In the life-defining battle for joy and contentedness, self-acceptance stands as a major prerequisite. We cannot change the things that are out of our control.
Feeling good only comes when we let go of our anger or sadness about those uncontrollable elements.
That said, it is so natural to yearn.
Nowhere are those uncontrollable variables more pronounced than in the area of genetics and inherited traits. Written on our body, solidly embedded in our DNA, these ailments and tendencies were there since day one.
And some of them suck.
A recent Reddit thread offered space for people to air some grievances about those inherited difficulties. A full life will demand accepting and living with these traits, but it's still nice to spend just a moment on the internet expressing some frustration.
C_Greuel04 asked, "What genetic trait of yours do you want to change the most?"
That Which Shall Not Be Named
"I'm a guy in my 30s. The hair on top of my head is thinning and I don't like that. I refuse to use THAT word, that word applies only to eagles and tires, not the human head. Nonetheless, I am paradoxically in both denial and still try to cover it up by military crew cutting my hair."
"I do wish it was fuller, though."
-- llcucf80
One-Two Punch
"Diabetes and mental illness. I'm too young to be this f***ed up." -- hurricanekeri
"I was gonna say my toe thumb but your comment reminded me of my crippling anxiety and depression." -- pixiepeg
"Same."
"I was diagnosed at a very young age (18 months) and it really just adds up and takes a heavy toll on you mentally. I've been really depressed for the last couple of years and I blame 85% of it on my diabetes." -- man_on_hill
Looking for the Sweet Spot
"My height. I wish I were 4-6 inches taller." -- somemetausername
"As a tall guy: Doesn't mean sh** if you're still a looser/don't have your sh** together." -- a**hole67throw
"Trade you! I'd rather be a few inches shorter" -- lildancingcat
Limb Struggles
"Well I'd probably undo my genetic disorder. I hate dislocating my shoulders every day!" -- thesunalsorose
"My only issue with not wanting EDS is that I would also lose the ability to relocate joints by myself" -- Dsexylic69
"But if you didn't have EDS, you wouldn't need to. Most people don't dislocate things."
"I think I'd miss my smooth, stretchy skin if I fixed my genes (probably EDS but too ill to get diagnosed) but I'd like to look my age and not be in as much pain. Being able to press buttons/use my tablet without my fingers bending backwards would be awesome." -- Purple-Penguin
An Unfortunate Hodge Podge
"I kind of won the shi**y genetics lottery. My entire family on both sides are addicts. My mother has npd and is bipolar and my father suffered from major depression and OCD. Both parents has psoriasis. My mother had thinning hair and my father had heart disease."
"Between both of them they were allergic to pretty much every substance on the planet. They were lactose intolerant and my father had celiac disease and IBS."
"I got all of the worst parts of all of that AND I got these little a** baby hands and feet from god knows where."
"If I could change anything I would just like to be able to breathe regularly and not get sinus infections every other damned day. That would be awesome!"
-- lizzpop2003
A Couple Very Different Struggles
"Would be nice to have actual breasts. I'm 30 and they seem to have not gotten the memo that they were supposed to keep growing past age 11."
"But if I can only have one fix then I'd fix my eyesight. I'm completely defenseless without glasses. Lifting them up now, pretty near to my monitor, I can faintly make out the colour of this text but no details of it. It's just a bunch of blurry lines to me."
-- TheCoolerL
Within Our Power?!
"My metabolism. I miss being able to eat whatever I wanted and it not effect me, but once I hit college and after, I have to be a lot more careful." -- Kunihiko001
"Pretty sure variation in metabolic rate is ~10% max. It's probably your activity level rather than your metabolism." -- Gazrael957
"That's a small range of percentage. And considering activities do affect metabolism and we change lifestyles when finishing high school, change in metabolism due to age seems to be even smaller. So it is just lazy people after all ..." -- villanelIa
NUTS
"Allergies, man. The amount of times people make puns on the word 'nuts' or just snicker is stupid. Yeah yeah I've had this my whole life guys get over it...literal death here"
"Also, imagine wondering what something tastes like that you've never had before! Asking people to describe nuts almost always is followed up by 'nutty' ahsvcjajskjffna seriously? No shit nuts are nutty? How helpful..."
"Some people do have fair responses tho like 'earthy' or 'the bitterness of straight coffee, but earthy' idk how accurate either of those are but they're all I got lol"
Unwanted Exterior
"I am a woman and I am f***ing hairy. My mom has no body hair. Like even her arm pits are mostly smooth and beautiful long hair only on her head."
"I take after my dad and can grow dark black hair over 1.5 inches on my legs. The sheer amount of time and money I spend on looking like a normal human is just too much. It's like evolution skipped me."
Constantly At Play
"ADHD. The ability to retain and recall information is one of the most basic and critical parts of life in general, not even just human life."
"How my brain can possibly manage to f*** that up repeatedly for decades is a mystery."
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
@tulipanet/Bluesky
@which–witch–ru/Bluesky
@phillip–rees/Bluesky
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social