Quotes on feeling sad

Dearest Person,
I just read something on boundaries. And man, it's like one of those words that has always sorta made me cringe.
I've had over the years had my boundaries shattered. What people have described on here when it comes to boundaries is a joke at times. I have read some of these letters that are absolutely beautiful and suggest peaceful closure bc their former is almost stunted in their emotional development to do things the right way. Yet, most won't throw them down a disposal drain... their love is pure and don't you worry these types find the essence once more.
Now, there's a lot of problems with setting boundaries for some. If you beat, raped, stole or did anything that's physical in nature, it should be obvious you'll have to go a different route to make amends.
For those normal situations... what I've seen on those who set overly firm boundaries... to the point of it being ridiculous is they are re-living and re-playing what they saw their parents do either to each other or to them. They withheld that feel good feeling of coming together and letting go. Then there are those whose head is so far up their *a.. that they see it as a weapon to punish for whatever slight. These are just a few scenarios right. Bc what does real closure mean... genuine closure means you've reached a part of your journey with them and it's pretty much settled. Almost like something is lifted. You both accomplished a lesson together and you can both move forward in a way that brings peace and healing.
My case is a little different though. If you want to understand how my boundaries were violated... then imagine this scenario... at a young age your mail was being forwarded, your phone was tapped (90's), your online activity monitored, all your cell phones compromised including your kids...
The thing is, not everyone goes through this, and in order for me to get the truth... to reach out I have to go the extra mile. It isn't fair to me. It isn't fair to the person who may or may not have wrote what they did. I wouldn't know bc all my communications with him throughout my life have been compromised.
So yeah, some of us know how to take the hint... you know. I'm one for not injuring a person or hurting them and have always found ways to work through it.
I just find when people talk about boundaries, be glad, be super happy you at least know it's real on your end, bc second guessing keeps you from being able to move forward. To really live. Or to help the person heal and make amends however that would look.
It really is sad.
And person... i do recall you looking into my eyes once and saying "no boundaries"...

my bf cheated on me and im still really sad about it. i already know i will never get over it but im stuck with him for the time being, his name is on the lease and im his surety. if i decide to not be his surety anymore they will make me pay a fine, i dont have the money right now.
i already beat him up after i found out, i spat on him, ripped his shirt honestly if i would’ve hurt him even more he would’ve let me. im super depressed even though he wasnt the best person on paper, he was my person. i feel like everything is ruined now and i have to see him every day.
worst part is im debating getting back together with him, i love him so much at the end of the day. every time i think of my life without him, i get anxious and heartbroken. i dont want anyone else but him but i know hes not good for me. anyone who loves me would never hurt me this way especially when they know i got mental health issues.
i keep replaying the scene in my head: his friend coming in to confront him with other people and jumping him, his friend telling me what happened. him telling me his side of the story and his face. me freaking out and banging my hands against the steering wheel. why would he do that this to me? :(

Dearest Person,
I just read something on boundaries. And man, it's like one of those words that has always sorta made me cringe.
I've had over the years had my boundaries shattered. What people have described on here when it comes to boundaries is a joke at times. I have read some of these letters that are absolutely beautiful and suggest peaceful closure bc their former is almost stunted in their emotional development to do things the right way. Yet, most won't throw them down a disposal drain... their love is pure and don't you worry these types find the essence once more.
Now, there's a lot of problems with setting boundaries for some. If you beat, raped, stole or did anything that's physical in nature, it should be obvious you'll have to go a different route to make amends.
For those normal situations... what I've seen on those who set overly firm boundaries... to the point of it being ridiculous is they are re-living and re-playing what they saw their parents do either to each other or to them. They withheld that feel good feeling of coming together and letting go. Then there are those whose head is so far up their *a.. that they see it as a weapon to punish for whatever slight. These are just a few scenarios right. Bc what does real closure mean... genuine closure means you've reached a part of your journey with them and it's pretty much settled. Almost like something is lifted. You both accomplished a lesson together and you can both move forward in a way that brings peace and healing.
My case is a little different though. If you want to understand how my boundaries were violated... then imagine this scenario... at a young age your mail was being forwarded, your phone was tapped (90's), your online activity monitored, all your cell phones compromised including your kids...
The thing is, not everyone goes through this, and in order for me to get the truth... to reach out I have to go the extra mile. It isn't fair to me. It isn't fair to the person who may or may not have wrote what they did. I wouldn't know bc all my communications with him throughout my life have been compromised.
So yeah, some of us know how to take the hint... you know. I'm one for not injuring a person or hurting them and have always found ways to work through it.
I just find when people talk about boundaries, be glad, be super happy you at least know it's real on your end, bc second guessing keeps you from being able to move forward. To really live. Or to help the person heal and make amends however that would look.
It really is sad.
And person... i do recall you looking into my eyes once and saying "no boundaries"...

So I’ve been separated for about 2-3 years, but I was technically still married until two weeks ago when I got divorced. Everything was chill, we just signed the papers and it was fine. I’ve had a boyfriend for about a year and we haven’t had sex yet because he’s religious and he didn’t feel right about it, which was totally fine. I felt weird about it too since I wasn’t actually divorced so I was happy to wait. In September 2023 my mom got diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away on April 10. I’m still terribly sad and can’t sleep and I’m having weird mood swings. My boyfriend was so supportive and lovely during all of this and I was so appreciative of him. He broke up with me last week because he said he was getting distanced from his faith. I knew something was wrong about a week before because he wasn’t talking to me as much, didn’t say he loved me, didn’t want to talk on the phone. He wanted our relationship to be secret from our friends or coworkers until I was officially divorced which was also totally fine with me. He knew he didn’t want to be together for a little while, maybe a week or two but never said anything to me. I had to ask him what was wrong for him to say anything. I got so upset that I called him a coward and a kid (he’s in his 20’s and I’m in my 30’s) and now he’s blocked me. I’m not mad about him wanting to be closer to God, I’m just mad he wouldn’t say anything to me when he first knew he didn’t want to be together. So I’m just really sad. Half the time I’m crying because of my mother and the other half because of him. I know I’ll be okay, it’s just so hard not talking to him everyday. I miss him but I’m also angry. I feel too old to be this upset about a break up. I miss my mom.

so… i’m an active member n im on board. i’m not openly bi to everyone i mean if they ask i tell them. me n this girl had amazing conversations and she had actually told me she selected me to be her big like her top choice but i wasn’t picking up this qtr bc i alr have 2 littles. so i just thought we were gonna be rlly good friends. mind u i usually prefer men in my spectrum n i don’t even know how this happened… but it’s diff. before i was rlly excited abt js talking to her. but she told me she’s bi as well and i feel really drawn to her. it’s diff than me js wanting to pick her up like i did my other littles, it’s like this attraction. i find her energy and her very attractive… and it’s crazy to me idek what to do!!! i find myself wanting to spend a lot of time w her waiting for her texts and like even getting sad when she doesn’t talk to me as much!! we’re not even supposed to be texting rn (our rules before crossing) but we’ve been texting she’s absolutely so loving kind and caring, so funny n lovable energy. she has a little flirty energy so i js take it lightly esp since im like not even supposed to feel this way 😭 ig i js needed to vent somewhere and see if someone is in my position. also she’s very touchy and loving to everyone but idk why it makes me so happy… i’ve never felt this way towards anyone in my sorority so im js very confused to say the least. i don’t even see this going anywhere but idk what to do

This has been a constant theme in my social sphere where people have told me I'm overwhelming, usually after they've sorta ghosted me for a time. Like, it's like I send a handful of messages, wait a few days, and then suddenly I get an apology paired with 'you're overwhelming and it made me feel anxiety which is why I didn't respond' and I'm like okay sure no problem bro. And I don't doubt it. I mean, I've never felt anything other than excitement when someone sends me a text wall or rambles at me or whatever, but I could see how that's not everyone's jam.
My main concern is that, I mean, I don't know how to stop that? I try, and it takes so much active attention to what I'm typing or saying for how much and wondering is this too much, do they need to know that, am I scaring them off right now. Like it's like everyone else has a dimmer switch when it comes to conversing, but I just have an off or on and I'm having to wiggle it constantly to try to create the illusion of a comfortable level of light. And we alllll know that that would never work; that'd just be more annoying than just leaving the switch alone altogether. I guess I'm just sad that there's some people who I like and are cool but I'm gonna upset because of how I am.
It's silly, and I know I'm being silly, but it puts you on that terrible spiral of 'I'm too annoying to be around people'; inevitably, I'm gonna get excited and start yapping and it's gonna chase everyone away. And I don't really want to stop doing that. I like that part of me; just would be nice if others liked it too.

