35 “Invisible” Privileges That Most People Don’t Notice Because They Have Them, As Pointed Out In This Online Group

Not silly at all. It is things like that you should be grateful for. I am always grateful and humbled that where I live there are a dozen different food markets within a 3 mile radius that all offer amazing, low cost/high quality food.

I spent quite a few years of my life living paycheck to paycheck. I had enough money that I had a room of my own and a bed and all that which many people on the planet are too poor to have, but by developed country standards, I was pretty poor. I was so used to just having one set of sheets that I would have to launder and get back on the bed the same day. I remember the first time it occurred to me that I could actually buy a second set of sheets. It blew my mind. I'd gotten to a point in my life where I had a good income. I could actually save some money and have some money for fun things and life's little conveniences. This had actually been the case for a few years. My way of thinking just hadn't caught up. Multiple sets of sheets was just way too middle class for my brain to go there. It symbolized a completely different way of life.

Simple reality check when we find life exhausting. Washing dishes=have food; Laundry=have clothing and ability to clean; Traffic=have a car and money to maintain; Bed=change sheets and pillow cases; Shower=hygiene! #basichumanity

The wind. Used to grumble about the wind...hair etc. Until I read a book by a guy battling cancer for the last 10 years, and around 7 months at a time he was in isolation having treatment...lost his hair. The thing he looked forward to most was sitting in the wind to feel alive. Makes you think.

Of course the REAL privilege is having someone else to change the bedding!

I never knew there was a term for how I sit and stare at something I need to do but.just.can't.move.

Before I developed depression I did everything never sat down ran around traveled all over the world jumped in the car at 3 am drove across the country house was spotless you couldn't eat off the floor. Now I'm so different I don't recognize myself it all happened in a few short years too.

Welcome to my world = total chaos

I have ASD and the mental block is real. I literally sit and think of all the things that need doing, then stress myself out because I haven't started them

I finally cleaned both my fans today. They work a lot better during this heatwave. I'm very proud of myself. It was my to-do thing for the day after weeks of reminding myself it had to be done. The only way I can manage the feelings of guilt and laziness is by accomplishing one thing a day.

Yes please. I feel that most healthy people does not valuate it and also many do not try to even put themselves in the ills shoes. I was so healthy for the first 26 years of my life and I took it for granted. Yesterday my body shut down and I needed a 3h nap because I walked 20m in the morning. Please. Enjoy your healthy body! And please dont judge people you doesn't have it.

Take care of your teeth. Take reeeeal good care of your teeth. When you get older you'll understand.

Yup! I slipped in mud while hiking, and ended up with surgery, months in a brace on a recliner, and then almost 2 years getting back to 80% normal function. I won't ever stop being happy to walk... or scared it could all go away again in less than a second.

Exactly as you said. I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1988. It was controlled on medication for 13 years and then poof! Resistant to medications, increased seizures, new types of seizures, lost my job, lost my ability to drive, had to drop out of college and move in with my parents. Major depression. I found a wonderful husband years later. We moved and I found a great doctor. Stay positive if it should every happen, research the condition endlessly. Do everything you can do and enjoy it. Accept that it's part of your life, but don't let it rule you. There are no rules or boundaries; health issues know no age.

I was able bodied until 3 years ago. It's really hard to come to terms with the fact that everything you have planned for your future has changed and there are some things you will never do again.

I always have to carefully consider prices. I would love to walk into a grocery store and just buy whatever I felt like eating.

This is literally my definition of being "well off". I still shop for deals a bit and I use coupons but it's for habit, not for survival.

I don't have this privilege

And buying as much as you want/need. Buying in bulk is usually cheaper but it’s a privilege we sometimes take for granted.

I got financially stable by watching prices, so I keep doing it :) Besides the banana and apples, I consider all of these food items luxury: I don't need chips, snacks juices, sliced bread, sliced cheese and organic milk; I would buy fresh bread, cheese from the counter and regular milk, saving probably $20-30.

Clean running water is still a luxury for a LOT of people. I didn't have water or toilet in the house till I was 11 ( I was born in the USSR), my mother till she was 33. Now I feel extremely lucky to have hot water an any given time and ability to use bathroom without going outside at night at -20C.

I don't have it yet. Enjoy the hose to water flowers and bathe the dog!

I used to live in place where water would come thru pipes once a week. it was not easy to live like that

Chich

Chich

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We only had a well-house when I was a kid. The only running water we had was if I was running back to the house with a full bucket :)

Clean clear potable water.

I had the kind of parents where I had to learn to take care of myself at a very young age. But I'm still very privileged, because I grew up in Norway, so I got a good education for free, and never had to worry about food, housing or medical bills.

Since I was 20 I made my own money, my own decisions and lived an independent life, but I would give anything to be able to ask my mother's advise or still have her to share good news with.

Seán Baron

Seán Baron

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Haven't had parents since I was 8 years old. So I didn't even learn to grow as a child, never mind try and navigate life as an adult.

Having parents (or some stable family) to fall back on is a huge privilege even if they don't give you any direct financial or other support. When I was 19, I left my hometown and moved half way across the country for a job and eventually college. It felt like a huge risk for me at the time, but if I lost my job or couldn't find a place to live, etc I knew I could go back home (or that my parents would come get me). It's much easier to take risks when you have a strong fallback plan. It ended up being a great move, my small town was pretty much a career dead end, I'm much more successful now than I would have been had I stayed there, but it would have been much harder to leave without my parents standing behind me.

Agreed. While my mother‘s alive and I talk to her regularly, I cannot ask her for advice. 99% of her (by now unsolicited) advice is bigoted, immensely stupid or even illegal. It was hard to realise she‘s not a person I can trust or rely on. (Her last 'advice' to me was "Don‘t get the COVID vaccine, you‘ll get 'brain thromposis' and die!")

This is so true, and just tragic when you consider that much of the world could do this for FAR more people, and simply... choose not to. The grind in rich, "developed" countries is chosen - and not by the people who have to work three jobs. The rich make rules that keep the majority down and fighting for every last scrap and IT IS NOT NECESSARY.

Working 6 days a week 8-6 leaves very little time for this so enjoy your free time while you have it

Anything is a toilet if you make it one. Pissing in the shower saves you gallons of water

Yes! Functional plumbing/sewer system and a good sewage treating system

A good sewage system with toilets are way more important then running clean drinking water. I have tried - not being forced to wander outside and just push a button to get away with the crap is way more handy.

This one is terrible! And you don't know how terrible it is until you experience it. Imagine having to bring cash with you to the hospital to "tip" nurses to assist you, otherwise you'll be ignored. Imagine having to "tip" any public worker to get anything done: getring your ID or your passport, getting a stamp on a paper, to let you pass immigration at the airport, a policeman to not give you a false fine. Anything ilegal is possible if you pay, and everything legal is not possible if you don't pay.

I think this could be rewritten as "being too poor to be able to afford to pay bribes" -- I used to work with a guy from a country where bribes are commonplace -- his family was pretty wealthy there, and he said he missed the freedom of being able to do pretty much anything or get preferential treatment by paying for it. For those that can afford it, bribes make life easier.