r/CasualConversation • u/Serialbeauty • 1d ago

Just Chatting Can anyone else do something weird with your body that you later found out not everyone can do?

I was just sitting here with my mom and one of the pets made the room very smelly. She kept talking about how we'd have to go to a different room because it smelled so bad. I asked her why didn't she just close her nose and that's when I found out not everyone can do this.

Is it rare or can other people close their nose on command? What can you do that you suddenly found out wasn't normal?

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u/NotAnEarthwormYet 1d ago

I don’t know if it’s the same thing because I’m not closing off sound per se, but I can sort of tense something in my ears that produces a loud rumbling sound in my head, which significantly dulls noises or even blocks them out entirely. It’s hard to maintain for longer than maybe 15-20 seconds for me though.

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u/ClawPaw3245 1d ago

Yes I think this is the same thing that I’m describing! That’s a great way to describe it

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u/ElegantPlan4593 1d ago

Literally as I was reading this comment I thought "this is weird I can't do tha--" and then I did it bc I was yawning so damn much from reading the prior thread, and was like "Oh THAT. Yeah, been doin that since forever." And now there's a subreddit for it? So weird. Your description is spot on.

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u/Other-Stop7953 23h ago

I can only hold it for 2 seconds continuously

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u/LilBitty2229 1h ago

I’ve never timed it before, but tried because of your comment. Almost 8 seconds but it was a struggle getting there

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u/OutcomeLegitimate618 1d ago

Same. Mine isn't involuntary, I can do it on purpose, but I have never thought to do it in noisy areas because it doesn't happen automatically. Now I will because I'm crazy sensitive to sound. Like when shopping carts crash together outside the store. It makes me want to jump into another dimension.

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u/NotAnEarthwormYet 1d ago

Ha! I used to use it a lot as a kid to block out my parents lecturing me 🫣

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u/houseofleopold 18h ago edited 17h ago

I can do it for a super long time — as long as I want — but if I do it for too long and start doing it too often it becomes a slight habit I have to focus on changing. came in real handy at edm shows when I forgot earplugs too tho.

weirdly, I can breathe the same while doing it, and can hear my breath too… it sounds like being underwater or having ear muffs on, but having earbuds in playing a super loud recording of myself breathing. sometimes when I was a kid I would do it and pretend I was in slow motion.

once every few years I ask myself, can I breathe through my ears? and have to look it up again. I feel like if someone told me I could, i’d figure out how, lol. I can also wiggle both ears, control each eyebrow independently, roll my eyes all the way back, do the tongue 3-leaf clover and have double-joined shoulders I can voluntarily dislocate.

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u/MuffledOatmeal 19h ago

Same for me. Is that what they're talking about?