Inspiring stories that will make you cry

I'm on a few diabetic pills (T2) and also inject 96 units of insulin a day, despite this my A1C is 17.4, I've lost the feeling in my left foot which has stopped me driving for a while as i can't feel the clutch so i bought an automatic which solved that problem. My eyes are starting to go really bad with background cataracts. I was prescribed Mounjaro from the hospital specialist a few weeks ago. My daily finger prick blood sugar results are now around 8-9 which while still too high it's a massive difference from 17.4 so hoping my next A1C test will be considerably better. I have about 100lbs to lose and i've lost 10 lbs in the first month. I'm on 2.5 ATM and it's helping a lot, i eat less and less often. I still get hungry so it's a bit of a battle but I'm finding it a lot easier with Mounjaro than i did without. Seeing a lot of the weight loss success stories in this group is inspiring and hoping to add to that myself in the future. This is a Fantastic group here on Reddit

I just finished a year at a community college and I am majoring in human services. The thing is, my school has a human services technician certificate as well as a human services degree. I am enrolled in the degree program, but I could switch. After the fall semester, I only have 3 more classes to finish the certificate, and then seven more (including the 3) to finish the degree. So what I am wondering is should I enroll in the certificate program and graduate in the spring, and then just finish my degree the following semester? I think it would make the most sense. Because also transcript-wise it will show I have a certificate and a degree. The thing is people walk at graduation for both certificates and degrees, so would that be dumb if two years in a row I did that? Just seeking advice, thank you.

I deal with generalized anxiety disorder and have panic episodes from time to time. I am medicated but I was feeling all kinds of anxiety all day. Typically I can "quiet" the feeling before I get on calls. It was so different today. I presented our software to a small group of 3 and it felt like I was coming apart at the seams. I was able to feel/hear my voice shake. All of the symptoms of an ongoing panic attack was about to hit me. The mental flooding, the warm/cold sweat, racing thoughts, lack of confidence etc etc etc.
I was taking short shallow breaths so I worked to take full breaths but it's hard to control breathing when your depression in it. I was essentially preparing for the attack as it was coming on. I was somehow able to power through the call, but there was persistent waves of anxiety. I share my screen on the virtual call and I'm in control of the mouse and the keyboard. Whenever I touched the mouse, I couldn't control my hand well at all due to the shakes. It's like when you give someone a glass of water and water starts flying all over the place and you can't keep your hand steady.
I obviously had to click around and the mouse pointer was all over the place clearly shaking. I'm not sure if they were able to tell I was feeling very anxious but I somehow touched on everything I needed to on the call and they seemed happy and content. I did a good job all things considered but I know I def should have done better but my mind took over and it impacted my body. I'm not doing enough to prevent these episodes.
It was that feeling like you are crawling out of your skin. Like all of the worst symptoms of anxiety but all at once. It was def fight or flight and boy was I fighting. While I was explaining things, my mind went to "what can I do here to fix this situation?" I was thinking of having a coughing attack or maybe an Internet issue.
While this ultimately turned into a good story, it was awful because it happened before and it will happen again. This was the worst one though in a while. I've been through a lot in life and this seems like a tiny blip, but I felt so uncomfortable and due to its recency, it feels like I was about to hit rock bottom and have a full on breakdown.
It's really interesting what our bodies do in these situations. Did I do the right thing here? I have no clue, but I made it through. Right now I feel fairly relaxed and I have a little comfort in my mind that it will not get worse tomorrow (even though it certainly can). I hope it was just an episode. I'm waking up early tomorrow and will be doing light exercise. I've been jogging a bit but for some reason, running isnt positively impacting my anxiety as it used to. I'm not doing it right.
I have to switch things up otherwise this will happen again and the outcome will be much worse. I've had a conversation with my boss before and he deals with mental illness as well, but I feel like I need to talk to HR or something just in case to protect myself. He gets it but it's hard to truly understand.
Any ideas, strategies, etc to help me out in the moment and also preventative things I can do? I'm familiar with a lot of coping mechanisms as well as supplements and what not but I always struggle to find the right thing to do in the moment. I stared journaling the other day and it's been helpful but I'm not consistent.
Merely typing this out has helped me but there's clearly something going on that's fucking with my chi! Thanks for reading and I'm happy to read and help you as well.

