We all have beliefs we hold on to tightly, sometimes so tightly that it feels like nothing could ever shake them. After all, once we’ve made up our minds, changing them isn’t exactly easy—we humans can be pretty stubborn like that.

But “not easy” doesn’t mean impossible.

These Redditors, for example, let go of some of their strongest opinions and shared what life threw their way to make it happen. Read their stories below, and if you’ve had a similar experience, tell us in the comments!

#1

I’m a latino person that hated “those” latinos that made me look bad.

Stopped watching Fox news after I moved out. After a few incidents with racists that can’t differentiate legal/illegal, realized myself and parents are brainwashed.

Image credits: anon

#2

I used to think poor people were just lazy, but then I learned more about history and racism and economics. Now I basically think rich people are the problem.

Image credits: MadroxKran

#3

I was briefly on the anti vaxx train with it causing autism and s**t. Then seen a point about how we just got better at diagnosing it and was like “that makes sense” and that was that.

Image credits: surrrah

#4

I thought people who didn’t want go to college or people who didn’t even try to pursue a higher education were making a mistake. Now with the cost of college, student loans, and meeting people who were successful without college, I totally get it.

Image credits: notreallysrs

#5

As a teenager I used to debate people online about why gay marriage is wrong.

Then I went to a Christian college, studied my faith and Hebrew, and realized the Bible doesn’t even say that. Yay for my hippie Christian school. Now I’m still a Christian, but one that’s a LGBT ally and who tries to convince others they are wrong about what the Bible says about gay people and others.

(Also realized my faith alone shouldn’t dictate law anyway).

Image credits: solojones1138

#6

Universal Healthcare.

I used to be AGAINST it. I now SUPPORT it.

I did a college project showing the case AGAINST Universal Healthcare. I had fantastic insurance through my dad’s employer at the time.

Fast forward: 26th birthday.

Lost my dad’s insurance.

Had a crappy retail job and couldn’t afford insurance. Wasn’t able to find work in my field. Was also in my state’s gap for coverage. I was scared to death about getting sick. Even the simplest problem like needing antibiotics scared me so so much. There was no way I could afford a hospital bill.

Eventually I clawed my way up and landed a job with good pay and great health insurance. Regardless those few years where I was uninsured scared me so much… I worry about those who don’t have adequate coverage and aren’t fortunate enough to move up in the workplace. It’s a nerve wracking place to be.

Everyone should be taken care of. Period. Nobody should have to make a choice between keeping a roof over their head or having health insurance.

Edit: some words.

Image credits: TheRepostalService

#7

I used to be super anti abortion cause I grew up with horror stories of it being a situation where the babies were ripped apart and pulled out.

I got more educated, and then had a friend go through one, and now I’m pro choice. I still don’t like the idea of abortions. It’s way better to prevent pregnancies. But I support them being legal and the woman being able to choose.

Image credits: DaughterEarth

#8

Used to b***h about “frivolous lawsuits” and say things like “a******s can sue McDonald’s when their coffee’s too hot”.

But came to learn the truth of that suit (Documentary “Hot Coffee”) and realized the courts are one of the last places where the average person stands any chance against the wealthy/powerful/corporations.

Image credits: anon

#9

I used to be anti-union, because I saw too many “lazy” workers being protected. After a few years, I saw too many “great” workers left unprotected. I realized that unions help protect the balance.

Image credits: anomefasullo

#10

I was a firm believer that the death penalty was reasonable in certain circumstances as a deterrent/punishment.

Then my partner and I watched through the show Penn & Teller Bullshit. One of the episodes was about the death penalty. It’s like 45 minutes long, and by the end of it, my opinion on the death penalty had completely and irrevocably changed and I am 100% against it under any circumstances now.

I have never had my mind changed so thoroughly on something in such a short time. Highly recommend people go watch that episode.

Image credits: TheAbyssGazesAlso

#11

I grew up in a religious cult believing that I liked other guys because of imperfection and sin, and whole heartedly devoted my life to suppressing that “illness”.

