So long as you’re curious and open-minded, comparing things is probably one of the best ways to learn more about the world. When you have two or more things side by side, you start noticing changes, trends, and characteristics that you might have otherwise ignored.
Our team is featuring some of the most interesting ‘before and after’ photos from the legendary ‘Mildly Interesting’ online community to give you a fresh perspective on life. Not only are these pics intriguing to look at, but some of them might break your brain a little bit.
#1 I Rescued The Cat Off The Street. Photos Before And After. One Year Difference
#2 Shirts Before And After Losing 400 Lbs
#3 M/07/1’3″ [23lbs > 13lbs = 10lbs] Still A Bit To Go, But My Owner No Longer Refers To Me As His Chunky Boy!
Comparing things and looking at ‘before and after’ photos might be fun, interesting, and satisfy your inner scientist, but it can also be deeply bittersweet and even uncomfortable. The fact is, you might become strongly aware of the rapid passage of time, and everything that entails: changing relationships, your own mortality, beloved locations and buildings being changed, missing out on the things you used to love, etc.
Time spares no one, and what matters is the relationship you have with it. And while you can’t stop the passage of time, you can, actually, slow it down or speed it up. At least from a subjective perspective. The secret lies in what you do with your daily routine, what you focus on, what you feel, and how much you embrace novelty. At least, according to recent psychological research.
#4 My Crosseye (Strabismus) Surgery Before And After: Update: 3 Weeks Later!
#5 This Couple, Just Before And One Year After Leaving The Amish
#6 Before & After Double Jaw Surgery
According to Ian Taylor, at Loughborough University, the author of ‘Time Hacks: The psychology of time and how to spend it,’ rethinking your relationship with time can help you feel more fulfilled, less pressured, and less bored.
He explained to ‘New Scientist’ that, from his point of view, time is a subjective perception that acts as a framework linking people’s memories of the past with their hopes and ideas for the future. This, from his perspective, is what makes people’s lives coherent.
#7 Viking Axe Before And After Restoration
#8 Before And After Power-Washing. New York Used To Be A Much Dirtier City Back When The Northeast Ran On Coal Plants
#9 The Difference In Appearance Of This Nuthatch After I Found It vs. After A 2 Hour Nap In A Shoebox
“Our sense of time is not simply a function of the brain, it’s a complicated interaction between our mind, body and our feelings. Psychologically speaking, this internal clock speeds up or slows down depending on what else we are using our brain’s resources for and how much attention we give it,” Taylor told New Scientist.
#10 Before And After Of The Excavation Of The Ancient Greek Stadium
#11 Before And After Watering My Plant Upon My Return To Work After Two Weeks
#12 Before And After A Girl Said She’d Come Over
“We know that our emotions and motivation have a strong impact upon how we perceive time. We find in the lab that, if we make people angry or sad, their perception of time slows down. If you make them happy, it speeds up. There is a reason people say, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun.’ However, emotions cannot just be grouped as positive or negative. You also need to consider their intensity, known as level of arousal.”
Higher intensity emotions tend to make time feel slower.
#13 Before & After Removing My 8 Kg Ovarian Cyst
#14 1940s Ladies Boots Before And After Polishing And New Laces
#15 Cats Favorite Toy Before & After 6 Years Of Love
So, for instance, you take two positive emotional states like feeling excited and feeling calm.
Their level of intensity is different, and you’d feel as though time slowed down in the former case, but not the latter.
This shift in perception can act as a survival mechanism in life-threatening instances to allow you to think clearly.
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#16 Before And After Baking My Clay Crocodile
#17 My Mom’s Handwriting Before And After Her Stroke
#18 My Teeth, Before And After Braces
With all of this in mind, you can, in fact, try to slow or speed time up for yourself.
“You give people a picture of something desirable, like a tasty-looking cake, time feels like it passed quicker than if they’re looking at something non-desirable,” Taylor explained that the experiences that we want to avoid make time seem subjectively slower.
Meanwhile, if you want to speed time up, you need to strive for something that you want, and stay occupied with things that you enjoy, value, or desire.
#19 Socal Before And After A Wet Winter
#20 Before & After A Total Spinal Fusion
#21 Before And After Floor Sanding
Naturally, most people wouldn’t enjoy the idea of making themselves feel horrible just to slow down their perception of time. Instead, if you want more temporal abundance, what you can do is change your priorities. For example, if you’re spending lots of time on unpleasant obligations, sure, you’ll feel like time slowed down, but also, you’ll probably think that you haven’t had enough time that day. So, you should use your time wisely and focus on more valuable activities instead.
