Eventually, we all get used to watching the days pass by. On any given day, we’ll have an immediate concern that takes up a lot of our focus, while the rest of our day is spent unwinding from it.
When that becomes our routine, it’s easy to forget how much our lives, our environments, and ourselves change as those days pile up. But just like we can suddenly realize how far we’ve come when we see an old, embarrassing photo of ourselves, the world around us can start showing signs of that change too.
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And when we notice the results, they can be pretty incredible.
Time played a big role in the difference between these two clipboards, but it had a little help.
Apparently, if a clipboard gets soaked in beer often enough as months and years pass by, this is what it can end up looking like.
No shoes that actually get used last forever, but this pair has some oddly specific wear and tear.
Whenever this person goes to the gym, they find themselves pointing their big toe upwards a lot and that has actually caused their nails to poke these little holes in the shoes.
It’s easy to see how deeply bar patrons have appreciated this banister over the years.
You may notice that any statue with a part that’s considered “lucky” shows a lot more wear and tear than others, but I think this knob was just in the right place at a lot of people’s right times.
Apparently, this drumstick ended up like this because it’s seen more than its share of rim shots.
If anything, it’s more surprising to see a drum stick remain intact after this much use than to see how tough a drum kit can be on it.
It seems like Victoria and Albert Museum in London has seen quite a few visitors over the years.
When the stairs start developing grooves from people walking on them, it’s pretty easy to see that a place has been well-loved.
Once a little stone manages to wedge itself into a big one, it’s only a matter of time before the big one loses.
When water, ice, and other eroding factors have a handy entry point like this, you can bet that rock isn’t staying in one piece forever.
Clearly, people have shown a preference for which set of “teeth” they use to clip their toilet paper.
The one on the right looks like it might have that “baby’s fingernails” effect where it doesn’t look like much but still feels surprisingly sharp.
This pen was left alone for long enough after it started leaking that it eventually created an entire ink sphere.
I can only imagine what somebody would produce if they tried to write with this. The most likely results are some boring smears, but who knows?
All it took for this table leg to get whittled down so extremely was one cat.
It has apparently been regularly scratching at this leg for over 10 years, but it’s kind of hard to tell why none of the other legs captured this much interest.
Believe it or not, this is what about 30 years of graffiti looks like.
It’s not unheard of for street artists to paint over each other’s work after a while, but it’s still amazing to see just how many times that can happen in one place.
The wall this came from is probably about 50% paint by now.
This might not be how we’re used to seeing the Statue of Liberty, but it wouldn’t have seemed out of place when she first arrived.
Since the statue has so much copper on it, it stood to reason that the whole thing would eventually turn to the familiar green color we see today.
This is what can happen when you leave your sandbag fort up for about 40 years.
They may have provided a little cover at the time, but it’s definitely hard to get through them now that they all feel like solid rock.
The uploader’s late great aunt gave them the plush cat on the right almost 25 years ago and they recently discovered what it looked like at first.
Twenty-five years of snuggling up to this kitty definitely took the poof out of its fur, but if it could talk, it would probably have cuter stories to tell than the one on the left.
Somehow, the cord on this person’s earbuds managed to basically braid itself over time.
Time usually turns our cords into a confusing web if we give it the chance, but it apparently showed a little more finesse in this case.
Here we can see how a pair of new shoes eventually becomes the pair we do yard work in.
Black shoes tend not to show their wear quite as much, but it only takes one look at the soles to discover the universal truth on display here.
This piece of paper is blue, but we’ll see how long it actually stays that way.
As the uploader unintentionally shifts this page around, the sunlight beats down on different parts of it and those parts eventually find themselves bleached like this.
This brick wall has some strange grooves on it, but they make a lot more sense once you know the backstory.
Somebody used to chain a dog to this wall, but ensured the chain was long enough that it could roam around this yard.
As it did so, the chain rubbed against this wall before finally cutting into it at various points.
This display was installed to show just how much constantly dripping water can do to a rock.
It’s also pretty mind-blowing to consider that even after 25 years, there’s still so much of this rock remaining.
For some reason, these flippers seemed to handle being used a lot differently.
Sure, nothing experiences totally equal wear and tear, but we don’t often find that one of our shoes is worn, while the other looks totally fine.
Now that so much time has passed, using this bubble level will probably be more than a little challenging.
After all, it’s hard to get an accurate reading when all the color in the water inside ends up shifting to one side and apparently getting comfortable there.
This desk toy may look like it’s filled with water, but it’s actually supposed to be oil.
It’s just that after a long period of use, that oil has ended up turning clear.
Sometimes, it’s just as amazing to see how much things manage to stay the same over time.
Not only does this old Game Boy work perfectly fine 30 years later, but the only way it’s showing its age is with some extra yellow tint in the screen.
It’s still perfectly playable, though.
In the past, it would’ve have been a lot clearer that there was a little stone wall here.
However, not only has the grass grown over a lot of it, but it’s also sunk significantly into the ground since it was placed here.
Now it’s more of a trip hazard than anything.
This acrylic paint isn’t quite as dazzling as when it first came out.
You might have noticed that the different shades within it are now resting on totally different sides of the bottle.
Did they have a fight or something?
These bowls all started out looking the same.
Yet, since some of them have obviously been used more than others, we have a nice demonstration of how they can have their color worn away.
Apparently, this isn’t out of the ordinary for those who own a pan made of pewter.
And since all these scratches and scuffs can get in the way after a while, that’s also why those people don’t really recommend getting one.
Although it’s not uncommon to still see wooden shoes in Dutch farms due to how sturdy they are, they’re not invincible.
It took years of walking on them, but this person finally managed to totally flatten out the soles and put a hole in this one.
It’s actually hard to tell how long this took to happen, but it almost certainly wasn’t overnight.
This used to be a parking barrier that was knocked over by a car, but enough vehicles have run over it since then that’s it’s all but embedded into the ground now.
Most of us are used to seeing fairly small snails, which makes it hard to realize just how big they can get.
Moreover, this transformation from the 1.5 inch snail on the left to the 6.7 inch absolute unit on the right only took a year.
It’s hard to even recognize in this condition, but this was once a section of water pipe.
And that brown stuff in the middle just shows how much limescale built up in the years since it was first laid down.
One can only imagine the forceful results when you turn on the tap for the first time after the new ones were installed.
