People shared the small changes they made that improved their lives in big ways

Real advice from real people.

Sep 15, 2024

Photo credit: Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash, Marcus Ng on Unsplash, Sarah Brown on Unsplash – <a href="https://unsplash.com/@twinsfisch?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Isabella and Zsa Fischer</a> , <a href="https://unsplash.com/@marcusxsnapz?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Marcus Ng</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/@sweetpagesco?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Sarah Brown</a>

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear notes that “your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits … you get what you repeat.” Basically, if you want to predict where your life is leading, take a look at your daily choices. And Clear is certainly not the first or last motivational speaker to promote this wisdom. Pick up any self-help book, and it will most likely tout the message of how small, incremental changes can have an enormous impact on our lives.

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A recent thread on AskReddit posed the question: What improved your quality of life so much you wished you did it sooner? For those of us who still can’t seem to tick off things like “drink more water” from the to-do list (despite knowing full well all the benefits) it might help hearing success stories from real, everyday people.

Here are some of the highlights:

Swimming for back pain

“Drugs, bed rest for weeks, chiro, deep massage, electroshock. Then I swam some laps and over a three day period months of decrepitude vanished. I couldn’t believe and am now obsessed with swimming.” – DontShootTheFood

“Most people who have back pain (especially lower back pain) have it as a result of sedentary lifestyle (exacerbated by sitting in office chairs for a long period of time). Swimming is a fantastic total body and core workout which just builds and balances strength to reduce back pain. If you have pain due to an injury, it may not be as effective.” – hanksredditname

Managing road rage

“Someone wants to pass me when I’m in the left lane? Move over and let them pass. Someone wants in my lane? That’s ok, I don’t consider the gap ahead of me to be my real estate. Semi puts on their blinkers when I’m intending to pass? Let off the speed and flick my high beams to let them know there’s enough room to enter my lane. All of this helps traffic flow better, makes things safer, and actually feels good to do. And all it required was to stop feeling like all of those things were a personal attack on me and my desire to get to my destination.” – Buddahrific

Setting boundaries … even with family

“I used to feel like I had to hang out with people when they asked, and as an introvert would resent losing my ‘me’ time. Now I’m just honest with people and say I’m tired, or that I had a long weekend of Great British Bakeoff and dog snuggles that I was really looking forward to. Might sound lame but I’m 150% happier.” – Acceptable-Place0872“…I’m in my late twenties and talk to neither of my parents. I forgive them for what they did, but I don’t want a relationship of any kind with them and have made that very clear. I just stopped picking up the phone, texting back, messaging back at all. My brother still talks to one, but he suffers for it. I know I made the right decision.” – thekindwillinherit

Exercising for more than just your body

exercise, exercise and mental health, mental health

“I wish more people knew exactly how helpful exercise really is for both mental and physical health! Throughout high school I was seeing psychologists for anxiety and other issues and they repeatedly told me to eat healthy and exercise to improve my mental state. It’s pretty easy when you are in a bad place to dismiss that and say ‘a chemical imbalance in my brain isn’t going to fix itself if I go for a run’ so I never followed their advice. When I was around 20 I got a gym membership and actually started exercising for unrelated reasons and WOW does it help a lot! If you have mental health issues, a healthy lifestyle might not totally fix you but it will DEFINITELY help.” – vindaflyfox

Breaking free from phone addiction

“Disable your push notifications in tandem with uninstalling all social media apps. It’s quite fascinating how much better you feel when social media isn’t installed. Bye bye FB/Meta, Insta, Twitter, all of it gone. Talk about liberating. Took me about a month of “training”, but now I hardly ever look at my phone, and I no longer feel phantom vibrations while it’s in my pocket. It’s disgusting how we’ve become slaves to our devices.” – dj92wa

Improving sleep

“I’ve been using my CPAP for a few weeks now and I actually know what it’s like to have energy and motivation and not be a zombie by 2 pm. If anyone else feels like that, I heavily recommend talking to your doctor about having a sleep study done.” – whomikehidden

“Sunrise Alarm Clock. I wake up so much better during the dark winter months.” – herbstavore