Day 1 A news report breaks in [REDACTED] New York about a man waking up the previous morning, and attempting to turn on his TV to watch the latest episode of his favourite show, only for his remote to crumble in his hand. Confused as to what was going on, the man would attempt to manually turn on his TV, only to accidentally pull a chunk of it off. It was at this moment, that the man would discover that his TV had been replaced with a hyper-realistic cake. The man would question his wife about where the TV went, and why there was a hyper-realistic cake in its place. However, his wife was just as confused as he was about the entire situation at hand. The man would attempt to report this to his local authorities, claiming his TV had been stolen and replaced with a hyper-realistic cake. Only to be laughed off as a prankster due to his ridiculous claim. Angry at this, he would take his story to the local news station hoping for justice to be served to whoever stole his TV. Once again, his claims were laughed off and published as a mere joke. The man would claim that there would be more cases of people’s items being replaced with hyper-realistic cakes going forward and that they would all regret ignoring his case.
Day 29 Police reports coming from all over [REDACTED] New York would reveal the man’s words to be correct. Starting after a young woman would attempt to open her purse, only for the zip to completely come off upon being pulled and quickly break apart, taking some of the modelling chocolate with it. Soon people would begin reporting all over the area that their items had been completely replaced with cake. Phones, laptops, bags, earrings, necklaces, rings and even stacks of cash were discovered to have been replaced with hyper-realistic cakes. Local authorities, having now clearly learned that this was no prank, are looking into the cases to try and track down these valuable items. However, one thing these cases all have in common (aside from the cakes being delicious) is the complete lack of evidence pointing to any suspects. No DNA evidence, no signs of forced entry, and no people in the area at the time. Nobody is even sure when these items were replaced with cakes. They all say they could've sworn they were real a second ago, only to suddenly be cake. Almost as if there was no thief and they had just suddenly turned into cake. Authorities are still on the hunt for a possible suspect in this case, even though the wider New York authorities laugh at them for humouring these absurd claims.
Day 47 The situation has escalated much further than anyone could've possibly anticipated. Now the reports of items being replaced with hyper-realistic cake have rapidly expanded to the rest of New York. Hundreds of people are reporting that their valuable items are being discovered to be hyper-realistic cakes. A man would take his phone out of his pocket to check if he'd received any important emails, only for his phone to crumble into pieces of cake in his hand. A woman would attempt to cash in a check of $100,000 to a bank, only for the modelling chocolate on the check to smash into several pieces when placed down on the counter. A couple would attempt to hurry their kids into the car, worrying they may be late for school. Only for the car to fall apart right in front of them, as the door is pulled off and falls to the ground. People are getting scared, they're worrying that at any moment, any of their prized possessions could end up being a hyper-realistic cake. Nobody is sure what is real and what is cake anymore, so they've taken to trying to cut anything they own, hoping to weed out the cake from the non-cake. Many have ended up accidentally destroying many of the things they own in the process of doing this. But those who still have their stuff have taken to putting stickers on them to ensure they know they're real. That was until an edible sticker was found to be on the back of a hyper-realistic cake emulating a mobile phone. Now, people’s only option is to place all their valued possessions into safes, covered in locks with an 87-number code that not even they know. The governor of New York has commented on the situation claiming that he's doing all he can to try and solve the hyper-realistic cake mystery, but he can only do so much to calm the fear and paranoia that has overcome New York.
Day 93 The situation has dramatically escalated even further somehow, as the hyper-realistic cake plague has now begun heavily affecting the nearby states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and even some parts of Canada. Reports are coming in from all over the USA and even some of Mexico and South America of people’s items suddenly being replaced with ominous (albeit, tasty) hyper-realistic cakes. The president is doing nothing to quell the fear of US citizens, claiming the whole situation is ridiculous and that everyone is a fool for buying into it. People are starting to riot in the streets believing the president is not doing enough to try and prevent the appearance of hyper-realistic cakes. Many other countries are beginning to consider closing off all travel to the USA out of fear, and some like Germany even going through with it. The safes people were using to hold their valuable items are no longer safe. Many have been discovered to have been replaced with hyper-realistic cakes, leading to even greater fear and paranoia among citizens. And the worst thing of all. The police officer who was in charge of the case in [REDACTED] New York was discovered by his wife the previous night to have been replaced with an identical hyperrealistic cake. There is no evidence of where he may have gone, and there is no evidence pointing to who might've taken him. He has seemingly disappeared without a trace.
