35 Everyday Things People Realized They’d Been Doing Differently Their Entire Lives
Everyone does things their own way, and sometimes it’s just flat-out incorrect. We all come from different backgrounds and families, so it makes sense that we pick up different habits. Sometimes you don’t realize there’s an easier and better way to do something. Like loading the dishwasher or waiting for the water to warm up BEFORE you get in the shower.
Nobody thinks they need a second opinion on how they take a shower. You’ve been doing it for years. You’d think you’d have it figured out by now.
The moment you realize you’ve been making something harder than it needs to be is usually hilarious, at least for whoever gets to point it out. These AskReddit users shared the everyday things they’d been doing differently their entire lives, and some of these discoveries were long overdue.
1. Getting Into The Shower Before Turning On The Water
I was in the Grand Canyon with my wife sharing a hotel room with another couple. We had just run rim to rim to rim, so we were all beat up and tired. When the husband went to shower, we heard him yelling from the bathroom and asked if he was good. He said, “Yep, the water is just freezing.”
Turns out that his whole life he has gotten in the shower, then turned the water on, and huddled in the corner until it warmed up. He was mind-blown when we said you could just wait outside of the shower until the water gets hot. We changed his life that day.
2. Throwing Away The Best Part Of The Tamale
Ninth-grade winter break, 2008. Having Christmas dinner, and we’re eating pretty much everything like Thanksgiving, but we add tamales to the mix.
Before then, I thought tamales were just corn husks with masa in them. All my life, I just ate the first layer of masa and tossed the whole tamale away.
Then I saw my cousin eating hers, and she opens the whole thing and I see chili meat. I’m like, “Wait, what? There’s meat in tamales?”
So I grab a tamale, unwrap the whole thing till I get to the center, and finally realized that it had meat the whole time! I tasted it for the first time that Christmas night, and I’m just in shock that I didn’t know about the center of the tamale.
The amount of times I threw away my tamales at family functions is just horrendous.
3. Assuming Everyone Has A Mental Podcast Playing All Day
I literally just found out that not everyone has a full internal monologue going on 24/7. I thought everyone had a voice in their head that narrates their day like a movie and discusses choices with itself.
When a friend told me her brain is just quiet and full of images, I was so shocked. I genuinely don’t understand how people function without a constant mental podcast playing in their skull.
4. Discovering The Ability To Whistle Forever
I whistle by sucking air in. I didn’t realize it was strange until I was a teen.
Now I can whistle both ways, so I can essentially whistle forever because I can breathe at the same time.
5. Inheriting Dad’s Way Of Holding A Fork
My dad uses food utensils more like a full-hand-grip shovel instead of the thumb over between the index and middle finger. He does it mostly due to hand and elbow surgeries making it difficult to turn his wrist.
I grew up with a class of 28, so these same few kids had been having meals with me for a while. Someone finally asked why I use a fork like that and prefaced it with, “I’ve been wanting to ask you this for years.”
So I learned how to use silverware properly at 17.
— Twiz41
6. Licking The Cookie To Contain The Crumbs
After taking a bite of a cookie, I lick the edge to keep crumbs from dropping. A friend once laughed and questioned my sanity after witnessing this.
7. Shaking Their Hands Dry Like A Cursed Raccoon
I thought everyone dried their hands by shaking them like a raccoon that just touched something cursed. Apparently most people… use towels.
8. Finding Out Some People Are Just Calm
I’ve always assumed everyone overthinks everything the way I do. Finding out that some people are just calm was shocking, lol.
9. Watching Someone Face The Showerhead
I remember being shocked to learn that some people primarily face the showerhead. Watching my ex-boyfriend lean forward into the water and let the shampoo run all down his face felt so wrong.
Of course I do turn into the water to wash my face and stuff, but the natural position is to have it hitting my back and leaning my head backward to rinse the shampoo.
10. Turning License Plates Into Math Problems
Anytime I see a license plate, I try to make some kind of correlation out of it. Example: LHH-2795. 2 + 7 = 9, 5 + 2 = 7, so now all the numbers are somehow related. I do this with the time too.
11. Holding One Hand In The Air While Lying Down
When I lay on my side, I put the opposite hand in the air and just hold it there for a while. It’s oddly satisfying.
12. Sitting Down To Put On Pants
I used to think that everyone sat down to put on their pants, but apparently most people just balance on one leg like a flamingo.
I have been sitting on the edge of the bed to get dressed my whole life because I thought it was the normal way to avoid falling over. I felt so uncoordinated when I realized my roommates just hop right into them while standing in the middle of the room.
