Things you used to believe

Post Reply New Topic

This wasn't mine, but two of my playmates, when I was 6 in the former case, 3-5 in the latter. One believed the Boogeyman could be in shadows, the other thought that if we did things like stand by the fence and watch cows or eat leaves in the wooded area, the big, angry farmer would come and chase us.
I never believed in such things as boogeymen, and I didn't see why the farmer (who I had never seen at all) would be bothered by us eating leaves in the woods. He might not like us watching the cows (though we didn't do anything wrong, I knew very well that adults would often dislike kids having around), but he didn't seem to be around, so I just thought we'd be on the lookout and leave if he came.

I thought it was dumb of them to believe in such things. I was never much of a believer.
In either first or second grade, probably second, we had our first Christendom lessons. I'm from a completely secular family, and I felt insulted by that lesson. Being aloof and keeping most reactions internal, I objected inwardly and did not appreciate being taught fairytales in school. Bad enough I had to be there, at least they should just teach us what we needed to know. (I still agree with my assessment from back then.)

That we would be living in a post-gendered society by the year 2000. That dream of mine was shattered. It seems that the rest of the world lags behind as I quickly move forward in this area.

used to believe it was illegal to go in the wrong bathroom.

used to believe that if someone was academically smart, it guaranteed that they were morally good. wrong. it took a lot of doing, to learn that lesson. and that was over 10 years ago and 500 miles away. and still i get preoccupied with it ever single day.

used to believe that "if you work hard, you can be whatever you wanna be when you grow up."

used to believe that the world was fair and good.

used to believe that "money doesn't matter". but that is too idealistic to be practical.

used to believe that i was just socially awkward. among other things.

used to believe i was cisgender. but not in those words.

used to believe that i could get a STEM degree and job, without undue theater. but failed to do so, even with theater.

used to believe that i could decide whom to trust by interacting with them.

used to believe that school was the only thing that mattered. b/c that's how my precious lil "parents" acted.

I grew up knowing all about sperm, eggs, and pregnancy, but I thought that every copulation led to conception, and was short and intensely embarrassing, an unavoidable remnant of our animal nature.
I used to think that feminists were not sexist, and would treat me fairly if I was never a "pig."
I used to think that poor people could obtain justice.
It actually used to be true that CEOs would consider the overall well-being of the communities where they employed people as part of their civic responsibilities.
I used to think that I lived in a normal family, with the most normal kind of furniture and everything else. Other people's chairs lacked wingbacks; their Christmas trees were garish, etc.

I thought family was more important than money and people who put their jobs first were jerks. That is only in movies, in reality it doesn't work that way.

I also thought it was illegal to go in the wrong restroom

Anything that wasn't illegal was okay to do. It's not illegal to bully someone to death or to tell someone to go kill themselves and the world is better off without them and they actually kill themselves and in France it's not illegal to litter and in some countries you can have sex with a child and some kids are forced to marry at a young age and in some countries, rape victims are forced to marry their rapist because they got pregnant. So just because something isn't against the law doesn't mean it's okay to do it.

Anything that is against the law isn't okay to do. Yeah look in Islam countries where homosexuality is illegal or dating or in some cultures it's legal to honor kill. So just because something is against the law doesn't mean it's wrong to do it.

There was something wrong with my mother, she was very strange. She won't let us be normal children. I was a teen when I realized she was actually a good mother and the other parents on our neighborhood were just lazy and didn't supervise their children so they got away with lot of stuff and they didn't want to be the bad guys so they let them do whatever and believed their lies.

It is starting to happen now
Time magazine

Before I knew what change was, I thought cashiers were giving people free money.

I believed that only paper money and coins were money, checks and cards weren't money, but something different.

I thought that cashiers and toll booth workers got to keep all the money they got.

I believed that the place that my dad went to was actually called work. Being a teacher, doctor etc. wasn't work, only work was.

One actually did. Someone set up a booth for parking fees at the British Museum parking lot, and collected for decades. The City and the Museum both assumed that he worked for the other party.

I used to assume that military equipment was manufactured in Army factories. Given that I could be drafted, I thought the companies would surely be nationalized first, and also not make any profits from saving the country they depended on.

I believed I would grow out of the condition I had, which I didn't know of as autism or Asperger's at the time.

I believed that the song requests on the radio were live.

I thought I would grow out of my learning disability which I didn't know at the time.

I thought all my problems were due to me not talking well.

I thought how we acted at school in my self contained class was what we did there and it was school behavior and normal. I also thought we did the same schoolwork there over and over.

I thought Asperger's was just a learning disability so I assumed mine was severe because of how much troubles I had with school work.

Until I was well into my 20s, I believed firmly that when people were speaking to me, they actually believed what they were saying to be true. Seemed obvious to me at the time. It didn't occur to me until later that people would sometimes say whatever they wanted to (without believing it themselves) in order to persuade me to act or think in a specific way. I can't help but think that my perspective is the correct one. Regardless of differences between NT/AS culture, misleading people is wrong, especially when coupled with the intent of achieving personal gain.

Also when younger, I had some misconceptions about what traits would be appealing to the opposite sex when I started dating. I achieved some financial independence at a relatively young age, and was good at my job, and I thought that these would somehow be positive traits to somebody interested in a romantic relationship. I figured out much later that one of the most important traits is to "know how to have fun", because that is what you are expected to do when sharing the other person's company. Seems like hedonism is quickly becoming the predominant value in this culture.

I thought if I was nice, people would care about me.

I thought that I didn't need friends or companionship.

I thought that I could never fall for someone.
Or have someone desire a relationship with me in return.

I know I said I used to think all poodles were female; but I also believed they were born in a "show cut".

I thought anyone who was nice to you liked you and if they didn't and they were still being nice to you, they were pretending to like you

I thought all autistic people could read codes like Simon and they were all mute like him and screamed when touched

I thought once you could talk and communicate, you were no longer autistic because autistic people don't communicate. I didn't know communication was more than just talking

I thought autism was when people don't talk but hearing loss didn't count and neither did being in a wheelchair from being in a car accident nor when you go to a foreign country and don't know how to speak another language

I thought having a disability gave you special privileges so I wanted some too so I wanted everything to go my way so I wouldn't get stressed out and have anxiety. I have a disability so I should get that privilege like other special needs kids do who have disabilities.

I thought weathermen controlled the weather. I wanted to call them to tell them to bring us snow and thunderstorms but I didn't know how to call them because I didn't know their number.

I thought adults had boring lives because they didn't get presents from Santa or any Easter baskets and they weren't allowed to play with toys or play on playgrounds because only kids did that so I was so scared of growing up thinking I wouldn't be allowed to have fun anymore because of age groups they had like kid menus and other places for kids who were a certain height or a certain age and plus toys and games had age limits and so did computer games.

I thought Dalmatians were called 101 Dalmatian and I thought they were talking dogs so I used to ask if their dog talks whenever I saw a Dalmatian

I thought all dogs were mean and they attack people for no reason because we had a neighbor who had a very mean dog and he bit my brother

I thought elevators magically changed floors than realizing they just go up and down and take you to a floor

I thought The Beach Boys sang songs on the beach so that was why they were called The Beach Boys and the recorded themselves singing on the beach

I used to believe females peed out of their butts, then when I found out about the vagina, I believed they peed out of their vaginas.

I thought briefly women laid eggs inside of them while chickens drop them and sit on them and we just do it inside ourselves and then the egg hatches into a baby and that is how it's born. It would hatch inside the mother and the mother then feels it come so she goes to the hospital to have it and she pushes it out.