Day 149 As fear was reaching its limits, a spark of hope managed to emerge. Tension has been rising as countries all over the world have been receiving reports of people disappearing, and being replaced with hyper-realistic cakes. Even including those that shut off travel to the USA. The president has continued to display pure apathy to the situation, claiming the whole thing to be a farce, until he discovered one morning his wife had been turned into a hyper-realistic cake. Outraged at this, he demanded the perpetrator be immediately found and caught. He banned the selling of any ingredients that could be used to make a hyper-realistic cake, including flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder, chocolate, honey, macaroni and cheese (he does not know how to make a cake, and decided it was better safe than sorry). But even then, hyper-realistic cakes continued to appear. Now even houses and everything in them were getting replaced with giant hyper-realistic cakes, twice the size of an average human being. The president was getting desperate now and was willing to do anything to catch the man responsible for this. So he had cameras set up on every street in every city in every state across the entire USA. And he had every cop working 24/7 on the sight of each camera making sure nothing was replaced with a hyper-realistic cake, and if they were to see hyper-realistic cake-related activities, they were to press a button, sounding the alarm. Yesterday, after weeks and weeks of nothing. An extremely tired officer managed to catch a woman attempting to replace a baby with a hyper-realistic cake. The woman, upon being caught, would quickly admit she was behind the hyper-realistic cake shenanigans. She was immediately brought to Washington DC where the president would proceed to scream and cry at her for hours before demanding she be placed in a holding cell so she could be questioned the following day. This was quickly announced by White House officials and the world began celebrating, praising the president as a hero who was able to end the hyper-realistic cake plague. The joyful people of the world are currently awaiting a word from the US president on who this mysterious woman is, what her motives are and where she’s keeping all these missing people.
Day 180 To the horror of everyone around the globe, the following morning, all hope was lost and all dreams were dashed. The woman taken captive last night was found to have been replaced with a hyper-realistic cake, just as everyone was. The president demanded a search for any evidence indicating how she could've escaped, but they were unable to find anything. Even the cameras meant to keep track of the woman had mysteriously failed to capture anything the previous night. This was the breaking point for the president, and as a result of this, he'd soon become wrapped up in an extremely insane conspiracy. He'd soon begin to believe the cake was a being that was more powerful than any of them, and that it needed to be eradicated at all costs. The presidents would proceed to declare Marshall law and cut off all transport to other countries. People, seeing exactly what was going to happen, attempted to escape the country by piloting the planes and boats themselves. Only to discover the planes and boats were all hyper-realistic cakes, that were unable to fly and would easily sink in water. The president would also declare that all cake is to be thoroughly burned, and anyone believed to be a cake is to be executed on sight, preferably by being cut with a blade. The president would have all secret service agents executed, claiming that they were conspiring with the cake and aided the woman in escaping custody. But even if this wasn't enough for the president, soon he’d begin believing that other countries were made of cake too and declared that any countries believed to be “cake countries” would be bombed off the map. Starting with Mexico, he sent wave after wave of bombs to the country until he was sure anyone inside was dead. He'd soon turn his attention to Germany, believing that it was also a “cake country” due to them previously closing off transportation from the USA there. Soon, Germany was no more, and the president would celebrate that he had destroyed another “cake country”. It seemed like to the president, that every country except the USA was a cake country, and no amount of bombing he did would change that. Everyone knew the sheer amount of bombs he was using was going to destroy the planet, but he didn't care. But just as quickly as this began, it ended. Yesterday, a large angry mob stormed the White House. The president would attempt to bomb the mob, only to discover the bomb launchpad had been replaced with cake. The mob quickly overpowered anyone left supporting the president with sheer numbers, and they swiftly beat the president to death in a manner too disturbing to even attempt to describe. Blood was everywhere, but they didn't care anymore, the dictator was dead.
Day 294 Shortly after the president's death, the USA descended into chaos. People were still being replaced with cake, and nobody had any way to contact people outside the USA, as every single phone was seemingly now a hyper-realistic cake. Many don't even believe there's anyone left out there, and that they were all killed by the president. People quickly began to believe the president was right, and that all the other countries were now just cake. But they took it one step further, they now began to ponder if the entire globe itself was just one giant cake. People began getting so scared of others being cake, that they would attempt to cut anyone they meet just to see if they were cake. There is no food left now besides hyper-realistic cakes, and many are so scared of them that they refuse to even go near them, let alone attempt to eat them. Many are dying from starvation, and those willing to eat the cakes are usually branded as “cake people” and killed on sight. There's still no sign of the people who went missing and were replaced with hyper-realistic cakes. Many believe they just vanished from reality itself or that they were taken by the cake. Some people have begun to worship the cake as a god and make sacrifices to it believing it'll bring their loved ones back. Reality is crumbling, society has fallen apart and it won’t be long until humanity is gone.
Day 334 Not even a year following the first-ever incident, the last human being on earth has died today. Alone, cold and afraid. There is nothing left. No trees, no grass, no water, no animals, no humans, nothing. The only thing that remains now is the hyper-realistic cakes. And that, is the story, of how I destroyed humanity with FUCKING CAKES! I guess in the end you could say… it was real.

