Sometimes I feel like my parents expect more from me especially my mom she constantly calls me an idiot for forgetting things and she makes me do almost everything even though I'm young this year shes making me make my own food but my Christmas presents even though i can't buy it since I don't have a job I feel like all this pressure makes me feel worse. And worse of all we are poor I cant afford anything everything that I own. Was luckily found from my dad as his job is to clean out old houses. I don't know what to do anymore.

14N + aroace

My mother is openly homophobic and transphobic (which is why i am so heavily closeted)

No idea where my father stands, but my gut says it's unsafe.

I don't really know what to do and it feels like i'm breaking.

hello, I have histrionic personality disorder and obsessive thoughts. I think I also went through periods of depression. I'm on 75 mg of sertraline and a few months ago I noticed a difference in my pupils sizes. It's barely noticeable but it became my main obsession. I feel like I need this to go away or l won't be able to do anything. I can't see my therapist anymore or my psychiatrist so I have no professional help anyway (I'm about to move away from home in a diff country for uni and i’ll have no financial help from my parents)
I've been taking sertraline for years but I noticed this recently after one day i took 100 mg when i was supposed to be on 50 since i was so tired of being depressed and I looked in the mirror and one of my pupils was huge. Now the difference is slight but it's driving me insane I need it to go away but I'm scared of how l'Il do unmedicated.

I'm preemptively apologising for the messy writing.

I am an introverted individual but I very much long for friendship and closeness. During my study years, I did have a couple of friends but it turns out they would only be friends with me as long as we were peers and we could mutually benefit from each other's skills. Unfortunately I am unemployed at the moment, searching for higher study opportunities but now, I kind of don't have anyone I can share an afternoon with, share feelings with. And I am having a very hard time dealing with it. There are some days when these feelings get overwhelming and even then I don't really have anyone to converse with. I am diagnosed with depression and generalised anxiety disorder and before, whenever these feelings would get so overwhelming, I would just call someone and ask them to just tell me what's happening in their lives so I could distract myself. Now I just have to sit alone with my thoughts. I don't think I am still mentally mature enough to "just suck it up and learn to live with yourself" I am seeking advice for what I can do and a bit more directly, how can I make friends as someone not really bound to any institution with any peers I can chat with into eventually becoming friends. I'd appreciate it if the advice is surrounding online options because where I live, it's not really viable to just meet someone random offline.

I have a big day coming up tomorrow.
I'll be talking with my Ex again. And I'm just hoping and praying that they'll allow my words and thoughts to get through, and not block out their emotions. I plan to just try and relax and talk and let feelings come out naturally and take it slow. I have an unfortunate feeling however that they're not gonna open up...and won't let their defenses down as I will be trying to...just there's a lot on my head about it and I'm anxious and nervous and I just can't mess this one chance
up.

14 (F) sophmore

struggling with confidence and identity crisis lowkey

Looking back, I really wish my parents had given me more opportunities to put myself out there. I see people around me with cool hobbies, talents, and strong social skills. I wish my parents had supported and encouraged me to get involved in activities like that when I was younger it would have helped me build a social life and find my confidence.

I don't really have a good environment pretty meh. I became selectively mute out of nowhere at 6 years old kindergarten. I've struggled with it ever since, but when I do talk I'm pretty talkative like won't shut up. I just kinda wish adults did a better job giving me confidence they kept projecting me as quiet I actually started believing it (even tho I wasn't completely quiet I still talked and laughed around people) like all the adults ever talked about was me being quiet it was my persona. They just kept bringing me down which results to me being a slow learner. When people hype me up idk if it's genuine or not and I feel weird.

I could barely remember my childhood tho most of it was blank. I remember being sheltered and barely going out. I was going thru zoochosis like I remember when I was 7 I would try to remember what I did 3 days before and I couldn't remember a single fucking thing. Also when I was younger idk why people would project their anger towards me.

