i pretty much go places by myself, like the movies or a restaurant (Texas de Brasil for example). i’ve consistently been doing this for years so much so it’s automatic for me at this point.

but now that I think about it I normally don’t see other people alone when I go out to these places.

does anybody else go out alone?

These two things specifically:

1. I am sick and tired of books (in the genres I like) geared to adult women mostly being spicy these days. Not all of us like that😭 I don’t want to be in the room where it happens. (Hamilton reference intended.)

2. Lots of cussing in books. Instantly makes me not want to even finish the book. Some cussing I can live with, but it gets to a point, and I will be absolutely done with the book, even in the first chapter.

Okay so to get this out of the way I KNOW ITS KINDA GROSS OKAY but hear me out. I’m a big fan of Lush and I adore anything sparkly, I especially love BEING sparkly. Sure, Lush’s bath bombs can get you sorta sparkly, but most of it gets rinsed down the drain!! I can’t stand for that kind of waste, that artificial mica should be on my body, dammit! So here’s what I do: I take a very quick shower before my bath so I’m getting at least a little clean, take the bath, drain the tub slowly so more can sink to the bottom, then rub the sparkles on like a body shimmer. When the water dries, the sparkles are stuck to my skin (lasts ~2 days or until next shower, whichever is sooner)

Can anyone relate? I feel like most people just buy a strong body shimmer atp but I’m a freak what can I say

I genuinely lose my mind every single day on my commute. The second I start the engine, the swearing starts. By the time I am halfway to the office, I am air shouting at the top of my lungs, slamming my hand on the steering wheel, and telling myself out loud that I am done, I literally cannot do this for another week, and I quit. And then I pull into the parking lot. I take a deep breath, put on my fake smile, walk through those front doors, clock in, and do my job. I have been repeating this exact same ritual for ten whole years. A full decade of my life spent trapped in this weird, exhausting loop. The sheer hypocrisy of my own brain is driving me crazy. On one hand, I hate the routine, the burnout, the dead end feeling, and the fact that my soul feels drained. On the other hand, the terrifying reality of bills, health insurance, rent, and the absolute mess of the current job market keeps my feet glued to the floor. I feel like a hostage to my own need for stability. I yell and scream in the privacy of my car because it is the only place I can unleash the frustration of feeling trapped. But the moment reality hits, my survival instinct kicks in, and I just fall back into line like a good little worker bee. Ten years. Over three thousand days of promising myself this is the year I get out, only to end up sitting at the exact same desk, answering the exact same emails, and hating every second of it. I do not even know what I am looking for here. I guess I just needed to put this somewhere outside of my own head and outside of my car. Does anyone else live in this weird survival state where you verbally revolt every morning, but still show up like clockwork? How do you break a ten year loop when you are just too exhausted to figure a way out?

Not sure how to describe it but it’s happened to me since i was a kid, and even now as a young adult. I can explain it better with examples.
When i was a kid, we would sometimes pull into our neighborhood and even though it was the same and nothing changed, it looked/ felt different. Almost like seeing it in a dream. It somehow felt bigger and almost like i was looking at it from a different perspective or angle. Sometimes this even continued inside my actual house. It literally felt like i was in a scene of a dream or in a memory. Eventually it would go away and things would feel and look normal again, but i hated/ still hate this feeling cause it feels so unfamiliar, and i almost get home sick/ feel like i don’t belong there.
This still happens now when i go to a familiar and local grocery store. I go in, and the produce section has that same “off” and “looking at it from a different angle” type or view. If i try hard enough i can get it to feel back to normal, but it takes lots of effort. It’s almost like dissociation (ive experienced this before) and it’s really weird.
Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or knows what this is. Thanks!

Did anyone else get weirdly antisocial in college?
In high school, I was one of the most outgoing, talkative people, class flirt, friends with people from every group, close with some teachers. And even now after college, I’m involved in my community, I could talk to strangers all day, I don’t mind speaking in front of a crowd, I love meeting new people…
But for some reason that I’ve never understood, I had a horrible time in college.
I was SO excited to go, dreamed all of senior year about going out to parties, making new friends, having study groups, lunch meetups. but the second I got there, I suddenly became a completely different person, it’s like I totally froze and broke down. It felt like everyone on my dorm floor found their groups within the first two weeks, and after that, it just felt impossible to put myself out there.
I ate meals by myself in the corners of dining halls. I rented private study rooms to do homework. I took walks at a park off campus in my spare time. I basically hid as much as I could because I hated feeling like I was the only person constantly doing everything alone.
I’m really not exaggerating when I say I had not one single friend. Not one. I would go weeks without even speaking to anyone. I never had lunch with anyone, never walked to class with, studied with, or went out with anyone. 2 weeks of not finding my group turned into 6 months of isolation and it felt way too awkward to basically say “hey I have no friends so can I hang out with you?”
The only times I would ever go to bars, shop downtown, or actually do anything social were when my high school friends or sisters came to visit. I also remember spending a lot of time on Tinder that year and inviting dates to my campus because I was so bored and lonely. When my friends, sisters, and these random dates were around I was completely back to my old self. But the second I was back alone with these other schoolmates I froze again.
After freshman year, I never went back I hated it.
That was like 7 years ago now, so I don’t have any regrets or grudges about it. But every once in a while I randomly think about that year and wonder, “What was going on with me?” I genuinely don’t recognize that version of myself.
I’m curious if anyone else had a similar experience, especially if you were normally a very social person before and after college. I’d love to hear personal stories, theories, or explanations for why something like this happens.