“Feeling like you have no time really comes down to whether you’ve used your time wisely or not and how that makes you feel, not how much time you really have available.”
#22 Log Book Used Daily For Two Years vs. Brand New Book
#23 My Notes Before And After Being Prescribed Adderall
#24 Before-And-After Cleaning Of A 300-Year-Old Silver-Inlaid Sword Pommel
Taylor told New Scientist that having a good relationship with time means a few things, including: not feeling exhausted, not feeling like you wasted your day, and feeling good about yourself.
“To do this, we need to have an awareness of time and how it affects our motivation and well-being.” Rewarding yourself immediately can motivate you far more than nebulous, vague, long-term rewards that are in a far-off, distant future.
#25 Our Chicken Eggs Before And After Free Ranging
#26 3 Days Of Studio Work, Barely Hanging On
#27 Before Watering And About An Hour After Watering
We’d like to hear your perspective, so if you have a moment, join the conversation in the comments.
Which of these comparison pics caught your attention the most, and why?
From your personal experience, what changes and trends have stood out to you the most, no matter if we’re talking about products, locations, ecosystems, or something else entirely?
Do you have any advice for slowing or speeding up the perception of time? Let us know!
#28 My Husband’s Decade Old Computer Chair vs. New One The Same Model I Am Surprising Him With Tonight
#29 A New 95 Mask vs. One Used For A 6 Hr Motorcycle Ride Through Delhi, India
#30 My Hairy Leg After And Before Shaving!
#31 A Non-Smoker’s Remote vs. A Smoker’s Remote
#32 Replaced My Old Boots With The Same Model, 7 Years Later
#33 Replaced My Mom’s Gardening Gloves For Mother’s Day This Year!
#34 Carotenosis Before And After. Left Was Me In December, Right Is Me Now After I Stopped Eating Carrots Every Day
#35 Stairs Built In 1829 vs. 2005
#36 Sheepdog Before And After A Lil Haircut
#37 Brand New Pikachu Replacing Its 15 Year Old, Sun Bleached Cousin
#38 These Golf Balls At The Mini Golf Course I Work At Became Smooth After Spending A Lot Of Time In A Stream
#39 Our Air Filter Came Out Black After Running All Week IA La With The Fires 10-20 Miles Away. New Filter For Comparison On The Left
#40 Before And After 41 Years Of Sharpening (Found At Knife Store In Kyoto)
#41 Table Hockey Puck After About Four And A Half Years Of Playing. New One On The Left For Comparison
#42 My Brain Before And After Brain Surgery
#43 The Before And After Of My Jaw Surgery
#44 View From My House Of California Normal vs. California With Fires
#45 I’ve Made A Lot Of Mistakes In My Life
#46 My Ears Before, And After Getting Them Reconstructed (Almost 3 Years Healed)
#47 Scrub Daddy Before After
#48 Porcelain Mugs Before And After Firing
#49 A LEGO I Built When I Was A Kid, Based Off A Catalog Picture vs. The Actual LEGO Set I Bought 15 Years Later
#50 An Original 90’s Doodle Bear vs. My Exact Same Bear I’ve Slept With Every Night For The Last 27 Years
#51 1995 Zippo, Before And After. One Day It Will Look Like It Did Before The Sanding And Polish
#52 My Old Trowel I Use For Stonework And A New One
#53 2 Identical Hats, But One Was Worn Every Day For A Year
#54 My Husband Bought Me A New UNO Deck To Replace My 20 Year Old Deck
#55 Gloves Before And After Handling Ballots For Half A Day
#56 My MacBook Pro Before And After I Used Listerine To Remove The Anti-Glare Coating
#57 The Crocs I’ve Been Wearing As My Everyday Shoes For 6 Years vs. A Brand New Pair
#58 My Daughter’s Favorite Stuffed Animal “Scratch” vs. The New Backup Replacement
#59 Old vs. New Shopping Cart Wheels
#60 Identical Chairs Before And After Pressure Washing
#61 British Passport Before And After Leaving The EU
#62 The Same Guy On A Men’s vs. Women’s Magazine, Same Month
#63 A Stack Of Old $5 Bills Compared To A Stack Of New Ones
#64 Concrete Before And After Stamping It For A Stone Tile Look