Well, I did it! I completed the program and will be running the 5k either on Thursday or Friday. And I feel so ready!
Week 8 day 3 was actually, easy…?!?! Who would’ve thought! Not me!
One thing I wanted to talk about was my emotional state. I was/am SO emotional! There has been a few times I have cried near the end of the run, I believe the first this happened was week 5. It was gnarly. I’m a pretty “calm” person. I’ve kept a lot to myself pretty much my whole life, so perhaps this is some sort of release? I don’t know. It didn’t feel like sad tears though. It was just- tears. That’s it. But man, I felt great afterwards! I am feeling that after the 5k, I am going to be a mess because it’s already brewing mentally for me like holy crap I actually did this. I did it. I completed the program. I held it together. I was PATIENT with myself. Anyway. Who else experienced this? Would love to hear.

Apologies ahead for what might be a bit of a rambly post, but I had a thought about box office that generally and I guess I wanted some feed back on weather or not I'm right or not.
So there's been a lot of analysis in the past few weeks about the merit of theatrically released original mid-budget movies, the kinds of movies that Hollywood "Doesn't make anymore". I want to center this idea around "Challengers" specifically as it's box office has felt like a rorschach test for it's box office, some people say that's it numbers are impressive for what it is, some people are saying that it's doing poorly considering it's nowhere near completing the 2.5x rule of thumb for it's box office considering it's 55 mil budget. Currently the movie is at 69.2 million (nice) and will probably get no where it's needed 137.5 million. Objectively, in many ways it's a flop. However a couple of things

1. It's by far the most successful erotic tennis drama of all time, not sure if there are literally any other movies in that sub-genre but it's still an achievement.
2. And much more importantly, Challengers domestic and international number have been solid and okay for a drama, combined with the fact that it's generated a ton of buzz on social media, this leads to one conclusion; Challengers is going to make a killing on streaming.

Challengers is going to be insanely big on VOD, and rentals, and it's going to get an insane amount of viewership when it comes to Prime Video, it might even be Amazon's biggest movie on there (though I'm not sure how much that would mean, I honestly can't name what movie might actually be Amazon's biggest release)
All of this is to say is that Challengers is probably going to make it's money back or at least break even by the time it's done. Which like, on it's own, who cares ? Plenty of movies make their money back later. Well it got me thinking about that oft quoted Matt Damon quote, when he was on Hot Ones, and was talking about why the types of movies Hollywood makes has changes
"Well what happened was the DVD was a huge part of out business, of our revenue stream, and technology has just made that obsolete. So the movies we used to make, you could afford to not make all of your money when it played in the theatre because you had the DVD coming behind the release and six months later you would get a whole 'nother chunk, it be like opening the movie again almost. And when that went away it changed the type of movies we would make."
Why is this important, because, I would argue that Challengers is the exact type of movie Damon is talking about here. Challengers won't make it money back in theatres, theatrically it's a flop, but it's not a failure because theoretically that can be okay because it will make it money back down the line in Streaming/VOD.
Is this cope, possibly, I haven't seen Challengers, and am not invested in it's particular success but I'd like to see more movies like this succeed so in that way I am. My point in this is simply a desire to see more mid-budget films like Challengers in theatres and that maybe we just might be roping back around to how things were in the 80's and 90's when you sometimes you didn't have to make all of your money in theatres to make your money, and if true Hollywood could look at a movie like Challengers and decided that make more movies like it, not less.
Now I now there are couple of major caveats to my argument one being the smaller pie in general. Challengers is making significantly less, especially when you adjust for inflation, than adult dramas in the 80's and 90's made, AND worse still VOD and streaming probably isn't as profitable as DVD's and VHS's were, some of that is information not disclosed to the public so we don't know for sure, for sure, but we can surmise. So this isn't an everything is actually fine post. Hollywood still has a lot, like A LOT to do if wants to get back to where it was in the past if that's even possible
All I am is suggesting is an alternative way to look at things, and that this way of looking at the state of the box office, could mean that we end up with more unique and interesting theatrical releases and not less.
TL;DR - Hollywood might be going full circle back to the days of DVD's and VHS's with streaming now and this could still lead to more mid-budget theatrical releases like Challengers.
Addendum - A couple of other first though, A) Is VOD different from when Damon was talking about it ? That video was only from 2 years ago, but I believe Damon was talking about the general transition from DVD to Netflix in the early 2000's to 2010's. These were messy transitional years from Hollywood with a massive emphasize on simply subscribing to streaming services. PVOD is faster now as well as streaming hits like Saltburn proving to be MASSIVE for these services though it's impossible to tell just how much money a movie like that generated for Amazon since no one subscribes to a service like that for one movie, I have a feeling that Amazon and Netflix would rather have massive hits like that than not. This leads to my second important point
B) Challengers had to be in theatres to achieve whatever success it might have. While plenty of streaming exclusive movies do well, a lot of the MASSIVE streaming hits tend to be theatrical releases. Challengers couldn't have just gone to VOD or Netflix and been a hit, it's only the combination of a buzzy moderately successful theatrical release and then VOD/ streaming that any of this works. Okay bye now !

When I first lost Chloe, I wasn’t sure how to deal with the situation. I came across this Reddit board and spent a couple of days reading other peoples contributions. I thought that if maybe I contributed a couple of times and helped maybe one or two people with what they were going through it would help me. It has been good, but I don’t know how to deal with the situation I’m in. I know I have posted and made reference to my situation but now I feel that if I share it maybe that will help. Chloe was 12 and had a few health problems starting but nothing serious. I’m 50 and my mother is 75 and we decided to celebrate our birthdays by going to Paris again. We thought that we would go before one or both of our health falls apart and before Chloe gets to the age of being really sick (our last dog lived to be 18). We asked our vet probably 4 times if anything serious was going on and if there was any reason not to go to Paris. He kept assuring us that it would be fine. I’ll try to give you a brief history that may help. I am pretty much sick all the time. I can go a month or two without leaving the house. We are both retired and then with Covid, my mom was here all the time. So Chloe got used to having someone always around. I started taking a supplement that changed the way all my auto immune diseases were making me feel, so that’s when we decided to go ahead and go to Paris. I started getting out to go to the mall and it freaked her out. She would wind around my feet like a cat trying to get me to stop tying my shoelaces. She didn’t know what to do without me at the house. It freaked her out like I said. Looking back, we should have spread out those trips and got her used to both of us being gone a little longer each time, overnight maybe. But like the vet said he thought she was doing OK and it wouldn’t be a problem. We left for Paris and on the 4th day I broke my ankle at the Eiffel Tower. We started getting reports from home that Chloe wasn’t doing too great. We have a pet sitter that is absolutely fabulous. Chloe loves her so much. So by the time I broke my ankle, we started realizing that Chloe was very sick and that she was dying. Our wonderful pet sitter went to the vet and just sat with her so she wouldn’t be alone. I threw on an orthopedic boot with a broken ankle and we started traveling home. We never stopped. We just went from Paris to New York to Dallas and to Mexico. We didn’t make it. We asked the vet if he thought she was suffering waiting for us and he said that she was so we couldn’t let her continue that way. We said goodbye to her over the phone in the Dallas airport terminal. I hope that she got some comfort from our voices, but, as I think I’ve written before, the guilt is all consuming. She deserved better. She was our baby. The problem that I have been having since she died is that it’s like she vanished. When I got home, I wouldn’t let the maid come because I was searching for her, her smell. I laid by the table that she laid under. I tried to get as close to under the bed where she laid. I just kept saying “I can’t find her. I can’t remember what she looked like the last time we walked out the door. I don’t remember that moment.” The pet sitter was very nice, she picked up and took away her bowl, her leashes, her food, everything to do with her so that we wouldn’t have a such a sad homecoming, but it just made it seem like she was never here. I spent so much time upstairs that my association with her was the noise she made under the bed and when she wanted out of the door or when she started up the stairs to my bed. At night she was in the bed with me. I didn’t take her on walks or anything so I couldn’t imagine her as we walked along or anything. I have been searching for some kind of visceral connection to her in the house. But she’s just was gone. I think I hear her sometimes. Honestly, I don’t think I have grieved as much as I should. I always said that I started grieving her loss the moment I met her. I know it sounds crazy, but we used to get teary-eyed when she was six or seven or eight. We just loved her that much and couldn’t imagine our life without her. I would always say that we shouldn’t waste time thinking about something that was going to happen in the future. She was just that special. It was if you looked into her big brown eyes you could see her soul. This is too long of a post as it is, so I’ll just stop now.

