When certain things happen in life, it seems like time moves in slow motion. I’m talking about car accidents, fights, or any other kind of disturbing incidents.
It’s hard to describe, but it almost feels like what you’re experiencing isn’t even real and you say to yourself, “I can’t believe this is really happening right now!”
I think almost everyone has had an experience like this at some point in their life.
Let’s take a look at these true stories from folks on AskReddit.
1. Bad news.
“The night before Valentine’s Day a few years ago I caught my husband texting a woman I didn’t know about hanging out when I would be away. After some back and forth non-sense that he was being a wingman to his friend, I said “You have 24 hours to get a story straight”.
Of course by the next day I did internet research and realized he was lying anyway.
He comes home from work on Valentine’s Day with flowers. Tells me that he’s been talking to this girl for two years. Mind you, in those two years we had other non-cheating issues and he swore up and down he was working on himself. I knew he could lie, but never thought it would be about another woman.
After I heard “two years”, I took his shared debit card, wrote him a check for a couple hundred dollars and said get out. (Before you judge, We resolved the finances later. He was unemployed and couldn’t hold a job to save his life and the house was mine. He got a fair settlement)
My friends came over and ate the lobster dinner I ordered for Valentine’s Day.
I’m glad it happened. Made me a better and happier person to get away from him. I still hate Valentines Day though.”
2. Scary stuff.
“I was in Rio, my mother had just given some money to a homeless dude. Few after that a wild burglar appears. Holding a knife against her chest, she gave him her purse and he run away.
The homeless dude then stood up and said something like “she’s a nice woman, do not steal from her”. They started arguing and the purse came flying, sommersaults and all, back to her arms.”
3. Hardest day of my life.
“Taking a phone call from my twin from the hospital to say her husband didn’t make it – (after she’d found him unresponsive in VF and had done CPR on him while waiting for paramedics … )
All the time her kids were at my house (I was looking after them) but she didn’t want me to tell them as she wanted to tell them herself. Hardest day of my life, a million times harder for her. Some days I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
4. At the lake.
“I was swimming at a lake last summer.
My sister has 7 kids so I was helping her keep an eye on them. A little boy was bouncing up and down beside me. I thought the kids next to him were with him. Then I realized they swam away and he was by himself. But he wasn’t play jumping. He was trying to stay above water.
After 4 seconds of him going under and seeing that he actually wasn’t tall enough to be in the 4 foot water, I reached over and grabbed him. Kid almost drowned. Turns out he was about 3 years old. He puked up a bunch of water all over me and I held that strangers kid in a hug so tight. The parents were 20 feet away with their backs turned.
It took me a good 10 minutes to find them after standing there in the lake screaming for them and asking random people if that was their kid. Could not stop shaking with the realization this kid could’ve died and I just saved him. I had to leave after that and haven’t been back to that lake since.
People, watch your kids please. Tons of kids die every year. Takes one minute of distraction.”
5. A good day.
“When my lawyer called me to tell me I won custody of my three kids, then an hour later my ex calls looking for her child support check and I got to tell her I won.”
6. A bad accident.
“I woke up from what felt like a dream; kind of like when you are half asleep and someone is talking to you and you know that they’re there, but your mind is somewhere else.
I was woken up to a man asking me what my name was and my first thought was “well that’s a pretty good question isn’t it!”. I wasn’t quite sure what my name was, I was still in a dream like state where I couldn’t really grasp the physical world.
Then he asked me what day it was, to which I thought “I couldn’t tell you what day it was most days of the week”… and then it clicked, it was Christmas Day, the guy waking me up was a paramedic getting ready to load me into a helicopter. My face was so broken that I couldn’t open my eyes or make any sound more than a moan, but I wasn’t in pain.
My next thought was “damage control, I got fucked up somehow (still don’t remember what happened 12 years later) but I was being taken care of, and I still have all my teeth” (first thing I did when I realized I was in bad shape was lick all my teeth to see if they were there).
The moment where I thought “I can’t believe this is my life right now” happened once I landed at the hospital.
I always would think, when watching shows such as ER and the like, that it must be embarrassing to be injured and have a room full of people strip all your clothes off.
So there I was laying on a table which felt like cold like metal, in a neck brace, uncomfortable, butt ass naked, with people evidently scurrying around me. I chuckled to myself in my head how crazy it was that I was now that person naked in a hospital, but I didn’t care at all, I was just comforted that I was being taken care of.
Ski patrol told me I got knocked out and slid 200 yards years, face down, unconscious. No one saw the accidentent because so few people were riding on Christmas day, but they could tell by the tracks that I had left. I don’t remember what happened at all however.
Needless to say I wear a helmet when I ride now, which, everyone should regardless of skill level.”
7. A life saver.
“Checking a regular guest out of my hotel when I realized he was having a stroke. Mumbling, repeating himself, couldn’t even sign his name.
Called 911 so an ambulance could get him to a hospital. The moment it really hit was the next day when his wife called and said I saved his life.
Like dude, I work at a hotel. This was not something I ever expected to hear.”
8. Reality check!
“When the nurse handed us our first child ready to take her home, I looked at my wife and immediately thought, “Shit, we have to keep this thing alive”
9. All alone.
“I broke down in the mountains late at night back before cell phones. I had my flashers on and my hood up and was standing outside trying to figure out what to do.
2 cops and a tow truck drove by without helping me! Hours later a group of teenagers finally pulled over and offered to drive me to a phone to call for help.”
10. Good thing you were there.
“I was working at a group home with people who have physical and mental disabilities. We were all eating lunch when a client suddenly was choking.
He turned blue and I thought, “shit, here we go.” I performed the heimlich and he stopped choking and started to breathe. That was scary.”
11. Terrible.
“I found my husband unresponsive and called 911, did CPR, paramedics came and took over. After 30 minutes they told me he was gone and there was nothing they could do. Tons of friends and family came over right away.
For some reason it only hit me when one of our good friends told me not to worry about food or lawn care as she was setting up a food train/lawn care for me. That was the “oh shit this is really happening” moment for me.”
12. On the road.
“When I woke up with my head lodged in between the car seat and the wall of the car after being hit by a drunk driver. I was asleep in the very back of my Toyota Sienna while my mom was driving and I wasn’t wearing a seat belt during the time of the accident.
Luckily for me, I managed to get away with just a scar to my forehead EVEN THOUGH I was flung across the car after being struck. I’m still flabbergasted I got away with just the scar…”
13. Unexpected.
“I was in the hospital for my dad after he got into a fender bender. Everything was going fine (he only had a sore neck and some minor scratches) up until the doctor came in, shut the curtain behind her and told him “we found some spots on your lungs when we scanned you”.
Completely unexpected and heartbreaking.”
Now we want to hear from all of you out there!
In the comments, tell us your “I can’t believe this is really happening” stories.
We look forward to hearing from you.
