Kate Hackett
A lot of the things on this list may sound pretty innocuous to you at first, but if you give it a little thought, you’ll realize that everything listed can get really dangerous really quickly. These things were precisely what u/Specktakles88 was looking for when they asked “What do most people not realize can seriously f*ck you up?” on the popular Ask Reddit site.
We rounded up some of the best replies — stay safe out there!
1. High altitudes
Hiking at altitude you’re not used to.
2. THEY ARE NOT YOUR PROP
The wild animals in national parks. Those aren’t tame, they will hurt or kill you. They don’t exist as a photo prop.
3. Brush your teeth
Ignoring teeth problems. I had a filling that fell out and I ignored it, worst pain ever. Cost me a lot too.
4. Deer
My brother is a firefighter/EMT. He got a call a couple years ago for a guy who got attacked by a doe. He had been walking along a bike path, and unknowingly passed a fawn tucked in the tall grass just off the path. Apparently mama decided he was too close to her baby and knocked him over and started stomping on him. He kicked at the deer, and it backed up enough for him to get up and run away.
He ended up with some nasty bruises and a mild concussion, and I think he had to get a few stitches, too.
But bucks are the really dangerous ones. When they’re in rut (“in rut” = horny and wanting to mate), they fight with other bucks. And they’re known to charge anything that moves if they’re riled up enough. There’s been a number of people killed by being gored on a buck’s antlers.
5. Dust
Cement dust. If you’re ever around a construction site and notice cement dust in the air, mask up or move the fuck on.
6. Pigs
Pigs. An adult pig is a dangerous animal
7. Garage door springs
Ours snapped on time and it was loud af, sounded like a car hit our garage. Shit will mess you up if you try to work on it without knowing how to.
8. Straining
Straining too hard while pooping.
9. One punch
Fist fights. Like, people get it, but they don’t. 1 punch is all it takes to get fucked up for life, if not die. Fall wrong. Smash your head on something. The punch itself.
10. Water
I recently had to be put into the hospital because I vomited so profusely and so strongly that I pulled most of the muscles in my core- diaphragm, abdominals, obliques, even my traps on my upper back. And I couldn’t take a full breath in.
I would vomit and then try to replace the lost fluids, and then vomit the water back up. Over and over and over. I have never been so dehydrated in my entire life. I turned into an animal who only cared about swallowing water. I wasn’t polite or smooth or considerate of anyone around me. My only goal was water. It was genuinely terrifying and I’ll never take a glass of water for granted again.
11. Get some sleep
It’s even worse if you already have mental health problems. I’m usually pretty close to normal when I’m able to get 7+ hours of sleep, but if get less than 5 it’s like if Sylvia Plath had a penis.
12. Hold the rail
Walking down the stairs with your hands in your pockets or without having at least one of your hands free to catch you if you fall.
One of my High School teachers lost her husband because of this. When she got home from work he was at the bottom of the stairs. He’d been carrying a basket of laundry down. She was pregnant at the time.
13. Concussions
The single biggest turning point in my life. I was a junior in high school when I suffered one during football practice in October 2014. I dealt with PCS for nearly 2 years. I didn’t feel fully back to normal until literally 2 weeks before I left for college in August 2016. My life would be a lot different had it not been for that concussion.
14. Apathy
Apathy, it’s actually one of, if not THE, worst aspects of things like depression.
See, people see depression and they think “really, really sad” mainly because that’s the only part the media shows them, but Apathy, that’s what will get you in the end, the sadness is mostly a side-effect of the apathy.
It’s not that you CAN’T do something about your situation, it’s that you DON’T CARE enough to do something about it, which in turn makes you sad and angry that you don’t care, which in turn makes the apathy deeper.
You don’t care about yourself, you don’t care about your health, you don’t care enough to eat, to go out, to do all the things that might help you in the long run if you did them more.
It all culminates in the solid fact that if the cycle of apathy and sadness continues, you eventually simply do not care about living, and if it gets really bad, you don’t care how it will effect others if you do give up, which is what will eventually cause you to believe that others don’t care about you, giving you that tiny push, that voice that goes “it doesn’t matter, go ahead”
Someone with real, actual depression will not be simply sad all the time, they will simply not care or really react to things, they have to consciously make an effort to do things you would simply do practically on automatic.
15. Helmets!
Riding a bike or scooter without a helmet. Saw a guy skid on a curb, fell, hit his head moderately but not severely, died later that day. You can’t look cool if you’re dead.
16. Kangaroos
Kangaroos. On my tour of the blue mountains in New South Wales, the guide got on the microphone and announced to the group “if you see a roo, stay away. They are dumb as fuck, and will fuck you up”. Apparently they have a claw on their hind leg similar to a raptor that can slice your abdomen so deep that your guys fall right out.
17. Who knew!
Sea snails. They are one of the most deadliest animals on our planet.
18. Stuffed Animals
I read something a while ago about how important stuffed animals can be for the emotional development of kids (and teens, and adult too prolly) and that taking away a stuffed animal can be traumatic. Thought that was pretty interesting
19. Sunblock!
Going to a nude beach without putting sunblock on your genitals. You don’t want to have to get skin cancer removed from there. Just make sure the sunblock is genital safe.
20. Loud music
Listening to loud music or being exposed to loud sounds daily. Can cause permanent tinnitus or hearing loss issues down the road.