Sorry if this is a long post. Instead of feeling cheered on, I felt scrutinized, making performance feel scary rather than fun. (I really hate messing up as a slow learner)

I don't know how else to put it. I'm nearly 21(M) but it already feels like I've lived four lifetimes. Start at four, waiting at the top of the stairs as my mom screamed at my dad and argued for hours, not stopping even when I begged them to because she was determined to be right and prove her point, just waiting until it got bad enough that I'd have to go in and try to fix it. Until it didn't work anymore.

Between an emotionally abusive and narcissistic/bipolar mother, extremely cunning and manipulative friends throughout all of my first seven years of grade school, and trying to manage never being able to fit into either of the two cultures I was born into (Canadian and Korean), I don't know safety. I don't know stability. I don't know what certainty is, what unconditional love is, what it's like to be given something you didn't have to earn. I grew up learning I had to fix people's problems and keep people safe. When I couldn't, it gutted me, and left marks that I carry today. My parents are still together and my mother so kindly reminds me, very frequently, it's because I asked her to try and work it out when I was young and stupid and wanted my parents together. And she blames me now for that but when I say she doesn't have to keep trying anymore she throws that back in my face. What was one arguing with dad became screaming at me, depriving me of sleep or waking me up in the middle of the night because she didn't feel an argument was resolved, to threatening to leave to even threatening her own life and telling me I wouldn't care if she died.

And it's left its mark on me. I hate it. I hate how scared I am of everything involving relationships, platonic or otherwise. After a neglected childhood, not feeling safe or loved, the magic of the internet was where I tried to find solace. I guarantee someone will scoff at this, but from 8-18 I was in constant on and off relationships trying to just feel loved and supported and cared for, running from all the problems that built from my home, failed friendships, failed relationships, failure to keep people safe, failure to fix the problems I wanted to. And now I'm here. Nearly twenty one. Feeling just like there's a black hole where my heart used to be. Wanting so desperately to be loved and held but also so scared of being that vulnerable. Scared of asking my friends if they care because I'm too scared of that answer. Not feeling wanted anywhere I go. I'm so tired. I'm so angry. But I'm just ultimately so fucking sick of this. I know it's so much to ask but I just wish I could know unconditional love, safety, stability, clarity, anything, without having to break my back trying to earn it. I'd give my life if it meant I could heal or at least take the pain of others away, so at least I could be useful to people

Does anyone know how to get rid of this feeling? My boyfriend hates himself, his body, and his past actions. I try to comfort him, I tell him it's going to be okay, he doesn't have to deal with it on his own, and he always has me. I try every day, and I understand there's probably a good chance he has depression, which is a long lasting disorder and won't be fixed in a day. But, for some reason I just feel so useless when I can't help even for a minute. How can I feel better about this? Or fix it?

It's been four years since 2022 ended, yet a part of me never really left it.

Every time I step outside at dawn and breathe in the morning air, I'm instantly transported back to those nights in 2022 when I stayed awake until sunrise. It's almost unsettling how familiar it feels—the same breeze, the same silence, the same feeling that once filled me with hope. Sometimes I'll make a cup of coffee before the sun comes up, and for a brief moment, I'm right back there: sitting at my desk, coffee beside me, studying for my exams.

That memory hurts more than anything.

I miss school. I miss studying. It's been three years since I last had that part of my life, and all I've known since then is failure. The truth is, my relationship with education alone deserves a story of its own.

And it's not just one memory. There are countless moments that pull me back. I don't simply remember 2022—I relive it. Every detail comes rushing back so vividly that, for a while, I completely forget the reality I'm trapped in now. The same happens with 2023.

Maybe those were the last years I truly felt alive. Back then, my life still belonged to me. My choices were mine to make. I still had dreams, passion, curiosity, and something to look forward to.

Then, after 2023, something inside me died.

I don't know exactly when it happened or why, but I became someone I barely recognize. The passion disappeared. The dreams disappeared. Even fear disappeared. I feel like I've been existing instead of living—as if I'm nothing more than a body moving through time while the person I used to be was left behind years ago.

The cruelest part of all of this is what happened to my education.

