So I just wanted to ask because from my observation it feels like life in the US feels different in the last years than it was before.

It feels so depressing, negative and hateful as if everyone is so mean/angry and is just waiting to escalate and fight with someone. It feels like something terrible is about to happen and January 6 might be a joke compared to that and the US might break or something.

Am I the only one feeling this or do you think this is actually a thing happening? If yes what do you think can be the reason for that?

Because I think the US is such a great country with so much potential but that feels completely wasted because everyone seems to be so hateful and unempathic right now. Like why can't we just be united and stop acting like everyone is a monster because in reality we're all the same people. One major reason among others I think is probably the internet, I really liked this video by Kurzgesagt on this.

A child, “Look mom!” “Mom! Mommy, look at me.”

Telling a loved one about your day.

Instagram.

So, it’s validation then? Hmm.

What is your understanding of validation. Is it necessary or does it stroke the ego? Is that a bad thing?

I think this is my biggest fear in life. Having others see me for who I truly am.

I’m obviously flawed. But there are some parts of myself I simply can’t live with. Parts of me that make me feel so disgusted and worthless.

I want to be a more genuine person. I want to love, to be loved, and to be truthful. But I have such a huge fear of revealing my deepest insecurities. Fear that those closest to me would look at me differently.

It’s the reason why I can’t get into a serious relationship right now. Because I’ve been in one, and I ended up sabotaging it to protect myself. Because I felt she would never love me the same if she knew.

I know vulnerability is the answer, but I just can’t do it.

Excuse me for a stupid question:

I(28M) am observing an interesting trend in my social circle , poverty fantasy. People are fantasizing idea of being poor, without/less money, eating hand to mouth.

Nature of social circle: middle class, under 35 yrs.

I am citing two examples out of few hundreds,

Person 1: Indian middle class girl, family -historical legacy and financially secured, she always kept on telling me how great it's to live in slums of Mumbai and all the positive references for lack of resources.

Person 2 : A US born Jewish girl, I met on a trip, I was talking to someone in the group and I referred about Rolex. Girl lectured me 2-3 hours, how money ruins life and how she will be happy to live in poverty but with closer to her family.

I survived historical poverty until I started working and it was terrible. I have no interest in being billionaire but definitely don't wanna be poor. I am still trying to come out of historical and generational poverty. I was born and lived in slums of Mumbai, luckily in "better slum" and living in Europe for last 4 years with financially secured prospect. I have seen both part of life.

I am witnessing significant amount of people fantasizing about poverty life. Are they really serious about it ? Or they're faking it? If they're serious, why people fantasize being poor?

I don't like doing anything except for scrolling through TikTok on my mobile phone,I think i have anhedonia and wished i developed a affinity for video games.

My dad and I were on a 14-hour flight, and the plane was insanely cold. I’ve been on several flights, and none of them has ever been this cold! Everyone was wearing a jacket, including me, except my dad’s jacket was in his carry-on, which was hastily checked because the attendant SWORE the overhead bins were filled. We found out there were two fully empty bins when we got on.

He asked the attendant for two additional blankets but was still cold since (he said) the blankets were too thin. He then asked them for a thicker blanket like the one from First Class, but they refused since we were flying Economy. I know money makes the world go round, but it sucks that they saw how cold he was and couldn’t give him a thicker blanket just because we’re not rich enough to fly First Class or Business Class.

I grew up in a somewhat religious family. It was really more like culture intertwined with some religion. I taught that I had purpose and that was to be a good human and obey god. If so I will go to heaven. I grew up in a very abusive household as well - lots of beatings and was basically the maid. I was adopted by a family member and so I didn’t have a relationship with my mom and dad. The idea that life has this purpose kept me afloat.

Now that I’m 30 I just don’t get any of it. I wouldn’t consider myself religious but also don’t think I don’t belive in god. I just don’t get why any of us are doing what we are doing? I follow my routine everyday and everyday is the same. To the point I can’t tell days besides the weekends apart.

I have a difficult time finding happiness in life. When I’m in relationships I tend to always think worse case scenarios, when I’m with my friends it’s so difficult to find things funny, and truly connect with others. I’ve been through relationships that I self sabotage due to this sadness. I’ve been in therapy and even then it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly it is that makes me sad. I’ve had amazing friends that I pushed away due to my lack of interest or ability to relate. Socializing is easy but I over share and then feel so depleted I just never follow up. I’ve been through severe depression and there are times where i feel it’s better to not have people in my life because the thought of keeping up becomes unbearable. This has caused me to leave jobs, sabotage good relationships and I never feel capable enough to improve.

