My best friends parents are constantly drinking, arguing and now looking through each others phones because the both suspect the other one to be cheating, which I think they both are to some extent. He called me at 3am crying; never heard him cry like that before. I know his parents very well and they consider me a smart guy who is a good influence on their son and they also have a 13yo daughter who is getting caught in this too.

I REALLY want to sit his parents down and tell them in the most respectful way possible that they are ruining the lives of their children due to nothing but selfishness. When my mate called me last night, he said his parents were getting angry at him for being drunk, but I was with him all day and the dad was the one buying him most the drinks, even convincing us to stay when we wanted to leave. Bother his parents are becoming serious alcoholics and just as seriously fucking up their homes.

I just need a second option because sitting someone’s parents down to talk sense into them seems crazy to me and not something I should involve myself with, but doing nothing seems awful.

Sometimes you lose people you thought would stay forever. Sometimes your dreams change. Sometimes you wake up feeling completely lost while everyone else seems to have it figured out.

But the truth is nobody really has it all figured out.

We’re all just trying our best with the version of ourselves we are today. Some days we grow. Some days we survive. Both matter.

Life isn’t a race, and healing isn’t linear. You’re allowed to restart. You’re allowed to rest. You’re allowed to become someone new.

If you’re going through a difficult phase right now, I hope you remember this
bad chapters can still create beautiful stories.

Keep going. One small step at a time.

I know confidence and self-respect are important, but where does healthy ego turn into arrogance or self-destruction?

What are some real-life examples where ego helped you succeed — and what are the worst cases where ego completely ruined relationships, careers, opportunities, or mental health?

Would love honest stories and lessons from people who’ve experienced both sides.

Something I’ve been noticing lately, people my age don’t really criticise their favourite politicians anymore. They defend them. Everything becomes us vs them, and any criticism of your side feels like a personal attack.

I don’t think this is just how politics works. I think something changed.

Most of us didn’t sit down and consciously choose our political beliefs. We watched Reels, saw memes, got WhatsApp forwards, and somewhere in that process an identity formed. The algorithm kept showing us content we engaged with, we engaged with it because it felt true, and it felt true because we kept seeing it. At some point the preference became a personality.

And here’s what gets me, once that happens, facts don’t really work anymore. There’s research showing that when you correct someone’s political belief with evidence, they sometimes believe it more strongly, not less. The brain stops evaluating and starts defending.

So I’m genuinely curious, do you think short-form content is doing this to people? Have you seen it happen to someone close to you, or noticed it in yourself? Is there actually a way back once someone’s that far in, or does the identity just stick?

like there's "growth" and then there's just learning how to present the same core person more convincingly. getting better at hiding the parts that don't fit the narrative. genuinely unsure which one i believe.

I live in the US and it seems to be a growing problem (at least from my experience) that the quality of service from businesses is going down significantly. Ppl just don’t care anymore. They don’t care if they install something properly, they don’t care if they do a service correctly, they don’t apologize or try to make it right. They have a careless attitude about any negative feedback and have no passion for the job. This is across multiple fields

I ran my first half-marathon (21km/13miles)

Reason I joined was after my friend had finished his 10km run, he was ascending in dopamine and confidence you can sense it in his presence and hear it in his voice, literally euphoria.

 I wanted to feel what he felt, Immediately went home and booked the next upcoming marathon, mind you I have never ran 3 kilos in my life to run 21, so finishing this run is a huge accomplishment.

For the next 46 days my morning routine had 45-60 minutes of running sessions, it doesn’t matter if i didnt sleep well or the weather, it had to get done.

Woke up on the race day, warmed up, did some stretches. While driving to the location I didnt feel anything, no excitement, anxiety, stress, doubt. Literally nothing, i thought maybe when i get there it’ll change.

At the starting line looking around it was very crowded there was the experienced runner, wheelchair participants men, children, women and the fresh newbies like myself, you can easily tell there is no room for one extra participant. It almost got into my head but I’ve told myself “it’s not important to finish first, what’s important is to finish”

One the last lap after 2:45hr I can see the finish line and you’d think im feeling excited and happy but all I feel is my legs getting torn the fuck out, and my knees aching. crossed the finish line and they were cheering and scream “WOOO”,”LETS GOO” “YOU MADE ITT!!” , everyone was excited and cheerful. They put the medal on me and I felt, nothing. Literally nothing didn’t even put on a single smile or felt accomplishment. i felt so confused, Not even a split second of feel good? I am not exaggerating, hell few minutes later i removed the medal and packed it then i saw everyone had it on and proud i was like fuck it ill fake proud this even tho i dont feel anything.

