this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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At some point in your childhood you and your friends went outside to play one last time, but you never knew it. /credit to @showerthoughts

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[–] FireRetardant 40 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I still play in the woods with my friends as an adult. It is a lot less often and we tend be more drunk than we were as kids.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, idk what OP is talking about. I had a snowball fight with my brother and went sledging with my cousins a few weeks ago and in summer I regularly meet up with friends to go riding our bikes, swim in a lake or explore the woods.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Literally just got off a text where a buddy and I plan to go out and kick a soccer ball around.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah a couple of months ago we were casually doing flips and rolls on fresh snow and rolling down snow piles while laughing.

Occasionally climb up trees for no reason, other times to retrieve geocaches (treasure hunt!)

Last summer kicking ball in the garden with no purpose (but with beer and BBQ)

[–] Illogicalbit 35 points 9 months ago

This is both sad from the perspective that it was the last time and nice from the perspective that during that last time, I wasn’t bogged down with that knowledge and was able to enjoy it for what it was at the time.

[–] shawwnzy 28 points 9 months ago

I still engage in pretend play with friends in my 30s.

There's a rulebook and dice now, but same concept of fantasizing and making up stories.

We even do it outside in the summer

[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago

It is shocking how many events were one time. Family reunions which seemed frequent were actually rare. Family trips, parties, playdates, all took a lot of effort to plan and many were done exactly once.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Nope. I'm 34 and my best friend and I still go backpacking a few times a year.

[–] TrickDacy 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Kinda different when you have to schedule it around 100 responsibilities instead of just walking outside with at most a 30 second phone call beforehand

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I mean I'm 33 and will still randomly go out to play in the park if a friend comes by or texts me.

[–] TexasDrunk 16 points 9 months ago

I still do, but it's different friends and we have to create our own limits. Mom said we had to be in when it got dark (I was in the country, no street lights to come on). Now I say when I come in.

I remember the last time my entire group of childhood friends all went out in the woods and did dumb shit. We weren't technically old enough to drive, but two of us had hardship licenses and did it anyway. We all got together, paid a guy to buy us some cheap liquor, someone came up with some ditch weed, and someone else brought a guitar.

It was just a bunch of dudes in the woods being dumb and laughing together. The next week two of them (brothers) moved. Not long after that another was diagnosed with cancer. Another went to jail for being a moron and has been in and out ever since then. One lost interest in being our friend.

So we were down to me and one other guy. And we just hung out and played video games, occasionally hanging out with our friend who had cancer when he was feeling up to it.

We don't talk anymore, really. The one with cancer and I still have a phone call once a year or so. He's tired so it only lasts 15 minutes before he has to nap. The one I hung out with after everyone else died a few years ago in a wreck. The one who is in and out of jail is still doing the same shit. The one who lost interest went into the military and disappeared.

I consider that the last day of my childhood and still think about it once in a while.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

At some point you do everything for the last time and most of the time you don't know.

[–] eskimofry 10 points 9 months ago

I have a theory about this. About why our childhood was amazing. It's because we never had something back then to look back on and feel sad about. We lived in the moment. We had our entire life ahead of us.

It seems like it is inevitable that we develop nostalgia and feel bad about missed adventures because we often look in the rear view mirror when we are grown up. But this raises interesting questions: are our brains; reaching the end of their growth spurt, start reusing existing structures and thus we can only live by comparison to our childhood? Is it possible that if we figure out how to allow the brain to continue creating new neurons we can feel as excited as children all our lives ?

[–] FlashMobOfOne 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Nah, we all knew it was the last time because someone got a car.

[–] toomanypancakes 9 points 9 months ago

That's true, we tend to do our playing inside these days. I still hang out with one of my friends from childhood though, so not so sad!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

fortunately i never had any friends so i have successfully avoided this sad thing

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago
[–] weariedfae 4 points 9 months ago

Actually, I knew. We were immature and playing for longer than other kids but there was a feeling the last time. I can picture it now, running around in the dark giggling and as our Make Believe characters. It was harder to assume our roles that time. We promised to play again at the next sleepover but somehow, I knew. There was a crisp winter feeling of finality and I felt that we were leaving the world of pretend behind. The next time we hung out we did other things that were fun. Dance to Whitney Houston, read books, sneak into their mom's room to try on all of her random hats, general pre-teen shenanigans.

I think we knew we were behind. At least I was aware of it. For a while we didn't care but the horrors of puberty come for us all I suppose.

[–] bizzle 4 points 9 months ago

I still play outside smdh

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Nah I fuckin knew it because that time was when they really started to bully me and I started avoiding everyone

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Jesus christ