30 “Normal” Childhood Beliefs People Later Realized Were Just Theirs

Sometimes, we grow up with habits, beliefs, or even physical sensations that we assume are universal. That is, until one day, we realize others might not share the same experiences. Recently, someone asked on Reddit, “What’s something you’ve always thought was normal until you realized other people didn’t experience it?”

#1

Image source: Velghast, Egor Kamelev/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I didn’t know people can’t smell ants, bugs, and other scents. First time I walked into a friend’s apartment I said “whoa dude you got an ant problem!” He was like oh s**t where is the ants? I’m like idk man but I smell em. He looked at me like I was the dumbest f****r he’s ever seen and just told me that’s impossible. Sure enough in his pantry, a little line of those f*****s pillaging a bag of rice into a vent via conga line.

On that day I learned not everyone can smell ants.

Edit: apparently I have a superpower. If any entomologist wants to reach out I would love to work with you. Insects are amazing. I always had a very strong connection with bees I had one riding around with me the other day in the car I stopped traffic because it wouldn’t leave me alone I had to pick it up and leave it outside my car on some foliage. Bugs are friends, do not kill.

#2

Image source: gameryamen, POI */Pexels (not the actual photo)

When I’m in a room with other people, part of my brain is paying attention to *every* conversation my ears can pick up, all at once. Specifically, it’s paying attention to the emotional temper of each conversation, in case someone suddenly starts having a bad time.

Turns out most of you just listen to one conversation at a time. My way is actually a consequence of growing up around an explosive parent, deep down I don’t want anything to happen that will lead to an angry person yelling at us. This also explains why I have a hard time in groups bigger than 10 or so, there tends to be too many voices having different conversations, and I get overwhelmed processing it all. If I can’t keep up, I feel vulnerable and exposed, and things cycle downward from there.

#3

Image source: ZZGooch, Anna Shvets/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I grew up with some fairly questionable dental care that was free through my dad’s tribal healthcare. I had a lot of dental problems, likely stemming from my mom giving me apple juice in a baby bottle as well as enamel that never developed correctly.

During the annual dentist trip my older brother and sister never had cavities, but I always had 4-5 or more. So the visits were pretty hellacious. I would complain about the procedures and how badly they hurt (I was 6ish) but my family were “hard a*s” and “tough love” people. So my complaints were dismissed as whining and worse, told that I deserved it for not brushing my teeth better.

So, I stopped complaining. 27 years later while going through my 5th root canal I was shaking and tense and sweating. The dentist kept asking if I was ok, like they always did. I said “ya I’m fine” like I always said.

This time though, the dentist stopped the procedure, pulled his mask off and said “are you experiencing any pain? You seem like you are.” I said “of course I am, it’s a root canal, these always hurt terribly, but I’ll be ok, let’s just push through it.”

He said “You shouldn’t feel anything at all. Only some pressure, but ZERO pain. Root canals shouldn’t hurt.” Then he numbed me more, started again and kept numbing me until I felt NOTHING.

5 minutes in he stopped again because I was crying and he asked if it still hurt. I said “no, not all” and smiled crookedly through my completely numb face.

I thought dental procedures were supposed to hurt. I was 33 when a dentist finally realized I was suffering but self-reporting I was fine. There was always more numbing they could have done. I suffered for 3 decades because I was told to stop complaining as a 6yo.

If you feel pain, any pain at all, tell your dentist. Zero pain is normal. Advocate for yourself. Also, don’t tell young children to stop complaining about pain, because they might listen and you cause them to hurt for a lifetime.

#4

Image source: BarefootWoodworker, Helena Lopes/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I thought everyone wanted to know how things worked and had innate curiosity.

It still blows my mind that people some people don’t.

#5

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I used to think everyone had a vivid inner monologue narrating their day, but then I found out some people don’t have one at all. It blew my mind when I realized that wasn’t common.

#6

Image source: throwaway271999, Umut Sarıalan/Pexels (not the actual photo)

It took me until i was in my early 20s to realize that straight women actually do have romantic feelings for their male partners and i’m actually just a lesbian.

#7

Image source: PixieQuirks, JESHOOTS.com/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I didn’t realize that people didn’t memorize movies to keep from being bored. When I was a kid, we lived pretty far from my grandparents, so that was a long trip in the car. So I learned that I could break up the time by “re watching” a movie as we drove. So I was praised for being able to sit still, but I was reciting Aladdin or Land Before Time in my head the whole time.