I just wanted to share my story. I went through an unexpected divorce last year and at the time, it felt like my life was over. I was living one day at a time and for several months it felt like I was living hour to hour, just trying to make it through a really dark season of life. I cried nonstop, I couldn't sleep, I was such an anxious fucking mess.
Fast forward 11 months later and life is so much better now. I randomly met a super sweet guy on Bumble and it feels like I hit the lottery. I was single for awhile, I "did the work", I got a therapist and had many nights alone to reflect and improve upon myself.
Just throwing this out there for anyone who needs to hear it- life really does get better after divorce and/or shitty relationships. And I'm rooting for everyone in this group.
For anyone feeling down and out, I really do wish you the best of luck. Never doubt how much can change for the better in a short period of time. My wish for everyone is to find someone that treats you well, someone that you're truly compatible with. Sorry if it's corny, I'm just really grateful lately and wanted to share some encouraging words with the group!
Tl;dr life after divorce can actually get better

About 12 hours ago, roughly around 5 PM last night till 8 AM this morning, I went through a manic state, only realizing it now.
Yesterday around 2 PM, I downed a hefty 500 ML cup of coffee. Don't know if that set it off, but I knew nothing about the impending doom. By 7 PM, an intense urge hit me – I needed to blast some loud, hardcore music through my speakers, singing along, bouncing off the walls, and pacing back and forth in my living room. I even flicked on random YouTube videos on my iPad without really watching them . I also turned on tv to watch Korean movies, nothing special intentions, just to spice things up. Around 9 PM, after a two-hour movie, I figured it was time to hit the sack, not to sleep, just to switch positions, still clueless about my manic state.
I flopped onto my bed, scrolling aimlessly through my phone, hopping between apps without any reason. Even my YouTube queue got abandoned after a minute or two due to my lack of patience. And I wasn't just consuming content; I was spreading myself across multiple chat groups, feeling a sense of relief after firing off about a thousand messages.
Getting responses from others made me feel like a social butterfly, a far cry from the 200% introvert I thought I was. Meanwhile, my heart was hard bumping, making me fidget and shift positions to find some semblance of comfort.
By 1 AM, I was done with the digital frenzy, attempting to toss my gadgets aside and catch some shut-eye, but sleep was impossible for me. I lay there, feeling my heart pound with each passing second, the music from earlier still echoing in my mind. Picture this: a dimly lit room, a little girl singing off key in the dead of night –so eerie
It wasn't until 3 AM that I finally clocked the seven-hour mania marathon I'd been on. I tried the usual tricks to calm myself down – deep breaths, other far-spread-no help treatment, you name it – but fatigue was nowhere in sight.
Eventually, that uncontrollable energy drained away, and around 5 AM, I drifted off for a measly three hours before waking up to wrote down this madness.

Hey Reddit I am looking for some help, I will try to make this quick.
Me and my s/o are working for our local pharmaceutical/retail store and are being treated negatively with a increasing work load and decreasing hours with more and more write ups for things like being late by 5 minutes for having a asthma attack, we walk almost 30 minutes one way. We are looking for a remote (work from home) job or freelance work that doesn't require phone calls as we share a apartment unit with two others and are not allowed to have a "work space" outside of our bedroom per the others.
We need to make more then 19 a hour or more then 3k a month gross as any less and we could lose the poor living environment and downgrade to no living environment.
We have a minimum of 3 years of retail and. Fast food, are in a management level (shift leads) and have our pharmacy tech in training license.
We are in the state of Massachusetts with no vehicle at the Moment (we are practicing for our license test but can't take it due to requirements for the testing vehicle)
Thank you for the help as for right now I am at a complete loss