Decluttering

“…A consistently clean home is amazing and doesn’t take a ton of time. 10-15 minutes a day I can keep things fairly tidy.” – unwinagainstable“Nothing feels so relaxing when everything is in its place, organized and uncluttered. This obviously goes for at home, but also a clean car, clean desk, clean and organized computer and filing. Taking notes and reminders and deleting them when the task is done really relieves the mind. You can relax and focus better when your brain isn’t cluttered and overwhelmed.” – KanataCitizen

Walking for an hour

“This literally saved my life. A lot of people think just going out for a walk has minimal benefits, but it has both great physical and mental ones. Highly underrated (and free).” – grittypitty

Journaling affirmations

“…it helps remind me of my values, which helps me make better decisions each day, and having done it for three years now, I can see the progress I’ve made in learning not to sweat the small stuff. It’s encouraging. I’m figuring myself out.” – babblewocky

Dropping sarcasm

better attitudes, self improvement, mindset

“I thought this gave me sharp, dry wit but really it was one step up from a teenager’s whiney voice making fun of people. It really was a low form of humor and, indeed, the perfect analog to the pseudo-intellectualism of the cynical act. It’s so easy to be sarcastic and nasty and it gets old REALLY fast.” – zazzlekdazzle

Opting for positive content

“I stopped consuming true crime content this past summer. It overall made me a more fearful, less empathetic, and more judgemental person by nature. The content encouraged my negative thought spirals and called it awareness. Never going back.” – notwest94

Practicing gratitude

“It is small but it genuinely makes a big impact. I had an assignment for a university course last year where we had to spend one week noting down something positive/good each day and then the next week negative things and I hadn’t realized just how much my life has improved until the week where I focused on negative things, it really solidified how much of a difference it made on my mood, how I felt about myself, and even how much I accomplished.” – supersaurus65

There were some other great contenders: daily dancing, seeing a therapist, stretching before bed and at waking … just to name a few. But no matter the habit, they planted seeds for not only a new life, but for a new identity. As Clear would put it, “every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”

Let authors like Clear help guide you—and stories like the ones above help inspire you—as you forge a better path for yourself, one small step at a time.

This article originally appeared on 12.8.21

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In Partnership With Habitat For Humanity →

Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff.

Culture, Family

A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.

Better health, better jobs, and a brighter future all start with access to a safe, affordable home.

Sarah Watts

3/25/2026
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.

Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.

Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.

Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
- Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
- Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
- Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
- Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
- Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today.
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Photo credit: via Levi Strauss and Ricardo Gomez Angel/Unsplash – Levi's CEO Charles Bergh settles the jean washing debate

Culture, Pop Culture

Former Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh settled the debate on how often you should wash your jeans

“We don’t need to wash jeans as often as most people think we do.”

Tod Perry

Upworthy Staff

4/26/2026

Social media has become a fertile breeding ground for conversations about hygiene. Whether it’s celebrities bragging about how little their family bathes, or battles over how often people should wash their sheets or bras, there’s no shortage of strong opinions.

One of the debates that gets the most diverse responses is how often people wash their denim jeans.

Denim atelier Benjamin Talley Smith tells TODAY that jeans should be washed “as little as possible, if at all.” Laundry expert Patric Richardson adds they should be cleaned “after nine or 10 wearings, like to me, that is the ideal.” At that point, they probably have stains and are “a little sweaty by that point, so you need to wash ’em,” Richardson says.

Still, some people wash and dry them after every wear while others will hand wash and never hang dry. With all these significant differences of opinion, there must be a correct answer somewhere, right?

What the former Levi’s CEO says about washing jeans

The former CEO of Levi Strauss, Chip Bergh, has stepped up to set the record straight on when and how to wash your jeans. He caused a stir in 2014 when he said he only washes his jeans once a year, but it was for environmental reasons more than hygiene.

Reading: The Dirty Jeans Manifesto http://t.co/nAQbdbdpn2 pic.twitter.com/aiwqzbHGF5
— Gavin Heaton (@servantofchaos) July 15, 2014

He later clarified his thoughts in a blog post, “The Dirty Jean Manifesto” he posted to LinkedIn.

“I made this provocative statement because I believe strongly in what our brands stand for: quality, durability and lasting products made sustainably. I also said it because I believe we don’t need to wash jeans as often as most people think we do,” Bergh wrote.

