r/self Aug 02 '26

Mod Announcement If you see AI generated content in /r/self, please report it under "Breaks /r/self rules -> No AI use"

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We just added a rule specifically for AI.

AI-generated text is not allowed; This includes using AI to touch up text you've written yourself. Rule of thumb: If we can tell it's AI, it's not allowed. Keep r/self authentic and personal.

Essentially, if it's slop, hit report and we'll be alerted and remove it far more quickly. Even one report helps us see the bad stuff 10x faster! Thank you!


r/self 3h ago

Wtf are club's now

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Im 27m, hadent been to a club in years. But go to alot of bars/small concerts/cocktails louges, etc smaller chill places

Last week was hanging at with my neighbor and her friends all 23-26 ish so same age range

One of them suggested we go to a club nearby. After a couple of drinks and some persuasion I agree to check it out for a bit.

We get there and its just like 100 dudes waiting just to get in they all look the kind of guys you dont want to talk too

As its me and a group of women the bouncer let's us all skip the line and not pay cover (would have been $30) a person

We get some drinks ($15) and head to the dance floor, we're dancing for like 5 seconds before a mob of guys start danceing with us and basically groping the girls. They all look at me like HELP so I make a sort of barrier with my body and we dance a little longer.

This gets exhausting after a bit and i call it a night, having had a terrible night

I remember when I used to be 18-22 and went to clubs more often it would be more chatting dancing drinking (cheeper) and just having fun listening to cool dj

Am I just old now, or is the club scean really just hundreds of dudes trying to sneak a touch of girls while paying $15-20 a drink


r/self 15h ago

Horrible day in medical school.

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Medical student on pediatrics rotation and I was taken to watch a circumcision and this brought up a lot of weird latent feelings in me. I honestly felt sick to my stomach watching the infants scream and contort as we sliced off their foreskins. It has easily been the most disturbing thing I’ve witnessed in school so far.

After some deeper thinking about it, I’m just surprised this is still a thing that’s even practiced. It has minimal studied benefits with much of the literature linked to HIV reduction in extremely high HIV prevalent regions which are not as easily applicable to relatively low HIV areas, with some basic studies showing UTI reduction. All of these studies being of poor quality. Conversely there are many studies demonstrating significant postoperative complications.

I just can’t help but think slicing off the clitoral hoods of newborn infant girls would obviously be horrific and met with uproar, so why are millions of infant boys subjected to this procedure without their consent? Why is one mutilation and the other is widely normalized?

Sorry if this seems like a rant I’m honestly just kind of shaken up after today. It was horrible and I hope I never have to see that again.


r/self 11h ago

I recently learned I was exploited as a child and I’m having a hard time understanding how to feel.

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I (28M) was recently contacted by Homeland Security Investigations about being a victim of some cyber crime. I thought it was a scam at the time and even made a post on [r/Scams](r/Scams) asking for help identifying the kind of scam going on. Long story short, it was real and it was worse than I had anticipated. I tried to make an update post there, but it was never approved so I just left it alone.

This is kind of hard to type, so I apologize in advance for any weirdness, but when I was 12 I was kind of a lonely hopeless romantic. I felt like I had a lot of love to give and wanted someone to give it to. I wanted nothing more in life than the “American Dream” of being a husband and father. That was really one of the only things I ever aspired to and as a delusional 12 year old I wanted to get there asap.

So I went online, there was a website I found that I recognized some of my classmates on. That was the only justification I needed to tell myself it was safe.

I was always a very shy person, so the actual talking part was hard for me. Luckily my best friend was a lot more open with people, so we devised a plan that we thought was genius. I would be the face, he would be the words. So we sent out a public message and someone replied wanting to talk on Skype.

We started talking there and then they wanted pictures. So we sent them a picture of me. She sent back some revealing pics and wanted more. So we sent back a picture of me in my underwear.

That picture is now burned into my mind. When the HSI agents showed it to me I felt like my soul left my body. I completely blocked out the memory until they show me.

I wish I could say it ended there, but she wanted even more. I wasn’t comfortable, so my friend took the phone and went into the bathroom and sent her an explicit picture, claiming it was me still.

Obviously, it wasn’t a girl. It was someone in an entirely different country. Those pictures have been passed around in different CP rings around the world. They have my face.

I had to explain to the agents the REALLY explicit picture wasn’t me. The ones with my face were. I left there and immediately had a panic attack in my car.

