50 Hilarious And Brilliant Realizations People Had In The Shower, As Shared By This Online Community (New Pics)
Interview
You’re in the shower. The sound of running water comforts you. You’re used to the routine of soaping up and rinsing off, so you let your mind wander. Suddenly, this Aha! moment flashes right through your head, leaving you a little baffled and a whole lot surprised.
There's an entire subreddit dedicated to Shower Thoughts and is all about "sharing those miniature epiphanies you have that highlight the oddities within the familiar." Whether we’re talking about midlife crises, gummy worms or extra-terrestrial species, this powerhouse with more than 23.6m members is a collection of truly impressive insights.
We have taken some of their best posts that might leave you pondering all day long, so make sure to check them out below. And if you’re in the mood for some more, take a look at our earlier posts right here, here and here.
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Since its creation in 2011, the subreddit has been growing into one of the most popular pages on the whole platform. According to the moderators, "'Showerthought' is a loose term that applies to the types of thoughts you might have while carrying out a routine task like showering, driving, or daydreaming."
These flashes of genius are universally relatable and can let you in on the most amusing things within the mundane. Usually, when you think of such unexpected insights, you find yourself in certain circumstances: a familiar environment with no people to interrupt you and no devices to bother you.
As your body and mind relax, the overwhelming number of thoughts that are racing through your head start to slowly fade away. This gives an opportunity for brilliant ideas to appear as if by magic.
Bored Panda reached out to Nancy K. Napier, Ph.D., a Distinguished Professor at Boise State University (USA) and author of Unfolding Curiosity who has published widely on creativity and innovation. She was kind enough to have a little chat with us about the realizations we get while taking a shower.
When asked about the power of a shower and why is it considered to be a perfect place for the eureka effect, the professor told us that the reason behind it is simply because it’s an enclosed space, with warm comforting water, where you do something you don't have to think about.
"As you wash yourself for those three or five or ten minutes, you can let your mind wander and that's often when an idea will hit. Also, during these times when we're with our families in shutdowns, it might be one of the few chances to be alone with your thoughts," she explained.
That's what I think of the Mars station idea. If people can't follow basic rules here, how can we expect them to follow the very high number of rules living there would entail? One person could so easily sabotage the air or oxygen controls.
According to Napier, it can be hard to allow your thoughts to drift because we usually have some sort of information—music, podcasts, radio—coming into our minds most of the day. "To have the experience of a wandering mind, we need to intentionally turn OFF the extra information and think about nothing."
However, the shower is not the only place where brilliant ideas can come to us. There are more ways humans can let their minds go free: "I read recently that taking a walk is another great place for ideas, but the key is to simply walk. Leave the radio and podcasts at home."
"Then, while walking, look in three places and ideas will come: look above eye level (at buildings, trees), look straight ahead and look on the ground," Napier told us. She also mentioned that she tried it last week and came away with two new creative thoughts.
My band played at numerous football games in the freezing cold and then our concert was canceled three days before it was supposed to happen. Since when did sports have higher value than the fine arts.
Actually, the planetary impact that resulted in the creation of the Moon reduced the Earth (1.0) to a sterile ball of magma, which eventually became our Earth (2.0.) We have no idea what, if any life there was on 1.0, but it was completely exterminated even to the end of viruses and bacteria, if there were such things.
Hearing other people’s shower realizations attracts a lot of attention: "Many of us are looking for ways to do things differently to get better, which is the ultimate goal of creativity." The professor said that we can always gain something from another person's idea, and the most wonderful part of it is "that we can always generate new ones."
Because you can't wear sweatpants and start boredom eating at someone else's house
"Lots of people have noted that we no longer allow ourselves to become bored. Laying on grass and watching the clouds go by seems to be less common and yet it's another simple way to generate ideas," Napier mentioned.
Have you ever notices that the shoppers at Costco are Costco sized?
I know we hear all of the stories of wasted money and broke lottery winners, but its a little bit of observation bias as well. The people who win the lottery and handle the money well, whether they were well off before or not, aren't as interesting so do not get published. The best winners you never hear about and simply quietly live a better life for them and their family.
There’s a saying that creativity is like a muscle. If you want to become more innovative, you have to train it right. And as we found out, one way of achieving this goal is by simply doing… nothing. Nancy K. Napier leaves us with one encouraging thought for the next year: "Here's to setting aside 30 minutes a week to let yourself be bored in 2022!"
I've read that time goes faster when you're older because we no longer experience as many new things as when we're younger. When you're young you still do new things all the time, but when you're in your twenties or thirties you start to get a work/life routine that's mostly the same
Not in the UK: Even our national parks are very human landscapes, pocked with abandoned mines and farms. Not to mention the Norfolk broads, a landscape entirely created by peat extraction.
This always confused me. When the Jets came back to Winnipeg, I don't think any of the players were from Winnipeg, or Canadian at all. All fans are doing is rooting of the idea of the team being in the city.