Hello WCI community,
Had a quick question/scenario and appreciate any advice.
I’m leaving my current private practice job in Southern California as an orthopedic surgeon. I’ve only been here since September of last year and my termination date will be 5/31. My group doesn’t provide tail so I’m obtaining it through a broker.
My policy started in March of 2023 despite me not starting practice until September (coming out of fellowship). For this reason my rates feel a bit high but despite me explaining my situation, it doesn’t seem to affect it. I haven’t done many cases except call stuff. No complications so far…
Best rates I’m getting are between $38-46k for unlimited coverage (lower end ones provide 3 years).
Question: I have just enough in my HYSA to pay the cost in full and be done with it. I won’t have much leftover until I get my signing bonus ($25k), and I’m waiting to hear when that comes.
Scenario 1: pay in full. Have a few thousand leftover for moving up to NorCal. Wait for signing bonus to help with costs.
Scenario 2: pay half (~$21k) and take a loan out for the rest (doc2doc or laurel road). I’m getting quoted ~13% APR on a 5 year loan of $20k. doc2doc says it’s a 1% monthly interest rate. Plan would be to pay off remaining loan once settled / signing bonus comes in ~1-3 months after I move.
What would you do? If I’m leaving out important details, I apologize and am happy to provide more if it helps. Appreciate input from the community!

Crosspost from Vent subreddit so if you see it twice I'm sorry but I wanna make sure all of Gen Z is aware of this and also, sorry if you don't care about American politics because you don't live here but at the same time, the stuff proposed could have Internetational consequences so it might be worth at least looking at.
Have you guys seen Project 2025?? I just need to vent about how we DO NOT pay enough attention to what is happening behind the scenes in politics. We just don't. So for the love of everything, please research and inform yourself about what Project 2025 is because it can and should heavily impact your vote for president at the end of this year.
Imma be blunt so nobody has to wonder where I lean. I lean democrat, but I love seeing moderate politics in action and we have seen some of that with Biden and I know it's upset many Democrats but moderate is compromise and compromise is healthy!! I'm so done with playing extremes! Let's calm down! Let's compromise! Let's be peaceful! We're all Americans and we should want what is best for ALL OF US together as a country.
These extremes we are playing with are dangerous. Like, looking at Project 2025 there's stuff they want to prioritize like centralizing things around stable families and combating the porn industry to defund and end sexual exploitation and attack human trafficking. That is GREAT. I LOVE THOSE IDEAS!
However, even with how much I love those ideas, they're taking it WAY TO FAR. It's incredibly extreme. We can stabilize families without annihilating terms that help people understand themselves and their sexuality. We can demolish the porn industry and recognize that porn is addictive without further victimizing the people impacted by porn by suddenly outlawing and banning it and metaphorically pulling the rug out from underneath people's feet. I mean, people work for a living in the porn industry and addicts will either experience severe withdrawal or find themselves on the wrong side of the law because they can't stop themselves from looking at something that is suddenly illegal.
What I'm getting at, is I like some of the things they want to do! I just look at this group that's organized itself into what is now called Project 2025 and I terrifies me! They want to make drastic and extreme changes very rapidly, things that society is not capable of withstanding, and even the governmental and legislative changes they want make push us more towards autocracy and away from democracy and being a republic. I can't stress this enough, this next election has the potential to bring about EXTREME, permanent, chaotic, or reforming change. This could be good or it could be VERY VERY BAD.
I'm not here to tell you how to vote or what to do, I'm just here to show you that this is a thing. I want everyone to know there's organizations that are pre-meditating to gain power and control and bring gigantic change to the government and society at large. Sure, we say this every election, but this is different. I'm 27 and I haven't had decades of voting under my belt but I've never seen or heard of anything like this Project 2025 and my parents and grandparents have never spoken to me about seeing anything like this either. The fact that there's a gigantic slew of politicians organizing themselves to basically overrun government offices and implement immediate, drastic change is something we as Americans should consider carefully! If you want these changes and you believe they can pull it off, then vote that way! But I urge you to consider how much dysfunction and choas they can cause in a short amount of time if they defund the DOJ, dismantle the FBI and DHS, completely turn away from the climate crisis, eliminate the department of commerce, and look at ending things like the department of Education, the Federal Communications Division, and the Federal Trade Commission.
They're also talking about getting rid of all abortions, even medically necessary ones, country wide. They want to ban contraceptives. They want to, and I quote from Project 2025s own mandate "delete the use of terms like sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, inclusion, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, abortion, reproductive health, and reproduction rights"
All I'm asking is for us all to pay attention, to see what this is, and see if you WANT to support this or not. You WON'T find this plan on Trump's website or as an official part of his campaign but even Project 2025 itself admits they believe Trump will win the presidency and then they and Trump will be able to accomplish all of Project 2025s goals.
Again, I'm not telling you what to prioritize or how to vote, but I want you to know a vote for Trump is a vote for Project 2025 as well. If that's what you want, then vote Trump in. If not, vote for someone else. And, for those of you who find that you too, like me, genuinely agree with some of what they want to do, consider the big picture, NOT just the part you agree with. Also consider how this impacts your friends and families. No gender equality and no reproductive rights greatly impacts ALL women. Think about your daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. They may not ever want an abortion or a hysterectomy or birth control but what if something happens to their health and they suddenly NEED one of those things to save their life or improve their quality of life? If you have any friends or family that are trans or identify as anything other than heterosexual, they are trying to DELETE their identifiers. They're trying to ERASE entire parts of people.
To end my vent, again, I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just telling you to be aware. Don't think "Oh we always say the other party is going to destroy American, it doesn't really matter as it always works out fine anyways" because Project 2025 is the evidence that CHANGE WILL HAPPEN. I can't foresee if it will destroy us or not, but I can say that trying to do THIS MUCH DRASTIC CHANGE will alter our country permanently.
If ever there was a time to take an election seriously, NOW IS THE TIME! VOTE YOUR CONCIENCE!! Don't vote by party lines, don't vote with your wallet, don't vote based upon who you hear about more... Do your do diligence and vote carefully and with purpose!
To wrap this up, here's some sources for people to read for themselves:
This is from project 2025s website and if you find the "read the mandate" button under the picture of their book it goes in depth on what they want to do and why.
https://www.project2025.org/policy/
Scrutinize me for using Wikipedia all you want but it's a good way to get a brief summary that discusses concerns and narratives as seen by the people pushing this agenda and the people worried about if this agenda is seen to fruition.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
Please feel free to add other sources in the comments. Feel free to discuss as well, but don't turn this into Trump vs Biden or Democrats vs Republicans. This is meant to put a spotlight on Project 2025 and whether or not it's goals would be good for us! For our country! That's it!

