According to legend, American athlete Robert Garrett didn’t know how heavy the discus would be for the first Olympic Games in 1896, so he trained with a way heavier one, achieving less than mediocre results. Imagine Garrett’s surprise when, upon arriving at the Olympics, he realized the real Olympic discus was several times lighter!

Does it need to be said that Garrett became an Olympic champion that day? Probably not. But what’s worth mentioning is that many of us live for years with unique body or behavioral features, not even realizing that these traits aren’t actually common. So, please welcome to this collection of stories, made for you by Bored Panda!

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#1

I thought (and was told) procrastinating assignments was normal since I always did well on them anyway. I found out as an adult that it was severely untreated ADHD 💀.

© Photo: cynicismfordummies

#2

I thought everyone saw those weird lines that come off lights. Turns out it was astigmatism.

© Photo: PandaCatDog

#3

I thought it was totally normal for everyone to have alcohol every day until I moved out west and met a circle of people who didn’t care about drinking…I’m sober now and it feels pretty good.

© Photo: CheechandChungus

A few days ago, a thread appeared in the Casual Conversations community on Reddit, the author of which, the user u/CakeFortune2, asked people: “What’s something about yourself that you thought was normal until someone told you it wasn’t?” No, you can’t say the thread went viral, but the stories told there were truly worth mentioning.

Strange behavioral quirks, the sheer strangeness of which people only realized years and decades later, some unexpected body features and personal traits… Please welcome to this informative, ironic, and sometimes even sad list of just over three dozen personal stories!

#4

I can taste the composition/ingredients used in foods, as in which herbs and spices were used specifically to create a sauce or dip. So I can very easily reverse-engineer everything I taste. Also tasting feels like a picture or chart to me, where I can easily identify the “postion” or “colour” of the singular tastes and tell where “gaps” are than require to be filled to enhance the composition of a dish.

I always considered this to be normal or that people could at least make this connection if they learn about it?

© Photo: actual_sunbeam

#5

I thought everyone was supposed to be scared of their dad 🤷‍♀️.

© Photo: cosmickink

#6

I was told I was “being a baby” because I would literally gag when I tasted raw tomato – even a little bit. Being in a toxic family, I was convinced this was the case until I actually (accidentally) ate it as an adult.

Turns out I’m *allergic* to raw tomato.

© Photo: User

Many of the stories told here are connected to people who had long-standing family traditions that they later, even as adults, actually took for granted. Only later, faced, for example, with others’ surprise at this tradition, did they realize that this wasn’t actually the case.

Ultimately, there’s no universal, unified view of what’s right and what’s wrong. So, if, for example, entire generations in your family have done something unconventionally, that doesn’t mean they all did it wrong. It just means you did it the way that’s not generally accepted, and nothing more.

#7

As a kid I thought everyone tasted blood when they ran and that legs falling asleep anytime you sat cross legged was normal. Turns out I had a massive hole between the upper two chambers of my heart. Wasn’t found until I was 18.

© Photo: jeswesky

#8

I thought everyone replayed conversations in their head for hours after they happened 😅 Turns out not everyone does that.

© Photo: Thin_Instruction6048

#9

Being in physical pain when i heard certain sounds.

© Photo: anon

For example, here’s a story from personal experience. A friend of mine once told me that in her family, they always cooked sausages by cutting off both ends. Her mom and grandma did the same, as did everyone else in their extended family. She did the same thing herself, and only after moving in with her boyfriend, did her future husband wonder why she did it.

Neither of them could find any logical or, for example, religious reasons for doing so, and my friend discovered that no one else outside their family did it. The couple turned out to be inquisitive folks, so they conducted a thorough historical investigation until they traced her great-grandma, who was still alive at the time.

And so it turned out that the old lady, in her youth, just had one very small saucepan that couldn’t fit regular-sized sausages, so she always had to cut off the ends. And then, over time, this simply became a habit, which grew into a family tradition over many decades.

#10

Looking at bright light makes me sneeze, and because both my mother and grandmother are like that I always thought that’s just something everybody does. I think I was around 15-16 when I learned that it’s actually a genetic disposition that can be inherited from a parent, called Photic sneeze reflex (ACHOO syndrome).

© Photo: FailureIsANecessity

#11

I have aphantasia, so I can’t see pictures in my mind at all. I thought it was totally normal to think only in words. It still confuses me that most people can actually see images inside their head.

© Photo: Missy_Who

#12

As a kid, I thought everyone at Easter broke the eggs over each other’s heads to spread good luck and confetti everywhere. At 14, I was horrified to learn my friends’ families were eating the eggs they painted and hid for hours.

Turned out, we’re just Mexican. Who knew.

© Photo: half_boyy

With unique or simply rare body features, things are fairly simple – people still understand, one way or another, that they have something unusual. As for mental traits, things are much more interesting. How many people have lived their entire lives with the absolute conviction that they’re doing everything the only right way?

