35 “It Can’t Be That Easy” Things That Turned Out To Actually Be Easy When People Tried Them
Interview With Author
Sometimes, we get in our own way far too much. We overthink. We overcomplicate things. We procrastinate. We think of a dozen little reasons why we can’t succeed. But finally taking action (and adding a dash of patience and persistence!) can make us realize that a task was far simpler than we ever thought it could be. Relatable? You have no idea!
Redditor u/UnoAboveAll recently went viral after starting up an interesting thread on r/AskReddit about some of the most memorable ‘it can’t be that easy/it was that easy’ moments people ever had. We’ve collected some of their best stories to motivate and energize you to get started on all of those tasks you’ve been avoiding. Meanwhile, check out Bored Panda’s interview with u/UnoAboveAll on dealing with overthinking and learning to embrace potential failure!
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Changing my bathroom faucet. I'm a 56-year-old woman that's never done any plumbing before. Turns out YouTube is a wealth of knowledge. It really wasn't that hard! I get joy every time I wash my hands knowing I did that.
Just like many of us, redditor u/UnoAboveAll, the author of the thread, is an overthinker. They told Bored Panda that most of the time, they don’t have a solution on how to deal with overthinking as a whole. However, what does help is actively taking breaks.
“I try to help myself by breathing and occupying my mind with other things. Filling my mind with anxiety and focusing too much on the harder things of life will only take away my sleep. Having time to organize my thoughts, one at a time, and deciding what to do later would be my best option,” they said.
“I know it’s hard. I have been there. Most of us have been there. But we all have our own way of relaxing. Choose your best hobby. Take your time, drink coffee, tea, or your favorite drink. And don’t forget that break time is important. Even if life it’s difficult, don’t forget to stay healthy, both physically and mentally,” they advised all the overthinkers out there to be kind to themselves and slow down.
The day I left my abusive ex husband. I was so scared to leave but scared to stay. But once I broke free other felt so easy looking back in hindsight.
Congratulations!! That took a lot of guts and I hope you are happy now. My friend was in an abusive relationship (and she had a baby) and I just told her to grab her baby, jump in the car and leave. She could come to my house and stay here or whatever. She was scared... One day she did just that. Picked her child up from MIL and put him in the car and just drove to a big city - to the cops. My advice was to save the nasty text messages and she did. Showed them to the cops, called him and put him on speaker and oh boy, the foul and aggressive things he said got her all the help she needed. She and her son (my godson) are now healthy, safe and happy. Hooray :)
Got a salary request when applying for a job, accidentally wrote double what I meant to write since the number keys were right next to each other. They accepted anyway.
As we’ve previously covered on Bored Panda, people generally tend to spend a lot of time thinking and ruminating on the negative aspects of life. In short, we’re all pretty anxious about making mistakes in the future. Somewhat ironically, the more we think about the errors we might have made in the past, the more likely we can be to repeat them.
And while you’re busy overthinking every single detail, opportunities are passing you by. For some individuals, the fear of making a decision and eliminating all other possible choices is what’s scary. However, not making a decision is actually a choice in itself. A passive one. The antidote to overthinking is taking action and committing to a decision. It won’t come easy at first, but we can train ourselves to be more proactive and to trust our first impressions in any given situation. The longer we wait, the more lost we might feel.
Going back to school.
I've been toying with the idea for years telling myself it was too far, too expensive, too time consuming etc and that because I had a home, job and child to maintain I couldn't do it.
Something in me finally cracked recently and I thought f**k it and made a call to a tech school nearby. 3 days later I'm on a tour. The tour is maybe an hour or 2 total. Papers were all done online annnnd I start Monday! They also threw a TON of financial aid at me. I'm only gonna pay about 50$ a month until I've graduated and those payments go up to about 95$. Still very manageable.
My classes are only four hours long, they're at night, and I only have to be in class 2 days a week. The rest of my studies are done at home with a tablet they provide me so I don't even have to buy a computer or anything.
Couldn't believe how easy and affordable it actually was. They estimate I finish my program in about 8-10 months.
Found a 60” tv by the dumpster. Plugged it in, didn’t turn on. Looked up common problems with the model number, bought a part on eBay for $20, replaced part, had a huge TV.
when i started my add medication - i never knew how life could be and how easy it was to just get up and do stuff
changed my life for the better and i’ve managed to turn so many things around, cant believe it took me 18 years to get diagnosed
Man, you get so used to your normal. So when you get on meds, you're like "hang on, crippling anxiety isn't the norm?".
Now, failure isn’t something that many people actively enjoy. We’re all social animals, so our reputation and whether we’re respected both carry a lot of weight. However, focusing on your reputation alone and being scared of making mistakes can make you miss out on lots of opportunities in life, including solving apparent problems and trying potentially fun new things. Hardly any success in life is simply handed to us. We have to make mistakes, readjust our approach, and try again. It’s the way that learning works. None of us were born ‘perfect.
In redditor u/UnoAboveAll’s opinion, trying new things may be hard for many. “Most people make monsters out of small things, and it’s understandable. I have been overseas for 5 years right now, studying college in a different country. It was a hard adaptation, it was hard trying to figure out what to do,” they opened up to Bored Panda that they’ve dealt with failure many times, not just once or twice. They’ve had thoughts about giving up cross their minds plenty of times. However, they persevered.
“Failure is part of our lives. Many of us fail once or twice, but that’s what makes us human. It’s in failure that we are thoughts lessons. I don’t think that failure makes us wrong or worse than others. I do think that failure can lead us to better thinking: I can be better than my past self. And it’s what drives me further,” they pointed out that it’s this constant evolution that helps humanity progress as a whole.
One of the kids I babysit was going through a phase of “I want to be a baby again”. Jealous of her sister. Weeks of gentle parenting and such.
You know what worked? I was eating ice cream and she wanted some. I said babies don’t get ice cream.
That was it. She was done.
My niece works with developmentally challenged teens. One of them had been refusing to poop for years. They had to negociate for hours and promise him he could use the iPad after he was done. My niece decided to only give him the iPad while he was pooping. Problem solved.
