We all build things up in our minds and romanticize things that probably should be looked upon so fondly.
I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so when I think back to any period of my life, I always tend to remember it as being WAY better than it actually was.
What do you think should stop being romanticized?
Let’s see what AskReddit users had to say about this.
1. True.
“Poverty.
Growing up poor and oppressed in a third world country and climbing your way out of this hell, it is not inspirational nor heartwarming. There is nothing beautiful about having to work until you break just so you can provide. No person deserves to live this kind of life.
Help, don’t romanticize the poor.”
2. Not a joke.
“Mental disorders.
This so much. It’s like people are in a race to see how many “disorders” they have. It’s been fetishized by people.
So tired of the self diagnosing.”
3. Ugh.
“Being stressed and exhausted from work.
It turns into what we call ‘pain olympics’
“I’m exhausted, I worked 65 hours this week..”
“Omg that’s nothing, I worked 75 and I’m doing just fine!”
The worst.”
4. Not glamorous.
“Chronic illness or life altering diseases. People glamorize being sick in books and movies as a lesson in strength, positive outlook, and acceptance.
Great values to learn but it completely ignores the constant pain, isolation, and fear that sick people face daily. People pass around feel good stories about “inspiring” people living their lives to the fullest while terminally or forever ill to make healthy and able bodied people feel grateful for what they have.
I, nor anyone else in this community that I know, don’t want to be your positive inspiration p*rn. This life is hard and we wouldn’t choose it so stop using it for stories/media that you get to be emotional over then walk away from.”
5. Nothing pretty about it.
“Eating disorders. It’s not beautiful and tragic, it’s just a lot of gross sh*t.
Like hoarding bags of chewed up food under your bed. Taking laxatives until you p*ss water out of your *ss and you’re so dehydrated you have to go to the hospital. Having dentures/implants at 30 because your teeth rotted out.
Walking around in public not realizing you have vomit in your hair, which by the way, is falling out by the fistful. I remember reading one horrifying story from an ER nurse who had a patient who was literally vomiting faeces because her stool was so impacted due to constipation from her anorexia. Imagine vomiting your own sh*t.
And that’s not including risks like heart failure, life-threatening arrhythmias, brain atrophy, gastric rupture…
There’s nothing pretty about eating disorders.”
6. Scary.
“Stalking.
In movies, if person A likes person B, it becomes ok to stalk them like crazy, showing up uninvited to profess their love.
In reality, that’s totally creepy and illegal. The issue is that people without experience doing these things in real life see the movies and emulate what they see.”
7. Creepy stuff.
“Serial killers.
I understand the curiosity but the fan mails and brides of serial killers is beyond my level.”
8. Sleep is good for you.
“Not “needing” 7-8 hours of sleep. So many people treat not sleeping as a badge of honor.
In reality, the science is pretty clear that getting less than 7 hours impairs your cognitive functioning and productivity. A lot of sleep-deprived people dispute it, but those in a sleep-deprived state aren’t reliable evaluators of their own performance!
If you actually can’t function in the morning without coffee, you’re probably not getting enough sleep. And yes, that’s a lot of people.
If you want to learn more about this, there’s an excellent book titled “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker, a world-leading neuroscientist and sleep expert.”
9. Only the lonely.
“Being lonely.
When I was young I thought that the lonewolf grizzled tough guy was everything it meant to be truly masculine and cool. So much so that I emulated that idea into adulthood. Thinking people would see me as cool and manly.
Thing is I have no idea if anyone sees me that way because I have noone to hangout with.
I isolated myself to this point that the most interaction I have with people face to face is well. At a drive through getting coffee or a meal.
Let me tell you it doesn’t matter how many crunches or push-ups you can do how good-looking you are or if you’re charming as hell. Not unless you actually know people and make friends and you can’t do that if you’re completely isolated.
F*ck being lonely. I really wish I could go out and just make friends like when I was young.”
10. This one right here.
“War.
For real. I saw an add the other day that I thought was for call of duty at first.
Turns out its for the army.”
11. Sad.
“Gambling.
Because gambling isn’t about James Bond playing Baccarat in Monte Carlo.
It’s about sad, addicted people desperately playing slot machines and losing money they don’t have.”
12. Interesting.
“Loyalty to the company–it’s not a good thing. My husband worked for one particular company for nearly 20 years and towards the end, they were really treating him like sh*t.
He was actually scared to try and find another job because he was afraid his coworkers would hate him afterwards for leaving. It didn’t help that for a period of about 2 years prior to his quitting, he’d done a ton of interviews for similar positions only to find out they were going another way, or had just entered a hiring freeze or some other bullsh*t response.
My own thoughts on that were that he was TOO experienced and wanted too much money BECAUSE of that experience. With one rejection after another, it broke him down and he felt like he would never be able to find another job.”
13. There’s a difference.
“Difference between having depression and being depressed.
I have a few ailments myself which have also taken my life. It’s not a “hobby.”
One of which is BPD which has ravaged my relationships with people for years.
Wake up hating my life, missing work way more often than my peers. Go into work and everyone wonders what’s wrong with me. I’m isolated and no one confronts me directly. Then the friendships I had tend to fade because I set idealizations that this person is amazing and such a great friend.
Then they make a slight slip up; that is sometimes even not their fault. It’s some high weird expectation I expected of them. I feel betrayed and victimized and become a sh*tty friend. Drastically reduce contact with them and become miserable about them causing me to lose friends over a perceived slight. Can’t cope with my pain and cut myself sometimes to relieve stress.
Anyone wanna out a positive spin on that?”
What do you think?
What do people need to stop romanticizing?
Tell us what you think in the comments! Thanks!