#65 Brass Hammer (Again)
#66 Before And After Hip Replacement Surgery
#67 New Sewing Needle vs. Sewing Needle After For Months Of Sewing
#68 The Air Filter I Just Took Out Of My Lawnmower vs. The One I Replaced It With
#69 The Difference Between A New Hair Tie And One I Have Used For 19 Days
#70 4 Years Of Use Of A Clear iPod Case
#71 Wear Down On My Car Key
#72 X-Mas Of 2019 I Got Two Pillows And Used 1 Of Them Every Night For A Year
#73 Old vs. New Chocolate Chips
#74 Me In 1969 vs. Me At 69
#75 My Old Black Jeans After 3 Years Of Daily Use vs. The Same Jeans Brand New
#76 A Brand New Sketch Book Next To A Fully Used One (Same Type Of Sketch Book)
#77 This Trail Before And After Logging
#78 I Took My Temperature Before And After Eating A Bowl Of Ice Cream
#79 Brand New Loofah vs. The Same One Bought 5 Years Ago
#80 3.5 Year Old Wire Brush Used Every Day Compared To A Brand New One
#81 New Retainer vs. Old Retainer
#82 My (New) Adidas Slides vs. My Dad’s 20 Year Old Ones. Design Unchanged
#83 Basketball New/Next To 4 Years Of Use
#84 Knee Pads After Four Years Of Kneeling vs. Completely New Knee Pads
#85 Rip After 10 Yr
#86 My Broken Collarbone Before And After Surgery
#87 Pecan Wood Before And After I Wiped It Down With Mineral Oil
#88 Before And After Going Through A Box Of Crest White Strips
#89 My Husband’s 5 Year Old Wok vs. The Brand New One
#90 Arbys Broom
#91 Thanksgiving 2016 vs. Thanksgiving 2017. Nearly Identical Picture Taken One Year Apart
#92 New Yoda vs. 2 Years Old Yoda
#93 Frozen Breastmilk Before And After Consuming Large Amounts Of B12
#94 1 Year Old (Left) vs. New (Right) Home Reverse Osmosis Filter
#95 Caterpillars Before And After I Bumped The Branch
#96 My Attempt At Drawing A Horse 1/ Before 2/ After Practicing By Looking At Horse Photographs
#97 USA Fanta vs. UK Fanta
#98 Difference In Hair Color From When I Was A Kid vs. Today
#99 Furnace Filter vs. Two Weeks Of Wildfire Smoke
#100 Before & After: Chicken Fryer Edition. Cleaned One Completely Before The Other To Show The Contrast
#101 I Had Facial Surgery And 3D Printed Before And After CT Scans
#102 Before And After A Lot Of Hard Work!!
#103 Avocado Seed: Before & After
#104 My Dog Before And After Grooming
#105 Old Growth Lumber vs. Modern Factory Farmed Lumber
#106 Tomato On The Left Grown On My Grandmother’s Farm vs. One Bought At The Grocery Store
#107 Thirteen Year Old Vader Keychain vs. New One
#108 Before And After Lotion
#109 My Hand Before And After I Got Surgery To Move My Index Finger Over
#110 My Bus Stop Before And After Daylight Savings
#111 Orange Tic Tac From The Us vs. Europe
#112 Roots vs. Ends Of My Uncolored Hair
#113 Brand New Battery vs. One I Had In My Laptop For Two Years
#114 Pringles Can From 2012 vs. Now
#115 20 Year-Old Used vs. Backup Cordless Phone
#116 My Friend’s Signature, Before Residency (Left, 2016) And After (Right, 2022)
#117 After And Before Pics! On The Right – My New Trekking Trainers, On The Left – Exactly Same Model After 3 Years Of Use
#118 A Garden Chair Before And After Jetwashing
#119 My Dad’s Lunchbox Of The Last 23 Years vs. The New One He Got Today
#120 Old vs. New Year Lemon Pigs
#121 Before And After Defrosting A Frozen Chocolate Croissant
#122 Scrub Daddy: Brand New vs. 3 Years Of Use
#123 Old Dog Brush vs. A New One
#124 Before And After
#125 I’m Retiring My Wallet After Over A Decade Of Service (Before & After)
#126 My Dish Scrubber Before And After ~8 Months Of Use
#127 Dayquil Before And After The Red Dye Ban
#128 Egg Yolks Before And After Adding Red Pepper To Their Food
#129 My Salt Rock Deodorant After Five Years Of Almost Daily Usage vs. A New One
#130 Old vs. New Syrup Branding
#131 Fresh vs. 6 Months Healed Tattoo I Made
#132 My Dad’s Briefcase That He’s Been Using Every Day For The Past 10 Years vs. One That He Just Bought Today
#133 The Difference In These Stacks Of $1 Bills That Are Used vs. New