I still do this to some extent. The last time I was able to drive down to Florida, I looked at the trip time and thought, “Oh! That’s not too bad! That’s two Hamiltons and a Lion King!”

I didn’t realize that other people didn’t memorize scripts down to the actor’s inflections until I took an acting course and monologues and cold reads came really easy to me. It turns out most people remember certain lines that they like or remember a funny scene is coming up.
I felt like the biggest dork when I explained it.

#8

Image source: SomeGarbage292343882, Dilara/Pexels (not the actual photo)

When I was a kid, I’d walk to school. When it was cold, I’d come home and my mom would ask “why are you wheezing?” I’d shrug because I thought it was just what happened to people when it was cold.

Found out several years later that I had exercise induced asthma, and cold weather was my main trigger.

#9

Image source: Kater-chan, Creation Hill/Pexels (not he actual photo)

Mirroring other peoples behavior and making a “personality” fitting for them. Results in me being super stressed when I meet new people because I don’t know how to behave. Social contact also costs a lot of energy. Turns out people don’t think of that and just kinda go as themselves. However that’s supposed to work.

Also genuinely enjoying being alone. I told a friend that I will just lock myself in my flat for a few days to relax and he said that’s a “bit extreme”. For me it’s really nice and relaxing. I need my alone time and don’t ‘miss’ social contact as fast as other people.

#10

Image source: MsFlippy, Polina Zimmerman/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Not trusting your parents and being very careful not to share any details of your personal life because they’ll use it against you. I thought everyone did it.

#11

Image source: Jeramy_Jones, RDNE Stock project/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I thought all girls would rather be boys if they had the choice.

Nope. Turns out I was trans. Took me 34 years of my life to realize that.

#12

Image source: BrigitteSophia, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)

How much I daydream

How much I over analyze every social encounter

How just imagining my sister dying will bring tears

How much I try to mentally prepare for my family members dying.

#13

Image source: surk_a_durk, Sara mazin/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I thought it was normal that certain fabric textures make people feel physically nauseated and violently repulsed when touching them.

No, that’s called autism.

#14

Image source: mugofsoul, Mizuno K/Pexels (not the actual photo)

It took me awhile to put together that most people notice that they’re hungry before it starts to hurt.

#15

Image source: Radioactivejellomold, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I used to hear a full symphony in my head when I lay down at night. Most of the time it’s mellow with beautiful violins, oboes, French horns… It slowly builds and can be quite moving. It’s never songs I’ve heard or know. I have zero musical talent so in my head it all stays.

I say “used to” because once I developed tinnitus the ringing has taken place of the music. Pretty c****y trade off.

#16

Image source: hepzibah59, Kelly/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I thought that being unhappy was normal, that people were just faking being happy. Then I was diagnosed with depression, got medication and it literally changed my life.

#17

Image source: Hijastronaut, RDNE Stock project/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Apologizing constantly, even for things that aren’t my fault. Turns out, not everyone feels the need to say ‘sorry’ all the time.

#18

Image source: JournalistShot1501, MART PRODUCTION/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Constant counting in my head. Turns out that’s an OCD symptom. Didn’t realize until I was an adult. I count everything. Constantly.

#19

Image source: GloomOnTheGrey, Jehvan/Pexels (not the actual photo)

The way the lights look at night when you have astigmatism. I saw a photo comparison of normal vision compared to vision with astigmatism, and it genuinely surprised me.

#20

Image source: AriasK, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)

My parents worked full time and left me home alone a lot. They never checked if I had homework or anything like that. So I’d just come home from school, watch TV, play with my dog, whatever, by myself. I literally never did my homework because no one was there to make me. More often than not I was a bit bored and lonely. Most days I would try and find a friend to come hang out. I’d ring (this was in the 90s) every single kid in my class to come over and play. They always said no, they weren’t allowed, because they had homework to do and because my parents weren’t home. I didn’t understand the concept of “not allowed”. My parents weren’t even there. I could just go anywhere I wanted. Why couldn’t they? It wasn’t until I was an adult with my own kids that I realized their parents were just a lot more responsible than mine.