Then I was fine, then I had another panic attack at home, and then I was fine again.

I’ve lied to almost everyone about my meeting other than the friend involved, my gf, and my boss when I had a panic attack at work the next day (he was very supportive)

The friend seemingly doesn’t care other than he feels bad that my face is attached to everything despite the fact he is just as much of a victim (if not more). It makes me feel like I’m overreacting, and he feels like he is under-reacting.

I don’t know how to feel. I’m ok one moment then I think of that picture and I shaking. It’s getting better but I don’t like that I’ve lied to my family about it. Idk if what I’m feeling is valid, like maybe it’s not that bad and I’m just freaking out over nothing. Any thoughts would help.


r/self 6h ago

I’m Scared Something Is Wrong With My Mental Health

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I’m the type of person who, when I’m upset, gets angry at the people around me. For me, being angry feels better than crying in front of people. The problem is, the people around me don’t know that I’m actually sad or hurt. All they see is me being angry, moody, and making mean comments, so they think I’m just being difficult or having an attitude.
What do you guys do in situations like this?
I’ve also started getting scared of seeing a therapist because I’m afraid they’ll tell me I have depression. I just have this feeling that something isn’t right with my mental health, but I’m scared to find out what it is.
The thing is, I already know that no one around me is going to help me. They’ll hurt me, then ignore me like nothing happened. And I end up doing the same thing — I get angry, shut down, and don’t vent because I hate feeling vulnerable around people.
We’re old enough to know what to say and what not to say to each other. I don’t like asking people for sympathy or trying to make them feel bad for me. I don’t want empathy; I just want peace.
I don’t want to spend my youth feeling angry, sad, and anxious all the time. I just want to feel okay and actually enjoy my life instead of constantly being stuck in these emotions.


r/self 19h ago

I am the fun uncle everyone loves.

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This doesn't seem as much, but to me is this everything.

I am the fun uncle. The uncle my nieces and nephews look forward to see. The fun uncle who plays with them. The silly uncle with who they can be rough with.

I was at a party and when I left and walked out the building my nephew ran after me, hugged me, said he love me, and don't want to see me leave. He even brought along his friends to prevent me from leaving. How cute is that?

And my niece. She doesn't ask for grandma or grandpa but she ask for me. Last weekend I visited my sis and there she was standing at the door opening waiting for me. I pretended I couldn't find her and she was smiling nonstop. My sis will even call me sometimes simply because my niece wants to see me and chat with me. How cute is that?

I will probably never have children. I know this. So I made a rule for myself to love and spoil my nephews and nieces. No cheap gifts from me.

I'm just so happy that they love me. It means the world to me.

I just wanted to share this.


r/self 7h ago

My body can’t keep up with my brain

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I struggle with debilitating intrusive thoughts and an intense lack of motivation to complete anything including small everyday tasks and i feel like my brain is playing tug of war. This is lowkey the only place i feel like i can go because im too scared to share my feelings in real life but i need to vent so hard about this cause i have a pit in my chest everyday. My intrusive thoughts range from things like contamination to harm, attraction, perfectionism, basically anything it can latch onto at the moment and the compulsions that come along with those thoughts are just as tiring. So when that clashes with my feeling of inability to do anything i get stuck in like a paralysis feeling. My brain is telling me to do this and that and i’m frozen in place because i don’t have any mental energy to get up and do it. It takes me hours, sometimes i even fall asleep while waiting for myself to get up and do a simple task like turning off the lights. Everyday i just get crushing anxiety over what’s going to go wrong during my day because by the time i wake up my brains already feeding into whatever bullshit is stirring in it today. I feel like static, i want to accomplish so much more than i do but i can’t keep up with the polar opposite sides of myself. It wears me out. Does anyone feel the same? i feel very isolated.


r/self 13h ago

Had someone tell me that if they were presented with a button that will cure all cancer in the world instantly, they won't press it

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I assume the choice might be a no-brainer for most people but I had someone seriously unironically tell me that they won't because it will violate their autonomy and bodies and it's not up for them to decide for all people in the world what happens to them so they won't. And one of their examples was "what if a grandma didn't want a treatment cuz she believed it's god will".

And I still think about said person to this day. That can't be a normal opinion to have can it?


r/self 7h ago

How does one concentrate on school when they're a lonely, emotional wreck?