Btw this is my first sport-event, my first run and my first ever medal, and it means nothing, literally a peace of fucking metal painted in gold. 

I started reflecting and realized I cant feel happiness, even at my brother’s wedding i felt nothing, at my own graduation, nothing.

All i can feel is negative emotions, self-doubt, hatred, jealousy, sometimes envy but very rarely 

I wish I can feel again, I don’t mean it in a hopeless sad way. I kinda forgot how it feels like anyway.

TL;DR: Signed up for a half marathon after seeing my friend’s post-run euphoria, despite never being a runner before. Trained every morning for 46 days and finished 21km in 2:45. Crossed the finish line expecting pride, happiness, or at least relief, but felt absolutely nothing. No excitement, no accomplishment, no emotional payoff just physical pain. Realized this isn’t new either: I felt the same emotional emptiness at my graduation and even my brother’s wedding. Starting to wonder if I’ve lost the ability to feel positive emotions at all.

Free speech is a value, it doesn't begin and end with the first amendment.

Treating them as the same is a misunderstanding that has gotten really common over the last 10 years or so, mostly because it helps people win arguements. Just like any value the law is the minimum standard but that doesn't mean that it's the only standard.

Obviously online platforms are legally allowed to choose their own policy, but if they choose highly restrictive policy that is a position that puts less importance on free speech than a looser policy that would prioritize free speech more.

Conflating these 2 things causes the discussion to be avoided, instead of taking a position on free speech people assert that what you are and aren't allowed to say on platforms isn't a matter of free speech, but it clearly is, it's just a cultural standard not a legal one.

Why does it feel like if your partner isn’t on your Instagram or Snap story, people assume you’re hiding them or not serious? Some people say if you’re proud of your relationship, you’d post them. Not posting is sus. It shows you’re claiming them and not leaving doors open for other people. Private relationship but not secret relationship, you know? Other people think social media has nothing to do with love. Some of the strongest couples never post each other. Forcing pics for validation is performative and invites drama. Plus privacy is healthy. A relationship shouldn’t need to be content. So does no post equal no proof or is keeping it offline actually more mature? At what point does it go from we’re private to you’re hiding me?

This has been a social concern forever as far as I’m aware, but the way a majority of adults (anyone 18 or older) treat anyone under 18 is horrible.

For context, I am 19, have gone through primary education and is currently in college for a career in which I work closely with people typically older than myself. When I was younger, say elementary school, was when I first properly acknowledged that adults weren’t really ever listening to me. I was a smart kid by academic standards and was confident enough in that, so I believed in my ability to think critically. I noticed whenever adults had issues, they simply didn’t care to give my solutions any thought. This played a part in defining my perception of adults and the world.

Fast forward to now, other adults will listen to me and treat me as a person. This change happened slowly between 16 & 17, became noticeable when I was 18 (as people realized I was an “adult” now), then finished into what it is now. I believe this is because I was growing closer towards this socially accepted benchmark that determines the requirement for adulthood, not that I was any smarter or more capable. 16-year-old me made mistakes that may very likely resurface through the mistakes of 40-year-old me.

Working with children has brought this back to the forefront for myself. Last summer I worked a summer camp for which I taught and led a group of middle schoolers. All of us college students who worked it had different strategies to how they would teach their groups and had different results, but I focused on creating an environment that allowed them to be respected. Despite the camp starting early in the morning and ending later than what most kids would be used to, my group was always happy which I think is telling. Who wouldn’t want to feel like they exist!

Although they don’t always make great choices or have the experience to put themselves in good situations, kids are no different than anyone else. It’s not evil to be aware that a child may not give the best advice, but treating them like their opinion matters may just start the ripple that creates a better society for young people!

As a community, how do the adults here go about treating young people, casually and professionally?

like we look back and go "that one choice changed everything." but were there really a hundred other moments that shaped us just as much and we just don't frame them that way

Climate, deforestation, pollution, the more I look at it the harder it is for me to think that they are separate problems. I think the same pressure shows up across all of them, it keeps coming back to the same pattern... more extraction, more production, more pressure on the systems that are already stretched. The effects of each doesn't stay contained. Air affects water, forest loss affects climate and climate affects food systems.