I ended up in the hospital on an attempted to take my own life by overdose. During my mandatory psychiatric stay, a psychiatrist gave me quite a figurative slap in the face. Unlike therapists up until that point, he had absolutely no respect for the idea that I could suppress being gay. He was openly against it to the point of being rude. Would straight up laugh in my face when I said with all determination that I could lead a celibate life. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but his words stuck with me and made me rethink my priorities. Long story short, I’m now out of the cult and have 0 contact with any of my old friends or family. It still hurts a lot but I can say with confidence now that I made the right choice.

Image credits: Gbrav747

#12

I used to think it was bad for kids to be raised by a gay couple. I wasn’t militantly against it, but I disagreed with it thinking the kids would be mercilessly teased. Then in college while writing for the school newspaper I was sent to cover a lecture given by two guys who adopted d**g addicted babies and gave them a home. They even nursed an HIV positive baby to being HIV negative. Opinion changed almost immediately.

Image credits: jedledbetter

#13

I used to be a staunch Republican and now lean heavily to the left. In essence, I stopped voting for “me” and started voting for “we”.

Image credits: anon

#14

When I was younger I hated the US with a passion for many reasons. Now, after meeting some average US citizens I realized although the place and it’s people aren’t perfect (no one/nowhere is) I no longer hate the US. My hate was always unwarranted and petty.

Image credits: ChingchongIgotnodong

#15

I used to really believe that it’s not worth doing something if you can’t do it right. After all, no one wants someone who’s not committed if there’s someone out there who’s more committed.

Kept this mentality through college and it cost me almost all my grades; I go to a really competitive school and the amount of work is such that it’s absolutely unrealistic to expect to put my best foot forward all the time. I didn’t understand that and as a result I would literally just not turn in assignments. I ended up failing 3 classes in one semester because I couldn’t turn in any essays, problem sets, or fully prepare readings for class. I got depression and couldn’t summon the energy to shower, brush my teeth, or eat breakfast, so I just didn’t.

Taking a semester off made me realize that most of the things in life need to be done, more than they need to be done well. For example, I think most of us can understand that it’s better to brush your teeth once a day, with no toothpaste, for 30 seconds, than it is to not do it at all. Similarly, it was a slap in the face when my English professor came up to me after I failed the semester and said, “you need to learn to be comfortable giving me s****y essays because a 40% is better than a 0%.”

I’ve found it applies to more of life than just college. Closed mouths don’t get fed.

Image credits: king_kingcharles

#16

Growing up in a religious Jewish household, Israel was meaningful and important to a lot of my family members, some of whom were holocaust survivors.

(Try, for a moment, by the way to put yourself in the headspace of a holocaust survivor on this. You’ve been through hell and back and lost most, if not all of your friends and family on the other side, your entire life has been defined and dominated by antisemitism and being an outsider.

And then you find out Jews are getting their own m***********g country. HOT DAMN. Sounds pretty f*****g sweet. So, I get the appeal.)

So there was a lot of subtle pressure in my life to see the actions of Israel’s government in a positive light, pretty much no matter what, and most of my Jewish peers went on “birthright” trips to Israel and came back really adamantly zionist (it was a little spooky even).

And I really just wanted to believe that and wanting to believe it for a long time functioned as believing it until… it just didn’t anymore and now I’m just a self-aware critic of Israel. I don’t think Israel can be made to not exist as a country, but I think there needs to a be a radical reformation within its government and culture that moves it away from being a flagrant ethnostate.

Image credits: anon

#17

I believed that transgender people shouldn’t use their preferred bathroom. I didn’t think about it a lot, but I just thought you had to be your assigned gender. I eventually realized I am lesbian, and educated myself on transgender rights. Now, my best friend is a trans man, and I strongly oppose anti-trans policies, like the bathroom bans.

Image credits: TheRainbowWillow

#18

I used to want kids.

I really, really wanted to have kids. My whole life I wanted to be a Mom, dreamed of what my children would be like. I was always fairly practical about when I wanted to have them, though, and was pretty careful not to get pregnant. After being married for 5 years, my husband and I decided to go for it. We tried for a little over 2 years, unsuccessfully.