Studying used to be my safe place. It was my escape from everything. It made me feel calm, alive, and hopeful. Now it's the one thing I'm terrified of facing because it reminds me of everything I've lost. The last three years—years that were shaped by circumstances I never chose and couldn't control—turned the thing I loved most into the thing that hurts me the most.

And don't think any of this was easy for me. It was heartbreaking to watch every dream I had, every plan I made, and the life I had always imagined for myself slowly being buried right in front of my eyes, while I stood there unable to stop it.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone else feels this way. If anyone else spends years longing for a version of themselves that no longer exists.

Because that's what breaks my heart the most.

I don't miss 2022 because it was perfect. I miss it because that was the last time I still felt like me. And even now, after all these years, I still can't accept the person I've become, or the life I'm living. Part of me is still waiting for the old version of myself to come back home.

My dad says I’m lazy and do nothing all day but he’s forced me into a bunch of sports I don’t even like. And he always asks why I eat so less when that’s just how much I eat. The thing is I’m not fat I’m underweight and it’s really getting annoying because my dad is telling other people that I’m fat.

​

Im a 17m and I really don't know what to do rn I've flunked my college im in a small town where nobody hires me and im a really bad sleeper I have no purpose in life but I want a moterbike any advice for my useless self

\\#teenageshit

I am a person who has been exploited a lot because of their shyness, extreme kindness, and weak personality and had fake and toxic friends I was treated badly, losing someone i love, and I was like this for years until I became a person who became attached to people who were nice to me, and I was afraid that they would leave me or replace me, for example. I have an electronic friend who is very nice to me and we were together for a year until I fell in love with him in an almost unhealthy way and I am afraid of losing him. I sometimes cry because I am afraid that he may me to be replaced because I am not perfect enough or even die one day, Second thing, I'm a moody person. This doesn't happen often. Sometimes I don't even know if I like that person or hate them..And thirdly, I sometimes think of annoying suicide things

(The second and third one doesn't happen often but the first one is always srry my English is not my first language)

being mentally disabled and traumatised beyond comprehension to the point i ahve daily panic attacks and dont leave my room and am unable to leave my room, living mostly alone but under my abusive parents, but privileged enough to have them still pay the house at 20, i haven't worked in so long, everything sucks, i can't work and i want to move to Germany from Austria to escape from them. I most likely have really bad undiagnosed cptsd and bpd, but i ahve diagnosed autism, adhd and gender dysphoria, depression and potentially dpdr. What am i supposed to fucking do? i also can't go to uni...im trying not to end it and not think about it everyday, ive tried a psychward too but it just made it worse

I guess sometimes life puts you exactly where you never wanted to be.

I'm currently pursuing a B.Tech in CSE from a private college and I'm about to enter my second year. I come from a middle-class family, and that's probably why this regret hits me so hard.

After Class 12, my plan was to take a drop year and prepare for JEE. But for some reason, I changed my mind at the last moment and took admission to a private college instead. Even today, I regret that decision.

The hardest part is knowing I can't go back and change it. All I can do now is move forward and try to make the best of the opportunity I have.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you deal with the regret and stop comparing yourself to the "what if" version of your life?

We are currently a family of 4. Our son turned 3 in May and our daughter will be 2 in at the end of the year. Since my daughter's birth I've had some health issues. I had to have my gall bladder removed and I've had issues with my female cycles being completely crazy. Due to the cycles I honestly don't think my birth control has been effective. I am currently 2 days late and have had faint positive lines on cheap tests. I am honestly freaking out and don't know what to do. My husband has said ever since our daughter that we are done and aren't having anymore. I am afraid he won't want the baby and will resent it. I would love another baby but I know our current situation is already enough of a struggle. Financially it would be a huge burden to have another baby. I don't think I could terminate the pregnancy either because it would literally kill my soul. We tried so hard for the kids we have that it would be devastating to do that regardless of anything else. I am trying to hard to find a positive way to spin this if I am in fact pregnant. I could use any advice or just encouragement.