I was at a locally well known, upscale restaurant one time. I had ordered sweet potato fries, and it came with the most amazing dipping sauce I had ever had. Tangy, spicy, the whole package. So I figured I didn’t have anything to lose, and asked the waitress if I could have the recipe. She said she’d ask the chef, but of course I figured they’d say no.
A short time later, she came out and handed me a photocopy of the recipe. And that was that. I’ve made the sauce a few times since, and it’s still just as amazing.
Honestly, after being incredibly broke, I remember how easy everything suddenly seemed when I had money.
Car broken? Get it fixed. Sick? Go to the doctor. Need a babysitter? Hire one.
Money makes everything so much easier and less disruptive to life.
I knew I'd made it when I put my bills on auto-pay.
“Don’t fear failure. Ironically, when you fail, embrace it. And use it as a subject to drive you further. Of course, it can also mean you shouldn’t try to fix your own sink without a manual,” they quipped that embracing failure is a wonderful and mature approach, but that we should also fail in a smart way, not just doing random things.
The most mature thing you can do is embrace your feelings of embarrassment if you happen to make a mistake. These are very uncomfortable feelings, but you should do your best to not run away from them: you’ll become more resilient when dealing with embarrassment in the future.
Some things that can help you deal with them include laughter and considering the consequences of your past failures: oftentimes, things were never as bad as we’d previously imagined they would be. We survived. Now it’s up to us to turn all of our past failures into learning experiences.
Every couple of months, after staring at a pile of important-looking mail with dread, I grit my teeth, suppress further procrastination, and start working through the pile.
Ten minutes later, I’m done, and pissed at myself for worrying about it for so long instead of just doing it.
*Every* damn time.
I wish sometimes that people with ADD could take a doctors note to the post office that says “important mail only” to avoid the brain drain of the daily slog of sorting through a dozen advertising fliers to find the one doctor bill I need to pay or else. 🤦
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Yeah, don't do this. My MIL struggled with her post and left a lot of it unopened unless she knew what it was. When I finally got through to the bank statements, I found that the electricity company had been overcharging her for years (they were estimating bills) and she had accrued over £4k in credit on her account, which I managed to get returned to her. I now regularly check her post with her and she is not afraid to open things any more.
I too, had this crippling anxiety. It's so hard to push through time and time again. Well done, OP! I got over it, too. Hope it never comes back!
I feel this so much. Story of my life. Last minute studying for exams and doing papers and assignments, to today, catching up on anything, and I'm almost 80 now. I feel !Ike a fool every time.
I think very many people feel this way. I have a social phobia brought in by mobility issues. Went the doctors surgery today and managed to make an appointment without having a panic attack, feeling like I've really achieved something. 😊
My doctor likes to use depression as the reason why I have ADHD symptoms. Symptoms I've had for oh so long.
Someone suggested I use the OHIO method- Only Handle It Once. Yeah, sounds easy. Hahaha
I learned this "skill" from my parents. They did the same thing. I blame them.
When I was a kid in the 80’s, my family was broke. We were two pay checks away from living in our car. We did have to live in our car for a few months before my mom landed her job. Anyway, imagine a single mother of three,who works 3 jobs just to make ends meat.
I was just attending jr high school. 8th grade. And I was playing in the back of our house. I noticed something in the dumpster that I haven’t seen before. I fished it out and brought it home. It was a computer. A monitor, keyboard, and tower thing. At that time monitors sat on top of the box. And they were HUGE! Not to mention expensive. I managed to set it up and it was already booting into windows 3.1. When my mom got home, she was LIVID! She thought I stole it. We cant afford anything close to that. No way! But once she saw the grass stains on the side, she knew.
We had that computer for 4 years. It helped me in ways I can’t even believe. Because of that computer, my love of electronics and my curiosity flourished. No, I am not a computer tech now, but I am the resident computer nerd for my family. I make a living online, and I attribute most of my knowledge to what I can google. So yeah! It WAS that easy!
I've hated every job I've ever had, at 18 I joined the military for 6 years....that sucked the whole time, then went into customer service at Walmart, and they were a bunch of a******s to everyone. Tried security and they were just degrading. Job after job doing what I thought was the right thing. I decided to apply for a local HVAC company just working call center, nothing big, I think there a total of 9 of us on phones. Honestly it's the best job I've ever had, we all get along, spend hours a day on our group chat sharing memes, our management has one on one meetings every two weeks with the goal of "this meeting is not work related but we want to know just how your doing, how's life treating you, what do you need?"
There's constant communication about expectations and how we can better meet them and how they can help us perform better. The majority of the companies profits are used to better employee lives (I get monthly commission and residuals, and $30 a month healthcare with BCBS) along with monthly pot lucks, paid lunches, competitive pay starting at $17 an hour. I haven't seen any turnover...literally none, my position was only hiring because too many people got promoted.
According to the author of the thread, they never expected that their question would get that much attention online. At the time of writing, their post had 36.5k upvotes. We were curious about the inspiration behind the question.
“What I had in mind was thinking about a very interactive question, where people would be willing to share their experiences,” they told Bored Panda that they wanted other internet users to share their own stories.
One time I tightened my gas cap and the check engine light went off.
I actually have an relevant answer.
So I'm a disabled guy. And a little person. Lived my entire life in my parents house that wasn't at all accessible and was looking to move out into my own apt. I never understook anything by myself much less something so huge.
I got into the waiting list of an accessible apt for "poor" folk. I got it in THREE MONTHS. It literally changed my life. I now live on my own and no one limits how many gummy 🐻 I eat.
Dancing in my wheelchair. I don’t have legs so I never hit the dance floor, but once you’re there, you just move and let go
The OP pointed out that plenty of people are scared to go for truly hard tasks like getting a degree or starting a business. So they wanted to take a peek at some opposite situations. They wanted to find out what people have tried that seemed hard at first, but with a bit of courage, they realized that they had it all backward!
