Everyone at some point in their lives is tasked with having difficult conversations that are too uncomfortable to have.
Some are necessary and can't be unavoidable, but that doesn't stop people from trying.
Whether it's revealing tragic news, breaking up with someone, or divulging embarrassing information, we can't move forward without confronting these issues head-on and having conversations.
Curious to hear examples of these, Redditor pate644644 asked:
"What’s the most uncomfortable thing you’ve had to explain to someone?"
The Cycle Begins
"That my 9 year old 4th grade student wasn't bleeding to death or hurt. She's just started her period. I stayed with her in the nurse's office because she wanted me there for comfort until her grandma could pick her up, and the library assistant covered my class."
"Then I had an even worse conversation when Grandma got there because I had robbed her of having the "womanhood" talk with her granddaughter. "
– Belle0516
Semantics
"I have the same story, but my mom didn’t know what a queef was. After trying to politely explain it, once it clicked for her, she said 'why didn’t you just say ‘pussy fart’?”
– MightySmizmar
Risk Of Unprotected Sex
"Having to tell the dad of one of the kids on my caseload that student & his girlfriend were having unprotected sex, but student had assured me I didn’t have to worry because 'my pull out game is strong, Miss.' They now have a child."
– SpedDiva
Young Parenting
"I had to tell my parents that my girlfriend was having a baby when I was 15."
"They were upset and shocked, but then they said what's done is done, and we talked about how we were going to handle the situation."
– Knight-Rhys
Some people needed a reality check.
The Shower Talk
"Explaining personal hygiene to a friend like they might need to shower more often or use deodorant can be super awkward, but sometimes it’s necessary."
– fairygalxo
Dealing With Halitosis
"I asked a work colleague with terrible breath; how much do your gums bleed when you floss?"
"A ton, so I hardly ever do it, why do you ask?"
– Dawg_Prime
Meme Education
"Explaining internet culture to older relatives like I’m trying to explain memes, social media trends or why something is funny online can feel a little embarrassing when the person just doesn’t get it."
– barbiedollsxo
The Gay Misconception
"When I was in high school my mother made the comment that she felt bad for gay men because they could only experience sex by kissing. I had to give that explanation a go. She truly thought I was kidding her at first🥺 Traumatizing."
– vermiciouswangdoodle
Infidelity Wake-Up Call
"Having to tell a good friend of mine that his wife was cheating on him, and showing him the proof. I loathed having to be the one to tell him, but I knew he would want to know."
"Called him up about 3 days (I think?) after seeing his wife, with a guy that was not him, being really handsy and making out in a bar. Had taken a couple quick pics and a short video for proof, and called him to come hangout because I had something important I needed to discuss with him."
"I wanted to tell him in person so I could be there if needed, rather than just over the phone. Went about as well as you’d expect, and he was divorced a couple months later. Thankfully, they didn’t have kids yet, and due to the pics and video, she didn’t make off with a lot of his stuff."
– kazu-sama
Health Status
"In the early aughts friend A calls me telling me he had just tested positive for HIV and the only person he’d been with since his last test was friend B who I’d introduced him to. A asked me to call B to relay the news, and it was quickly apparent that friend B had no idea he was poz. (They are both healthy and doing well.)"
– Speckster1970
Life can be so cruel.
Sobering Reality
"I work with special needs kids and the parents asked me when their child would 'grow out of Downs Syndrome' had to explain that they would not."
– Charming_Cry3472
"In my job as a speech-language pathologist, it’s my job to field questions like, 'When will my mom talk again?' I strive to be as positive about stroke recovery as I can (because there is a lot of prognostic optimism to be found in the first year and perhaps beyond)."
"But I also have to balance conversations with tempered expectations, considering what a patient’s language loss looked like immediately post stroke and after the acute rehab phase."
"It’s always hard having the cautious but tempered conversation with family who assumed their family member would be having full conversations by now (~2 weeks post-stroke, for example) when, in my experience, significant recovery is unlikely."
– plushieshoyru
Sad Repetition
"I didn't have to really 'explain' it too much but last year I took the overnight shift with my dying sister. I woke abruptly to her having passed in the hour or so I'd nodded off."
"After I checked for signs of life and was sure she'd passed...I had to go to the next bedroom to wake her partner who was catching up on proper sleep in an actual bed as she was caring for her round the clock. Then I had to ring my parents to tell them. The noise that came out of my dad when they arrived and went in to her body was a sound I've never heard before."
"Then when morning came, i told my partner and he came to get me, drive me to my grandparents house to tell them. They're in their 80s, that was tough. Then I left them to drive to my younger sister to break the news to her. She has learning difficulties but has a good understanding and she reacted so admirably, hugged me and thanked me for being with our sister when she passed."
"Then, we drove to pick up my 15 year old daughter from a friend's sleepover. With the unexpected early pickup and I sitting in the back of the car to comfort her, I didn't even have to say it. She told me she was sorry, and we just held hands and sobbed the drive home."
"By midday I felt pretty exhausted by delivering the news over and over to everyone that loved my big sister. She was 39 with stage 4 cancer and we only had 8 weeks from diagnosis to her death. And she was a bloody amazing human."
– Baconwheatcrunchies6
Telling Dad
"I had to wake up my father (who had Alzheimer's at the time) in the middle of the night and explain to him that my mother had died in her sleep a few feet away."
– WhenTardigradesFly
"My Mom would ask where my father was and why he didn't visit. He had died about 15 years before she was diagnosed. We would tell her that he was working and would visit soon. When we told her that he was dead, she was devastated all over again. The Dr said in that instance lying was less stressful for her."
– Stinkeye63
Tragic Realization
"Telling my mother that there was nothing they could do to help her. Her organs were shutting down and hospice would do what they could to make her comfortable. Her replying, 'You mean I'm dying?, 'was the hardest thing to hear as well."
– raidersensei
Lost Brother
"Had to call my mom and let her know that the reason her estranged brother stopped responding to her emails was that he'd died the year before, and the only reason we found out was that I got an email bounce back and started digging, eventually tracking down the realtor who handled the estate sale and the old colleague who took care of the estate."
– pepperbar
The hardest conversation I've had was what all closeted LGBTQ+ community members have to deal with eventually.
Coming out to my parents was extremely difficult. I came from a strict Japanese upbringing with traditional values and a passive-aggressive culture that conveniently avoids having important conversations.
Fortunately, the reactions from my family didn't lead to estrangement, but their initial reluctance to accept me wrecked me.
I couldn't see then how they would eventually come around.
It's amazing how, years later, they're always inquiring about how my husband is and asking me to tell him they say, "Hi."
I'm so glad I came out when I did, on my terms, even though I was determined to keep living in the closet back then.
