There’s an old saying that goes “I’ll try anything once,” but does that absolutely apply in every situation?

These people say perhaps not, because there are more than a handful of things that have the potential to mess you up the very first time – and here are 19 of them.

19. Brutal.

Holding your father’s hand as they turn off life support

18. Straight-up evil.

Heroin.

I haven’t touched heroin or pain killers in over 7 years but, I still have regular dreams of banging a fat shot of dope and all of my earthly problems melting away.

I find it incredibly sad how the birth of my son couldn’t even come close to the high of some good clean dope. Nothing will ever feel that good, and I understand why a good chunk of my friends growing up just ended up dying.

Heroin is f**king evil.

17. It will follow you.

A felony. Even nonviolent, even 10 years ago — it never goes away.

16. It changes you.

Nothing in life prepares you for caring for an ailing/dying parent. It is an absolute heartbreaker and mind fuck. I did it and it negatively changed my personality. I see sad more than I see happy now. I’m working on it tho!

I’m sending good vibes & sweet juju to anyone else out there who is doing this. Much love and support to you.

15. A broken family.

Death of a child.

My sister died of suicide in 2021. I am my mothers only child now and I hate my life. My family is broken, my only sibling is gone and my mother is here but she is not here.

I constantly feel crushed with despair. I am so sorry to all the parents who have lost their children.

14. Haunting.

When I was 7 I saw a neighborhood kid run his bike into a tall cement retaining wall at high speed and hit his head. He died at the base of that wall.

We lived way out in the country and it took forever for help to come. I could hear his mom wailing 3 houses away in the middle of the night. Was over 50 years ago and still haunts me to this day.

13. Echoes in the memory.

Childhood abuse and domestic violence.

I witnessed one and was a victim to the other. Still echoes in memory.

12. A horrible disease.

The moment you grandma, grandpa, dad, or mom doesn’t remember who you are after suffering from Alzheimer’s or some other similar disease. My grandma had a stroke in early 2020 and has been in a nursing home ever since.

I didn’t see her for 2 years straight because of COVID and the last time I saw her, she had no idea who I was. She practically raised me because she worked at the preschool I went to and picked me up from school everyday and stayed at my house until my parents got home late from work. I can tell she is near the end of her life.

11. Look after yourselves.

I woke up In a psych ward on the 23rd of December 2021 after an extended psychotic episode. I can’t remember much of it before waking up, all I remember is when it started I thought I could hear voices outside my flat talking to me. The next thing I remember is being down at Brighton beach and freaking out in front of lots of people while lying down flat with my hands completely flat and still on the floor, because I thought every time I moved my hands the sea was moving with them and washing people off the beach and drowning them. I was so scared cuz I didn’t want anyone to get swept away by the waves

After that I vaguely remember being in a police car, then the next thing I remember is regaining “consciousness” in the psych ward (although the hallucinations and voices didn’t stop completely for another few days after that) where i spent my whole Xmas and new year stuck there, and as it was a bad time for COVID cases in the UK I wasn’t able to leave the room to speak to anyone. my family couldn’t even visit to bring me my phone or anything at all to keep me occupied. All I wanted was to call all my friends and family to let them know I was okay and hear a friendly voice and I couldn’t.

I’ve got to say, finding out you’ve gone crazy and been out in public doing mad shit that you don’t remember is already traumatic enough, but following it up with a week of staring at the walls of a psych ward with nothing to keep you occupied but your own thoughts and the occasional visit from a faceless (surgical masks) nurse bringing you food – does NOT help with the trauma.

But also I’m obviously so glad that they found me and brought me somewhere safe before I did anything too dangerous. Im incredibly lucky that I’m alive and that I’ve made it back to a relatively stable place. Could have been a lot lot worse. But still, would not recommend the experience to ANYONE. Still get crazy anxiety from the PTSD. Worst week of my life easily

10. The justice system.

my mom got murdered in 2006. and it sucked whatever. but what was astronomically worse was dealing with the justice system and sitting through 2 different trials just to have one lead to a non guilty verdict, and for the other guilty verdict to be overturned during sentencing due to a failure on the part of my local P.D. totally soul crushing.

having to see autopsy photos, hearing family members testify, watching the defense tear apart a dead woman’s character, and having to sit in a small room with a potential killer and his family and kids n stuff. so crazy.

9. It changed him.

I’ve got all the trauma anyone needs but psychosis fucking changed me more then anything ever has. My entire self had to be rebuilt from the ground and not really for the better in a lot of ways.

Risks with substances are a big no, but even worse i have to constantly cut down certain thought patterns that have even a hint of being dangerous i am usually forcing myself to accept reality isnt what my psychosis symptoms were. It was Months of torture and exhaustion.

I remember when it started i was staring at a wall and i ended up trapped there for what felt like thousands of years before i could move or talk. I thought i was in hell. And that was literally the first 10 seconds of months and months of torture. I live in genuine fear of my own mind

8. Rips your guts out.

Having to make the choice to turn life support off on your 26 year old wife. Over 30 years ago and just thinking about it rips my guts out.

Update.

Thank you all. Someone once told me, you have no control over the things that happen to you in life. What you do control is what you do with those things. You alone can choose whether or not you allow them to make you more compassionate and loving or turn you hard and bitter.

Love you guys.

7. Sometimes it is you.

being diagnosed with a personality disorder and it suddenly hitting you that you have always been the problem.

6. Like a different person.

A serious stroke. Grandma went from being fiercely independent to completely bed bound in less than 24 hours.

5. Terrible.

Have both a parent and a sibling OD and die 5 years apart. The latter happening in my bedroom when I wasnt even there.

4. The image burns.

Finding a dead body.

My neighbor committed suicide with a shotgun to the mouth in his truck across the street from where i was living at the time. Considering the close proximity i never heard a thing. It happened overnight so i can only assume everyone slept through it somehow.

I went to get into my car to go to work that morning and just happened to notice that something seemed “off” as i saw the windows of his truck. Unfortunately i got a little closer and realized what i was looking at.

20 years later and that image has never left my memory. He was a super nice guy, i hope he found peace wherever he ended up.

And please, if you are struggling with mental health issues reach out to someone. In the USA call or text 988 to reach the suicide hotline.

3. You won’t forget it.

Being the person sitting there with someone as they take their last breaths and die. Particularly if they’ve gone into death rattle, which is far worse than what people think. It’s beyond awful.

2. Messed up for life.

My aunt committed suicide. She hung herself in her basement. My ex and I put in a missing persons report because we knew she wasn’t okay. Continued to look for her all day. Didn’t realize she had a basement in her apartment until my cousin asked if we had looked there.

The screams of horror when we opened the door and shined the flashlight inside, those will never leave me. The feeling of dread, looking at her and realizing it’s too late.

I still struggle to go into the basement of my own home sometimes. I’m so convinced I’ll see her down there. I had never considered until that day, that someone has to find you. And whoever does will be messed up for life.

1. The person you once were.

Sexual abuse

None of us will ever reconcile with the person we once were. Some of us will never even get justice. But it can’t take everything. We still have our lives and the future.

Maybe it will never stop hurting but even so I still believe in a brighter future for all of us. I believe in all of you

Thankfully I’ve never tried any of these!

But I’ll definitely keep this in mind for the future.