“We learned that an average pair of jeans consumes roughly 3,500 liters of water — and that is after only two years of use, washing the jeans once a week,” Bergh wrote. “Nearly half of the total water consumption, or 1,600 liters, is the consumer throwing the jeans in the washing machine. That’s equivalent to 6,700 glasses of drinking water!”

To add to the problem, denim jeans are often manufactured in places where water is scarce, such as India, Pakistan, Mexico, China and parts of California.

CEO offers clarification on his comments

Bergh spoke with CNBC’s Christine Tan and clarified his thoughts on jean cleanliness.

“True denim heads, people that really love their denim, will tell you to never put your denim into a washing machine. So that’s what I do,” Bergh explained. “If I drop some curry on my jeans, I’m gonna clean it. But I’ll spot-clean it. And if they get really gross you know, if I’ve been out sweating or something and they get really gross, I’ll wash them in the shower.”

However, when Bergh washes his jeans in the shower, he does it while wearing them and washing them with soap. The image that the scene conjures is of a cowboy bathing in a cartoon, clothes on and all.

There are a lot of different opinions on how often one should wash and dry their jeans and many of them boil down to personal preference. But the debate on the topic has brought up one very big point we should all consider: when choosing how often we wash our jeans, a big part of the decision should be considering the amount of water we use.

This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.

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Photo credit: Image via Reddit – A family enjoys dinner during the 1970s.

Culture, Pop Culture

Gen Xers share 17 nostalgic dishes they ate growing up—and still make for dinner

From sloppy joes to pizza bread, these dishes still slap.

Emily Shiffer

Upworthy Staff

4/25/2026

Generation X (those born between 1965-1980) grew up eating classic Americana meals. During the 1970s, comfort meals like tuna casserole and salmon roquettes were popular meals.

Gen X also grew up eating some pretty unhinged (but all the more yummy) sandwiches. These meals are steeped in childhood nostalgia.

And to this day, Gen Xers are still fond of their favorite dishes they grew up eating. Together, they discussed on Reddit their most-loved home-cooked dishes that they still whip up, starting with sloppy joes.

Here are 17 iconic Gen X comfort meals to keep in mind the next time you make dinner:

@genx_shawn
🤤😂 Top 10 Things ONLY GenX Knows the Taste Of… #genx #over50club #genxtiktok #over40 #genxcrew #generationx #genxers #genxtok #over40club #over50
♬ original sound – Shawn | GenX

“Breakfast. We will have a ‘breakfast for dinner’ at least a couple times a month. Yum!” – fadeanddecayed, KddKc

“Pizza bread! My mom would cut Italian bread into pieces, put butter and garlic salt on them, then pour some spaghetti sauce on them, cover with mozzarella cheese, and broil for like ten or fifteen minutes. Super easy and quick to make and so tasty. I’m sure my mom loved that I was so into something that took roughly zero effort for her to make.” – hornybutired

“Grilled cheese and soup.” – reincarnateme

“Meat loaf. I use 2 pounds ground beef, replace bread crumbs with minute rice, add 1 pkg beef soup flavoring, chop an entire onion for it, and mix BBQ sauce into mixture. Oh, important: do not overmix! Place all ingredients into bowl, then mix quickly 10 or 12 swirls of a large spoon. Grease loaf pan, carefully place mixture in, pat down & bake about an hour. (Extra info: for even better flavor, mix the night before, pat into loaf pan, cover with plastic, put into fridge overnight. Remove from fridge about an hour before baking. BE SURE TO REMOVE PLASTIC WRAP! [Esp. If in Pyrex glass loaf pan])” – jehardt, AbbyM1968

“White guy tacos.” – najing_ftw

“Skillet dinner. Kielbasa, bell pepper, onion, spuds in a cast iron pan. One dish. Easy peasy.” – UnimportantOutcome67

“Chicken pot pie or chicken ala king.” – sattersnaps

“Fried catfish, greens, and red beans and rice.” – User Unknown

“Shepherds pie, technically cottage pie if it’s ground beef. Homemade enchiladas, usually made as a layered casserole instead because I don’t have time to roll them. Pork chops with mashed potatoes and veggies.” – XerTrekker

