What was the most brutal reality check you ever got?
2026-03-06 09:10 UTC
Replies (18)
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@ada@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-03-06 09:40
The rise of fascism
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@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2026-03-06 10:35
During the pandemic my wife was panicking about Long Covid. I said the chances of getting that are too low. And we got vaccinated and we masked up. Then the children went back to school, everyone got sick and now I can only lie in bed 24/7.
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@kepix@lemmy.world 2026-03-06 11:35
im not immune to consumerism and marketing
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@defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-03-06 13:51
No country on Earth is really a democracy.
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@Chippys_mittens@lemmy.world 2026-03-06 14:26
I had just turned 19 and I was short on rent by 200 dollars thanks to a car repair. Asked my landlord a week prior if I could pay rent a week late. He politely told me if I plan on paying late he will begin the eviction process. I realized then people don’t really give a fuck about you when you’re talking about money.
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@gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 2026-03-06 14:46
It Can’t Happen Here It can; it is; we have been watching the progression for decades; the vast majority of people didn’t notice because of how slow and creeping and careful it was for most of the preceding several decades.
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@SomGye@sh.itjust.works 2026-03-06 15:25
One of them was working really hard on getting two college degrees and finding out the hard way that employers don’t give a fuck about those and that networking and sheer luck are the most important factors.
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@digdilem@lemmy.ml 2026-03-06 19:48
20 years old, self employed manual worker who broke his leg whilst on a night out drinking. The only night’s drinking I’d ever been on before or since. How quickly I ended up without any money and unable to pay rent was a real eye opener. The bank I’d used all my life denied me a very small loan, I had no friends I felt I could ask for money. Fortunately I live in a country where health care is free, and my sole client kept a place open for me to step back into. I managed to stay out of serious debt and kept a roof over my head, but skipped a lot of meals and went without heating for a few months. I’ve never forgotten the feeling of helplessness and that has been a driver for a lot of my life’s spending and saving habits.
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@msrb711@feddit.org 2026-03-06 21:10
I used to own a business with employees. It was a small company objectively, but in a small town where I’m from that was a HUGE deal. The company survived COVID, but due to total chaos with supply chains that happened after covid, my business got on hard times. I saw the writing on the wall, and started firing my employees and closing the company in order not for things to get any worse. I closed my company and landed a job in another company; a never missed a single salary. It’s absolutely shocking how quickly everyone drops you once they hear you’ve gotten on “hard times”. All my friends, relatives, in-laws… EVERYONE drops you like you’re burning pile of shit. Want to call an old friend for drinks? You’re out of luck, nobody is taking your calls anymore, because now you’re a “failure”. And let me repeat once again that I haven’t gotten into any BIG trouble, just closed everything down before it did actually SHTF. It’s just the optics of “being in a bad place” and poof everyone’s gone! You’re on your own now.
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@rabber@lemmy.ca 2026-03-06 21:29
Most of your friends aren’t even friends. Went through a breakup a couple years ago and when I needed friends they all abandoned me. Most people only interact with you for their own personal gain, not because they genuinely care about you.
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@absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2026-03-07 00:05
It’s not just a metaphor, when people say things like “picture yourself in X”, or “just imagine the audience naked”. Others can actually see things in their mind. Which was very quickly followed by, “getting a song stick in your head” means you can actually hear a song over and over in your mind. How annoying. This seems like some king of super power. I was 40…
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@HubertManne__dup_8041@piefed.social 2026-03-07 01:15
the november 2024 presidential election.
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@discocactus@lemmy.world 2026-03-07 03:04
Travelling in Kenya as a pretty sheltered 20yo. Saw a kid (9yo?) huffing gasoline at the gas station we stopped at. Just taking the last drops from the handle in a paper bag and sitting there destroying his brain all day. Couldn’t do anything about it. But it’s stuck with me for decades.
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@yilian@sopuli.xyz 2026-03-07 04:05
When [this] (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Byrd_Jr.?wp…) happened. I was young and idealistic about the progress the US had made towards unity.
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@YiddishMcSquidish__dup_9740@lemmy.today 2026-03-07 08:31
I got sidewalk slammed(on grass) by someone half my size.
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@daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-03-07 09:55
I got involved in politics. I quickly got why only the worst people is able to rise to power .
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@Богданова@lemmygrad.ml 2026-03-07 10:31
I once made friends with someone on a furry discord server, they were seemingly very altruistic person, gave away quad digit numbers away to charitable causes, had a loving family, friends irl and online, wasn’t a shut-in, paid attention to studying, alright grades. Then I met their partner who happily shared some of the most conservative views I’ve heard, with me, unprompted. Makes it difficult to trust anyone.
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@Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world 2026-03-07 16:10
My mom died and suddenly certain family members turned against me. They were so nice before her death, it really surprised me. Manipulative, verbally abusing, lying to other family members making me the bad one, turning others against me. It was so fucked, I moved into my car, drove to another state and purchased land to live on. All that hate they had for me pushed me away, to a place filled with love from all the neighborhood. I’m in love with this new community. It’s beyond any of my dreams.