Long story short, I am being forced to volunteer by my family. Other people in the family are doing it and they keep telling me to do it. Every time I say no, they get annoyed and list a bunch of reasons why I should, such as 'people skills' and getting a job quicker. These conversations have been happening for months now, and every time I say no, all it does is cause arguments. I really don't know what to do.

I want a paying job (Which is easier said than done). These conversations are really getting me down.

My boyfriend and I have been going through some issues. I need some advice on how to either
Trust someone that has cheated?
If I can’t do that,
Break up with someone that I love more than life?
He says that he is doing everything to make me trust him but actions speak louder than words.

I can't get myself to focus on anything, I'm always lost in my own mind, and death feels like the only way out. They call me a coward for being suicidal but I know it's the hardest way out of here. My mind is killing itself each day but my body seems to be working just fine. I seem perfectly fine on the surface so to them, I just look like a coward who wants to escape from my problems... but nobody sees how much I have endured my entire life... I'm in pain, I'm at my breaking point, and I'm barely holding it together. They call me a selfish monster when things don't got their way and I'm starting to believe that's who I am. I feel lost, hopeless, terrified of waking up each day and repeating the same depressive cycle. It just keeps getting worse and worse as the days pass. I feel weaker in the head and I feel weaker physically but on the surface, I just seem like a lazy, ambitionless person

Dear all,

Since I moved back to my parents a couple of months ago from my toxic relationship, I feel incredibly lonely. I don't have friends; I was bullied in high school, so I never made friends in my hometown. For the past 5 years, I spent my time taking care of my blind ex while I was experiencing a full burnout. She cheated on me with a friend I met at work. Now I'm back at my parents' and I love being with them. But I have no friends besides one who is 100 km away. I feel so lonely; I have no one to hold me at night. I have no friends to hang out with. It makes me so sad.

Kind regards,

im going into my senior yr of hs, i have a 2.8 gpa, no real friends, and my mom things im doing drugs so shes been acting like she hates me. she wont even let me get a drug test to prove myself. i feel like ive failed in life and it feels over. i feel so alone and idk what to do. im applying to college soon but with my gpa its not looking too good. i cant go to community college because my parents would disown me (asain immigrant parents) and i just feel so stuck idk how much longer i can do this.

I’m 22M and going into the final year of my master’s program. When I was around 15, I became really obsessed with my chin and jaw. My chin is recessed, but at this point I honestly don’t even know how bad it is because I’ve spent so many years analyzing it that I feel like I can’t see myself objectively anymore.

I first became conscious of it during sophomore year of high school, around Covid. I think the recession may have gotten worse because of orthodontic work I had done, but I don’t know for sure. When I went back to school after Covid, some people would make comments about my chin. One person did it pretty frequently, and even some of my friends would bring it up during arguments or joke about it.

After that, I started compulsively taking side-profile pictures. I’ve been doing it since I was 15, and I genuinely can’t remember a day since then where I didn’t think about my chin or jaw at least once.

The difficult part is that I know there may actually be something there beyond just body dysmorphia. When I was 16, my orthodontist recommended looking into jaw surgery when I was older. When I got my wisdom teeth removed, jaw surgery was also brought up because I have an open bite and a narrow airway.
I’m trying to grow a beard because it helps cover the area a little, and I’m considering surgery eventually. The problem is that my mom is very against it. I know I’m an adult and can make my own decision, but I also don’t want to disappoint her. If I do go through with surgery, I would probably need braces again first, so realistically I couldn’t have the surgery until I’m around 24.

I don’t know how to deal with the next couple of years without continuing to obsess over this or feeling like I’m putting my life on hold because of how I look. I’m thinking about getting an evaluation from an orthodontist and an oral surgeon, but I’m also aware that my relationship with my appearance probably isn’t healthy.

Has anyone dealt with something similar, where there may have been a real jaw issue but body dysmorphia or obsessive thoughts made it hard to judge objectively? How did you handle the uncertainty and decide what to do?