“Fried rice with chicken or pork leftovers.” – AlternativeResort181

“Hot hamburgers: hamburger patty open face on Texas toast thickness bread, cover with fries then cover that with brown gravy. Wife’s variation is hamburger patty over rice with brown gravy.” – EnricoMatassaEsq

@past_archives
American Gen X Foods That Kids Today Can’t Understand#nostalgia #childhoodmemories #backtochildhood #90s #2000s #usa #80s #90skids #80schildhood #capcutforus #capcut #capcutpioneer #America
♬ original sound – Past Archives

“Stuffed peppers. I make it much more easily by cooking it all in one large frying pan ‘deconstructed’. Sauté onions garlic and ground beef, add cut up peppers, tomatoes or tomato sauce, sometimes a little spinach, then add separately cooked rice, salt and pepper and serve. It comes together pretty quickly and tastes just as good as stuffing and baking peppers in the oven.” – Affectionate-Map2583

“Macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs. Seriously, that’s what I ate tonight.” – Dazzling-Walrus9673

“Homemade Stroganoff casserole. Ridiculously easy to make. Ingredients:

1.25-1.5 lbs. Ground Beef
1 each of large white onion, green pepper, and red pepper
1 can mushroom pieces, drained and rinsed
12 oz. Bag of wide egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
16 oz. Sour cream
Worcestershire Sauce
Louisiana Hot Sauce
White or Black Pepper
Panko bread crumbs

To Make: Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Worcestershire, hot sauce, garlic powder, and pepper are all to taste, depending on how much flavor and punch you want it to have. Cook noodles per instructions. Drain. Peel and slice onion (not diced), core and cut peppers into strips Brown meat, onions and peppers along with liberal amount of Worcestershire; garlic, pepper, and hot sauce. Add mushrooms. Cook until meat is fully brown, onions are translucent and peppers are tender. Drain. Combine drained meat, etc. with whole can of soup, half of the sour cream. Gradually add noodles into the mix. Add sour cream as needed to maintain consistency. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, and pepper to taste. Dump into large, deep Corning dish or whatever. Cover too with bread crumbs. Cover and bake for forty minutes.” – CynfullyDelicious

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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Photo credit: Canva – Female comedian (left) Male audience member (right)

Culture, Pop Culture

Heckler flirts with comedian on stage and it turns into a surprise masterclass on romantic chemistry

“… and, that is how I met your mother.”

Heather Wake

4/25/2026

Dealing with hecklers just comes with the territory of being a comedian. But flirting with them? That wasn’t something Rebecca Reingold had prepared for.

On March 11, the New York City-based stand-up comic uploaded a recent set to her Instagram aptly captioned “We found love in a hopeless place (a comedy club).”

In the now-viral clip, Reingold shared a bit about not being “good” at flirting with men, saying that she would inadvertently “be mean” to them “because they liked it.”

Playful roasting turns into something more

Microphone against a blurry backdrop Photo credit: Canva

Then, during the set, someone from the crowd must have been talking too enthusiastically, because Reingold playfully called them out for being loud. This someone, a man, responded that he was with his parents at the show, to which Reingold quipped, “You look bad. Your parents look a lot younger than you.”

Without missing a beat, the man in the audience responded that, given the logic she gave just moments earlier, she must like him, since she was throwing shots at him.

“Oh yeah, you’re right! That does mean I like you! You were listening. Oh my god, I’m in love,” said Reingold, blushing. “You’re so annoying but so loveable so its so tough, you know what I mean?”

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The Internet wastes no time weighing in

Over 16 million viewers later, and people were applauding both Reingold’s ability to go with the flow, and this mysterious man’s mad game. Many were hoping that this became an actual meet-cute.

“Damn she really turned red when she realised he listened.”

“You handled this so well 👏🙌”

“… and, that is how I met your mother.”

“The fact that he did not drop the ‘I’ll shut up in exchange for your number’ line is mind boggling to me.”

“So when’s the wedding. Lol”

Romantic antagonism IRL

Perhaps people were rallying for this interaction to lead to romantic entanglement because it resembles the ever-popular enemies-to-lovers trope found in countless rom-coms and romantasies. This dynamic of building attraction through animosity and tension makes for great entertainment…but does it make for healthy relationships in real life? The annoying but accurate answer is, of course: it depends.