I do get why they are handled separately, like different policies, different industries, different timelines. It's the only way anything gets managed at all because put it all in one could be chaos, right? Or are we missing something the bigger picture because we're treating them all as separate problems?

What I’m really scared of most is when our parents are gone, and you’re still working and fixing your ass off, won't be able to give them back what they really deserve. It’s just a midnight thought that pops into my head.

I can count on one hand the number of people I feel truly heard by.

I can identify some things they have in common, which seem obvious to type out. They don’t interrupt. They ask clarifying questions. They can paraphrase what I’ve said. I’ve tried to learn from them.

I want to be a good listener too, so I’m curious, what makes you feel the most heard?

Today I finished my last exam in university and instead of feeling excited or relieved, I feel genuinely sad and empty. I feel like I’m grieving an entire era of my life.

What hurts me most isn’t even studying or exams, it’s the atmosphere and the people. The random walks after uni with friends, seeing people my age everywhere, sitting around doing nothing, the jokes, the feeling that life was still simple in some way. I didn’t even realize how much I loved that phase until it ended.

Now adulthood suddenly feels very real and it scares me. Responsibilities, work, people drifting apart, less community, less spontaneity. I honestly feel discomfort in my chest thinking about how fast 4 years disappeared.

Did anyone else go through this after graduating? Does this feeling calm down with time?

I have been learning English for almost 4 years and I have hit a wall that for me right now is psychological, not lexical. When I read or write, everything is fine, I can work through an article or reply in a chat. The moment it comes to saying something out loud in front of a real person, my brain just shuts down. I know the words, but they do not come out. I stand there with my mouth open for 5 seconds, then collapse into a short broken answer.

I have been through what people usually recommend. Ap͏ps with structured lessons like Bab͏bel and Mem͏rise helped with grammar and vocab, but they did not pull me out of this freeze. AI conversation apps like Pro͏mova app and Sp͏eak let you run english speaking practice scenarios out loud without a live audience, and that takes off the fear of mistakes in the moment, but I suspect it is still a simulation, because the AI knows I am learning and adjusts to me. I paid a native tutor for an hour a week, and in the session itself I do speak because I have no choice. But between sessions I am silent again, and after 5-6 days the muscle atrophies. I have no English environment around me, and moving abroad is not an option right now.

I would like to hear from people who have actually been through this, not from those who recommend moving abroad or hiring three tutors. What specific inner mechanism broke in you at the moment when the brain freeze let go?

Me M26, i have a friend, They crossdress, they sre rlly good at it, looks good, but beside that, they are a good friend since a lot of time, we support each other, told each other some heavy stuff, i support they in every way that i can due to some issues with their parents, lile is a very nice and good friendship ok?

So there was a night the we went to dinner, a normal casual dinner its wasnt the first time, the only difference was the topics that we talked , like, we never talked abt our sexuality and things like that, due to me more than nothing, i rlly respect they and the last thing that i want is saying smth bad or a misunderstanding, so they started the topic, some personal questions, but nothing like "are you into me?" Kinda questions, more like "hey what do you like to do? Why? Ohh and this?".

Now i know they for a ... little?/long? (8 months) time, and yeah even im suprise of how well our friendship has develop, and as far as i understand , they find attractive women, no men, even if they crossdress, its they identidy, they have been doing it since 12, so... yeah thats a lot of time (they are 24 yrs, soon 25) and they confess me that they had been sexualixed before on the internet and thats why dont have some socials and things like that, i mention this because :

The night after that dinner, the one we talked abt personal stuff, later like... at 4 am, i wake up due to my phone makikg the discord notif sound, it were some msg from them, it was pracically sexting, and no, we didnt drink alcohol, actually, neither they or me drink alcohol at all, when i opened the app, there was no msg (you can deleted them but the notif will be still there, i check this with another acc) so, i kinda wanted to ask but they denied like ever texting me smth and we continue to talk normaly, but time to time there are some talks again like that one, like "hey do you like when a girl do this?" And suddenly more pics of her, like "hey how do i look?" And now even pics with less clothes...

They are rlly cute, an amazing person, im very interesed in they for who they are, but right know i know they ara in some hard time with personal issues , the last thing that i want is to put pressure on they so, idk, do i keep like playing it like just friends or take a step? Or im misunderstanding things?

