Did you know that your cellphone has 10 times more bacteria on it than the average public restroom? Also, did you know that one-third of murders go unsolved in the United States? How about the fact that we're in the middle of a global pandemic and so many are suffering while others don't deign to take it seriously?
These facts are just the tip of the iceberg of frightening facts. After Redditor OHBSquishy asked the online community, "What's a terrifying fact that keeps you up at night?" people went even further. We kinda wish they hadn't.
"Living alone for a long time..."
Living alone for a long time, I'm always worried how long my body will be discovered if I die in my sleep.
Every time i walk in a target or Walmart (or any store really) and look around at everything being sold I think about how it will all end up in landfills someday. And that there are thousands of stores around the world just like it.
"We live in a world..."
We live in a world where the rich pit us against each other as they get richer and it's so far gone that people would rather defend corporations that trickle out comfort (all the while reinforcing the system) than accept the necessary uprising will be uncomfortable.
"By the time..."
The universe is massive.
While the words are nothing special, if you look at a picture of, say, the Andromeda galaxy, and try to decide how big you are comparatively, no human is anything more than a tiny insignificant and pathetic piece of matter. We're are so small we wouldn't even be visible from a thousand miles away let alone multiple trillions.
The universe is so large that there are quadrillions upon quadrillions of stars (a quadrillion is a million billions) and they're all so spaced out from each other that a human walking in a straight line to one of them from earth wouldn't reach it for the next 983,250,000 years. Or.. about 3.2 million times the entire history of the human race.
By the time you'd reach it, assuming humans aren't extinct and you're immortal, it's likely that humans would have already colonised the entire galaxy and have moved on to galaxies far beyond the milkyway.
That keeps me up at night.
"In about 1 trillion..."
In about 1 trillion years the work I put in, the people I meet, the financial troubles I go through, how I approach an issue or who I even have children with won't matter because nothing is forever. My story won't last but 200 years if I'm extremely lucky. It will be like I never was.
""I'm terrified to know..."
I work in healthcare, and due to the pandemic I've been living with my mother. She's a grade school teacher, and because of their absolute asinine need to reopen on schedule, we've both accepted corona is simply a "when", not "if".
I'm terrified to know we're both going to get it. She's in her fifties with a heart condition and I'm in my thirties and healthy, but who knows? Could be a walk in the park, could have lasting health problems, or could die.
"Humanity..."
Humanity is well on the way to destroying itself, it's now irreversible, but everyone is ignoring the glaring evidence and continuing on business as usual. We're going to see worldwide famine within the next few years but people will ignore this warning too.
"Despite this..."
The dollar is worthless. The treasury is not just empty, it owes the rest of the world trillions, and the government somehow owes itself more trillions. Despite this, or more probably because of this, we continue to spend more than the rest of the world combined on the deadliest military in history.
There will be a reckoning, and I don't think it will be gentle or pretty.
"When you lose consciousness..."
When you lose consciousness, that version of you is gone forever. When you wake up, a new consciousness will be created but it won't be exactly the same, as it will not have all the same memories as the current you. You essentially die every time you go to sleep.
"Chances are..."
One day someone will speak your name for the very last time. Some day someone will think of you for the last time. Some day you'll be lost for all of eternity. Any memory of you, any ideas you had. Chances are your great grand children won't have any idea who you are or care. Your memory will be dust in the wind.
"We're going to see..."
Humanity is well on the way to destroying itself, it's now irreversible, but everyone is ignoring the glaring evidence and continuing on business as usual. We're going to see worldwide famine within the next few years but people will ignore this warning too.
"The fact that..."
The fact that there's no avoiding death, and that terrifies me. The fact that there is no proof that there is anything after death. Is it like seeing all black? Do you just cease to exist? It scares me. And the fact that I'm questioning whether I'm religious or not scares me all the more.
"I fully expect..."
I'm a teacher with asthma. I fully expect to catch COVID, end up in the hospital, and be a statistic for why we shouldn't have come back in person.
I don't expect it to be pleasant, but I'm ready.
"I've seen what happened..."
Given my family history there's a high chance I'll develop Alzheimer's at some point. I've seen what happened to my grandparents and now my mom. She just attempted suicide last week and I completely understand why. It's not a good way to go.
"Life as we know it..."
That we have an expectation for ever increasing comfort, but even our current way of life isn't even remotely sustainable. Life as we know it won't be able to continue 100 years from now, and all the technological advancements in the world can't overcome basic physics or basic human psychology. As a species, we're screwed.
"I'm an immigration attorney..."
I'm an immigration attorney, so given the state of things in the U.S. right now and the specific facts of my client's cases, it is the ones I lose where I know they are going to be killed when they get back to whatever country they came from. Those are the ones that keep me up at night.
"My financial status..."
My financial status is crippling my sleep to the point I can't sleep in the bed with my partner and I look at my screen on the couch sweating and waiting for the impending doom.
"I work in healthcare..."
I work in healthcare, and due to the pandemic I've been living with my mother. She's a grade school teacher, and because of their absolute asinine need to reopen on schedule, we've both accepted corona is simply a "when", not "if".
I'm terrified to know we're both going to get it. She's in her fifties with a heart condition and I'm in my thirties and healthy, but who knows? Could be a walk in the park, could have lasting health problems, or could die.
"At any point in time..."
I have cancer causing strains of a disease. At any point in time it can decide to mess with my life and I can have cancer again.
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