Primarily, it depends on a) whether both partners are enjoying the teasing and b) whether the jokes are landing in sensitive territory. If both those parameters are met, it can become its own love language. If not, then it can foster resentment.

This can obviously become even more complicated when it comes to flirting, since there is already a lot of indirect language happening between strangers. But at least in this case it looked like everyone was having a good time.

Sadly, it has yet to be revealed whether or not Reingold and this heckler ever did connect after the show. We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, be sure to give her a follow on Instagram to stay tuned on both her comedy stylings and, perhaps, her love life.

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Photo credit: Canva – A woman in her cap and gown for graduation.

Culture, Wholesome

40-something woman who grew up in foster care beats the odds in college graduation video

Less than 5 percent of people in foster care go on to get a bachelor’s degree.

Cecily Knobler

4/25/2026

Jade Tompkins, who goes by @Craftyhag on social media, made a simple video on TikTok. In a moment of pure vulnerability, she humbly shared her story. What she might have felt was merely a cool accomplishment feels, to many of us watching, like a triumph.

In the clip, she sits at a table in a simple gray sweater with yellow flowers, holding colorful ropes. Looking straight into the camera, she asks, “You guys wanna see something cool? I don’t have a lot of friends, or at least people who can be proud of me, I guess. I’m 40-something, and I get to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in a few weeks or a month, I guess.”

@craftyhag
♬ original sound – Seyram Parku

Beating the odds

Tompkins takes a slight pause and adds, “I grew up in foster care, and a lot of people might not know this. But people in foster care–like less than 2 percent of them, I looked it up–of people in foster care go on to get a bachelor’s degree. I don’t know, maybe it’s just because I’m older.”

And Tompkins is right. The numbers for people who experience life in foster care are extremely challenging. More recent numbers say only about 3-4% of people with a background in foster care end up graduating with a bachelor’s degree, compared with more than 30% of the general population, according to research.

She takes a breath, seemingly letting the information she just shared sink in, even for herself. “Anyway, I just wanted to show you guys. I don’t even know if I’m gonna go to graduation, but I still got the stuff just in case.” She holds up a red, satin-looking sash. “This is my stole thing. And I got all these cords. And if I do go, I don’t know if I’m gonna wear them or not.”

Her achievements are nothing short of incredible. “My grades are really good. I have almost a 3.9. And I’ve worked full time since I’ve been doing it, so that feels like a big accomplishment. And I joined student associations and stuff.”

View this post on Instagram

“You’re never too old to set another goal”

Picking up her graduation hat, she shows off the colorful writing on top. “So this is my graduation hat. I had it made. It says, ‘You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.’ So I thought that was kind of appropriate. And I already got accepted to a Master’s program, so I think that’s kind of cool.”

She ends the video as humbly as she began it. “Anyway, I just wanted to share because I don’t really have a lot of people to share it with. And I guess if anyone sees it and thinks, ‘Hey, I should go back to school,’ and you have the means or the dream or wish to do it and think you can, whatever. I don’t know. Just thought I’d share.”

“Walk for all of us!”

Her story was exactly what a lot of people needed to hear. On TikTok alone, she has nearly 850,000 likes and almost 70,000 comments.

“Foster kid to foster kid, please walk,” one person shared. “Walk for all of us! Walk for those of us that are still trying to find out confidence. Walk for those of us that are not sure if we should dream. Walk for those of us that want to see our own kind SHINE. Your shine will help to light another’s pathway. I can say that the Class of Foster Kids, we are proud of you! Keep going.”

Even some corporations, like Hilton (and many others), jumped into the chat. They sent her a little gift, writing, “Jade, milestones like this deserve to be celebrated. DMing you as we’d like to send something sweet your way.”

This TikToker might have summed up what so many seem to think: “1. You’re f-ing awesome! 2. That cap is f-ing awesome. 3. Damn, that’s a lot of cords. 4. Your TikTok friends are f-ing proud of you!”

