Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

The Biggest Shock People Have Experienced In Their Adult Lives

The Biggest Shock People Have Experienced In Their Adult Lives
Beautiful, powerful and artistic black man thinking.
Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

All of us have found ourselves taken by surprise on a few occasions.

There are good surprises, like a friend you haven't seen for years making a trip to celebrate your birthday, as well as less great surprises, like your boyfriend surprising you with tickets to the hockey game, when he knows full well you hate hockey.

But then there are the moments that truly leave us at a loss for words.

The chapters in our life which, for better or worse, we will never forget.

Things that we would never expect to see or hear in a million years, and which we still might be processing to this very day.


Redditor ZonaPreto was curious to hear the moments in people's lives from which they are still trying to pry their jaws off the floor, leading them to ask:

"What's the biggest shock you've had in your adult life?"

They Never Got To Say Goodbye

"I got a call at work that my wife had been admitted to hospital and that I needed to come to get my children."

"That was all the information they gave me."

"I was at a site about 1.5h drive from the hospital, so I said I'd be there in about 2 hours."

"Finally arrived, and they told me where my kids (14 and 7yo) were."

"Walked in the room and said, 'Hi guys!... What's wrong?'"

"My daughter responded, 'Mom died!'"

"This was more than 22 years ago now, but I still can feel the shock."

"We survived, with a lot of help from friends and family."

"All doing well now."- kamuelak

Queen Bees and Wannabees...

"Some people never grow past high school."- Rad-Cabbage

It Never Really Goes Away...

"How bad grief can actually f*ck you up."- Daddyz-bby-grl

People Have A Way Of Surprising You

"Just found out my wife of 8 years was having an affair with her coworker for a year."- Srslynotjackiechan·

It Could Sadly Happen To Anyone

"Biggest shock was when a friend was killed in a head-on collision by an inebriated driver coming directly at him at high speed."- Back2Bach

Things You Never Want To Hear From Your Doctor

"A brain cancer diagnosis."

"The full expectation that regardless of how long I have left, it WILL come back and it will kill me."- FrogPrinceLuckey

It's Almost Worse When You Know It's Coming

"The day I realized my mother was on life support and that she would soon be taken off."

"Context: My mom's health had been declining for a while, so it wasn't as if was completely out of left field."

"She was young (63), but we had known for years that she was going to be gone sooner rather than later."

"Still, when I got that phone call from my Dad saying that had fallen into a coma and that I needed to get home ASAP, I got off the phone, collapsed on the floor of my office and just laid there and shook."

"I couldn't even get the air into my lungs to wail like I wanted to."

"It was awful."

"Some of my closest friends were coming in from Canada for my birthday and we were gonna hit the town with my girlfriend. Instead, I spent my 30th birthday watching my mother being taken off life support."

"If your parents are worth having in your life, keep them close."

"When they're gone, you notice in a million small ways every single day."

"Especially around this time of year."- NapalmStef

Not-So-Holy Matrimony

"How many people cheat on their spouses and how many of those people don't seem to feel bad about it at all."- compromisedfishstix

"My spouse was f---ing around on me."

"Not just during our marriage, but also while we were dating."

"And not just with a few people."

"Like, f---ing everybody."

"Men, women, coworkers, friends, randos... ev-er-y-bod-y."

"Biggest punch to the gut in my whole life."

"I thought we were forever... oh, such a fool."- ShexyBaish6351

A Literal Shock

"480 volts on a welded contact."- twojs1b

Always At The Bottom Of The Ladder

"I’ve had like nine different jobs, tons of experience in different sectors."

"I’ve been loyal, spent 4 years with one company."

"I can’t get somebody to hire me for the life of me."- im_a_nobody_too

Makes You Kind Of Wonder Where They Got It...

"How popular cocaine is."

"In high school, I thought it was up there with meth."

"Then in college it was more popular but still I thought only hard core partiers took it."

"Then I graduated, got a job in tech finance, and it's EVERYWHERE."

"It's like the most common thing people don't talk about."- bromosa_mimosa

They Think They Know Everything...

"How stupid adults are!"- TheGood1swertaken

Shocking information comes in many different forms.

Sometimes it makes you jump or scream the minute you hear it.

Other times, it takes a good amount of time for the magnitude of it all to actually sink in.

No matter the packaging, however, shocking information has a way of continuing to mystify you till the end of your days.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump
Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images

MAGA Voter Calls Out Trump For Ruining Their Retirement—And Gets Little Sympathy Online

Yet another MAGA minion expressed voter's remorse online after the Trump administration's ineptitude tanked their retirement plans, but sympathy was hard to find for someone who got what they voted for.

The "Leopards Ate My Face" subReddit (r/LeopardsAteMyFace) curates such posts.

Keep Reading Show less
Dolly Parton
Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

MAGA Fan Tries To Go After 'Creepy Creature' Dolly Parton—And People Are Not Having Any Of It

A MAGA X user that goes by the name "JULIE DONUTS" found herself on the wrong side of fans of beloved music icon Dolly Parton—yes, Dolly "Imagination Library" Parton, the celebrated humanitarian and activist—after calling her a "creepy creature" for promoting her new book at Costco.

Parton's book Star of the Show: My Life on Stage was released last month. It is a compendium that chronicles a career going stronger than ever after seven decades on stage and includes many photographs and behind-the-scenes moments that any fan of hers will love.

Keep Reading Show less
Brett Smiley; Donald Trump
Libby O'Neill/Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images

Mayor Urges People To Only Trust Official Sources After Trump Spreads Misinformation About Brown University Shooting

Brett Smiley, the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, urged residents to trust only official sources after President Donald Trump shared misinformation on social media about the mass shooting at Brown University that occured over the weekend.

On Saturday, a shooter opened fire on campus, killing two students and wounding nine others. Authorities identified the deceased as Ella Cook, a second-year student from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek national in his first year of studies.

Keep Reading Show less

People Share The Most Polite Ways To Say 'I Want You To Go Home Now'

Whether we're introverts, people pleasers, or highly sociable, we still all understand that feeling of being tired and wanting to say, 'That's a wrap!" at the end of the day.

But sometimes, we get that feeling while we still have guests in our home, and we have to figure out what to say to get them out of our house, just so we can get some sleep.

Keep Reading Show less
Mehmet Oz
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images

Dr. Oz Ripped After Telling Federal Workers To Lay Off The Christmas Cookies

Dr. Mehmet Oz—Donald Trump's administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)—sparked backlash after he told federal workers to stop eating so many Christmas cookies, urging them to cut back on how much they eat, emphasizing portion control, and other familiar advice.

In his weekly bulletin titled “From the Administrator’s Desk,” according to emails viewed by WIRED, Oz dedicated an entire section to "Cutting Cubicle Cravings."

Keep Reading Show less