this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
23 points (92.6% liked)
Showerthoughts
41328 readers
59 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm not adopted and I've often wondered "what if I got different parents?" I'm sure I'm not alone.
I think the difference is that for someone that's adopted, it's more "real"
Like... scientifically, "you" had to be the product of your bio parents...
Like there is no "before" your existance, from your PoV at least
Like... you exist... and anything before was already set in stone...
Like the sequence of events that led up to your procration is just what it is...
I mean unless you're talking about like parents dying
then I guess yea sure that's a what if... it would be kinda tragic tho...
For an adopted person... any tiny changes could've led to a different outcome...
Like what if the first time they met, the kid "acted a bit weird" and then didn't get picked by those same prospective parents...
Just a little thing can change their entire trajectory...
...
Its like... I sometimes wondered like what if I wasn't born in China, but was an ABC (American-Born Chinese) instead?...
Like... I'd have no "before" to wonder about... I'd have no "other timeline" to be able to visualize...
My identity as an American would be undeniable (well besides the whole executive order bullshit that's being sued in the courts)
But because I was transplanted... I have a constant identity crisis because I can see the ghosts of the other timeline...
Like if someone like trump got elected in 2008, our visa could've been denied... leading to that alternate timeline...
Or just dad dying... everyone else in my family were sort of like "add-ons" on the visa... so if he died, we might not have been able to come (I think the terms are Pricipal Immigrant and Derivative Immigrant), like we're all derivatives from dad's application...
Okay I think I'm just rambling thoughts again...
Why is my brain so hyperactive lmao
My mom died when I was in middle school. She was the taskmaster parent and my dad treated me basically like a roommate, so I was way more independent in high school and beyond than I would have been if she had lived. I see the ghost of the timeline in which things were different. I think that happens for any huge changes in life.
I’m an immigrant in Germany and moved here about a decade after I studied abroad here. I don’t think I would have been allowed/able to study abroad, especially under the circumstances (I failed German, after getting a 95 and a 98 on the midterm and final, respectively, because I didn’t do the homework), so I don’t think I would have been able to come here and become a German as a second language teacher without prior immersion. My life would look very different, and I’d probably be leaning into my Spanish a lot more to try to emigrate to a Spanish speaking country, if I were even thinking about leaving.
My mom was a republican, but I don’t know if she would have followed my dad down the Fox News wormhole or if she would have pulled him out of it. I think if she snapped out of it, but couldn’t snap him out of the maga hypnosis, she might have left him, which would probably have set my dad on a very unpleasant path.
I know what you mean, I also often wonder what it would have been like if you had different parents.