@craftyhag
#Meme #MemeCut
♬ original sound – Notworthit

According to an update posted just under a month later, Tompkins did attend and “walk” at graduation. Chyroned over a meme, she writes, “Me deciding to go to graduation because 700,000 people convinced me to go.”

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Photo credit: Canva – A recently-fired woman holds a box of her belongings from work.

Culture, Wholesome

She got fired from her bank job on the way home, sat on the train, said a prayer. Her phone rang 15 seconds later.

Sometimes the way you treat people at the job you lost is what gets you the next one.

Adam Albright-Hanna

Upworthy Staff

4/24/2026

She had just been let go from her job as a bank teller. The mistake was an $800 error she couldn’t fix, and when she came back to work her manager told her she was done. She got on the train home feeling “so sad,” as she put it, and cried.

Then, instead of sitting with the loss, she prayed. Not a prayer asking for something, but one offering thanks. “God, thank you so much for allowing me to have this job for so long,” she said quietly. She put on a worship song.

Fifteen seconds later, her phone rang.

A woman looks at her cell phone. Photo credit: Canva

The man on the other end had a cheerful voice. His sister, he explained, had worked with her at the bank and spoken highly of her, perticularly her kindness and her service. Based on that, he thought she’d be a good fit for his company. She got the job that same day.

The woman, who shares the story on TikTok under the handle @ashp_tv, posted about it in March and it spread quickly. The timing is the part that gets people because it’s not just that something good followed something hard, but how fast it happened, and that the call came specifically because someone had noticed how she’d treated people at the job she’d just lost.

@ashp_tv
Mustard seed faith STILL moves mountains. 🤍 #fyp #god #testimony #faith
♬ original sound – ASH P TV

“All you need is faith,” she said. Whether you take that literally or as shorthand for something more like trust and openness, the story holds up either way.

For more lifestyle content follow @ashp_tv on TikTok.

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Photo credit: Canva – Two women react to message with surprise.

Culture, Wholesome

Tenant got a $2,500 check in the mail from an ex-landlord who sold the house.The note that came with it is something else.

A former landlord tracked down every tenant they’d ever had after selling their house and mailed them each a check.

Adam Albright-Hanna

Upworthy Staff

4/24/2026

Chris Robarge had rented a house after his divorce, his first place on his own during a hard stretch of his life. He paid his rent, eventually moved on, and didn’t think much more about it.

Then, years later, his former landlord reached out asking for his current address. A day later, a check for $2,500 arrived in the mail with a handwritten note.

The landlord had sold the house. And before keeping the profit, they tracked down every tenant who had ever lived there because, as the note explained, those monthly rent payments had helped pay off the mortgage. The tenants had contributed to the equity. It only seemed right to give some of it back.

“While it’s not much, it’s yours,” the letter read. “It was a great house, and I’m glad that I was able to share it with you.”

Chris posted about it on Facebook, where it spread quickly partly because people were so unused to a landlord story going this direction. He wrote that there’s a difference between people who talk about their values and people who actually live them, and that this was the clearest example of the latter he’d ever seen personally. “Do it off the clock, do it when no one is watching, do it always,” he wrote.

A man hands out cash to someone. Photo credit: Canva

He kept $500 to fix his car. The rest he gave away to Black and Pink Massachusetts, to free fridges in Worcester, to OurStory Edutainment, and directly to people on the street who needed it. He turned an unexpected windfall into a chain of smaller ones.

One Facebook commenter said she’d started reading the post braced for bad news like a surprise bill or some old debt being called in, and was so conditioned to that outcome that the actual ending genuinely shocked her. Which is maybe the most telling part of the whole story.

You can follow Chris Robarge on Facebook.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons – Hands writing in Arabic, left, and Anne Hathaway.

Culture, Pop Culture

Anne Hathaway praised after casually dropping Arabic phrase in interview

“Use it the way Anne Hathaway used it.”

Heather Wake

4/24/2026

During an interview with People promoting the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2, Anne Hathaway was asked how she navigates growing older. She noted the importance of taking self-care seriously, remaining curious, and appreciating being in a place where you can assess decisions made earlier in life.

But it was what she said next, almost as an afterthought, that really got folks talking.