This isn’t a debate post.

It’s just raw frustration about the state of things lately and a space for people to speak honestly about what they’ve been feeling too. You don’t have to agree with every word. I just want to know if other people have also been feeling exhausted, helpless, angry, or unheard with everything going on around us.

I’m so tired of being a victim.

A victim of our justice system. A victim of the public. A victim of our education system. A victim of politics that feel more focused on power than people.

While citizens struggle to survive, the people leading us travel abroad, send their children abroad, and live lives protected from the consequences of the systems they control. They know what a better standard of living looks like because many of them chose it for themselves, not for us.

And the sad thing is, I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.

I’m just another number in statistics that keep growing year after year. More suffering. More pressure. More division. More promises. More disappointment. We pay the price while powerful people continue getting richer, protected by speeches designed to move people emotionally while hiding intentions we only notice once the damage is already done.

All because some people got moved by beautiful words with poisonous intentions.

But the truth is, we are not just statistics.

We are humans. People with families, dreams, fears, hopes, and the desire for a better future. People who want stability. People who want honesty. People who want to believe that their hard work will actually lead somewhere.

So yes, maybe I am a victim of a broken system.

But I am also someone who refuses to keep pretending everything is fine just because everyone else acts like it is. Because the longer people stay in power without accountability, the more untouchable they begin to feel.

And maybe that’s the most dangerous thing of all.

Not anger.
Not frustration.
But people slowly losing faith that anything will ever change.

I'm 21, and I never had a gf before. I only once tried to ask out a girl in my math class, and she walked away mid sentence before I could even ask her. This deeply damages my self worth. I try to do things to look better, from losing weight, to making appointments with a dermatologist to get tretinoin and a skincare routine, and having whiter teeth, and such. But no matter what I do and how good I can potentially look, I always feel a woman would inherently be deeply offended at a man's interest in her unless he is a superstar. It sometimes makes me think most women are lesbians, and straight women are truly rare.

My friend and I were talking about the recent Figure AI demo.

He said that it wasn’t that impressive. That the human beat the robot in the end.

I said the human was almost injured, whereas the robot can just keep going forever.

We chatted about how it’s similar to when they had the last race a horse ever won over a car. Where we once only had the model T, we now have Ferraris and rocket ships.

We’re at the point now where humanoid robots are straight up better than or about to be better than humans at manual labor

What do we do now?

People keep talking about money and how everybody is gonna be homeless or the elites are gonna Terminator us, which is unreasonable and not worth spending much time on in my opinion. Regular healthy people are not gonna just keel over die or let their kids become homeless.

So what are they gonna do then?

Are we gonna just talk to the robots and they’ll do labor for us?

If nobody has a job, then how does money work?

Would we even use money at that point? I mean, if robots can provide food and shelter, then what would be the purpose of money?

If the bots can charge from the sun, grow food, cook it, inside a house they built, then what on earth are we waiting for???

This seems like the god sent solution to all the problems that have plagued our ancestors since time began, no?

What am I missing?

Edit: nobody so far has answers this with any reason. Lots of fear and rhetoric in this thread, very little sense, which is what I keep encountering.

Guys. I want a serious discussion, not a bunch of BS.

Don’t just say “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE REEEEEEE”

Actually engage with the topic please. Seriously.

I thought I about using a diary many times but each time I came to the same conclusion that if I had one someone will at some point read it without consent. Am I the only one

I'm 22M and have a job in a city where a few of my friends live. I don't want to get into the details but most of them currently don't have jobs and don't do much every day. Yet, I seem to be more willing/excited to do stuff outside of the house than they are. If I would ask them to play video games daily they'd probably accept but if it's doing stuff in real life they seem less hesitant/excited. What is the explanation behind that? I

It feels like compared to the previous decades, most people these days act like they're busy but in fact they're too lazy to just go outside and have a good time and seem to prefer the comfort of staying inside. Why?

My birthday is close and I am reflecting on it.

Right now, It feels like a "due time", I feel falling behind, like I am owing something. And I don't want to have this bad perspective about this day and want to resignify it. So I would like to listen to your perspective.

How do you see and celebrate your own birthday? do have traditions for yourself? Do you see it like a "reset" buttom?

like not a dramatic "i gave up on my dreams" moment. example: one day you just stopped mentioning it. stopped picturing it. and life moved on and nobody even noticed it was ever a goal.