Hi, I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for a little over a year now. This is the first relationship both of us have ever been in. I grew up in a very religious household, while he grew up in an essentially secular household.
A year or two before we met, i’ve slowly started to unravel the deeply ingrained ideas that religion has taught me, and now i’m basically an atheist. Even though my attitude toward these ideas have changed, some things, such as sex before marriage, have been really hard to unlearn even though I know logically that there’s nothing immoral about it.
Right before the beginning of our relationship, I told him that I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to be ready for sex because of religion, and that he’d have to be ready to potentially wait years if he wanted it be with me. He told me he completely understood, and that he would be willing to wait for me.
A few months go by, and he starts to ask pretty frequently about sexual acts. Looking back at our first conversation, I wasn’t as vocal about everything as I would’ve liked- I really only talked about penetrative sex without talking much about any other acts. At this point, we’ve only really made out, and he would ask if I was ready for other things like oral sex. At the time, it wasn’t as big of a deal, and we eventually did do that, and I was comfortable with it.
Over time, he started asking about penetrative sex. I kept telling him that I wasn’t sure and didn’t know when i’d be ready, and he would keep asking. One day, I think I felt more ready to have sex, and told him about it, but then changed my mind. He was disappointed and upset, but I reminded him that this was something we agreed about at the start of our relationship. He apologized and told me again that he did want to wait.
He would ask me about sex multiple times after over the course of some months, and I kept telling him that I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready. He would sometimes say things like “you don’t have to be completely ready, it’ll be okay once you get it over with”. When we were intimate with each other, he would talk about how badly he wanted to have sex with me, and I would sometimes also talk about those fantasies too.
A similar situation to the one before happened where I told him again that I might be ready. He kept telling me that it was okay for me to back out if I wasn’t 100% sure, and later on, I backed out again. He became upset and didn’t talk to me for a few hours, and told me he was worried I didn’t find him attractive enough (he struggles a lot with self image issues, anxiety, and depression, and had an eating disorder). I told him that i did find him attractive, and that it was just what we had talked about at the beginning of our relationship that was stopping me from doing anything, and I reminded him that he told me he’d wait. He said something along the lines of “but what if I changed my mind”, and i’m not sure what happened later, but the conversation just kind of drifted off without an end.
Another month went by, and he started talking again about when I’d be ready for sex. I told him I wasn’t 100% sure, but was opening up more to the idea of it (which i’m not sure if it was because of his continuous asking or if I genuinely wanted to). There was one week where he was home alone for a few days, and I guess he kind of psyched himself up into thinking that that would be the time where we’d have sex. I also kind of in the back of my mind had the idea that might’ve been possible, but we never had mentioned it for that specific time. I ended up being on my period, and told him that I didn’t want to have sex on period, especially as the first time. He told me that he didn’t know when he’d be home alone again, and that it wasn’t a big deal. He also started to become a little upset, saying that it seemed like i didn’t care at all about it and that I would never say anything if he didn’t mention it. He also said again that I would never be 100% ready and that I should just get it over with, which really hurt me. I kept telling him that I just wasn’t ready, and eventually he stopped mentioning it.
I couldn’t really vocalize how i felt the days I was with him, so when I got home I wrote a paragraph about how I felt, being more blunt than I had been before. I told him that I wasn’t going to be ready no matter how many times he asked, and that it made feel pressured, rushed, and less ready when he did ask. I told him that it’s okay if he changed his mind about wanting to wait, but that I would never change my mind about having sex until I was 100% sure I was ready, and that it could be years and possibly not until marriage until I would be ready, although I would be starting therapy to help remove that mental block. I told him that if he wasn’t okay with that, then we should break up because there’s a clear imbalance in our wants in the relationship.
He told me that he didn’t want to break up, and that I made him really happy. He said that he doesn’t realize in the moment that he’s been pressuring me, but now that I’ve mentioned it, he sees how what he has been doing could be viewed as rushing. He aaid that he recognizes that asking over doesn’t do anything and that he wanted to refrain from asking him anymore wait for me to tell him when I was ready. He also said that he wanted to support me in healing from religious trauma, and that he really loves me and wants to be with me.
I really appreciate his apology, but at the same time, I still can’t help but feel bad, especially with the comments about “just getting it over with”. I also just never would’ve guessed he would be the type of guy to repeatedly ask about sex even when I said i didn’t want to. It also sucks because he’s always been aware and vocalized that he found men who pressured women into sex disgusting, and that he urges me to tell him if he ever does make me uncomfortable. But when I do in the moment, he keeps asking repeatedly, but if i tell him outside of a sexual context, he’ll apologize profusely and thank me for telling him.
I really do want to believe him, he seems genuine, but there were also other times where he’d say a vaguely similar thing. at the same time, I don’t think I was as up front as I was this time, so maybe that’s why he hasn’t been doing everything in the way I expected. It’s also his first relationship, so maybe he also thinks the things he says are normal? Maybe they are normal especially because there were times where I’ve switched up? Please let me know what i should do, any thoughts would be appreciated, thank you :)

I made a lot of mistakes in the past so I know that no one is to blame but me. I take full responsibility and I’m ready to face the consequences. Long story short, at the age of 28, I decided to turn my life around and start from scratch. That’s when I had my first job ever. I’m 34 now.
I now make exactly $3960/month after taxes. My rent is $1700/month including all utilities and wifi. I don’t have any crazy or unusual expenses. Depending on the month, I can save up $500-$1000 monthly. I have $5000 in my TFSA, and $8000 in my saving account as an emergency fund. That’s it. I have nothing else in the world besides this. With that being said, I think I’m extremely lucky to say that I don’t have any debt. I’m also not saving for anything in particular. I’m single, not planning to have children or buy a car. Will never be able to buy a house either so I accepted the fact that I’m gonna rent for the rest of my life.
I’m kinda lost. My financial knowledge isn’t that great. Will I ever be able to retire? I know starting so late in life is 100% my fault, but does that mean that I should accept the fact that I’ll work until the day I die? Is this my life now? Am I living just to work and save up money? Is my situation fixable? If so, where to start? I know the first step is to find another job that pays more. I just started this job a few months ago and it is $20,000/year more than the previous job. I’ll try to find another job after a while. Should I add more to my emergency fund or should I start doing something else?
TYIA