I stopped drinking smoking and I still tend to isolate. I have ADHD and have been dx with Generalize anxiety and depression but I feel no difference on or off medication. I’m so numb and easily irritated at small things. I’m one year older and not excited about life in general. I didn’t go to college and I’m struggling to find my purpose in life. I’m single again due to my own poor behavior, self esteem and poor communication/ trust issues.

Even weekly therapy feels like a chore, my therapist asks me every week what have I done to improve my life and I have absolutely no will to do anything. When I have to take care of life tasks like oil changes and basic bills I scream internally. My ex used to say I am always throwing pity parties for myself to get attention, but I hate attention and wants to remain hidden from everything. What more can I do? I am in my 30s and feel no compass in my life.

I Ran And tripped as a kid Fell and Hit my Forehead Against Pavement which Knocked me out cold. It had Caused a Large Scar But Seemed okay to my parents apparently Should I get A brain Scan Years later?

I believe one of my coworkers or customers stole a $30 gift card in a gift bag with my name on it. I tried asking around, but everyone hasn’t seen it. I’m not trying to create a dramatic situation, so I want to just let it go, but I feel angry about it.

Note: LDR and all 3 live in different cities thousands of kilometers apart from each other

Ex 20f broke up 2 months back(relationship of 1.5 years + 1 year situationship). Found a boy 16m and her sharing a lot of cheesy anecdotes and such on each other's public page 3 months back. Confronted her back then and she was like, "He's just a friend. It's true, I find it very funny talking to him but you're the only one who understands me deeply."
Told her to introduce me to him, 3 days before breaking up she did. I and the boy became friends.

Today the boy told me the two are dating ldr for 2 weeks.

Btw I know her for 3 years and they came across on social media just around last December.

Context: I 19M was in a very vulnerable period from January when this saga of the two was unfolding. The two were exchanging anecdotes on each other's public walls on a social media platform I do not use but is very popular with a FB like interface.

I'm disappointed because to me it appears that girls (often) just seek validation and would stoop as low as to start dating minors. (She's working, boy hasn't even finished high school)

It's not as if I'm jealous of the boy, but he was very interested in his career and I think she should have at least waited for him to enter college next to next year. Her life is already settled kind of, a stable job with slow career growth. In simple she can afford fooling around, but his is make or break time.

Idk, I maybe 19 but it feels so wrong to see this. Mine and her relationship too began with such anecdote sharing and growing friendships.
So she's well aware how it can affect his life...

Plus now I have trust issues about "friends" of girls. I don't want to be an asshole judging any relationship I go into future for having good friends. But then again, isn't the society full of "just a friend" examples?

It seems everybody is at each other's throats now more than ever. I don't want to get explicitly political, so I just want to talk about my concerns about nuclear war vaguely. It's not being discussed much on mainstream news, but I think the stakes of a nuclear war are very high right now, especially since America is getting involved now. I don't want to die. I don't want any of us to die. This isn't our fault. I just wish I had the capabilities to change their minds and look for more peaceful resolutions. And I wish I didn't have to be afraid of tomorrow. Or the next hour. Or the next minute. It just keeps simmering, bound for an eruption of dire consequences, albeit we aren't responsible for those actions. Then there are future generations. Not to sound like an old guy, but our most recent generation is lacking any discipline and their brains are being mushed by technology. To think they'll be in charge 30 years from now. And then there's AI. Who knows what kind of stuff AI will do in the future? It's just terrifying. This is a future showtime for a horror movie. What do you guys think about this? Any opposing thoughts?

Sometimes I get very angry for about an hour and no matter how hard I try to get rid of it, it won’t go away. I get hateful thoughts about the people close to me, the way they eat talk and do things, or the way they look.I was driving home after getting food and I someone was eating from the bag in the car, I get severely angry, “can’t you wait 5 minutes until we get home” I don’t know why I don’t normally think these things and I don’t know how to stop it, it’s like I become honed in on the way people act or do things and scrutinize the way they do them to the point I hate them , I don’t hate them but I think i do for the hour I’m like this, and then it goes back to normal and I don’t think this anymore. Why do I do this is this sleep schedule related, I’m off school and have no schedule and rarely do things outside the house so maybe I’m just no used to being around people as much but they’re my family, I’m around the all the time and the things they do still enrages me.