I want to be very sensitive when writing it here, but I have been dealing with unbearable guilt and wanted to know if what I am doing is wrong. I really do not want to trigger anyone, but I will be writing about a very sad situation.
I (33M) have been married to my wife (31F) for 6 years and we have a 3-year-old kid. We are very happy together and I am lucky to be married to a very kind and smart woman. My wife's best friend Ana (fake name for anonymity) has been living with us for the last 6 months.
I wanted to talk about Ana to give a full context of why I am making my decision. Ana is my wife's best friend since school days. Ana was living in the city with her boyfriend, and we live in the suburbs of that city. They seemed happy together and were in relationship for 2 years. However, my wife noticed bruises on Ana's hand last year and asked her about it. Initially, Ana dismissed it as work related injuries. My wife kept on probing, and we learned that Ana was in an extremely toxic and abusive relationship. Her boyfriend lost his job last year and became extremely controlling and abusive towards her. He constantly accused her of cheating (Ana denies it), made her link her phone messenger to his computer and started micromanaging finances. There was an incident of domestic violence that was the final straw and my wife, and I had to rush to the hospital to look after Ana.
Since Ana's parents are mostly absent from her life, my wife asked me if Ana can stay with us for a few days. We are three people living in a 4-bedroom house and have two spare guest rooms. I of course agreed to it and told her that Ana can stay with us as long as she wants. I think the incident completely broke Ana and she would just start crying randomly and completely shut down. It was really sad to see Ana in that state. She had to leave her job due to mental issues and stayed at home in the room all day. My wife is very kind and took care of Ana like she was family and made sure she felt loved. Ana is also thankful to my wife and I to help her in her worst time, and helps around the house and with our kid (though we never leave him alone with Ana). Ana, now is coming back to normal, smiles sometimes and has started looking for job again.
Now onto the incident. Last Friday, my wife and I went to work as normal and dropped our son at daycare. I had a doctor's appointment at noon and came straight home from there as I did not have a lot of work in office. I made some lunch, and then went to my room to sit in my bed and reply to all the emails. Ana was in her room, and I did not talk to her after I came home.
Around 2pm, I heard Ana's room door open and her walking in the hallway. Suddenly, our bedroom door opened, and Ana walked in topless and just in her underwear. I was shocked and not sure how long I was staring at her. But after a few seconds, I blurted out "I am sorry!", and she quickly covered herself with her hands. She was apologetic and started explaining herself. She said she just wanted to borrow my wife's clothes because her laundry was unwashed. It was super embarrassing to have conversation with her in that state and I looked away. She again apologized and then went out of the bedroom. The incident lasted less than 2 minutes.
After a while, she again came back into our bedroom (fully dressed) and apologized for the incident. She said it was really embarrassing and she did not know anyone will be home. I said it's ok and I should have told her I am back early from office when I came home. She asked me to not mention about the incident to my wife. She said she feels embarrassed she walked around the hallway without clothes and that I saw her in that state. I said it's ok and lets forget about it.
I have not told my wife about the incident and it's been 5 days. It was just a benign incident, but I somehow feel guilty about the whole thing. I feel more guilty that I am lying to my wife by omission of the truth. However, I feel that if my wife takes it the wrong way, it may strain her relationship with Ana, and I really feel bad for Ana what she had to go through. I also do not want to make Ana uncomfortable in our house by telling my wife about her barging into our bedroom in that state.
Am I the AH in this case for not talking about this incident to my wife. I am afraid that if Ana tells it to her first, it will make me look really bad and guilty. However, if I tell her, I do not want her to blame Ana for any of this and not help her in time of her need. Can someone please help me on how I can tell my wife about this?

Just wanted to leave it here lang na I think ma consider talaga as red flag siguro yung tao na galing sa long term relationship. I'm speaking on behalf of myself.
I feel so sad lang na I cannot give the kind of love na binigay ko before. Like may dadating na greeniest of the flag but pinipigilan ko ang sarili ko na ibuhos ang lahat ng pagmamahal na deserve nila. Nagbabasa din ako about dito na feeling ko may avoidant-attachment issue talaga na ako. Ayoko na din ma attach kay I would end up hurting them 🥹
Pinapasa-Diyos ko nalang if magiging single rich tita nalang ba talaga ako or ano. 😄

Okay, honestly. I’m writing this because I am chronically on Reddit, and today I saw a thread about an insecure wife. She was 30 years old and would get extremely angry with her husband for not turning off a show or a movie that had female nudity in it. ALL, and I mean all of the comments were saying that she is extremely insecure, and that she is projecting into her partner by behaving that way, and that nudity is all around us now a days. They were saying that at that point she would be insecure about him even going to a pool or a beach because he might see a half naked woman. I definitely agree with the comments.
I’m 22, and I’ve had my insecurities. I’m also an extremely self aware person, and not even joking this thread was very eye-opening to me. Because holy fuck, do I not want to be that person in the future. I’m with my boyfriend now, I’ve known him a long time but we’ve been dating for about 6 months, just graduated college together. I’ve dated in the past, but this relationship is so different because I now know that I was never in love with my exes the way I am with him. It’s real, and healthy, and frankly, I think it has been uncovering the unresolved insecurities and traumas that I have not dealt with yet.
But I definitely for the first time in my relationship life would get insecure when we’d watch a movie with a lot of nudity, and I’d want him to look away. I’d play it off as a joke, but I’d be like wanting to throw up inside lmao. He’s 6’4 and very attractive, and frankly all my exes were usually more normal- attractive and reserved, so they didn’t have a ton of girl friends. My boyfriend now, has a ton of girl friends, and when we were on campus together he’d constantly be having girls run into him and hug him and say they missed him. Had several girls come up to us and say hi to him and not even acknowledge that I was there. He put boundaries in place without me even asking, to not hug girls anymore if they came up to him, he’d just fist bump them. And I’d do the same with my guy friends. I really appreciated that he did that for me.
But my boyfriend even for the way he looks, and his personality is a lot more insecure than he leads on, and it was kind of a difficult talking stage because he’s been cheated on in 3 relationships, and I think he’d assume I’d do the same to him. I had to reassure him so much about it, which I didn’t mind doing, but. He wanted me to cut off so many male friends to the point where I felt defensive and controlled, and expected that he then cut off his girl friends. Which I’ve never cared about in the previous relationships. As long as the girls weren’t crossing boundaries, why should I have cared. There are so many more things that bother me in this relationship that never have before. I just don’t like the way that I’ve been acting.
Moral of the story, it’s gotten bad to the point where I don’t even want him seeing celebrity posts, or having girls on Instagram with a lot of bikini posts, etc. Also, quite literally DID get uncomfortable going to the pool with him because we were in Arizona, and every girl was tanning ass up in a thong bikini LMAO. But again, they should be able to do that, he should be able to see it, and there should be zero issues. But because I am not the controlling type of person, genuinely, and do not like telling other adults what they’re allowed or not allowed to do, I just snap at him sometimes and say I’m fine, when he knows I’ve gone quiet and am in my head, and get really sad and don’t communicate because I don’t want to tell him that it makes me insecure. Because I know that it shouldn’t.
I literally don’t know if this just because his insecurity is projecting into my insecurities, or if this is actually a healthy relationship that has problems being worked through and I just need to overcome my own insecurities. How do I get over this? To be honest this behavior is way below me, and I’m tired of letting it control me. I feel like calling him and apologizing right now for being insecure and controlling lmao.