13. Eating Cheeseburgers Upside Down
I eat cheeseburgers upside down. Feels off the other way.
14. Snapping With A Different Finger
I recently learned that when most people snap their fingers, they use their thumb and their middle fingers. I use my thumb and my ring fingers to snap.
Using my thumb and middle finger feels so… wrong to me.
15. Clasping A Bra In The Front, Then Turning It Around
When putting on a bra, I’ve always clasped it in the front and then twisted it around and pulled it up.
I only recently learned that a lot of people simply put it on and clasp it in the back without looking.
16. Saving The Best Food For Last
I eat food in order from least favorite to most favorite.
17. Surprising A Nurse With Their Pill-Taking Routine
A nurse handed me a little cup with two pills and a little cup of water. I took my pills, and she started laughing. She said something to the effect of, “I’ve heard people do that, but I’ve never seen it before!”
She was astonished. I had put a little bit of water in my mouth, then the pills, then swallowed. I’ve always sipped some water first, then the pills don’t stick to my tongue and I don’t taste them.
18. Rolling Up Fitted Sheets And Hiding The Evidence
Rolling up fitted sheets to put them away after laundering. Apparently a fairly large population has a secret, yet complicated, method of actually folding them to put them away.
I hide the roll within the folded top sheet, which I thought was brilliant.
19. Learning That Not Everyone Can Make Their Ears Rumble
I didn’t realise until I was an adult that not everyone can make their eardrums rumble on purpose. Turns out my sister can too. It’s convenient to block out loud noises.
Only learned via random internet threads and then asking my husband, who had no idea what I was talking about.
— 3RSHOC
20. Treating Every Walk Like A Carefully Planned Operation
Walking with intent. When I’m walking, I notice a lot of people sorta just meander or walk without paying attention.
I purposefully walk around knowing where everyone is around me. I alter my path to avoid people and account for the elderly or disabled. Yet I always see people walking seemingly without purpose.
Speaking to people I know has made me realize how seriously I take moving around, lol.
21. Shopping Every Aisle Without A Plan
Grocery shopping. I’ve always gone aisle by aisle, top to bottom, no plan. Found out most people actually make lists and hit sections strategically.
22. Tying Their Shoes Once And Calling It Done
I tie my shoes once. Then just slip them on and off. Who has time to tie shoes every day?
23. Starting Every “S” From The Bottom
I start my S’s from the bottom.
24. Refusing To Eat Dessert With A Big Spoon
Avoid big spoons. I cannot eat dessert or yoghurt unless it’s a teaspoon. Apparently it’s an ADHD quirk.
25. Holding A Pencil With Almost Every Finger
When drawing or writing, the pencil rests on my ring finger. Not my index or middle finger. So everything but my pinky is gripping that pencil.
— Daedstar
26. Drying Off Before Leaving The Shower
I dry myself off inside the shower so I don’t get the bathroom floor all wet.
27. Counting Every Step On The Stairs
I count steps all the time going up and down.
— Sumigra
28. Drinking Through The Corner Of Their Mouth
I drink from bottles and straws only through the corners of my mouth. My front teeth have always been particularly sensitive, so I avoid them having to touch liquids head-on.
29. Watching Their Feet On Every Stair
When going up or down the stairs, I always look at my feet. Just realized recently that not many people do this.
— Prow09
30. Rinsing Glasses That Are Already Clean
Rinsing out clean glasses and cups before using them. Found out not everyone does that.
31. Wetting The Toothbrush Before Brushing
Putting water on my toothpaste/toothbrush before I brush my teeth. I can’t stand brushing with a dry toothbrush.
32. Putting On Socks Before Pants
Putting on my socks BEFORE putting on my pants, lol.
33. Blocking Their Ears With The Ear Flap
When I’m blocking my ears with my fingers, I fold the ear flap up and use that. I thought everyone did this, but apparently people just put their fingers in their ear.
34. Needing Several Spits After Brushing Their Teeth
After I brush my teeth, it takes me a ton of little spits to get it all out of my mouth.
Everyone else I’ve ever seen brush their teeth somehow just gets it all out in one big go? It flabbergasts me every time, like I am physically incapable of doing that.
35. Always Needing A Tissue After Sneezing
I need to blow my nose every time after I sneeze. It does not matter if I have a cold or am completely healthy. Two minutes after I sneeze, my nose is full and needs to be blown.
Thought it was the same for everyone, but after I mentioned how annoying that was to a friend, he said he never experienced the same. I then asked around, and apparently I am the only one in my group of friends who has this issue.