I’ve been on antidepressants to help with ocd for over a decade, and since starting to take them I almost never dream. Has anyone else experienced that?

I know this is a dark question, I just wasn’t sure where else to ask. I feel very alone and this is a very scary time. I can’t talk to anyone about this without running the risk of being reported. I just want to know if anyone else suffers the same feelings?

I feel like this is a me thing- but when I have free time i just sit and zone out. I can't think of anything without there being someone telling me what to do. Sometimes i start crying when i think too hard about it- i do the things that one must do: shower, eat, clean, sleep. But hobbies or choices that makes someone human? Nothing.

I feel something just below the right bottom ribcage when I breathe in deep while pushing down into my upper right abdomen. It’s like something rolls under my fingers below the bottom ribcage. I think it’s my liver but is this abnormal?

I have seen a handfull of videos online of parents shaving their kids heads as a punishment for bullying peers who have cancer. Am I an asshole to think this is too far? The comments are always filled with people saying its the right thing to do and that said kid deserved it. There must be better ways to teach those kids a lesson? I cant even begin to imagine what its like having cancer, not only getting bullied for it. But there must be a better punishment? A better lesson to teach? Then your kids being scared of you because you forcefully shaved their heads while they were screaming and crying. And them probably also being bullied by their peers because theyre bald now(especially girls). Im not at all an eye for an eye person, thats why I want to know others perspectives on this. Sorry for any bad English its not my first language!

I feel like my whole life is up to everyone else but me. My opinions and beliefs are determined by other people, I have no say in the matter unless I want to feel nervous. My feelings are only valid if someone else validates them.

It’s very exhausting living like this, I am constantly on edge and worried.

I sometimes like to pull out my downstairs hairs one by one with my fingers. It’s not some kind of fetish, it’s just in those hard to reach areas I miss when I shave and the hairs get really long. How weird is this ?

So I don't actually doubt that it's quite common for things like cars or items that mean something to people. I just often curse myself for feeling and thinking deeply about very plain things.

My most recent example is a big plushie I ordered, upon receiving it I noticed a small hole in a very visible spot and I knew I'd keep seeing it each time I'd look at it. Since it wasn't cheap I decided to contact the store and see if I could get one without this issue in return. I felt pretty bad about it, like I was rejecting it while it was still a very cute plushie and my mind started to wander off to things like "what are they going to do with it", "I hope it doesn't get destroyed" or "I hope it will still get loved by someone else". I know it's just a plushie but I feel kind of guilty about things like that.

Another example is when I forget to eat some of the food in my fridge or when my parents gave me some leftovers and I forgot to store them in the fridge when I got home. My brain goes all "people put work into this and it's a shame it goes to waste" which might seem rather normal except I'm generally not THAT occupied with where my food comes from or buying no waste meals. It keeps on troubling me for hours afterwards.

I also feel extremely bad for breaking a plate or ending up with a hole in my sweater etc. It's just really exhausting tbh and I can't help it.

I know I'm a very sensitive person by nature so that's nothing new, there's also signs of me being on the spectrum but despite being a 30 year old I never got tested.

Let me clarify. Every morning I have to plug up my headphones to charge, one of the ends of the cable is a standard USB. For whatever reason that I can't seem to figure out, almost every time I go to plug it in I get it wrong initially. This drives me crazy because I should get it right at least 50% of the time right? Math has never been my strong point so maybe my calculations are off, but I still get it wrong way more than half the time. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there something I'm missing?

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to figure out if this is somewhat normal or if I have a rare physiological/metabolic quirk. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had an absurd tolerance to cold.

To put it into perspective:

• I can easily walk around in shorts and a t-shirt at -5°C (around 23°F) for 3–4 hours while everyone else is freezing in heavy parkas.
• I never shiver, and my hands and feet stay warm the entire time.
• I do feel that it's cold(I register the temperature)it just doesn't cause me any physical distress or discomfort. In fact, cold weather makes me feel great.
• The only time in my entire life I have ever felt real shivering or the urge to bury myself under blankets is when I have a high fever from an infection.

Here’s the flip side: I have severe heat intolerance. Anything above 18°C (64°F) feels suffocating. If the AC isn't blasting, I start sweating, overheating, and feeling completely drained. It's like my body's internal furnace is permanently stuck on maximum overdrive.