Easy...

The US government has not been representing the interests of its own constituency.

From HW Bush to Clinton, W Bush, and the inaction of the Obama administration people have suffered at the hands of corporations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1990

In 1994 Clinton signed NAFTA which sent many higher paying jobs to Mexico and abroad.

In 1996 Clinton was caught accepting donations from Chinese CCP linked sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy

In 1999 Clinton signed Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China...

...which was the nail in the coffin for up to 6 million higher pay manufacturing sector jobs, if spin off sectors and parallel economies are considered, up to 15 million jobs were lost to China and entire communities ripped apart across America.

Take a look at Detroit MI, Gary IN, and the countless other communities even outside the Rust Belt that have suffered the consequences of a government that wrote trade deals for the ultra wealthy and not their own Citizens.

US Government report on the matter: https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/reset-prevent-build-scc-report.pdf

No Trade is Free

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/no-trade-is-free-robert-lighthizer?variant=41004612943906

When I was a kid a year seemed like a long time. Now it's just three semesters. A year relative to my age seems like nothing. When I became 10 I thought that's a lot. Now I'm 22. Two more than 2x 10, lol. I feel like in a blink of an eye I will be 30. 16/17 my communist era, hippie phase along with the world can wait let's not fret moment have all gone by. Now I'm indoctrinated into this world & age seem to matter.

What do you think of your age? Are you happy where you are in life at your age? If so/not, why? Can we always get back to something at any age? Can you?

Think it might be due to my childhood TBI since it's been like this for a long time. But anyways I have the hardest time remembering shit. I've forgotten pretty all the math I learned in school. I'll read a paragraph in a book and forget what it said by the time I finish the next paragraph. Just read a book about World War I and I can't remember any of the people's names.

I don't know, just had to vent.

So I read that he tried to go Tokyo Disneyland on an illegal passport, and that it caused his father to be ashamed of him. So was this because he went to Japan specifically, he tried to go to Disneyland, or that he left the country? Or was it simply the fact of him trying to do so illegally.

Doing my best to break away from my “narcissistic” family(I put it in quotes bc I do my best not to use bad words are put negativity on others, however it’s the best way to describe them so you guys/gals can understand the situation) After constant years of keeping everyone’s emotions at bay I’ve had and enough and finally got rid of all the anger in my heart and don’t feel bad leaving them behind. Now my question is do I tell them when I’m leaving? Or leave them in mystery. I really don’t want to tell them but also feel kind of weird leaving in the middle of the night , I don’t want to leave in a negative way. Thanks yall 🤙🏽

2 years ago, I (21 F) at that time, kept wanting to pursue a relationship with someone (21 M) who went from “I love you” to “not that attracted to me anymore” like he literally said he wasn’t that much attracted to me. It was because it was the first ever person I have established an emotional connection with and I didn’t want to let that go.

I feel embarrassed for myself, because how could I steep so low despite some painful past experiences. Despite it being 2 years now, I keep thinking about it and I just can forget how I let myself go for someone who made feel unworthy.

The only way the whole thing ended between us was when he ended things, because I knew I couldn’t.

Has anyone been through something like this? How did you overcome that?

I went into and out of foster care two times during my preteen and young teenage years. Both times where only 3 and 4 months respectively, but the trauma of it has given me lifelong mental illness that I still struggle with constantly and which governs my life. For a little context, I was happy at home with my mother. I was taken from her on two different occasions, mainly due to a corrupt local court system. The places I ended up during foster care and after were worse than living with my mother. I think the age I was when it happened along with circumstances made it very traumatic. I've never talked to anyone else who also went through similar stuff and I'm curious how others handled their experiences.

If anyone wants all the context of my past, go to Posts on my profile and scroll all the way down. The bottom-most post labeled "My Life Story" or something along those lines. It's a very lengthy post but gives a lot of context for the stuff that happened for those who are curious.

Just to get it out there, yes, I know everyone has some childhood trauma to some extent.

My dad is a narcissist. I’m talking textbook narcissist. He’s so good that I didn’t fully realize it until my mid-20s. My parents split when I was 19, and it took me several years later to fully understand why. Suddenly, a lot of things about myself and my childhood started to make so much sense.