“That would be not only inspiring to me but to other people as well, as seen in the replies. I’m very proud of many people in the replies and how they weren’t scared of trying out new things.”
I had accepted a new job but was anxious about giving my notice at my old job (I had been there for 8 years and really loved my team). I had also been stressed out that I was taking a week off between jobs because it was a stretch financially. I finally set up a meeting with my boss. I couldn't even sleep the night before.
An hour before I was going to give my notice, my boss's boss called me into a meeting. With HR. I was being laid off (along with a large number of other employees). They were so sorry, my boss's boss was in tears. She promised they would "take care of me". Anyway, I got 20 weeks of severance and a full three weeks of between jobs. Unfuckingbelievable. The best thing that's ever happened to me.
I was so shocked that I almost started laughing during the meeting and had to pretend I was trying not to cry.
Drinking water.
Went from having issues getting to sleep and then waking up grumpy and tired. Water has changed my life. Thought it would be super difficult to kick soda, but once I tried and didn’t give in the benefits out weight the taste.
So glad to live in a place i can drink straight from the tap. Travelled a lot and it amazes me how much places rely on bottled water (some needed, some not) and one of the the biggest cons that something that is so essential to life is monetised in such a way.
Worked on an almost 5 million dollar lighting rig for a concert as a junior guy on the job. We get it all plugged in and patched but none of it would turn on. All the guys were freaking out trying to figure out why. The team collectively had about 150 years of experience.
No one checked to see if the generators were turned on.
I was like no way this is why but I'll just go check if the generators are good. Flipped stuff on and viola.
I bought a Dyson V7 Vacuum that wasn't working for 55 Euros on eBay. I thought I'd try to replace the battery with a knockoff and if it didn't work, send the battery back and sell the dyson for the same money. It didn't work but I noticed I could register it for warranty. I called the support and (because I like to be honest) told the guy It's a used device and I didn't have a receipt. The guy said it doesn't matter if it's used as long as the serial number is still eligible for warranty. They sent me a new battery twice and when that didn't work as well, they told me to send the motor in. A week or so later I received a package with a brand new Dyson V8.
Edit: Forgot to mention: Dyson is really expensive but their support is first class as well. The guy on the phone really did know a lot and was very nice and helpful.
Wow, that Is good support! I have a robot vacuum, that at a little over a year old, started having problems with the battery. The company refuses to fix it, saying the whole thing has a 2-year guarantee, but the battery only one. Cheap f*****s!
Solving a decade of disability with an over-the-counter iron supplement.
Edit: I seem to have convinced a number of people they're iron deficient and that they should start taking iron pills. While iron is unlikely to be harmful in over-the-counter doses over the short-term, in the long-term it can literally kill you. *If at all possible,* get medical supervision for doing this. I'm doing it on my own because I can't convince my doctor I'm deficient when I definitely am, but this carries risks with it.
Cleaning my toilet and sink after months of depression.
I feel this on evergy level possible. Depression is one of those silent conditions and it's hard to explain to others why you "can't" do something. Good for you
Standing up for myself, and no longer being afraid to "upset" others by simply existing lol
Stopped eating out and started making meals (real food) at home, then started doing the dishes before bed every night so the kitchen isn't messy. Life is a million percent better and I have way more money.
I started looking for a job last year and got three offers within two months, two of which were significantly higher pay. Made me realize I’ve been sitting around way too long.
I had a hard crush on a boy in my class in highschool, and decided (with a bit of insistence of my friend) to ask him out. I said I liked him. He said "Me too, but about you"
We've been married for 7 years. I got very lucky.
I was drunk at a party and saw a cute girl. Stumbled over to her and literally said, "You're cute, can I have your number?"
Nearly a decade later, she's next to me with our child asleep on her lap.
Sometimes, getting the date is just that easy.
(To shame her even further, she was *sober!* I was blitzed enough to silence all my normal second-guessing and internal thoughts that get in my own way, but she had a drunken nerd just straight-up ask her out, no small talk or anything, and decided that it was a good idea!)
Getting a job working for the US Department of Defense.
I'd always thought that those kind of jobs required prior military service, and a whole host of various degrees or such to actually get a job with them. Saw a job opening for one site near where I lived, and thought "what the hell?" So I applied. I honestly didn't expect to even get a call back, or anything.
I not only get a call back, but get hired for the job. The requirements were far more lenient than I expected. All it really required was a clean criminal record, and a willingness to learn.
Ended up working as a waste water treatment tech for them, and eventually got an environmental engineering degree with their help.
Lived in Jersey and a friend invited me to a commercial audition at an NYC bar. Went because of bar. Auditioned after 2 beers. Left thinking it was a waste of time. A month later, I get a call that they want to use me for the commercial. Director was the guy who directed the original Space Jam. I got lines and ended up in two of their commercials and got a 40k payday where I thought someone made a clerical error. Started my acting career and now a writer/director/flight attendant.
I wanted to meet my favorite band, so I just… quietly didn’t leave the venue once security started showing people out. I guess they thought I must’ve been a roadie, because they never got on my case. Anyway, I met them, yadda yadda, now I’m a professional concert lighting designer
Previous owners left a "broken" fridge in the kitchen when we moved in. Like literally put it in the paperwork that the fridge was broken and that they weren't going to dispose of it.
Made plans to get a new one the week we moved in, but just for sh**s and giggles decided to plug the old one in to see what was wrong. 4 years later and we're still using it without issue. We did find that the push to connect plastic water line for the ice maker was leaking a bit so we replaced that for about $2.
In my late teens/early 20s I landed several good admin jobs that required a degree I didn’t have. Turns out when they say “bachelors degree” they just meant “sound middle class on the phone”.
Edit: There seems to be some confusion with people thinking I faked credentials. I didn't lie, I don't know why so many people are assuming that. I just sent in my resume that listed my previous work experience with a professional cover letter, then made sure to call after hours and leave a followup voicemail. All they really needed for the job was someone who can write a professional email and sound good on the phone, so they'd call me back for an interview.
