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
Make us preferred on Google

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

Family on a beach
SHansche/Getty Images

Redditor Sounds Off After Two Strangers On 'Nearly Empty Beach' Come Over To Block His Family's View

Most of us have had that experience where we park in an empty parking lot, only for someone to park right next to us, or to set up in a mostly empty space or room, only for someone else to sit right next to us.

We can all agree that this behavior is a little weird, because there are so many other options available, right?

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from TikToker @user4934997299767's video
@user4934997299767/TikTok

TikToker Confronts Stranger Who Allegedly Stopped His Car To Follow Her—And Women Are Nodding Hard

Though skeptics might argue that women can safely walk around and enjoy life without a care in the world, one woman shared a video of how often that isn't true.

Originally posted on TikToker @user4934997299767's account, the woman recorded herself walking outside on a sidewalk in a wide open area, allegedly right after a man had driven past her and noticed her. He'd then made a U-turn and pulled his car over so that he could get out and follow her.

Keep Reading Show less
Anne Hathaway
Cindy Ord/SiriusXM/Getty Images

Anne Hathaway Just Revealed That She Was Having A Panic Attack In One Of Her Most Memed Moments—And Fans Are Floored

Anne Hathaway has been involved in a lot of memes throughout her career, from looking disappointedly at an ice cream cone to her transformation as Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries becoming one of the most frequently trending sounds on TikTok.

Fortunately, not only is Hathaway aware of many of these mentions, but based on her Esquire interview opposite Star Wars star Ewan McGregor, she finds many of them quite funny.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @a_daywillcome's video
@a_daywillcome/Instagram

Woman Who Lives In High-Rise Sparks Debate After Forcing Hispanic Window Cleaner To Get Off Her Balcony in Viral Video

A woman who lives in a high-rise building called out an employee for walking on her balcony to clean her windows, and she did not get the validation she was looking for when she shared the video.

The woman started recording as she walked into her main living space, and an employee was unstrapped from the equipment used to scale the building as he cleaned her balcony windows.

Keep Reading Show less
Tom Holland & Zendaya; Chrissy Teigen
Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images; MEGA/GC Images

Resurfaced Clip Of Zendaya's Panicked Expression After She Thought Chrissy Teigen Was About To Kiss Tom Holland Has Fans Cackling

By now, pretty much anyone who spends any time on the internet is intimately familiar with Tom Holland's iconic 2017 performance on Lip Sync Battle, emulating Rihanna and doing a barn-storming performance of "Umbrella."

For one, it's just an incredible performance. But what really makes the moment shine is Zendaya's reaction to it as she watches—many believe it's the exact moment she fell for the actor.

Keep Reading Show less