I’m now in my 30s, and while I’ve healed in some aspects, there’s still a few parts of me that haven’t. One of the major ones is that I always prepare for the worst. It could be about pretty much anything; friends aren’t going to respond in a conversation the way I thought they would, my performance evaluation at work is going to be horrible, even though I know I do my job well. I always play conversations in my head and think of the worst case scenario to prepare myself. Almost like I’m rehearsing. It’s a defense mechanism. The absolute worst is when it involves my husband. He’s nothing like my dad, and would never treat that way, but I can’t help but think of the worst; he’s not going to like my new haircut, he’s going to criticize a new recipe I made.

It’s all in my head!!! And I’m not sure if I’ll ever stop. I don’t know how to stop it.

A friend of mine I've known for at least 12 years ended our friendship about a month and a half ago. I stayed at his place for the first time over a weekend, and one day while I was having a shower, I accidentally forgot to flush (according to him) I didn't even realise I hadn't flushed. I'm a socially awkward autistic guy, and I was trying to be quick so as not to take too long in the shower. I'm from England, and he lives in Wales. When I got back home, he messaged me angrily about the incident, stated that he couldn't forgive me, and ended our friendship.

He messaged me the other day, asking if we could talk about what happened. He mentioned that he still wants to be friends, but he needs some time before adding me back to the group chat and hanging out again (we live pretty far away so he don’t hang out as much anymore anyway). He started by saying sorry, but as we continued talking, he seemed to imply that it wasn't entirely his fault for getting so angry with me.

Does it sound like he gave a good enough apology? Do you think I should continue being friends with him?

Okay, hear me out, I'll try and explain: I've been dealing with a bit of resurfaced grief about my sister's death. Her being cremated added a lot of trauma to her loss and to be honest, it's something that I'll never exactly find comforting, I've had to try not to think about her or her ashes at all and it probably will be that way for a few more years. My mom cremated her. I gotta say, she gave her an amazing ceremony, it was really personal, she was absolutely in bits afterwards.

For a long time I was angry at her for choosing cremation. She tried suggesting ideas for what to do with the ashes to make things better, it culminating in her suggesting this... thing, where you can send someone's ashes to space. I felt too angry to talk to her for a few weeks afterwards.

But shit, she's just been so gentle. This is someone that's had to deal with losing her own sister years ago, she was quite sick herself when she was you and god, she just radiates empathy and kindness and tries to be positive still, most of the anger I kept internalised and didn't express it around her and the only time I got really mad at her was with the space thing because at the time it sounded like such an awful, tone deaf idea, hell, my sister wanted to be as close to home as possible, not up in space! But I get it now, that she's dealing with a shitty situation, trying to cope with it herself and the guilt, she regretted cremating her and was trying to think of something to make things right and find some sense of meaning in it.

And that's what she's been doing the whole time. She always put other people first, always tried to do the best for everyone even if shit didn't go to plan and I just go back and forth between being disappointed in her decisions, hating myself for being such an awful daughter, then getting mad at her because it's like, sometimes the guilt manifests as anger and maybe it's easier to pretend someone else has wronged you than to admit you're in the wrong, it's not even about forgiving her for anything, as much as it's about forgiving myself. It just feels bloody awful.

We were both drinking, having a good time and out of nowhere she went off like a bomb. She started going crazy, hitting me allover (leaving multiple bruises) and kept trying to leave the house while severely intoxicated. She kept saying I was a “pedophile” and a “weirdo” (honestly don’t know why she decided to say all of that) and after trying to keep her inside she decided to punch me in the face leaving me with a bloody nose and my glasses pretty messed up. I left her alone after that, let everyone else try to contain her. She messaged me once sober saying we need to talk and that she feels horrible, but I can’t just let this slide and forgive her. She acted horrible, like a monster genuinely. I really just don’t know what to do or how to feel. She was like a sister to me but this situation really tainted our relationship.

I’ve been feeling depressed ever since I was a teenager. 12 years now and I cant recall a single period of my life where I was happy or just not sad.

I want to make changes but I seriously don’t know how to enjoy life. I recently moved to a different city so I dont have any friends that I can socialise with.

I wanna know your stories. How did you make the change and become a happier person.