So, tip for job seekers. Many job adverts have a hidden list of "must haves" and "nice to have". Unless the job genuinely requires a specific set of knowledge you can only get from a qualification, a lot of what they list as "must haves" really belong in the other column. Having a Bachelor's degree in the essentials column is really hoping self-selecting out will do a lot of the filtering for them. Many jobs only require that you are clean, well presented, can count and can spell (starting with your own *name* and that of the company - I really wish I was joking about this). And yes, this is classist and other ists too. Note - this is primarily entry level jobs.
Self improvement and reflection. Stopped looking at outside factors in my life and started looking at what I could control. Weight, time, who I spent time with, etc. I didnt need to change my whole life in one day. I needed to make small progress. Spending one day less a week on gaming and one day a week on improving myself is better then not improving at all. Allowing myself to fail *with intent* to improve is so much easier now that I dont spend time with negative people that demand perfection.
I run a support group for women that are coming out of domestic violence situations, homelessness, incarceration, rehab, etc. The main thing I tell them all is if you relapse and let it define you and use it as an excuse to continue the negative behavior then you’re not ever going to make any improvements. If you relapse and learn from it, and use it as a reminder as to why you want to stay sober the next time you think about relapsing, then you’re moving forward and making progress. It doesn’t matter if it’s an inch, or a mile, forward is forward…not everyone had the ability to travel at the same pace.
Building a pc. With so many sophisticated videos on youtube that doesn't explain/teach very well makes me think it's hard to build a pc.
I tried it once and apparently it was just an adult lego, but easier.
In college the professor advertised an internship and wrote the info on the board. Out of a class of 150 students, I was the only one to apply and I fulfilled my internship requirement for graduation.
The photo guy’s knee looks like a random potato just hanging out on that chair.
Calling people on the phone is the best way to force a decision. In the age of chat and email, a five minute phone call usually solves problems that hour long meetings can’t.
Lost 25 pounds and all I had to do was stop eating before bed.
All the students pretty much bombed a networking final. Teacher said we could retake it but we would be alone (no group). Which worked out perfectly for me; they wouldnt get in my way and i wouldnt have to coordinate them
i was also the only person who showed up to retake. brought my final grade up to a 90
I had a loose hinge on my door. It kind of drove me crazy for three years, but I had no idea how to fix the wood that had been stripped. Then I found a product on Amazon for $10 where you shove on a sleeve, break it off and then screw in the new screws. Bought two new hinges that don’t squeak. Took about 10 minutes and cost $20 and it’s no longer a problem!
Edit: Product is called Screw-It-Again. About $10 for 10 of them on Amazon.
The power steering failed on my Acura. My local Acura dealership wanted to charge me well over $1000 to fix it. I bought a power steering pump off Amazon for $70 and found a You Tube video that explained how to fit it. I don't have any car maintenance experience bit it only took a couple of hours to do the job myself and it worked like a charm.
To be honest it can be woth it to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a skilled mechanic to do the job, both because you are sure they did it corectly and because you don't have to spend those hours doing it yourself. And the Amazon-part was probably no-brand or pirated (though they _can_ be just as good, they can also be s**t. Are you competent to tell the difference?) while the dealership sells the parts specifically made for your car. More expensive but safer, and then they add a bit for having it on shelf so you don't have to wait a week for it to arrive. Another bit for paying rent and electricity, salaries, taxes, etc. And then $1000 is still a lot of money, but absolutely not an unreasonable price.
Negotiating a pay rise. Rumour got around work that I could use a computer. They tried me out on the CNC machine. Turns out my hobby of playing with computer programming for the past 20 years meant I was absolutely fantastic at it. Turns out fixing the edge banding machine isn't that hard if you learn how it works. Suddenly I was the most valuable person in the place.
I expected to just get a pay rise because I have the stupid belief that people should get what they deserve. No pay rise was forthcoming after 18 months. I am a fairly anxious person but I with some encouragement from my friends and family, I worked myself up to asking. The first time I asked, my boss just chuckled. I don't think he was being condescending, I just think the way I framed it sounded like a joke. The second time I asked, my boss said he'd think about it. I immediately started looking for a new job...
Turns out, I am a highly desirable employee. Within 2 weeks, I'd had 3 job offers. I resigned. Everyone was sad. My bosses panicked. Asked what I wanted to stay. I demanded a fairly high wage for my trade to stay. They didn't even hesitate to give it to me. Now I'm the highest paid person in the place.
And the moral of the story, children, is that our bosses don’t have our best interests at heart. (Except for that person at the HVAC call center who loves their job…)
I never slept well, ever.
There’s an over the counter magnesium supplement called “calm”. I drink a cup every night and sleep like a hibernating bear.
It was that easy.
Learning to drive. First time around failed the written test by one question and it made me really anxious about the whole thing. Tried again a little while later and it was surprisingly easy, and the behind the wheel test was even easier.
I eventually ended up retrying and getting my license because I was sick of being the one 16 (almost 17 at that point) year old in my friend group who needed to be picked up whenever we went anywhere.
phew I'm so glad I don't really need a driver's license where I live. I didn't want to drive a car even as a child (I also always vomited) - it always scared me because there is so much potential danger in a car. After my sister almost died when she was hit by a car, I couldn't even walk across the street without fear for years. A driver's license would actually be important for my job, which is why I finally went to a driving school. According to the driving instructor, I was pretty good too, but when the exam came closer, I broke down. I just know that I can't drive a car on my own. without someone at my side to brake or swerve in an emergency. I would not react fast enough or even just freeze. I've done martial arts for years and I know my bad reflexes. and I know that if someone was harmed through my fault, I couldn't live with it. My depression makes everyday life difficult enough as it is. A huge weight lifted from my heart after making the decision to never drive. it
My entire life is this moment. My parents and grandparents all had this really annoying habit of making anything and everything sound way harder or more requiring of great discipline than it actually is. And whenever I'd perform the feat, and realize how insultingly easy it was, I'd be left a little offended while my family would cheer me on. I never could tell if I was offended because I expected a harder challenge or offended because my own family thought I couldn't handle something so simple. Maybe it's an ego thing, maybe it's maybelline. I don't fuggin' know.
