Sometimes the idea of something is far from the reality. Sometimes fiction is just that – fake. The truth can often be quite different than our idea of it based on books, TV shows and movies.

Reddit user Indianfattie asked, “What do people need to stop romanticizing?” Many people took the opportunity to answer the question seriously and thoughtfully. Scroll down to discover 17 things many people tend to romanticize that they really, really shouldn’t.

1. Sleep

   Reddit user Andythenardog wrote:

   Not “needing” 7-8 hours of sleep.

2. Poverty

   viciousmotherfucker added:

   Poverty.Growing up poor and oppressed in a third world country and climbing your way out of this hell, it is not inspirational nor heartwarming. There is nothing beautiful about having to work until you break just so you can provide. No person deserves to live this kind of life. Help, don’t romanticize the poor.

3. Illnesses

   xx__calli answered:

   Chronic illness or life altering disease. People glamorize being sick in books and movies as a lesson in strength, positive outlook, and acceptance. Great values to learn but it completely ignores the constant pain, isolation, and fear that sick people face daily. People pass around feel good stories about “inspiring” people living their lives to the fullest while terminally or forever ill to make healthy and able bodied people feel grateful for what they have. I, nor anyone else in this community that I know, don’t want to be your positive inspiration porn. This life is hard and we wouldn’t choose it so stop using it for stories/media that you get to be emotional over then walk away from.

4. Working Too Much

   xyanon36 shared:

   Being stressed and exhausted from work.

5. Eating Disorders

   tomorrowistomato answered:

   Eating disorders. It’s not beautiful and tragic, it’s just a lot of gross shit. Like hoarding bags of chewed up food under your bed. Taking laxatives until you piss water out of your ass and you’re so dehydrated you have to go to the hospital. Having dentures/implants at 30 because your teeth rotted out. Walking around in public not realizing you have vomit in your hair, which by the way, is falling out by the fistful. I remember reading one horrifying story from an ER nurse who had a patient who was literally vomiting faeces because her stool was so impacted due to constipation from her anorexia. Imagine vomiting your own shit.And that’s not including risks like heart failure, life-threatening arrhythmias, brain atrophy, gastric rupture… There’s nothing pretty about eating disorders.

6. Stalkers

   MeridasAngel shared:

   Stalking. In movies, if person A likes person B, it becomes ok to stalk them like crazy, showing up uninvited to profess their love.In reality, that’s totally creepy and illegal. The issue is that people without experience doing these things in real life see the movies and emulate what they see.

7. “Being Lonely”

   PmUrNudes4Me2Draw wrote:

   Being lonely.When I was young I thought that the lonewolf grizzled tough guy was everything it meant to be truly masculine and cool. So much so that I emulated that idea into adulthood. Thinking people would see me as cool and manly. Thing is I have no idea if anyone sees me that way because I have noone to hangout with. I isolated myself to this point that the most interaction I have with people face to face is well. At a drive through getting coffee or a meal. Let me tell you it doesn’t matter how many crunches or push-ups you can do how good-looking you are or if you’re charming as hell. Not unless you actually know people and make friends and you can’t do that if you’re completely isolated.

8. Gambling

   the_real_grinningdog answered:

   Gambling; because gambling isn’t about James Bond playing Baccarat in Monte Carlo. It’s about sad, addicted people desperately playing slot machines and losing money they don’t have.

9. Depression

   JollyWellBox shared:

   Depression.There’s nothing romantic about not showering for three days and forgetting what it’s like to be able to feel things.

10. Company Loyalty

    KnockMeYourLobes explained:

    Loyalty to the company–it’s not a good thing. My husband worked for one particular company for nearly 20 years and towards the end, they were really treating him like shit. He was actually scared to try and find another job because he was afraid his coworkers would hate him afterwards for leaving. It didn’t help that for a period of about 2 years prior to his quitting, he’d done a shit ton of interviews for similar positions only to find out they were going another way, or had just entered a hiring freeze or some other bullshit response. My own thoughts on that were that he was TOO experienced and wanted too much money BECAUSE of that experience. With one rejection after another, it broke him down and he felt like he would never be able to find another job.

11. Overworking

    esker_parboil added:

    Overworking.The people at my job seem to make it a contest of who sacrifices more for their job. Who works the most overtime? Who does things off the clock for work more? Etc It’s bullshit. I have a life and a family I want to prioritize.

12. Abusive Relationships

    wow_that_guys_a_dick shared:

    The Joker and Harley’s relationship.It’s abusive, plain and simple. If you want a weird, quirky couple to base your relationship on, go with Gomez and Morticia. That is possibly the most healthy relationship ever portrayed in media. They clearly have a different sense of what is normal, but it is also clear that they adore each other, support each other, and communicate clearly with each other. You don’t want Joker and Harley. You want Gomez and Morticia.

13. The Daily Grind

    Another Reddit user added:

    Rise and grind everyday lifestyle…needlessly. Ofc some people actually have to live that life to legitimately survive, but the consistent push in today’s generations and romanticizing it to be this life where you’re happy and rich is just so dangerous…

14. Sports Injuries

    BlueEaredHare explained:

    Sports Injuries.Like, 99% of the time it will get better but 99% of the time you won’t be able to come back to where you once was as an athlete. No matter how heroically you will try to recover or fight this injury. Most of the time it will never be the same again. I injured my knee a long time ago, and it has never been the same ever again and everybody told me to try harder. That’s just not how it works.

15. Toxic Relationships

    nymphaetamine wrote:

    “Struggle love” or whatever you wanna call toxic relationships that slowly suck the life out of you and ruin your mental health. Relationships are not the misery olympics where you get a gold medal in the end if you put up with the most bullshit. Your partner should make you happy at least 95% of the time, if it’s the opposite then you need to get the hell out of there instead of endlessly trying to ‘make it work’. There’s nothing romantic or glamorous about wasting the only life you have with a loser who lies, cheats, uses, and abuses you.

16. “Bad Boys”

    yeetisgood shared:

    the whole concept of “bad boys”. why is manipulative and abusive portrayed as hot? if anyone abuses you in any way, it’s not hot, it’s a serious problem. for some reason, many movie/book plots overly romanticize the concept and it’s sick. same thing goes for stockholm syndrome. like, wtf?

17. Tortured Artists

    lordlemming answered:

    The tortured artist. I hate the idea of “only those that suffer can make great art”. Yes, there are people who have a rough life and make amazing things but that is a small percentage of people who actually get noticed. You can be smart, passionate, sincere, dedicated, or creative and make amazing art. If we promote the idea that true art only comes from people who have suffered then that promotes the idea of self inflicting suffering while detracting from those who have made really amazing art but haven’t “truly suffered” for it.