However, literally everything in our lives can be questioned – it depends on the angle from which we view a given phenomenon. For example, the author of this dedicated post, the teacher Adam Mastroianni, offers this thought experiment regarding career choices for students.

Do you want to be a surgeon? = Do you want to perform the same procedure 15 times a week for the next 35 years? Do you want to be an actor? = Do you want your career to depend on having the right cheekbones? Do you want to be a wedding photographer? = Do you want to spend every Saturday night as the only sober person in a hotel ballroom?

Almost no one will answer “Yes” to the second of these pairs of questions, yet there are countless surgeons, actors, and wedding photographers around the world who proudly pursue their passions and have never questioned the wisdom of their choices. In other words, any oddity depends on the angle from which we look at it.

#13

I wet the bed until I was 14. I had a very traumatic childhood that caused that but I didnt know the cause until I was like 18.

© Photo: throw_away26237

#14

I thought it was normal to always put my feet up (in cars, trains, planes, at home on the couch or in the office.) turns out I was just avoiding discomfort from my legs not touching the ground when I sit because im short!!

Turns out taller people can sit without putting their feet up and they’re actually comfortable!! 😭.

© Photo: obsessedsim1

#15

I told so many people that I liked to “eat so much cheese that my face sweat” before one of them told me there shouldn’t be any volume of cheese that does that.

© Photo: User

In any case, we’re almost certain you’ve also had interesting moments where you or someone in your near or far circle realized they were unique in one context or another. So why not share these experiences in the comments here – but only after reading all the stories we’ve cited for you? After all, they’re all interesting and worth your time reading.

#16

Being honest. I wasn’t taught to be honest – I just am. I don’t think I’m on the spectrum or neurodivergent? I just assume that if someone is asking me a question then they expect the truth? Apparently, it’s “impolite” and I’m supposed to say the opposite of what something is.

For instance – if someone screws up and they ask “did I mess up?”, I’m supposed to say “youre fine. you’re doing great”?

© Photo: cawfytawk

#17

I thought it was normal to say someone smells like “outside” – especially in winter, when their skin has gotten cold.

© Photo: User

#18

I thought everyone had music playing in their head 24/7. Learning otherwise was the gateway to my autism diagnosis.

© Photo: 010011010110010101

#19

I thought everyone’s feet started feeling super uncomfortable right when they were gonna go to sleep. I wanted to bind my feet because my toes felt so uncomfortable. Turns out it was restless leg syndrome.

© Photo: cclmcl

#20

I have very vivid dreams, some that I remember from years ago. I can also control what I do in my dreams. On the other hand my husband hardly dreams at all! Too bad my memory doesn’t work as well when I’m awake 😅.

© Photo: RareStrawberry2020

#21

All of my fingers can bend backwards at the knuckle. I honestly didn’t even realize that I did it until someone one time freaked out about how I was holding my phone and thought I had broken a finger 😅.

© Photo: NerdyxNurse

#22

Not being able to stand up straight while being on your period and feeling like you’re about to pass out. Parents did not care stage 3 endometriosis thanks a lot.

© Photo: Immediate-Pool-4391

#23

I learned recently from Reddit that having the ability to make “the static sound” in your ears (and furthermore if you even think about it, you can make it happen) is not normal for everyone.

© Photo: OkShow730

#24

My family’s way of communication which included condescension, blame, and frequent raised voices, was totally normal like how all people live and grow up. Apparently people have families where they act healthy and nice to each other and I didn’t know that until an adult.

© Photo: Chance-Business

#25

Thought oranges were supposed to burn, like jalapeños. Turns out they do not. Spent years with burned lips and gums before I learned you can be allergic to citrus.

© Photo: User

#26

Having “brain zaps” like a little lightning bolt across your brain. Had these many times a day for as long as I could remember until I went off my antidepressants. I had been on Paxil /zoloft since age 6 (it was the 90s) so I literally didn’t remember a time when I didn’t have them. I thankfully do not take these medications any more.

© Photo: Longjumping-Home-400

#27

That I can remember back to before I could walk. I thought everyone could remember their lives just like me until people started saying that they couldn’t remember being 5 or 7 years old.

© Photo: Rusty-P

#28

I thought everyone always had ringing in their ears.

© Photo: pokeyfish

#29

When I see or hear about something that looks/sounds painful my legs hurt. I thought it was normal until my sister was telling me about ripping her fingernail off and I replied with ‘ugh that made my legs hurt’ My mom is the only person I’ve found that knows what I’m talking about.

© Photo: swampthingfromhell

#30

I can type out an email and have a full conversation with someone.

Coworker thinks I’m a cyborg.

© Photo: Hypnox88

#31

Hyper mobility, and that apples aren’t supposed to make your mouth and throat itchy and prickly.

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© Photo: PerplexingCamel

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