After I started turning 18, I started treating everything like it's easier than it looks so I didn't let my mind get caught up thinking I couldn't do it at all. The result of this was that I became one of the handiest and most skilled people in my group. But now when I'm alone at my desk, I start hesitating to begin tasks for my personal projects because I still have the bodily anxiety of disappointing others or falling flat on my face because of this particular "moment."
My mother has this habit of making me wary of trying anything new, noticed it in my grandmother too. Both lovely women but tend to have an apprehensive approach to life. I catch myself veering this way more often than I like to admit and have to manually steer my mind to be positive or daring. I understand the need for caution in one's life but jeez
Was so ill for years and years
Literally so sick I thought I had stomach cancer or something
Naw my gallbladder was just slowly killing me, got that b***h removed and I’m like a new person
I used to feel sick every day for years. I just got used to it and thought it was normal. But then, I noticed that I wasn't growing. Apparently, I had a gluten, egg, and dairy allergy. So I had been feeding my body allergens for years, prompting an immune response. Instead of using the food to grow, it was fighting it off. Now that I'm on a new diet, I feel much better! :)
For months, I had been applying for tons of jobs on every platform I could find. Talking to friends to get critiques on my resume/cover letter. Updating my online portfolio. Etc. Then one day a recruiter messaged me out of the blue on LinkedIn and basically handed me a dream job. It was one interview and then a call to say hey you're hired. I legitimately thought it was a scam right up until my first day of work.
Sometimes it is that easy. Sometimes the recruiter is dishonest and promises you things they can't deliver and you end up in a s****y job. Glad you came out on top with this one, OP.
Deciding to stop dealing with my life going in no direction after leaving a career that I went to college for a decade prior. I had something in the back of my mind for a long time that I wanted to do. I finally couldn’t take the feeling of being stuck so I applied to a local community college to take some prerequisites and started class less than 2 weeks later. I am pretty sure I cried once I did it because the relief of finally having some direction again and felt like a weight lifted off of me. I could literally feel the change in my body once I registered.
As a 47 year old graduating in 8 months with my first bachelor's... I completely understand how this feels
Raising my teenager.
I was regaled with horror stories about teens, but he was so easy. All it took was mutual respect and a genuine liking of one another.
Fwiw, he's now a very well-adjusted adult.
Same with my son. We've never had any problems, no teenage rebellion, no drugs/drinking/smoking/vaping, etc. Good kid, good student, good worker, good person and friend. Hugs and tells his poor old momma here that he loves her in front of other people/friends (gasp!). He enjoys staying at home, building WWI & WWII dioramas, plays drums and guitar, loves reading historical nonfiction. His friends are all good kids with same interests and they all enjoy hanging at our place. I feel like I hit the kid jackpot with how easy it's been raising this terrific person! If I had been able to have another kid it probably would have been the devil, lol! Thanks buddy, I love you!!!
The bar exam. I thought I must have missed something or fallen into a bunch of traps because I finished early and everyone talked about how hard it was after. Turns out I just prepared well. I got a score way above passing and only 50 percent of takers passed that session overall.
For the state nursing boards, the test can either tell you know your stuff or not right away and cut off or continue until you've shown that you know enough. I was told to expect the test to be several hours. I got to the testing center and I was very nervous. I was not confident in any of my answers. I just did the best I could. The test cut me off after 30 minutes. I was so positive that I failed and failed badly. I had many tearful nights waiting almost a month for my results. I passed! It's all multiple choice and graded by computer. WTF could they not just give us the results when the test ended?
I'm a 24f who knows absolutely nothing about cars. Well I bought myself a nice front/rear dash cam without considering how to safely wire it, and found out I would have to remove parts of my car to wire it behind airbags and stuff (so it wouldn't prevent an airbag from deploying properly). I thought I was gonna have to pay someone to install for me, but turns out a simple YouTube video walked me through the whole thing! Now my dashcams look professionally installed. I also learned how to change a blown fuse on the same day because my USB adapter wasn't working. I was high on the achievement of something new and had a brief hyper-fixation on learning to mod my car but thankfully got over it lol.
In a bar on a work night just for a couple of drinks with a mate.
Briefly talked to a girl at the bar when I was ordering a drink. I left an hour later and said goodbye to her as I was walking out.
She asked if she ‘could come with me’ I was like ‘oh I’m just going home’ and she said ‘yes I know’. Completely hit me out of the blue, I was like ‘oh right…. Ah.. yeah sure, you can absolutely come with me’.
I was sus and confused about it. But all went well. Turns out she had been stood up for a date and sat there for an hour or so by herself. And I was just in the right place and the right time.
Edit due to the questions in the comments:
We had a good time and good banter that night and the next morning. But no we never saw each other again.
She was mortified by the age difference. She was 28 years old and I was 21 year old 1st year graduate at a finance firm. ‘I knew you were young, but what kind of f*k’n 21 year old wears a suit to a bar on a Thursday night’ was about the line.
I think she clicked that things were off when she saw the super market shopping trolley in the living room (flatmates doing who was still at uni).
It was all in good faith though, good times were had.
nice to see something wholesome and that she felt she could trust you.
Reigniting a friendship. My current best friend lived abroad for a year and we hadn't really met in person much if at all for a while before then either, only texting every now and then. When she moved back I asked if she wanted to meet up, and now we're really close.
a year isnt that long dude. I didn't speak to a friend for about 10 years and one day he just dropped into my facebook messenger.
Currently have an outrageously well paying job of over €200k+ as a software developer. I am not particularly intelligent nor enthusiastic about programming in any way.
I have just kinda stumbled into better after better paying jobs through the years. I'm just a friendly and dependable person who gets s**t done with zero fuss, it has all come so easily that I often wonder how the genuinely talented developers I know aren't on absolutely silly money.