“I wanna have a long, healthy life. Inshallah, I hope so,” she casually but sincerely told her interviewer. The phrase, also spelled “insh’Allah,” translates to “if God wills” or “God willing,” and is deeply rooted in Islam.

@people
#AnneHathaway is embracing aging on her own terms and not getting swept up in the noise along the way. #WorldsMostBeautiful
♬ original sound – People Magazine

However, it is also part of Arab culture in general. Religious or otherwise, people use it to convey resolute hope for the future while acknowledging that life follows its own plan.

Bridge-building moment

This ignited a positive frenzy online among Muslim and Arabic viewers, who were not only thrilled to hear the term used, but to hear it used correctly.

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Rather than being seen as performative, the overall consensus was that this was a refreshing, bridge-building moment across cultures.

“Use it the way Anne Hathaway used it—honestly, humbly, in a moment when you genuinely want something good and know that wanting is only the beginning,” praised author Qasim Rashid.

Perhaps the timing of this interview has also contributed to its virality. Just weeks ago at Coachella, Sabrina Carpenter received backlash for her “this is weird” reaction when fans began engaging in the Zaghrouta, a celebratory, high-pitched ululation traditionally used in Arab cultures.

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So, for someone equally high-profile to actually promote rather than seemingly reject a piece of Arab culture has been viewed as a kind of karmic recompense.

As HuffPost contributor Syeda Khaula Saad put it, “It just feels nice to be represented in mainstream media in an accepting, inclusive light. I hope that we get to see much more, insha’Allah.”

And as she pointed out, recently another Arabic word was brought into the mainstream when Muslim Egyptian American actor Ramy Youssef taught Elmo to say “habibi” (meaning “my love” or “my friend”) on an episode of Sesame Street.

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This seemed to have a similarly profound impact.

“We have been dehumanized, portrayed in the worst way by the media for years.. I swear to GOD elmo saying ‘habibi’ made me teary and somehow healed the inner child that has been called the worst things for being different growing up,” one viewer wrote on Instagram.

It goes to show that when it comes to respecting other cultures, it doesn’t take a grand gesture. Even a word, when said correctly and with genuine intent, can extend an olive branch.

Perhaps this wisdom can be especially applied to mainstream media, where negative stereotypes run rampant alongside baffling overcorrections. Sometimes, it really is as simple as making space for what exists beyond your own lived experience and engaging with it.

Whether or not you agree that Hathaway executed this perfectly, may we all agree that the world could use more people looking to build bridges rather than reject what’s unfamiliar.

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Photo credit: Canva – (L) A man walking through an airport; (R) a plane take off in cold weather.

Culture, Wholesome

A Gen Z passenger demanded his delayed flight take off immediately. When the gate agent heard why, he bought the man a ticket on a different airline.

A gate agent who assumed the worst about an angry young passenger ended up spending $450 of his own money to get him home.

Adam Albright-Hanna

Upworthy Staff

4/24/2026

A gate agent at an airport had a young man screaming at him that his flight needed to take off. The flight had been delayed due to weather. The agent gave his practiced apology and explained the situation. The young man kept pushing.

The agent, who shares the story on Instagram Threads as @mr.freak_22_, had been doing this job long enough to develop a thick skin. He’d heard every version of the entitled passenger routine. He was preparing to hold the line.

Then the young man told him why.

A traveller delayed at an airport. Photo credit: Canva

“You don’t understand. My mom is in hospice. The nurse just called. She has maybe hours left. I just need to hold her hand one last time.”

The agent’s entire calculation changed. His own airline had nothing available. He pulled out his personal phone and started searching competitor flights. He found one for $450, leaving from another terminal. He looked at the young man, who was hyperventilating, and didn’t ask him for the money. He just bought the ticket.

“I printed the boarding pass, shoved it into his hand, and said, ‘Run to Terminal B. Gate 12. Go.’”

Man runs through an airport. Photo credit: Canva

The young man ran.

Two days later he called back and left a message. He’d made it in time.

The agent posted about it because he wanted to push back on something he’d been thinking about. People assume gate agents are cold and robotic, just like people assume young men demanding things at airport counters are being entitled. Neither assumption held up that day. “Sometimes the rules don’t matter nearly as much as the reasons,” he wrote.

You can follow the gate agent on Threads.

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