Studies have shown that people who are chronically homeless do develop PSTD symptoms from not having regular, safe, full nights of sleep.
For me it's more like putting them on silent, I still get notifications but not out loud. Fibromyalgia is a complete d**k - 9.30am and I'm maxed out on dihydrocodeine already - gonna be a long day
What I find even more amazing is that even though Chris Pratt has his headphones on, we can still hear the song playing!
I've had 18 years of schooling, from preschool through a bachelor's degree. I've never once had a class that taught me where my organs are or very basic anatomy. I had a minor pain today and realized I had no idea what was there in my body. It seems like a very important part of education that was somehow missed.
Some people let them blink for minutes after they've already turned. The only thing that'd stop the blinking is because they turned the wheel later.
My blinker turns off if I turn the wheel at all. Not even turning, just switching lanes.
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My dear old dad, who was supposed to use a hearing aid, would sometimes drive for astonishing lengths of time with his turn signal on because he couldn't hear it ticking. He loved my Ford Focus that I bought in 2004 because he could actually hear the ticking of the turn signal. My parents bought me a brand new Mazda CX-5 for Christmas 2018 because he'd fallen extremely ill and I'd left my job to be his full time, live in caretaker. He couldn't hear the turn signal in that one when I'd drive him to his many doctor's appointments. He passed away in August of 2019 and fortunately the SUV had been bought with cash so I would never have to worry about making payments; taking on the care of my elderly, widowed mother as I have would have made it impossible for me to keep the SUV. Thanks for everything, dad. You were the best in every single way but I'd give everything I own to have you back ❣️
USA maybe, the big problem we have here is people who indicate to show what they *are* doing rather than what they *intend* to do.
What about the ones who drive with the flashers on. They're saying "Stand by, I could do anything." And the ones who only turn the signal on after they make their move. They're saying, "I just got ahead of you. Now I'll slow down."
Yahhhh... my hubby thought it was funny for a long time to hit the emergency flashers while i was driving. I started putting plastic figures around the button with that gummy stuff you hang posters with. He either forgot the button was there, decided it was getting old, or is luring me into a false sense of security before he does it again. >.>
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OR they think it's just fine to put on their turn signal ---- after they have turned
Yep. However, I'd say thisnis particularly bad in America, where turn signals are a flashing brake light. Who the hell decided that was a good idea?! *Sees half of the car at the front of the line ahead* "Are they turning or stabbing the brakes to avoid a dog?"
Yep. One thing I retained from the driver's ed manual was to wait until they actually start turning to pull out
Not me, but when its a 5 lane high way going my direction and you used it, went over one and left it on I get a little anxious about passing you with that stupid thing still blinking next to my lane, because I seen so many just pull in front of me going "what is blind spot?" But they find out they don't know how to turn it off in this case sigh
I had a bad accident once when the other driver had their right turn signal in so I pulled out-clipped his rear side panel and spun him a full 360 because he didn’t turn and had started speeding up.
And, if there's an accident, not using them can be considered contributory negligence
This is certainly an American thing. Where I live this does not happen.
Well, can't count how many times I've seen turn signals being used wrong (as many as not using them at all). And if you have 30 people in driving class getting theory explained, they all hear same sentence how to use turn signals but each of them understands it differently...
In my experience people either don't use turn signals at all or they use them like they should. In the Netherlands the police still does fine occasionally for incorrect or no use of the signals.
Exactly, especially if you assume they are turning a block down and you move and they swipe your car, but you get blamed
I usually find people use it properly, except sometimes on roundabouts
This makes me believe that the author thinks the websites are actually trying to filter out people. Requiring 18+ is a great form of enticement to 14 year old's.
That's cuz ears mouths and brains don't communicate well with each other, kinda like cia, fbi, and nsa
I used to do this math while biking home after my shift working at a bar. I was paid $2/hr plus tips. Some nights, the bar was really slow, and I'd make less than $15 for a full shift. Sometimes I'd see pennies, nickels, or dimes while cycling and calculate if it would be worth it for me to stop, turn around, get off my bike, and pick it up. Some nights, yes. Other nights, no. If I had a good shift, I'd gamble if the coin would still be there the next day and pick it up then. (P.S. Serving minimum wage sucks. If you live somewhere where tipped employees can be paid less than minimum wage, always tip. Tipping is an awful practice, but if you choose to be cheap about it, you're only hurting the worker.)
Note: this post originally had 73 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
It's they don't enjoy these posts at all but just keep coming back.
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I'd like to add to shower thoughts, if I may. It may or may not be original, but I giggled: Jock straps are basically ball bras.
It's they don't enjoy these posts at all but just keep coming back.
Load More Replies... I'd like to add to shower thoughts, if I may. It may or may not be original, but I giggled: Jock straps are basically ball bras.