They might not have the people skills or they might have low self-esteem and/or not be good at negotiating. They might just be ugly - I know, I know that sounds super harsh but there have been a gazillion studies that show that we mentally endow handsome people with even faces with more intelligence and skill than someone with a face only a mother can love. There are many factors.
Got a job that required full time field work for minimal pay...in AZ.
On my first day they asked about other skills. I saw other people using Autocad so I said I used it in college but I was really rusty..... This was a lie. I had only ever used it once to draw some circles.
They were excited and got me a 4 day refresher class. I learned AutoCAD and haven't been in the field in over a year.
I later asked for more pay since I wasn't a field tech anymore. They said no. I got another job using autoCAD for double salary.
Pro tip: learn AutoCAD C3D. It's not that hard, and boomers will think you're a tech god.
Displaying AutoCAD skills to a boomer is like waving a cigarette lighter in front of Stone Age tribesmen. Edit: I was just continuing the joke from the last line of this list entry. My apologies to everyone who was offended. I thought Baby B**mers was the accepted designation for that generation. My understanding was that B**mer was just a shortened form of that designation, and not a slur. I was under the impression it was all good-natured generational ribbing… “You young people don’t want to work!” “OK B**mer.” Now that I know it has turned truly nasty I will no longer participate.
No longer caring about what other people thought about me. One day I cared, then the next day, I was just so emotionally exhausted that I just said f**k it. Never really cared since.
I don't really care what people think of me. I dress/look a certain way to make myself happy, not to chase someone's approval.
Tying shoe laces.
When I was a kid, no one ever managed to teach me how to tie my shoes. I remember never being able to get that last step that ties it all together and in general I suck with knots. I would have been garbage in the boy scouts. I got into my early 20's relying mostly on velcro shoes.
But one day I sat down with a pair of new shoes determined to figure it out. I put one on and tied it correctly on the first try. I just sat there dumbfounded for a few minutes wondering how it had been that easy all along.
My ex told our son who was 5 at the time he would give him $10 if he tied his shoes as we were getting ready to leave for a movie night. Took about 5 minutes but shoes were tied correctly! Ex was sure he wouldn't have to pay out, I made sure our son got his $10. Also, I forgot to mention that the previous day I had worked off and on helping our son learn to tie shoes, oops!🤫😄
My divorce.
No lawyers, no fighting. I gave her the house, she makes more than me so no alimony/child support, just filled out the paperwork, paid the nominal court fees, and it's all good. I see my kids every few days and we have both moved on and get along.
I was recently looking for an apartment and rent in my city, like most cities currently, is outrageous
So after three days of looking I found this 2 bedroom apartment with a price that normally would get you a roach infested one bedroom/studio shithole in a bad part of town
But these apartments look nice, they're in a good part of town, the reviews online are all positive, I can't figure out the catch-- then I see there is a year long wait list for this place, but I decide to go to the leasing office and after talking to the property manager, I get bumped to the top of the list for an apartment that becomes available next month
I keep waiting for the bottom to drop out. Most people spend months looking for places in my city and they'd be paying a third more than I'm paying at a minimum for a similar place. I looked for 3 days and found this place but I think I just got lucky and it was just that easy
In a different BP list will be someone posting about how life is hard because the wait list for their apartment got inexplicably longer.
Fixing clogged drains.
Started out because my sink drain plug wouldn't stay up. Poked around under the sink and found the pop-up rod had rusted completely through and broken. Cost me $5 for a new one at the plumbing supply store next to where I worked at the time. Took 5 minutes to figure out how to swap, and now I know how sink and shower drains come apart, which makes unclogging them simple. Maybe it's just me, but in my brain it seemed like that was something I'd have to call a plumber to come unclog, but it's all remarkably simple.
My husband is a plumber and you can not always unclog a drain by taking it apart because the clog is not always in the drain part that you see but farther down the line in the wall or through the floor. You shouldn't put stuff like acid or draino down your lines either because it eats pipes from the inside out. As a maintenance he tells people boil large pot of water and pour it down all drains. Kitchen I do weekly, bathroom monthly, laundry tub weekly.
I made a 13th century "pirate" style shirt by hand no machine with a YouTube video I like sewing but I'm not the best at it so it made me feel good about doing things that seem hard
I learned how to ride a bike later (at 14, now I’m 24). At the time, I thought it would be impossible, but it literally was one foot after the other.
Hey, I learned it in my late 20ies. It's never too late. Though my bike and me had a bad start together... After one month of learning it got stuck in a streetcar rail. I fell off and broke my left leg ^^" After a few months - as soon as I was able to bend my knee juuust enough - I hopped on my bike again. Sweating and nervous for the first days but that feeling subsided and now nothing could tear us apart. It's my main vehicle :D
Telling a barber that you do no want your hair to be cut that short. He actually did not mind me saying it and noted it.
I used to get my hair cut at sports clips but they only know how to do masculine haircuts. So now, I get to go to a salon because my parents noticed how much I hated my new haircuts.
Getting my pilot license.
To be fair, I did study a lot but it was one of those things I wasn't sure I was gonna do well on. My instructor said I'm ready but I wasn't sure.
Day of the checkride, I answered every question correctly and without hesitation and did every maneuver correctly. We parked and my examiner said "so how's it feel to be a private pilot" I thought in my head "there's no way" even though I did everything right with relative ease
Spent a year thinking my bathroom electrical outlet was broken and needed a repair. One day someone suggested flipping the breaker. It was that easy.
Breaking up with someone who isn't good for me. I stayed wayyyyyy too long in relationships that I didn't want to be in.
Once I learned to like myself, I realized I don't have to settle-i didn't mind being alone in between. And because I liked myself, I started to draw the type of people I actually wanted to be around, and who made me want to keep challenging myself to be better.
If you're in a relationship where your heart aches all the time, where you're accepting less than love and respect and kindness, and if you're in a position to leave and still be safe, just do it. Even if you don't like yourself yet, you will. (And you certainly won't if you stay in a relationship that's toxic, so... Just do it!!!)
This is true for all relationships, not just romantic. Surround yourself with people you like to be around, and who like to be around you.