Hi, I’m opening up here. Since I was a little kid, I have dreamed of making music. I wanted to be a singer, a songwriter. I sang a lot, even when I was 6yo I wrote songs and recorded them accapella. I confidently sang in public or played the piano in front of anybody. I took piano lessons for many many years(classical theory and reading sheets). I loved the lessons but hated performing, but I had to. As I grew older, I became less and less confident. Motivation to actually make music or play music vanished slowly. I stopped playing piano now. I do sing without any shame and I LOVE to, but it’s not my own stuff.
Gradually, making my own music became more of a fantasy dream than a “I’ll work on it till I make it” dream.
I still write lyrics down. I still record some voice memos with little bits of songs or melodies that come across my mind. But I NEVER managed to materialize any of the hundreds of ideas I have had. Songs that exist in my head only, and I feel that they would turn out to be pretty great, but vanish after a while.
I tried. I’m trying. I took a production course, I had to compose and edit something. Some ephemeral moments of inspiration stroked me, and the very green first demo sounds ok. Surely if I could work on it for longer I’d like it. I dropped out the course because I got stuck and couldn’t make any progress so it became uncomfortable for me to just say “I didn’t do my hw”. I spent some money and put up a home studio, so I could be autonomous, but adhd keeps me from learning on my own. I’m taking singing lessons. Those are great. My therapist advised me to, since she said I need to enjoy music and not force myself into something that makes me anxious. She also told me I have some impostor syndrome shit but honestly I always find the name to my problems but struggle to solve them.
I feel like a failure. A frustrated musician who is not even a musician. I don’t play piano anymore. I feel jealous of everyone who is making music, they’re expressing themselves. I spend time around friends who do so, and think of ways I would contribute. And they even ask me to. But I just refuse, my creativity gets scared off.
I won’t be genuinely happy until I destroy the invisible barrier that keeps me from doing something that looks so fun and that I think I would be good at.
ANY ADVICE WELCOME!!!! Love you all

There’s a woman in an organization I’m part of, who is my boss and superior (but is younger than me by one or two years), and my heart kind of flutters whenever I get a text from her.
I’m no longer working in the org but we’ve kept in touch since I graduated college a few weeks ago. It’s still been as very friendly coworkers, professional-type.
We’ve known each other for two years, but I haven’t made any moves because A) she’s a superior and I don’t want to risk destroying something good even if it isn’t exactly what I dream about, B) she’s definitely got more in the bank financially than I do, and I probably can’t afford the kind of dates that would win her over, and C) because I’m openly religious and she isn’t, I’m not sure how far we could get until I either compromise some things about what I believe or she gets tired of me.
Maybe this goes in a dating subreddit but idk. It just stings a bit more because I’m living back with my family, no job lined up, trying to hunker down and get to work on another creative project over the summer. It feels like triple layers of being isolated.
The church my fam goes to is a growing church plant, not many people I can really connect with at all, so not many people in my religion around me. No job so I’m pretty much at home all day keeping myself busy through LinkedIn connections, promoting myself and the movies I’ve done, and writing a new one. The friends I have, really really good friends who have made me glad I didn’t KMS four years ago, are only really accessible via text or phone call.
I guess this morphed into a small journal entry. Or maybe it’s a cry for help or advice or encouragement. God feels silent and nonexistent which is just even more discouraging. I can already feel restlessness and words of depression and self hate starting to seep back in. Today was really rough.
I’m about to watch an indie film called Sometimes I Think About Dying. I’m a Daisy Ridley fan since the new Star Wars trilogy, and I’m interested in a movie like this that’s just straight up about depression and not holding back. Gonna make a hot chocolate and maybe steal some graham crackers from the family pantry (wish me luck and pray against ants in my room please).
Hope you guys are doing well.

So a little context, I work at a cell phone carrier and have many friends and family on my account. Because I work there, I get a discount, and my friends and family all pay me a slightly higher amount than I pay for their phones each month. I do this so that I can give them a great deal (each person pays about half the rate of a normal plan), and I can also have a reduced cell phone bill for my own lines. It's a win-win for both parties, they save about $45 per month each and I make about $15 per month each line. I do this for both friends and family.
About 4 years ago I had an acquaintance reach out to me and ask for help switching to my company. I asked her if she wanted to join my plan instead of being on her own so that she could save way more money and she agreed. I told her the price and she was ecstatic, because she would be saving roughly $45 on her bill each month. I did not tell her at this time that I was going to be profiting about $15 per month off her line. This wasn't intentional, I honestly think it just slipped my mind telling her at the time. I did not see it as a big deal that I forgot to tell her because of the amazing deal that I was giving her. After about 2 years of always paying on time, she broke her phone and called me because she couldn't afford a new phone in cash, so I let her finance one on my plan. I told her the only stipulation is that if she wants to leave my plan before she finishes paying off the phone, she needs to pay off the remaining balance. She agrees and tells me that she would never screw me over.
I then tell her on the same phone call "Hey just so you know, I charge you and everyone else on my plan more than what the line costs me so that my personal phone bill is cheaper, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you when you signed up in the first place." She tells me that she has absolutely zero problem with that because she was getting such a good deal and that she figured I was anyway.
Fast forward to today, she calls me out of the blue and tells me she's switching to her boyfriend's plan and asks for the transfer pin so that she can keep her number. She's super friendly on the phone. I tell her that it's no problem, she just needs to pay off the remaining balance of her phone (about $300). She says okay no problem I'll venmo you. I generate her transfer pin but right as I'm about to send it to her, I have this feeling that I should make sure she sends me the money first. I text her and say "Hey I just generated the transfer pin, I'll send it to you once I receive your phone payoff."
Instead of sending me the money, she texts me back and asks me how much I was making off her phone line. I text her back and say $15. This chick then proceeds to tell me that "You have made $1000 off me over the past four years, you can pay for it." I'm honestly shocked at this point because she was completely reasonable on the phone and now she's trying to get me to pay off HER phone balance. I tell her that sorry, I'm not going to do that, we made an agreement and she is responsible for her phone. She then starts calling me a nasty person saying that I was screwing her over and that I'm an awful person for profiting off a vulnerable person, you get the picture.
She then blocks my phone number and all socials. I call my dad and ask him what to do, and he tells me to send her a venmo request saying that I will be going down to the sheriff's office to file a police report for the device that she stole from me since technically it is my property until it's paid off, and that if she does not pay me back I will be taking her to small claims court. She immediately completes the venmo request and then texts me from her new number saying the same stuff she was saying before. I tell her I'm going to send her the transfer pin now and she just responds with "don't bother."
Now she's threatening to take ME to small claims court to recoup the money that I made from her because she didn't know the amount that I was profiting. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a case but let me know, AITAH?

