the day I die? It was a relief. I’ve been looking forward to menopause ever since. I’m worried about the hot flashes but it doesn’t outweigh how excited I am to stop bleeding.”
ADHD Is A Real Thing
“I grew up to think ‘attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’ wasn’t real and that the problem is the education system (still believe that a kid who can sit 8 hours straight and listen to school is the abnormal one though). I also thought that the most medication for ADHD is addictive, after witnessing my friends get so depressed from it. I’ve had terrible experiences in school, teachers hated me for no reason, forever underachieving and I was messy and late to everything. Aside from having a lot of interest, reading, and understanding stuff quick (also passed that governmental gifted test), I was never able to finish one homework question. I thought I was depressed for so many years and also had sleeping problems.
After failing my first semester of university they told me to get diagnosed, which I was, with severe ADHD and writing difficulties. The medication seemed to fix all of my problems like magic. It gave me energy, fixed sleep difficulties, got me organized and most important of all – I enjoy much more while learning and not just at the end.”
Points are edited for clarity.