Time is all we have, invest wisely
You know that whole Airline thing about put your own mask on first before you assist someone else? This applies to EVERY aspect of your life. You need to love yourself first before you can really love someone else. And, as a parent, you can’t take care of your kids if you can’t take care of yourself.
Losing weight. It is the first few days that are the toughest and most people cant get through those. Once I was able to get through the first week I was able to lose 40lbs in 3 months with much ease.
Getting involved in the music industry behind the scenes.
* Attended a music festival I really liked
* At the end, went to the organizer and said I had a great time and would be willing to help in the future
* Get asked to help at the same event next year
* Keep working the event, getting tons of experience, and getting on a first name basis with a bunch of bands I loved
Getting physically fit. Just 20 minutes of strength exercises maybe 4-6 days a week. It just shocked me how little effort it really took, and how much of a positive effect it had on me in basically every single way.
Applying for my Irish passport. My dad was born there, so I’m a naturalized citizen. I hate paperwork, so avoided ever filling out my application. Turns out it takes 10 minutes online.
I was trying to activate windows XP and 7 on an old computer a few years ago for giggles and software compatibility. I couldn't get them to accept my key because the servers were shut down. I tried calling the phone number they had listed and it gave me a code for my windows one I entered my key. It was super easy. Best of all, I didn't have to talk to a person, a robot took care of it all.
When I applied to college I applied for an Irish American scholarship. Turns out they had so few applicants they just gave me $40k towards my tuition. I am not even remotely Irish.
This one seems a little dishonest. I would think being part Irish was a requirement. Irish GoatGirl we need your expertise on this one.
Suing someone in Small Claims. It was surprisingly easy because my case was rock solid and I had a professionally printed document of evidence, witness statements, and precise records sent over to the court while the Defendant did literally nothing but send unlabeled loose printouts of *my* Facebook page as her so-called evidence.
It was a very quick judgment for plaintiff!
I learned about the importance of good evidence from Judge Judy. She doesn't pull any punches!
Made a career transition at 34 to what I've always wanted to do.
Building muscle. I still struggle to shift fat but whatever way I’m wired, it’s incredibly easy to pack on muscle in the gym.
It’s totally still newbie gains but there was a lot of change for not very much effort.
Designing and building two beautiful leaded glass window panes for our bathroom window. It’s pretty much like putting together a puzzle but you get to decide what shape the pieces are.
Went to the bar one night with some friends, ran into a girl that had worked for me a few years earlier. Said hi, chatted for a minute, she asks me where my girlfriend is. I let her know we broke up a couple months earlier. She is like "oh cool, well I'm here with my friends and I'm going to go hang out with them but if you want to hook up after the bar closes, I've always wanted you." I blink about 10 times in a row, "uh, that sounds awesome". And we did.
My job.
Big news for fanboys of rich people telling you that you're as rich as the effort you put in: the hardest fu***ing jobs i had were the ones that paid the least. Get into the below-the-minimum-wage category and it will most likely be the kind of a job that physically deteriorates your body over time. Get to the minimum wage and it's the kind of job that sucks so much energy out of you that you can only lay in bed mindlessly and let the rest of your life rot. Get yourself a job that pays twice as much as the minimum wage and after a full day of work you still have enough energy to enjoy life. Three times as much - you technically work 8 hours a day but in practice they hired you to do this one thing that no-one else knows how to do and it only has to be done on rare occasions, so they pretty much pay you to be around just in case you're needed.
yep. Find a job that requires an obscure skill and you'll never work a day in your life.
Getting over the fear of doing something routine you never imagined doing. It took me a while but it is both fun and can save money.
Simple car maintenance from oil changes, seasonal tire changes, air filters, battery change, to replacing rotors and brake pads (never did do drums because lack of cars having drums anymore). I learned it from watching others and asking questions. I do it for my family and the in-laws because the money saved turns out to be significant when you have 6 cars to do. However, I'm too old to fight the -10 C cold outside, so if something happens in the winter months -- straight into the mechanics.
That lead to servicing my snow thrower in the spring and prepping in the fall (the belt is a huge pain in the butt though). I do the lawn mowers for the neighbours I like because damn, service just seems disproportionately more expensive for a small engine than a car.
And now thanks to the internet (r/battlestations and pcpartpicker's website), I am also always helping and building desktop battlestations for gaming for my kids and their friends (I teach them to get over their initial fears of breaking something and now, most are fearless).
For me it was getting pregnant. I was scared because I was an older first time mom (34) and really wanted to start trying for a baby and had read the older you get the harder it could be. I was scared it would take many months or years as it does for many women. Then we got pregnant the very first try. I didn’t believe the little pink line at first and took like three tests that night.
Then it was just as easy with the second pregnancy.
Solving a recurring leg pain that had been troubling me for over a year by getting a deep tissue massage. The masseur said he’d never felt a leg with as many knotted muscles as mine before.
I had a muscular knot in my bottom that bugged me for a month. Then I got a deep tissue massage, and the lady who did it told me to sit on a tennis ball and move it around. Worked like a charm!
Making bread, and moving across the country, was much easier than expected.
Did this person move across the country, making bread as they went? Behind the wheel, or at stop-offs? So many questions!
A professor in our university had a drug composition problem in an exam..it stated "add 200 ml of water to the formulation"
The question was "how much water is in the drug formulation?"
We busted our a**es trying to find a solution..multiply by how many..add how much
After the exam we asked her..
The b***h simply replied "I told you to add 200ml of water.. and asked how much water is there.. the answer is 200ml"
So the professor is called a b¡tch because they couldn't see the answer in front of them? Playing the sore loser, huh?
Learning to cook with raw ingredients. Turns out throwing random b******t that tastes good together usually works as long as you understand what you like.
coding, people make it out to be so hard but in reality you just end up copy pasting from stack overflow even if you have years of experience under your belt. Now if it doesnt work, debugging the code requires 5 PHDs, and 3 Masters Degrees.
debugging usually boils down to finding where you forgot a }, ) or ;
I applied for a seasonal job cooking in Alaska when I was 18 after only working a position as a line cook at a local restaurant for a year. It was just to support a friend of mine that was applying for jobs at the library, a couple days later I got an email requesting a phone interview and I got an all expense paid 5 month job cooking for a lodge in Alaska. The website at the time was cooljobs.com
Confidence.