My 5 year old has made a lot of strides since his diagnosis at 3. One of those things is that he’s coming out of his head more and showing more personality. He used to be very compliant and non-confrontational. If a kid stole his toy he just walked away to find another one. Now, he has connected with his wants more and he’s starting to become a little more of a pill.
Today I had our window open. It has a big screen on it, and he was pushing on it (1st floor, not dangerous) - I told him not to touch it and that it could break. What did he do? Grabbed an object to push it with! 🤦‍♀️ Not something I imagined Mr. Non-confrontational doing before. So I said to not touch it with anything, and reminded him that it could break.
Seconds later, he started kicking it. I said “Hey, what did I say?!”
His response: “Oh, sorry sorry!” And he acted kind of ashamed, like he had honestly forgotten. Then he went to try to make me laugh by tickling me. Then he tried pinching me and balled up his fist to hit me. His “hits” are tiny bops, but I don’t want them to grow.
I held his hands in mine and said “Remember, we don’t hit. You’re a good boy. Remember your book (he has a book about what to do when you feel like hitting).” He was ok after that.
However, I am not sure if there’s a way I can approach him / discipline him that will make him feel less dysregulated I guess? This is all new to me because he was just a compliant angel before. He did everything I asked or he was stimming. Now he’s got a little personality and it’s a little antagonistic. 😩
Advice would be appreciated. ❤️

I am moving to Chilliwack this weekend and would love to make new friends. I am a 54 year old empty nesters, although I don’t have a 54 year old mindset. I like the outside, not the outdoors, if you get my drift, although I am active. (I will go for a walk or a gentle hike but not hardcore trek up a mountain; I glamp not camp) I work remote. Love thrifting, fashion, bouldering, cocktails on a patio. British born.
I have a partner who I adore but he works away, so I not looking for that kind of attachment. 😊