#21

Image source: XinaRoo, Subin/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Ever since I can remember I got periodic weird sparkly things in my field of vision. Rainbow, jagged, circular-ish thing that gradually got bigger until my head seemed to ‘pass through’ the ring and then it faded. Happened all the time. I would get really cranky, achy and tired afterward. Always happened when my mom would take me shopping for clothes or groceries (she used to get so annoyed when I wanted to leave after 10 minutes at the mall). In my twenties I mentioned it in passing ‘oh hang on I have a sparkly thing. Ugh I hate these because now I’m going to have a headache’. Mom was like ‘wait WHAT?’ Yeah, I have chronic migraine with aura and fluorescent light is a primary trigger.

Edited to add:
WOW I had no idea so many people experienced this! I feel for each and every one of you. When I was younger – maybe into my 20s – they were just a weird annoying inconvenience. Yeah I felt a little c****y afterward, but nothing debilitating. Unfortunately they progressed to being a harbinger of doom. Full migraines with all the awful pain, nausea, light sensitivity, aphasia, brain fog, the works. Besides evil fluorescent light, I’ve identified lack of sleep, too much sleep, dehydration, exercise, stress, and sudden positional changes (standing up too quickly) as triggers. Yay for trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle? ?recommendation: find a doctor who will refer you to a good neurologist. I’m working my way through a series of preventative meds that work for awhile until they don’t. But we keep trying! My neurologist said ‘well, you know we’re basically guessing. We just keep guessing until something works’. Good luck out there!

#22

Image source: Trickymia, Malachi Cowie/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Constant existential dread. Turns out not everyone’s brain is a 24/7 horror show.

#23

Image source: jtaulbee, Tembela Bohle/Pexels (not the actual photo)

When I think to myself, I often use “we”. If I’m getting up to get some coffee, I’ll think “let’s go get some coffee.” It’s not a split personality thing… I think I distinguish between the parts of me that does/feels/thinks things and the meta part of me that observes myself.

I saw a Reddit post about this a few years ago, and I realized that a few people do the same thing, but most people think it’s very weird.  .

#24

Image source: CoralReefer1999, Khoa Võ/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Being able to dissociate on command apparently that’s a symptom of my cptsd but for a long time I thought everyone had the ability to just stop feeling all emotions & make the world seem fake like a video game that’s not the case I found that out at 24 when i finally found a good therapist ?.

#25

Image source: brokenVoices, Engin Akyurt/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I thought that everyone stopped eating dinner together as a family as soon as you learned how to eat without making a giant mess and no longer needed to be supervised while you ate your food. For basically my whole life other than the first few years, everyone in my family has ate dinner in separate areas at different times and I thought that the only families that ate dinner together were religious families.

I quickly discovered how wrong I was and how unconventional my family is. My parents are both functioning alcoholics in denial and did the bare minimum to ensure I had food and made it to school but that was about it. Once I finished elementary school and started going to middle school they were never involved in anything in my life and I moved out at the age of 14 which they had no issues with as long as I was still going to school, which I was.

#26

Image source: Bartok_and_croutons, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I thought everyone could make their eyes vibrate at will. But nope!

#27

Image source: Impressive_Big3342, Victor Freitas/Pexels (not the actual photo)

“You know how you mainly look through one eye?”

“What? No!”

“You don’t mainly look out one eye?”

“No! I look through both my eyes equally!”

“Oh. I thought everyone had a preferred eye, like being right or left handed?”

“No!”

So turns out my left eye is REALLY bad and I’m not just. . . right-eyed.

#28

Image source: DarkFrostedEcho, Kaboompics.com/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Putting on socks before bed. I can not sleep without them, yet apparently other people find it strange!

#29

Image source: Shonky_Honker, Kampus Production/Pexels (not the actual photo)

I learned RECENTLY that working out isn’t supposed to hurt, it’s supposed to make you sore, not in like PAIN pain. Turns out I’m actually disabled and I can’t work out most of my upper body becuase of my spinal curvature. #LiveLaughLordosis.

#30

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PMDD. Every month I would stay quiet about my symptoms because I genuinely thought every one else experiencing menstruation also got extremely angry, exhausted, hopeless and couldn’t stop thinking about wanting to [unalive] themselves and everyone around them. I missed an insane amount of school and got fired from jobs because I could not function for about two weeks out of every month. I only realized I had an issue after seeing someone describe PMDD online. I now use birth control continuously so no periods or hormonal change for me!