As soon as I tried to be more confident, people around me treated me differently, which gave me more confidence. It really is no witchcraft folks
I'm very shy but you wouldn't know it. I had friends in school and we had fun, but it took joining chorus and participating in the school musical for me to really come out of myself. My first job was working the counter at a bakery. I knew that I wouldn't survive if I was shy, so I starting "acting" like I was confident and outgoing. Once i got into that mindset it became second nature. I can now interact with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, and I actually enjoy it.
Taking care of a newborn :) we were prepared to have the hardest time of our life, but turned out amazing!
The first three months are hard, but it’s the toddler years that suck out your soul!
Sophomore year of college my buddies were throwing a party at their house. One of them was a moderately successful DJ in the local college scene.
We’re have a good time and the DJ was doing his thing when he had to pee or something so he taps me on the shoulder and asks me to just stand at his turntables to make sure no drunk idiots f**k it up. He had songs queued up so I literally just had to stand there. About 30 seconds later two women walk up to me and are saying how much they love the music. I tell them it’s just a playlist and I’m just keeping it running. But they’re still super impressed. A few minutes later the actual DJ comes back and I give up my post then one of the girls comes up and tells me to dance with her. One thing leads to another and we ended up having a FWB relationship for a few months after that.
At one point I told my friend about his girl I’d met while covering him at the DJ booth. And he laughed and said, “yeah sometimes it’s really that easy”
It was the only time in my life I’ve had a glimpse of the rockstar life.
Buying a house. As long as you qualify for the loan it is crazy easy to sign some papers and now you own something that might go up in value or completely destroy your finances.
hmm this requires a good credit score, and a job/salary/income where I am. If you are not able to provide a salary slip and have a lousy credit score, you can't.
This one sounds made up but I swear it's true.
Backpacking through India, I arrived in a town for a big festival (Holi) and couldn't find accommodation because everything was booked out.
A voice behind me says "excuse me?".
I turn around. It's an absolutely gorgeous blonde girl. She has, uh, ample bosom.
"hi, sorry to bother you, but I had a get more expensive room than I wanted because everything is booked out. There's a spare bed. Would you be interested in sharing it with me?".
My brain just about short circuited. No WAY can it be this easy!
It was that easy. Said yes. Enjoyed the festival together. Had sex. I'll never get that lucky again.
Get into a bar fight. Some guy didn’t like the way I looked. Never had said a word to the guy all night, he was about 15 feet away from me most of the night.
That arm makes it look like Mr Purple Shirt has a really weird leg sticking out of his shorts and now I can't unsee it.
Operating an electric pallet jack. (One of my coworkers literally just showed me one day how to work it. No training required, just learn how it works.)
A great job interview after 9 years as a SAHM. Been with them 6 years now.
My wife went back to work after 7 years as a SAHM. She is a learning support assistant in a local school looking after a disabled child. She got into it despite having no formal training, experience or qualifications. She did however have life experience, she was her late little brother's guardian (her parents are both deceased), he needed 24 hour care due to his disabilities and our son is autistic as is the child she looks after.
In an attempt to sleep with a girl, I told her she was on my To Do List.
We had sex that night.
I spent my youth and young adult years focused on food. I was always hungry and events were judged by the food they had. Obviously, I was huge. I finally found a doctor who prescribed natural thyroid supplement and just like that, the food obsession ended. It was eye-opening that this was how regular people lived, unbothered by thoughts of food. Finding that doctor changed my life.
This may sound weird, but touch typing was easy to get into as a skill set. You just need a class and it gets easier each day (I took one in HS). One of those block things to cover the keyboard help with memorizing. Kind of like how you get used to a video game control, it's like that. My comfortable level is like 65wpm, if I'm in a fun chat it can get up to 75wpm. Those typing games are great too!
A Jones, one of the best things I ever did was learn to touch type 👍🏾
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These were very positive and heart warming and made me happy reading them. Thanks BP. People being lucky, helping themselves do better, having positive life changes and such, are all good to read. 👍
Going to a sleep lab (or whatever this is called). I way always sleepy in my youth. Driving in a car (as passanger) I always fell asleep. No matter the distance. Meetings were a hassle to stay awake at. Until my then boyfriend noticed I stopped breathing at night. Turned out I did that a lot. My doc explained that is for my body like doing a marathon at night instead of sleeping so no wonder I was always sleepy. I got a mask to keep myself breathing at night and I never fall asleep at day anymore.
I spent my youth and young adult years focused on food. I was always hungry and events were judged by the food they had. Obviously, I was huge. I finally found a doctor who prescribed natural thyroid supplement and just like that, the food obsession ended. It was eye-opening that this was how regular people lived, unbothered by thoughts of food. Finding that doctor changed my life.
This may sound weird, but touch typing was easy to get into as a skill set. You just need a class and it gets easier each day (I took one in HS). One of those block things to cover the keyboard help with memorizing. Kind of like how you get used to a video game control, it's like that. My comfortable level is like 65wpm, if I'm in a fun chat it can get up to 75wpm. Those typing games are great too!
A Jones, one of the best things I ever did was learn to touch type 👍🏾
Load More Replies... These were very positive and heart warming and made me happy reading them. Thanks BP. People being lucky, helping themselves do better, having positive life changes and such, are all good to read. 👍
Going to a sleep lab (or whatever this is called). I way always sleepy in my youth. Driving in a car (as passanger) I always fell asleep. No matter the distance. Meetings were a hassle to stay awake at. Until my then boyfriend noticed I stopped breathing at night. Turned out I did that a lot. My doc explained that is for my body like doing a marathon at night instead of sleeping so no wonder I was always sleepy. I got a mask to keep myself breathing at night and I never fall asleep at day anymore.