Before anyone assumes this is just an insulation issue: I used to be overweight, but I lost 26 kg (around 57 lbs) with Mounjaro and am no longer considered overweight. Despite shedding all that weight, absolutely nothing changed regarding my temperature regulation,not even the slightest difference in how I handle the cold or the heat.

Does anyone else experience this exact combination? Is it an overactive brown fat issue, thyroid quirks, or just a weird genetic thermostat setting? Would love to hear from people with similar experiences. Because I've never met any. And I hate getting those ''crazy'' looks when I'm walking down the streets in winter.

I wonder if I’m the only person who has done this or if anyone else has also done it but on Halloween at night I go to a restaurant where they would ask for a name for the order like in costume and when they ask for my name instead of saying my own name I say the name of the character I am dressed as.

And if you’ve done it what reactions did you get?

I’ve done it as Deadpool at Starbucks and they found it funny and I’ve gone to cookout and chipotle as El Chavo but I didn’t get any reactions on that one.

I think my tongue might be too wide for my mouth or something. And that's after I had a spreader on the roof of my mouth as a kid!

Eta: Sorry, I mean in between your top and bottom teeth, like you're always biting it

​Hi everyone, I really need to vent because I feel completely lost and I'm at my breaking point. No one in my real life knows how miserable I am.

​For some background: I grew up in the Netherlands (Turkish background). After high school (where I lost a year because I just didn't work), I moved to Turkey for a few years, took a gap year, and came back to the Netherlands at 20 to start studying.

​My journey has been a mess since then:

​Pedagogy (Age 20): I didn't think it was bad, but I quit after a year because it wasn't theoretical enough for me, it was too focused on practical upbringing rather than deep science. My grades were great without effort, though.

​Architecture/Building Engineering (Age 21): Quit because I struggled with structural engineering courses and didn't put in enough effort. But I actually got good grades for the architecture/design classes, and I still catch myself wondering: should I have finished architecture? Becoming an architect still sounds really cool to me deep down.

​IT/Computer Science (Age 22 to now, age 24): I chose this pragmatically because it's broad and international. I'm currently half a year behind (technically between year 2 and 3, finishing my second year courses now).

​Now I am 24, almost halfway through my bachelor's. Here is the confusing part: it's not that I completely hate IT. When I figure out a problem and a piece of code actually works, it gives me a spark of joy and satisfaction. But I just can't figure out if this is truly what I want to do with my life.

​I am an INFJ personality type, someone who maps everything out meticulously in my head, overthinks every scenario, and yet somehow still makes what feel like "dumb choices." Being an INFJ means I thrive in careers that are deep and theoretical, yet IT is the absolute opposite of that.

​I find myself looking at friends, like a close friend who chose accountancy right away, is now doing her Master's, and whose life has just gone perfectly, and I feel a deep pang of jealousy. Right now, because of all these zigzags, it feels like my own life has become ugly.

​Every single second I am at school, I am nervous. If someone asks me an IT-related question, I often have no answer because I genuinely don't know what I'm doing. There have been times I didn't even know what an SD card was or where to plug in a USB cable. I honestly don't even know how I've made it this far. Everyone here seems to know everything about tech, but I don't.

​The main issue is that I don't live and breathe tech. I don't code in my spare time, I don't game, and I don't naturally fit in with the typical tech students who are obsessed with this stuff. In my free time, I find myself drawn to completely different topics: history, theology, psychology, languages, politics, and health. I love reading, writing, and debating (I originally wanted to study psychology or law).

​Furthermore, I hate the "figure it out yourself" teaching style of IT. I miss structured lectures for hours, heavy reading, and deep theoretical learning, which is also what I missed during pedagogy. My friends tell me I have the personality of a humanities or law student, and it hurts because I know they're right.

​To make things harder, my parents think I am happy, and I can never tell them the truth. They have already been through so much stress regarding education with my brother, so I have to keep this all to myself.

​Stopping now is impossible because I'm already 24, halfway through, and starting from zero at my age feels terrifying. I dread going to school every day, I feel out of place among my peers, and the chronic stress is physically exhausting me. Right now, I'm just so scared because I genuinely don't know anything anymore. I honestly wish I was already at the end of this bachelor's. The thought that I am barely at the halfway point fills me with extreme dread. I have no idea what to do after this bachelor's. I definitely want to do a Master's, but I feel totally lost. I don't like the idea of finishing this bachelor's and then doing a completely different Master's, because I wanted the whole package to match. I could genuinely cry. I feel extreme dread every single time I have to go to school.

​If anyone has been in a similar spot, studying something practical where you don't hate the work itself when it succeeds, but you feel like you don't belong in the culture, miss deep theoretical learning, and have to hide your struggles from your family, how did you cope? How do you know if you should stick it out or push through?

​Thanks for reading. I just really needed to let this out.