My dog who was 10 left us last night. He had recently been diagnosed with liver failure. I was having a company come out tomorrow to peacefully do it at home. He didn’t seem like he was in pain, he was not wincing or pacing.. only occasional panting. He was just tired, and ready.
I wanted to stay with him on the couch but whenever I was there he couldnt relax. As soon as I would walk away he was able to sleep. I got the feeling that he wanted to be alone. As much as this broke my heart, I really feel like this is what he wanted.
He slept in the couch every night. As soon as the house was quiet he would come into my room and want to go outside. He loved the peace and quiet of night time. That’s when he would eat, etc.
I left him for the last time around 2am. Is it crazy to think that he waited until his peaceful time of night to pass away? I went back out at 5:30 and he was gone. I feel like he was waiting for me to go to sleep and then he let himself go peacefully.
I didn’t want to bring him to the vet. He HATED the vet and I did not want his last minutes to be in fear. The company was coming tomorrow to do it at home….. I talked to the lady who came and picked him up and she said he didn’t have any typical signs of pain. I just hope he wasn’t suffering in pain. He was drinking water all day, but would not eat.
Has anyone ever dealt with something like this or had an experience like this? I feel so sad that he was alone but I really think he was waiting for his special time at night.
Thanks for reading.

Part 72 Gene mods (Part 1) (Part 71)
[Support me on Ko-fi so I can get some character commissions done and totally not buy more Gundams]
“Alright, calm down. It's really not that serious.” Though the holographic representation of War Chief Neshkaname, complete with ocean blue eyes and linear facial tattoos on his tan face, looked quite noticeably tired, his overall demeanor seemed fairly positive. “I just got out of a meeting with representatives from the different protesting groups and all of them agree with the general idea of what we're trying to do with our united defense fleet. There's just quite a bit of disagreement about how our Confederacy should approach the questions related to Earth, Mars, and everyone in Sol.”
“What kind of questions are we talking about here?” General Robert Andrews, the now former General of the US Army, was the first to speak up amongst the crowd of military leaders. “Nothing about invading Earth, I hope.”
“Well…” Though Rob was only half serious about his comment concerning Earth, the way the commanding officer of the Nishnabe Militia’s Blue Fleet began his response put a genuinely concerned expression on a few faces from Sol. “It's only a small percent of our population who are calling for war to reclaim land. A few million people at most, none of whom hold any positions of leadership in our military. Luckily, there are far more people calling for boycotts, embargoes, or blockades as opposed to anything direct.”
“War Chief, to many governments on Earth, an embargo, and especially a blockade, would be considered akin to a direct declaration of war.” General Renee Descartes, the former Chief of Defense Staff of France and Second in Command of the European Union's Unified Military, despite the dark bags under her eyes implying she hadn't gotten anywhere near enough sleep before this meeting, retained her rather elegant poise when adding that bit of necessary context. “You see, the economy of Earth is highly reliant on importing raw materials from space. With the climate being as delicate as it is, no one is willing to risk the kinds of planetside resource harvesting necessary to keep the thirteen billion people in the Earth’s Sphere of Influence employed, fed, and happy. More importantly, we are starting to run out of easily accessible mineral deposits in space.”
“Yes, the lunar mines and the near-Earth asteroid colonies still under UN-E control simply aren't producing nearly enough material to meet growing demand.” Admiral Nathaniel Adeoye, who had also given up his position as the Chief of Astral Naval Staff of the African Federation, chimed in with a clearly worried tone in his deep voice. “While I can understand the rage some of your people must feel, especially towards Americans, the many different people of Africa were in no way responsible for the colonization of America. In fact, we were subject to colonialism ourselves.”
“At least y'all still got yahr homelands!” Commandant General Daniel Chasinghorse, the former Commander of the entirety of MarsGov's Void-Marine Corps, didn't mean for his statement directed at Adeoye to sound as vitriolic as it did. However, the idea of him, his Lakota people, and all the displaced Native American Nations who were now mostly living in space or on Mars potentially being included in the Nishnabe’s reasonably negative reaction towards the people of Earth had put him on edge. “Sorry for snappin’ at yah like that, Nate. But the people livin’ on Mars ain't nothin’ done to deserve bein’ restricted by an embargo or blockade. We need all the extra-Solar tech we can get if we're gonna keep our population's health from declining even further. And I’m sure the African Lunar colonies could really use that medical and gravity tech too!”
“Nothing's been decided yet, and most people on Shkegpewen want peace, we just haven't reached a consensus on how that peace will look.” War Chief Msko Pkwenech, the commander of the Nishnabe Militia’s Red Fleet, interjected while making an open gesture with his hands to try to pat down the tension building up in this meeting room. “And if helps at all, we did take quite a few public votes concerning technology sharing for things we consider essential. But Maser probably has quicker access to the results than I would.”
“About ninety percent of respondents voted to immediately authorize and start sending out medical and gravity tech, including a production ship to come out and make things in-system, which is well above the seventy-five percent consensus needed to move forward.” As soon as the Light-born AI holographically representing their consciousness as an androgynous human began to speak in an incredibly soothing tone, the stress levels in the room began to fall. “There are currently a few councils debating the finer details and arranging logistics of what will be sent. However, the specifics of who gets what and when they get it will be negotiated between the respective governments in Sol and the Nishnabe Intergovernmental Council. Our job as the United Human Defense Fleet is not to interfere with diplomacy between nations, just to ensure that diplomacy is handled in a reasonable and non-threatening manner. Now, with that said, the vote to provide essential assistance was just one if a few taken over the last couple weeks. And while that poll was overwhelming and definitive, the ones concerning visas, immigration, galactic trade, and interspecies relations all fell below the consensus threshold for the Confederacy to adopt an official policy. When we say embargoes and blockades, we are purely referring to trade interactions between species, not between humanity and your economic exclusive zone. Once the relevant councils develop updated options for people to vote on, the next vote will be held.”
“An’ how long's all that gonna take?” Commandant Admiral Carol Nez, as the former head of MarsGov’s Astral Intelligence Collective and Councilmember in the Navajo Nation of Mars, was keenly aware of both the pressing urge of many on the red planet to live on a world with a breathable atmosphere and how just long it often took to for Native Nations to build a consensus. “Everaday we got at least a thousand babies born in Martian maternity stations an’ at least thirty percent ‘ave some kinda health issues. The sooner we get y'all's medical tech, the more kids that're gonna grow up to be happy an’ healthy!”
“We are well aware of the negative health implications of trying to raise children in low-gravity.” Msko already had his tablet out and was in the process of sending over the relevant information to his counterparts from Earth and Mars. “Our genetic modification technologies require individualized sequencing but they can be applied before or after birth to correct any serious issues. They can even be used well into adulthood. I got my eye color changed when I became an adult, so we can help anyone who hasn’t already gotten cybernetic replacements for affected body parts. All of our ships still in Sol are actively trying to produce as much of the base materials as they can and are working with doctors from your stations to get everything deployed as quickly as possible.”
“Why don’cha just teach our docs how to do it?” As soon as Carol got the question out, Msko and Nesh shot each other cautious glances before they both looked towards Maser.
“Well, Commandant Admiral Nez…” As soon as the hologram of the AI began to speak, it was clear their words were directed at everyone present from Sol. “To be completely blunt with all of you, we have reason to believe that the moment people from either Mars or Earth got full access to the genetic manipulation technology the Nishnabe utilize, someone would begin conducting experiments to turn humans into living weapons even more dangerous than the cybernetic ones you already produce. The cybernetics sported by many of your civilians would be legally considered military-grade combat modifications, and individuals with those cybernetics would be barred from entering many GCC standard space stations. We know there are doctors within both UN-E and MarsGov already working on projects to modify your species genome to produce what you call super soldiers, which something which is generally highly illegal under GCC laws. In fact, the genetic manipulation done to Sarah and Johnathan McAfree would likely be considered combat adjacent modifications according to GCC standards, and they would also be subject to various limitations due to their enhanced physiology.”