It sucked.

One day I got my period and was relieved. Relieved that I wasn’t pregnant. I realized that I didn’t want that anymore. Talked to my husband, he felt the same, I got back on birth control. That was a couple years ago, and now we are discussing sterilization for both of us.

Image credits: happyhooker1992

#19

I used to think that people who claimed to have an anxiety disorder were mostly exaggerating and crying for attention. Then I moved away for an internship one summer and got to walk a mile in their shoes. I knew no one where I was living, and ended up isolating myself. Symptoms crept in one at a time, and while I never reached a point where I felt it absolutely necessary to seek professional help I did get pretty close.

Going from feeling generally comfortable in my own skin to constantly worrying about what you’ve screwed up and what you’re going to screw up next is a terrible feeling. Not being able to sleep a wink despite being exhausted for nights on end is something I don’t ever want to experience again either. It made my performance at that job horrendous. Luckily I spend enough time on the internet to stumble across really inspiring people and sources that helped me fix my situation. Others aren’t quite so lucky, and have to work 10x as hard to battle through it.

Image credits: obiwanshighground

#20

I voted for our President, but his “inane” tweets, are a disappointment.

Image credits: nosnas1942

#21

I used to be really against any form of sexuality. Grew up in a home that I was taught it was bad. So I was one of those girls who thought sex workers/openly sexual women were less than.

Well, I ended up getting cheated on with a cam girl. Started to cam just to prove I could do it, then saw how sweet a lot of the girls were. Also that the job wasn’t solely sexual, talking to some of my regulars gave them enough confidence to approach women in person.

Image credits: Ooftwilight

#22

Recovered memories

Was taught in college while doing my neuroscience degree that they were always false memories, they don’t happen, you’d remember it. Then about four years ago I suddenly remembered being molested by my dad. I had very vivid flashbacks that felt like I had truly gone back in time to when it happened. And when I had my first one, my initial reaction wasn’t shock, it was “oh yeah, that used to happen all the time”. Eventually worked up the courage to ask my dad if it had happened, and he said it did.

I obsessively researched recovered and false memories. Turns out they are known to happen and even the researcher who spearheaded the research on false memories has said in her papers that recovered memories do happen, though with caveats like age and severity of abuse. Therapists say it’s common for patients to come in who remembered abuse they had forgotten. The diagnosis for PTSD includes forgetting the event as a possible symptom. The risk with false memories comes from “recovered memory therapy” which was popular in the 80s.

Image credits: incog404

#23

I used to think that death penalty was a good idea. I thought about the people who’ve been killed who were later proven innocent. I don’t think we as people no matter what happened should have the right to take someone’s life.

Image credits: KingCole210

#24

I broke up with girlfriends over wanting kids in life. Took me 30 years and meeting my wife to come upon adoption over natural.

Image credits: XmagnumoperaX

#25

I used to be solidly in favor a routine infant circumcision. I believe it was cleaner and healthier and that it protected the boy from a lot of problems. now I have learned better and I’m very solidly in favor of everyone having body integrity and all kids being protected from genital mutilation.

Image credits: tatsukunwork

#26

Honestly, though I never expressed them externally I had some rascist and superiority complex thoughts and had some aversion to people due to these thoughts. I slowly learned as I got older that these thoughts had no basis and were completely wrong and found myself quickly having friends who more likely than not were completely different from me :).

Image credits: TheKingsDiddly

#27

I used to be very anti-SJW, kinda far right, used to be kinda racist, was against gay marriage, abortion, etc. There was no one event that led me to change, just towards then end of my junior and throughout my senior year of high school, I changed and became more open. I realized I had been indoctrinated by the conservative Christian school I had been going to. They made lots of b******t rules so after I figured out those were b******t I started questioning the other things they teached. Now I’m a freshman in college with a gay flag hanging in my dorm.

Image credits: SaltyShrub

#28

I’ve had incredible strong opinions against surveillance. While I’m still against mass surveillance, compared to before even the slightest camera could upset me.