putting a tw for: body shaming at a young age, negative food talk, emotional neglect/abuse possibly, bad negative self talk, derealisation, body dysphoria issues, suicidal talk/depression, weight loss talk. plz be advised when reading or don’t if its too heavy.
also this is long, im just hoping someone would take the time to read and provide what they can. no one is obligated to read, thanks.
im genuinely starting to get upset and its killing me inside, when i look for support or any help anywhere there is none. all the content on instagram is targeted towards those who’ve made it past that age and survived having to cover up or not dress how they want. no one ever seems to care about the teen and tween girls who currently deal with this kind of stuff cause it seems to them it doesn’t exist anymore. its disappointing to see and shows i dont belong in any community so i’ve come here
im currently 17 and for the past multiple years ever since i started being heavier around the end of 5th grade it feels like my father has been more ashamed of his daughters body and has tried to cover me up and tell me what i should wear. im also dealing with covering up my severe depression and trauma so theres more thats kinda related to this but i dont want to stray off topic
when i was four my dad put me in the child acting industry based in la/weho. that wasn’t that traumatic for me honestly and didn’t take away from being a child but during that time my dad would sometimes get angry when i wanted a snack such as chips or a cookie, he would threaten me and be like “youre gonna grow as big as a house” or “of course you want the cookies”. keep in mind i was only in early elementary school around this time. and in fifth grade he signed me up for this shoot where it was some sort of tv pilot pitch where it was described as the biggest loser for kids and they had other slimmer kids on set that wore fat suits basically and i was the biggest one there. i belived i had to have a fitness routine at 11 in the fifth grade and started working out for two days
into middle school i started getting known for being a bigger girl but i remember around 7th-8th grade my dad kept saying how the clothes i had were too small when i was just trying to dress trendy or like similar styles like any middle school girl. if not that then it was stuff that was too “childish” or fit snug on me. this is when i started to feel totally repulsed about my body and dreaming about wearing what i wanted. and even to this day he periodically will get upset and disappointed in me being dressed down with my hair up just to do something mundane or for my therapy appointment. i was wearing hoodies or shirts with leggings. i remember when we were at six flags for my birthday and i was wearing a cute tank top that slightly showed a bit of tummy and he forcibly pulled the shirt down.
and getting into high school and up into this point he periodically, gets mad and upset when im wearing a certain outfit to go somewhere simple or drags me into the plus sized women’s section of kohls to look for clothes i don’t need and want. i remember when he took me to get my blood drawn i was on my period and wore pants that i typically do cause im uncomfy naturally on it and he got mad and i went into my room trying to calm down and not argue because its pointless with him, and i already knew he was gonna come in and go in my closet and tell me to change into a different pair of pants i don’t wear or what he liked. i always have to please what he likes or i should be wearing in my size.
up until recently he’s telling me i need to get a new wardrobe, that all my clothes are small when they just fit snug or my tummy shows through, (i go thrifting with my mom alot), and convincing me to shop in the plus sized women’s section of jcpenny and kohls. mind you he’s in his early 60s so i dont wanna hear “who still shops there” cause thats not making me feel better about myself at all. i remember he took me to see the women’s shorts and pants, all straight fitting long shorts that were two sizes too big on me. him sending me pictures of mens shirts that are oversized on me because i have some mens pants that i wear as jeans. when he took me shopping recently for athletic wear and told me i NEEDED new shorts and pants because the ones my mom gets are “too tight” when they fit me comfortably and the shorts i have to try on are long and big on me, i literally put them on and feel disgusting like im dressing for pe class, i dont say anything other than they just look plain in which he tells me im not supposed to look stylish at the gym and be comfortable. but when i wear them to the gym they keep falling down on me past half my ass no matter how much i have the draw string tied and im constantly pulling them up. when i have to struggle to not tell him i dont like any of the stuff he chooses for me or think fits since he gets mad and angry about it but also gets upset when i dont wear any of the things he gets me. and for the past two years i start to realize why he’s getting me to wear oversized or bigger clothes for me, because anything my size is too tight basically.
he’s told me my first cosplay i put together myself at fifteen looks raggedy and made me look like a street urchin, he didn’t let me get thin framed glasses i liked that were in our budget because my head was too wide for them and they just looked ugly to him, when he got a dress i needed for a cosplay in my size he made my mom try it on before i did and told me it was tight on her, said that the brand name suggested it was too small, kept telling i needed a bigger size, then when i tried it on and it fit perfectly he kept wondering if it was too tight. i dont even want to do any cosplay or get better cause of him and i cant even dress or put effort in outfits like i did in middle school. now i just feel like a burden cause of my body, something that needs to be hidden away, like everything is my fault because im bigger.
i feel repulsed and never take pictures, only when i feel like i should. my dad doesn’t take pictures of me anymore or puts up any photos of me in middle school or high school like he did my brother, only those photos of me as a young child. now im dealing with binge eating habits that affect me, weighing more than my parents, having shame about eating in public, feeling guilt when i eat, and not feeling like a person. even if friends take fun pictures of me i feel freaked out. im not living, and i dont know how im supposed to be accepted by this community when im forced to hate myself in real life and get jealous over those who’ve already made it past the shame in hiding themselves or appealing to society’s standards. and this is on top of processing me hiding my autism and severe depression and trauma. i dont want to keep dealing with thinner people who dont understand. and dont even ask if my mother is better, she just tells me that my dad would hate certain clothes and constantly nags me about having to shop at torrid. and im hoping to move out into a dorm around next year but this is something that’s killing me besides other things and i dont have any support because im the biggest person i know personally.

Hi everyone! I (f17) have a boyfriend (M18) of almost 8 months and we are currently in a relationship with no distance boundary. However, in 3 months, I am moving to Ireland for 3-4 years to pursue a degree in psychology. We will have a 5-hour time zone difference and a 6 hour flight and an entire ocean between us.
We have both been afraid of it in the past but decided to give it a try. Do you think it is a good idea? Our future goals align directly; we have the same hopes and dreams and he is hands down the love of my life and I feel so connected to him even if I'm 17 and don't know what love is lol. I only see a few potential sources of conflict:
When he gets tired/stressed, he is unable to communicate as well. Obviously, with him starting college, he will be tired and stressed a lot, and I depend heavily on good communication which makes me nervous. Additionally, he is very worried about how it will take a toll on his bank account (flights/hotels). I'm a little worried this will inhibit him from visiting me. Those are the only two major sources of conflict between us I can see. I also have past struggles with relationships and thus am anxious/need reassurance a lot, which will be much more difficult with distance. I am aware that he is not any of my exes and I need to get over that fear, and am trying to actively in therapy.
Has anyone been in a similar situation who can vouch for why I should or shouldn't try it? And if so, could I have some tips too? I know I'm young but I want to marry this man and he has expressed the same sentiment. I really hope it works out.

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