“Hey, now! Spooky an’ ‘er brother ain’t that scary!” Though he had been spending most of this meeting quietly sitting in his corner of the round table and trying to stay out of things he considered to be beyond his expertise, Professor Mikhail T. River felt compelled to say something now that his ex and her brother had been brought up. “Sure, she can bench press me. An’ Johnny can pick up the stove to sweep under it. But that ain't the gnarliest I ever seen! I mean, jus’ look at Comandante Harrison over here!”
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the members of the United Human Defense Fleet Council were in their meeting and discussing the rumors of Nishnabe protests Sarah had also caught wind of, that was far above her paygrade. Despite a tinge of concern fluttering away in the back of the unusually tall and rather athletically built Scotswoman’s mind, she wasn't worried about the things she had no control over. At the moment, she, her rather short and somewhat pudgy mother, and her colossal but cognitively limited brother were relaxing in the stables of the opulent nature area aboard UHDF DS-1 and spending time with the unicorn-like kaehi'xito that Mik had gifted to them. Though the three gingers were each busy with different things most of the day, Donna and Johnny with their Nishnabemwin and remote job training courses while Sarah performed her role as an intelligence analyst, the small family from Glasgow truly cherished this time they got to spend together. And the fact they were bonding with the closest living creatures in the galaxy to unicorns only made this even better for all of them.
“Hey Sarah! There you are!” As soon as Miakorva's voice called out from the entrance to the stable building, Sarah, her family, and the three unicorn-like creatures turned to see the Qui’ztar approaching them with familiar canine at her side. “And look who I found wandering around the ship! Did you know that Mikhail lets her walk around unsupervised?”
“Hiya Mia!” Being the closest to the entrance, Johnny was the first to greet the lanky and seemingly muscular blue woman before he crouched down low and extended a hand towards the Cane Corso. “An’ Micky lets her roam cuz she's a good girlie. Isn't tha’ righ’, Terry?”
“Terry Good dog!” Terry’s soft but deep whine was translated by her collar while she approached the man with her tail vigorously wagging.
“Terry's a trained station guard dog, Mia.” Sarah added while shooting the Qui’ztar intelligence officer a cheeky wink and coy smile. “It's ‘er job to wander a station, ‘r in this case a ship, an’ be on the lookout for trouble. An’ now that she can talk, she's a perfect workin’ animal. But wha’s up? Were yah lookin’ for me?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, I was. But… uh…” Mia paused for a moment as she watched the massive beast of a dog place her paws on Johnny's shoulders and begin licking the man's face as if he had smothered some kind of invisible but quite tasty treat across his skin. “Isn’t there a concern that Terry may… Well… Hurt someone? Her species are non-sapient apex predators with strong hunting instincts, correct?”
“Tha's why she and most other workin’ dogs ‘re so well trained, love.” Donna replied with a giggle, the adorable display of affection between her son and Mik's dog forcing a massive smile across her freckled and slightly wrinkled face. “There's always a bit o’ risk with dogs, especially the biggins like Terry ‘ere. But if these unicorns aren't freakin’ out cuz o’ ‘er, then we don’ gotta be worried.”
“Kaehi'xito didn’t evolve with canine predators, so they likely don't even recognize her as a potential threat.” As Mia watched the beast of a dog lean more of her weight on to Johnny, she half expected the large and well-built man to fall over from the force. However, much to her surprise, the man stopped his energetic scratching on Terry's sides, wrapped his arms around her waist, and effortlessly lifted the gargantuan animal into the air, all the while it continued to lick his face. “But seeing you carry that creature like a baby would be enough to make almost anyone with caniphobia be cautiously curious about these creatures. And they must not be as heavy as they look if you can pick one up so easily.”
“Oh, Terry’s a thickin! At least fifteen stone!” In a motion that seemed in utter opposition to Johnny's comment, the man half-tossed the Cane Corso into the air so that he could reposition his hands to cradle the massive canine as if she were a literal baby. “But she's still a good lil pupper, ain't yah, Terry?”
“Terry, good baby!” Though Terry hadn't started flailing or showing any obvious signs of discomfort, she suddenly turned her head towards Sarah with a longing look in her golden eyes. “Pack-mother cuddle?”
“Yeah, sure, yah big ol’ lunk.”
Though Mia could believe a man as impressively large as Johnny may not have much difficulty in lifting a hundred kilo canine, she was completely flabbergasted by Sarah's ability to simply pull Terry from Johnny's grasp and continue to hold the animal up without even the slightest indication of strain. Not only had she just gotten confirmation that this creature was just as heavy as she thought, Miakorva was now being faced with the fact that the woman she had been cuddling with a night for quite some time was significantly stronger than she had realized. According to all the interspecies education she had received, which may have been slightly biased by the Qui’ztar professor teaching the courses, her own species had the highest ratio of strength to body mass of any Ascended species. And while she was aware that this woman she had formed a relationship with weighed about the same as she did despite being several centimeters shorter, Mia had yet to witness Sarah's capabilities demonstrated in such a casual manner.
“By the Matriarch, Sarah!” The lanky blue woman couldn't help herself as her bioluminescent freckles lit up at the shocking display of strength. “How are you that strong?!?”
“Gene mods.” Though Sarah didn't hesitate in her answer, she did wince slightly as she did so. “Me muscles’re almost twice as dense as the average human's. Tha's actually somethin’ I had to talk to Maser an’ NAN abou’ the other day. ‘Parently tha’ ain't a thing most species do for some reason. Bu’ I'm pre’y sure we talked abou’ tha’ already.”
“You did mention it but… Well… I didn't realize your people's genetic engineering was that sophisticated. But I guess that does confirm a couple of the rumors I've heard that I was going to ask you about.”
“Wha’ rumors?” Donna blurted out with a bit too defensive of a tone as her eyes fell upon her son who had gone back to brushing his vaguely moose-like unicorn. “An’ who's spreadin’ ‘em?”
“Well…” Mia hesitated for a moment, causing the two Scotswomen to shoot her suspicious looks. “I was assisting with the logistical planning with the Nishnabe in charge of the distribution of medicine to people on Earth and Mars, most of which involved genetic modification serums. And when I asked why there was no plan, or even consideration, of passing on the technology so it could be locally produced, the people I was working with told me there were rumors of… Well… My people would call it Qui'kijarto niko'txo, which would roughly translate to an enhanced soldier project.”
“Yahr people tried to make super soldiers, too?” Sarah asked with a laugh that implied a sense of relief.
“No!” The instant denial caused Sarah to cease her laughter and forced a slight frown on her rather pale and freckled face. “As soon as my people began developing genetic engineering almost thirty thousand years ago, our government and scientific community came together to completely outlaw any attempts to enhance our form in a way that would make us even deadlier in combat. Besides that, even after thirty thousand years of research, we have only recently mastered the ability to stabilize our genetics and guard against speciation due to diverse environmental conditions.”
“Yah really tryin to tell us yahr people never tried to improve themselves?” The older Scotswoman chimed in with a clearly doubtful expression. “No one ever tried to give their kids an advantage in life? Super soldiers experiments ain't the only thing we use gene modding for.”
“Well… No… I don’t believe we ever have.” Mia hadn't really put much thought into it, even when she and Sarah had talked about it before. But now she was starting to realize that an attempt to give a child an advantage in life by increasing their physical capabilities could directly translate to turning that child into an ideal soldier. “As far as I know, very few other species have engaged in that form of genetic modification. And the ones who have tried struggled to produce anything truly successful.”
“Gene mods ain't always successful, Mia.” Johnny didn't bother to look away from the unicorn he was brushing as he made the comment lest he see the sadness that suddenly appeared in his mother's eyes. “Bu’ I learned the other day tha’ Nishnabe gene tech is way better than wha’ we got on Earth. Maybe they'll ‘ave some stuff to teach us after they feel we're trustworthy enough to learn it.”