Not only is it easier to accept now, but as I recently was called as a witness I started thinking in the terms that we might still to this day be based on witch hunts to some degree when we don’t have other proof than words. Cameras can prevent that.

Sure have I understood that the use of cameras before, but never did I thought about what it actually could replace.

EDIT: fixed some typos.

#29

I used to be vehemently anti-tipping. Like many redditors, I had my laundry list of reasons tipping sucks ready and waiting.

Then I actually learned about the economics, and what would happen if we stopped the tipping system. Most of my reasons for disliking tipping are still valid. They’re just not remotely worth f*****g over a huge segment of American workers, as well as other negative consequences.

Image credits: onioning

#30

This is rather specific, but I was convinced that the only way I (and pretty much anyone else) could lose weight was by following a very low carb diet, or at least a diet free of any grains. I have childhood memories of my parents doing Atkins and the article “What If It’s All Been A Big Fat Lie,” and then I got exposed to keto and paleo online (Onnit, Nerd Fitness, etc.)

I lost weight going low carb. I know that plenty of people have successfully managed their weight via low-carb, keto, Paleo, etc. I tried going paleo, forgot that Vitamin K counteracts a blood thinner I’m on, ate a bunch of asparagus, and promptly had a stroke. I ended up in the “normal” BMI category for the first time since elementary school by simply eating fewer calories than I was expending. Pasta and popcorn were key factors in my doing so.

Image credits: magnumjpp

#31

Not gonna date someone who smokes.

Married someone who occasionally smokes.

#32

Being a democrat. I slowly began to realize the whole bipartisan system is rigged to pit people against each and keep everyone fighting and distracted. No wonder George Washington advises against it…

#33

I used to be super pro Second Amendment. I had been waning on it for a while and then the Las Vegas Massacre happened. I just couldn’t justify it anymore. I’m not militant about it or anything. I don’t think we should ban everything, but *something* has to be done. There are too many weirdos out there who are being radicalized online.

#34

I used to be completely opposed to the idea of spandex being in jeans. Denim should be rough and strong, not stretchy! You need to break it in! I went for years stuck in my ways even as my family tried to convince me.

Then one day I was shopping by myself and tried on a pair of stretchy jeans… any they changed my life. I bought multiple pairs and wear them daily.

They still don’t hold up as well as strong denim, but oh my god does the comfort make up for it!

Don’t be like I was. Try stretchy jeans before it’s too late.

Image credits: reflexiveblue

#35

The fact that I was straight. Really tough for me to realize I like girls too. I struggled with it mostly because in middle school I’d been taught gay was a bad thing and didn’t even have a word for bi. Kinda difficult for me to see it as anything else even after I realized.

#36

So many things. Off the top of my head: evolution and GMO’s were two big things.

I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness, so thought the world was 6000 years old. Didn’t believe in evolution. Used to get into arguments with the doctors at work (I worked in a hospital). Realized before university how much sense it makes when I started reading Richard Dawkins’ books. Now I have a degree in molecular biology, so I finally understand evolution a lot better.

I used to think GMO’s were evil and was vehemently opposed to them, but then I realized that I was just perpetuating misinformation without any reason for believing what I believed. When I finally asked myself why I believed GMO’s were bad, I realized I didn’t even know what “GMO” stood for. Quickly realized while reading up on them how amazing they are. Years later, while getting my degree, I also took a genetic engineering course. Fun stuff.

#37

I used to believe in the Judeo-Christian God. I sure don’t now.

#38

For a while I was very anti-gun, thinking that getting rid of them would solve most of the problems we were having (in the US.) I still believe there should be some control (like background checks) but at the same time, I am now in favor of conceal carry.

What changed it for me was that for those that actually go through proper training on gun safety and use, it can be a very valuable tool of protection as a last resort. As it stands in California, you can not open carry and getting conceal carry is nearly impossible and I find that to be wrong. I would never want to have to ever use a gun, but if it ever came to it, I would at least want to have a fighting chance against someone that decided to shoot up a place.

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