Skip to main content

TIFU by eating beef jerky

TIFU by retiring a stuffed animal

TIFU… technically about 20 years ago.

When I was 14, I acquired (read: shoplifted) a long stuffed weiners dog from KB Toys at the mall and named him Ludwig Van Beethoven.

He was filled with little styrofoam pellets, and I didn’t cuddle him — I used him as neck support on top of my pillow, as a neck pillow on the plane, or as a buffer against whatever surface I was sleeping on.

I stopped using him when my future husband moved in. I decided I was too old to sleep with a stuffed animal. Time to grow up.

The consequences weren’t immediate. About three years later, I started waking up with numb arms. Didn’t connect it to anything. Around ten years ago, the neck pain started — a morning kink that eventually turned into all-day shoulder/upper trap pain for the last 3 years.

I’ve tried every pillow type. Memory foam, contoured, soft, firm. Did PT. Had X-rays done. Researched more than I care to admit. Just assumed I was tense, stressed, or aging. New normal, ya know?

Recently I remembered Ludwig. I still have him, so I gave him a try… but he’s too flat and deflated now. So I bought a buckwheat pillow — basically the adult, refillable version of bead-filled support.

One week in: 95% of my shoulder pain is gone.

Apparently I didn’t need a better pillow. I needed good ole Ludwig.

TL;DR: Stopped sleeping with my bead-filled stuffed dachshund when my husband moved in because I wanted to seem like an adult. Spent 20 years with worsening neck and shoulder pain. Bought a buckwheat pillow (adult version of the stuffed dog). Pain is basically gone. Never should have retired the stuffed dog.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TIFU By Fumbling My Gym Crush

I've never posted on Reddit before so apologies if anything is off. I (F) had a crush on a man at my gym for months. We would make extended eye contact frequently, workout in proximity, the usual gym things that get over analyzed when you like someone. He's wildly handsome, but I liked his vibe. A lot. It's hard to explain when someone's energy just hits different but his did. One day he started coming in with a woman. The day I saw her with him, he and I actually stared at each other from across the room for a while, and I turned and walked away because obviously gym rules - that's his girlfriend until I'm told otherwise. The eye contact continues and so does the proximity but I've dialed back completely because in my head, he has a girl and I am no home wrecker. Well, recently, on a Sunday, I was having a real shit day. I accidentally hurt my shoulder so my back day was all off, my body wasn't cooperating, the gym was packed - all I wanted to do w...

TIFU by getting called racist for not handing cash to a customer

today I (F18) fucked up by worked a long ahh shift and got put on register. I never hand money in people’s hands as customers have yelled at me for it, and i think it’s germy so I scoot it towards them as a sign of respect. this lady came in and after i did that she goes “Imma need you to do that again and put it in my hand, you did this last time too don’t you know it’s disrespectful” (meanwhile i haven’t worked register in 2 months at said job and didn’t recognize her) so i apologize, and then cuz it’s call off time i go talk to my boss about it and they all agree with me. apparently though she told my keyholder who’s a poc i was being RACIST by not touching her. so i got told i need to do better even though i didn’t do anything. she was insinuating i was a racist. idk if i should quit or what but i fucked up. TL;DR: i’m a dumbass

TIFU by making a joke that landed horribly

I was talking to someone and thought I was being funny, but the second the words left my mouth I knew I had messed up. It was one of those jokes that sounds fine in your head and then just dies completely in real life. Nobody laughed, the mood got awkward instantly, and I could feel my face getting hot because I knew I had just made everything weird for no reason. What made it worse is that I tried to recover from it instead of just shutting up. So then I started talking more, which only made it more obvious that I was panicking. You know that feeling when you can hear yourself getting worse while it’s happening and you still can’t stop? yeah, that was me. I kept trying to act normal, but the whole thing was already gone. After that I just wanted to disappear and pretend it never happened. I’m still thinking about it way more than I should, which somehow makes it even more embarrassing. I really should have just kept my mouth shut for once. TL;DR: I tried to be funny and the joke...