Hello, this is my first time on reddit idk what’s gonna happen but here i am may story time sooo I matched with this guy on bumble, im a F no jowa since birth (bi) btw and ofc i did the first move i said hi and then we started talking and all that. He’s very interactive naman and does the effort to ask some questions too. We even showed each other’s cats. Honestly, very wholesome lang ang conversation namin with a little bit of flirt?
Until i opened up and told him i lost my first cat and told him i finally found my cat, unfortunately i found him dead that day🥹 I was and still am so devastated i feel like nawalan ako ng gana to talk with people pero i like him and i still want to talk to him its just that i was super sad i dont feel like talking to anyone atp(even if i also have kausap with others sa app, it’s just that si guy yung pinaka gusto ko kausap😅) im still new to this dating app and talking so feeling ko madali ako ma attached🥲
And then after i told him about my cat, he’s sorry for my loss and comforted me with words. Until i said im gonna delete the app na (bc i don’t really have the energy to text with people) and told him i will follow his instagram which i did. He even asked mine and ofc i replied my user. After that i deleted bumble for good. I was waiting for him to follow me back or atleast slide in my dms for like a 2-4days? but he never did soooo maybe i thought ahhh I guess he’s good in this game. He’s not interested pala. But he made me feel like he is. He was consistent replying back every morning dahil may morning class sya and thought to myself nagrereply sya sakin pag gising maybe im so naive for thinking he likes me too.
I already blocked him after that waiting game. Although inunblock ko rin sya just to let him think im not bothered and i will never do the first move to him again.
Im just really confused and betrayed sa situation ko tho🥲😂 im so scared and contemplating whether i should post this and if will people be mean to me🥹

Have you guys seen Project 2025?? This is about U.S. politics by the way, and my vent is that we DO NOT pay enough attention to what is happening behind the scenes in politics. We just don't. So for the love of everything, please research and inform yourself about what Project 2025 is because it can and should heavily impact your vote for president at the end of this year.
Imma be blunt so nobody has to wonder where I lean. I lean democrat, but I love seeing moderate politics in action and we have seen some of that with Biden and I know it's upset many Democrats but moderate is compromise and compromise is healthy!! I'm so done with playing extremes! Let's calm down! Let's compromise! Let's be peaceful! We're all Americans and we should want what is best for ALL OF US together as a country.
These extremes we are playing with are dangerous. Like, looking at Project 2025 there's stuff they want to prioritize like centralizing things around stable families and combating the porn industry to defund and end sexual exploitation and attack human trafficking. That is GREAT. I LOVE THOSE IDEAS!
However, even with how much I love those ideas, they're taking it WAY TO FAR. It's incredibly extreme. We can stabilize families without annihilating terms that help people understand themselves and their sexuality. We can demolish the porn industry and recognize that porn is addictive without further victimizing the people impacted by porn by suddenly outlawing and banning it and metaphorically pulling the rug out from underneath people's feet. I mean, people work for a living in the porn industry and addicts will either experience severe withdrawal or find themselves on the wrong side of the law because they can't stop themselves from looking at something that is suddenly illegal.
What I'm getting at, is I like some of the things they want to do! I just look at this group that's organized itself into what is now called Project 2025 and I terrifies me! They want to make drastic and extreme changes very rapidly, things that society is not capable of withstanding, and even the governmental and legislative changes they want make push us more towards autocracy and away from democracy and being a republic. I can't stress this enough, this next election has the potential to bring about EXTREME, permanent, chaotic, or reforming change. This could be good or it could be VERY VERY BAD.
I'm not here to tell you how to vote or what to do, I'm just here to show you that this is a thing. I want everyone to know there's organizations that are pre-meditating to gain power and control and bring gigantic change to the government and society at large. Sure, we say this every election, but this is different. I'm 27 and I haven't had decades of voting under my belt but I've never seen or heard of anything like this Project 2025 and my parents and grandparents have never spoken to me about seeing anything like this either. The fact that there's a gigantic slew of politicians organizing themselves to basically overrun government offices and implement immediate, drastic change is something we as Americans should consider carefully! If you want these changes and you believe they can pull it off, then vote that way! But I urge you to consider how much dysfunction and choas they can cause in a short amount of time if they defund the DOJ, dismantle the FBI and DHS, completely turn away from the climate crisis, eliminate the department of commerce, and look at ending things like the department of Education, the Federal Communications Division, and the Federal Trade Commission.
They're also talking about getting rid of all abortions, even medically necessary ones, country wide. They want to ban contraceptives. They want to, and I quote from Project 2025s own mandate "delete the use of terms like sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, inclusion, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, abortion, reproductive health, and reproduction rights"
All I'm asking is for us all to pay attention, to see what this is, and see if you WANT to support this or not. You WON'T find this plan on Trump's website or as an official part of his campaign but even Project 2025 itself admits they believe Trump will win the presidency and then they and Trump will be able to accomplish all of Project 2025s goals.
Again, I'm not telling you what to prioritize or how to vote, but I want you to know a vote for Trump is a vote for Project 2025 as well. If that's what you want, then vote Trump in. If not, vote for someone else. And, for those of you who find that you too, like me, genuinely agree with some of what they want to do, consider the big picture, NOT just the part you agree with. Also consider how this impacts your friends and families. No gender equality and no reproductive rights greatly impacts ALL women. Think about your daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. They may not ever want an abortion or a hysterectomy or birth control but what if something happens to their health and they suddenly NEED one of those things to save their life or improve their quality of life? If you have any friends or family that are trans or identify as anything other than heterosexual, they are trying to DELETE their identifiers. They're trying to ERASE entire parts of people.
To end my vent, again, I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just telling you to be aware. Don't think "Oh we always say the other party is going to destroy American, it doesn't really matter as it always works out fine anyways" because Project 2025 is the evidence that CHANGE WILL HAPPEN. I can't foresee if it will destroy us or not, but I can say that trying to do THIS MUCH DRASTIC CHANGE will alter our country permanently.
If ever there was a time to take an election seriously, NOW IS THE TIME! VOTE YOUR CONCIENCE!! Don't vote by part lines, don't vote with your wallet, don't vote based upon who you hear about more... Do your do diligence and vote carefully and with purpose!
To wrap this up, here's some sources for people to read for themselves:
This is from project 2025s website and if you find the "read the mandate" button under the picture of their book it goes in depth on what they want to do and why.
https://www.project2025.org/policy/
Scrutinize me for using Wikipedia all you want but it's a good way to get a brief summary that discusses concerns and narratives as seen by the people pushing this agenda and the people worried about if this agenda is seen to fruition.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
Please feel free to add other sources in the comments. Feel free to discuss as well, but don't turn this into Trump vs Biden or Democrats vs Republicans. This is meant to put a spotlight on Project 2025 and whether or not it's goals would be good for us! For our country! That's it!
Also, I'm editing for typos as I've found a couple but nothing else has been altered and I cross posted this to GenZ because I'm GenZ and we commonly discuss politics there.

About a month ago, I uprooted my life and moved across the world to start a postdoc with an early career assistant professor who previously worked at one of the top institutions in the world for our field.
The project is interesting and the collaboration opportunities are exciting, but the day-to-day culture in the university is so bad. I work in one of those old buildings that seems like the decor hasn't changed since the 70s. My office has no natural light or fresh air and no accessible windows on my floor. I share my office with another postdoc who's working on something different, but we do chat sometimes.
Before I came, I didn't realise that my PI was the only faculty member working on our topic. And there are no other postdocs or PhDs working on it. There's a single masters student. That means we don't really have a research group. I come into this dingy, dark office at 9am and leave feeling drained and bored, after having absolutely no scientific conversations at all. I should've done more research, I know, but there are limited opportunities in my field and I trusted the reputation and connections of my PI, despite him being early career.
How can I make the best of this and make my day-to-day life more fulfilling? I was thinking about getting one of those SAD lamps but it seems like a drop in the ocean.

(LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP BTW)
I am gonna list the main problem here but some other information is below if you want good details:
i have been with my girlfriend for an year now and like we're very socially active and talk to eachother daily for hours and we have matched pfps in instagram and other socials for a very long time until a few weeks ago when she wanted to randomly remove the pfp she was matching with me, so i said okay sure because its her wish and then like now, she matched pfps with one of her friends who is her classmate. and like without telling me about it and all, i didnt have any problem with it but i feel a little sad because her personality is kind of changing towards me
so the details: (it might be a little big)
so like this was like 5 months thru i started dating her, she was in a new highschool and like she had a friend (the same friend who she matched with above) who she was really close with and that friend was a trans like the friend went by he/him and such and dressed like a guy and then she has been with my gf for a long time and like after just 2 months, my gf also became a trans and went by he/him, i just asked her if she would love me the same or not and she said she will and i trusted her but i was really hurt by it as im a straight male who wanted a straight partner as well but i didnt care as i really loved her and she was my everything. so then they two were very close and i also heard that she kissed her on her cheek? i was not okay with it but she just brushed it off saying she was just her friend so i just had to comply with her to not create problems. and from time to time, my gf would tell me stories about her and her friend having fun and hanging around and stuff and it was okay, i liked that she was having fun but like, before she shifted, she used to talk to me alot like alot and like she was an introvert and had no friends and i made her be social and gave her the confidence to talk with others and make friends since she was a really nice person so she could make alot of friends. but when she shifted, i could kind of start seeing some changes in her personality. like she would not talk to me that much and would be less excited sometimes and would be mad sometimes when she was never mad with me before.
so like i just want to know what should i do right now and please dont say things like "break up with her" or "tell her to close ties with her friend" because as i am a big part of her life, her friend is too so i dont wanna hurt her in any way, i want something that will fix things and make us happy together again as i really love her fucking lots. i want my future with only her so please give me real suggestions. thank you
My gf "F19" matched with her friend (F18) without telling me should i find someone new?
(LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP BTW)
I am gonna list the main problem here but some other information is below if you want good details:
i have been with my girlfriend for an year now and like we're very socially active and talk to eachother daily for hours and we have matched pfps in instagram and other socials for a very long time until a few weeks ago when she wanted to randomly remove the pfp she was matching with me, so i said okay sure because its her wish and then like now, she matched pfps with one of her friends who is her classmate. and like without telling me about it and all, i didnt have any problem with it but i feel a little sad because her personality is kind of changing towards me
so the details: (it might be a little big)
so like this was like 5 months thru i started dating her, she was in a new highschool and like she had a friend (the same friend who she matched with above) who she was really close with and that friend was a trans like the friend went by he/him and such and dressed like a guy and then she has been with my gf for a long time and like after just 2 months, my gf also became a trans and went by he/him, i just asked her if she would love me the same or not and she said she will and i trusted her but i was really hurt by it as im a straight male who wanted a straight partner as well but i didnt care as i really loved her and she was my everything. so then they two were very close and i also heard that she kissed her on her cheek? i was not okay with it but she just brushed it off saying she was just her friend so i just had to comply with her to not create problems. and from time to time, my gf would tell me stories about her and her friend having fun and hanging around and stuff and it was okay, i liked that she was having fun but like, before she shifted, she used to talk to me alot like alot and like she was an introvert and had no friends and i made her be social and gave her the confidence to talk with others and make friends since she was a really nice person so she could make alot of friends. but when she shifted, i could kind of start seeing some changes in her personality. like she would not talk to me that much and would be less excited sometimes and would be mad sometimes when she was never mad with me before.
so like i just want to know what should i do right now and please dont say things like "break up with her" or "tell her to close ties with her friend" because as i am a big part of her life, her friend is too so i dont wanna hurt her in any way, i want something that will fix things and make us happy together again as i really love her fucking lots. i want my future with only her so please give me real suggestions. thank you

I'm venting but also seeking advice. Is it relatively normal for husbands to feel like they're generally the partner showing desire, seeking closeness with their wives, and having to "work for it" versus feeling desired back?
My wife and I have been together for nearly 20 years. In our first year together as 18 year olds, she was very sexually adventurous, seemed to desire me, we had a lot of fun. And then it started to plummet slowly over the years. I know this seems to be a common story and somewhat normal for a lot of people.
I've always had a very high libido and romantic/sexual desire for her. She's seemed to have a very low libido and interest in me that way. Over the years I felt like I often initiated sex, and she often turned me down, and she did say that she had low libido and wondered if it was her depression meds, stress, birth control, always different things. I started initiating much less and just accepting that is how it is between us, but I love her and desire her and want to be with her regardless. I got used to sex once a week being good, and often times once a month being common.
Over the years I gained weight, and she's gone up and down in weight. I think part of me wasn't that worried about my weight and how I looked because I felt like she didn't care anyway since she didn't seem all that sexually interested in me. I just masturbated and watched porn or old photos/videos she had made with me. I was content with this, as much as one could be.
We went on to have kids and were generally very happy. Overall we've had a very good, loving relationship and marriage. We've never separated or had to spend a night away from each other or anything like that.
In the past year, I ended up learning a lot of things about my wife (I won't get into how). I learned that my wife had cheated on me with her high school ex boyfriend in the first months we were dating (when we were 18). I learned that she had questioned our marriage a few years ago before we had kids, and she struggled with not feeling attracted to me at times, likely due to my weight gain (although I'm not sure if all of it was due to that). I learned that she still dwelled occasionally on her high school ex from 20 years ago who had cheated on her, and she would have sexual and romantic dreams about him and still felt hurt about their breakup, still hoped he felt bad about it and thought of her, even though this was all ancient history. I learned that she was "infatuated" with a work colleague a couple years ago, but never did anything inappropriate.
This all sent me in a cycle of depression, and reconciliation with her, where we had many conversations and talked through it all over months. I lost a lot of weight and now look and feel better than I have in 15 years. She insists that she loves only me, is attracted to me, but she had struggles and wasn't prioritizing the right things in life and vows to to better and love me better.
This is where I'm having trouble. I feel like we're on such different wavelengths and she doesn't put in much effort toward the things I ask.
When we were reconciling, she said one thing that would help her feel closer is having scheduled date nights, and she suggested we take turns leading them. I don't enjoy scheduling things as much, but wanted to do it for her. When we started the date nights, I took it seriously and tried to plan special, romantic things for her, tried to surprise her, wrote her a love letter, etc. Then when it was her turn to plan a date night, she didn't plan anything and said, "I was thinking we could play a board game together." This disappointed me the first time, but I didn't say anything, but then it continued. I put in effort, planned things, tried to be romantic, and she seemed to forget about them or come up with an idea at the last minute. So I stopped putting in effort, too, and then surprise, the date nights stopped.
I put care into my appearance all the time and try to look good for her. I keep my beard trimmed and shaved, cut my own hair, try to wear clothes she likes, and even started trimming my pubes because I like it and thought she might as well. She rarely acts like she notices the things I do, and she doesn't seem to really care much.
On the flip side, she gained quite a bit of weight from the birth of our children and hasn't lost much yet after quite a bit of time. I know from experience how hard that is and for women especially. But the part that bothers me is how she seems to not really worry at all about her appearance for me or looking good for me. She knows which clothes I like on her, how I really like her hair, how I like her pubic hair, whatever, and she doesn't do it. To her, it's because she doesn't have the time or is so busy. She'll fart near me or blow her nose really loud next to me constantly. I'll try to nicely hint that I don't like it, but she'll do it anyway.
The other day, my wife walked by me naked and made some flirtatious comment to me "hey, you didn't even try to sneak a peek." She'll do that occasionally, but then won't want to have sex or anything, it's just a comment. But it made me sad because I realized that over our 20 years together, she very rarely if ever looks at me sexually when I'm naked after a shower, she very rarely has come up to grab by butt or act like she wants me, but I've always done those things to her over the years. She'll on rare occasion make a comment about wanting to do something romantic or sexual, and then later when the time comes, she says nothing about it and acts like she completely forgot she ever said that.
I'm feeling less attracted to her overall, and for the first time maybe ever, I'm not really wanting to have sex with her as much. I've never been with any other woman in my life (she was with others before me), and I don't really want to be, but I do want to feel desired and like someone is really attracted to me and cares. I want to feel romantic and adventurous and not like an old man even though I'm still young.