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I'm in law school and sometimes it's so hard to focus on readings because I can't help but think "what's the fucking point when no one fucking cares about?"

I have no REAL friends, no partner, rarely any plans on weekends ... nothing to look forward to in the near future except more work and readings.

Sometimes I can't sleep because I know I spent the whole day reading three fucking pages because I couldn't fucking concentrate on anything but the fact that no gives a shit about me.


r/self 4h ago

Leaving toxic job

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Had a horrible last day at work. Dreading going back after 5 days off. I’ve been running scenarios in my head on if it’s all my fault, all my jobs fault or a combination. I’ve decided it doesn’t matter because I’m miserable. I stay up late making presentations and practicing only to be told I’m not good enough. Even got one taken away from me. This week and I’m sure the other one I have this week will too. Coworkers say one thing, boss says another: he just doesn’t like my style and that’s ok.

Anyway, I want to quit. My next day back. Do I email, tell them in person during a call? How much notice does a boss need that doesn’t think you contribute anyway?I already have a pee diem job lined up thankfully because I was sensing this happening.its my old job i was with for 10 years, but it wasn’t working for my family


r/self 22h ago

Does anyone have an explanation for why I was like this?

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When I was 16 I was really lonely. I had no idea why people kept leaving me. Every time I became friends with someone, we would talk for a week or two, and then they would just stop talking to me without saying anything. I was always wondering, “Why does everyone leave me?”

Then a new girl joined my school, and we became friends. One day, I told her that I had always struggled with making friends.

A couple of months later, we were walking together and it was pretty quiet. Then she suddenly said, “Can I tell you something without you getting upset?”
I said yes ofc

She basically told me, “You’re so weird. You don’t really do anything. You don’t focus on your studies, you don’t really care about your appearance, you don’t even listen to music, you don’t watch movies or even anime …., you don’t have any hobbies. Whenever I ask you what you did today, you say ‘nothing.’ And then you wonder why you don’t have friends.”

And honestly, the worst part was that she was right.
After that conversation, it was like something clicked in my head. I started paying more attention to myself and actually doing things. I started developing interests, focusing more on my life , my studies,and just becoming more involved in my own life instead of spending the whole day on my phone And I noticed a huge difference.

Now I’m 18 and sometimes when I think about myself at 16 I genuinely feel like I don’t even recognize that version of me.
What I still find weird is that I sometimes wonder why I couldn’t see it myself. Why did I need someone else to point it out before I realized what was going on?

I’m honestly still grateful to that girl. The way she said it was pretty harsh, but what she said made me wake up and look at my life differently.


r/self 7h ago

Human beings are so precious. Almost 3am thoughts from me lol.

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Every soul deserves love, attention, care… well. It’s hard to give that to people that are cruel, but even then, there must be something in life that made them cruel? I think being kind to others is so important. No matter their size or appearance or anything like that. The heart speaks louder imo… you can tell when someone’s spirit is radiating kindness and those people especially deserve all the love and attention they can get. Makes me sad the society we live in is kinda superficial and focused on looks so much. Even me, I became obsessed with my looks at times and always checking if I was good enough or whatever. But finding a person that sees beyond that, is so special. As they say, good looks are a bonus. But some people get so swept up in the way they look they forget to be anything more than just their appearance sometimes… or think they’re too good for others… I’d love to love on the person that hasn’t been shown affection in their life, and love them endlessly. I’m a giver with my heart. Sometimes that can be seen as a weakness. Other times, people appreciate it. You can meet a lot of good souls on Reddit. It’s like we’re all gathered here in this place and just be kind to one another lol. Well sometimes it feels like that. You get your assholes, but like I said there’s probably something that made them that way. I’d like to love those people too.


r/self 14m ago

Were there lesbian undertones in PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK or is it just me?

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r/self 12h ago

Navigating unique body proportions

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I'm a man and my hips are easily the widest part of my body - I have a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.8. I've always been like this, I got it from my mom, but I haven't really seen or heard of anyone else with this experience. I don't hide it, in fact I'm proud of it and I wear women's pants unabashedly because they just fit better and either no one has noticed or they haven't said anything.

I haven't really had anyone to talk to this about either because it feels weird to bring up, so I feel like I'm bottling it up.


r/self 4h ago

You ask for help; and it ends up worse. 🕳️

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r/self 1h ago

Exhausted

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Everything feels exhausting, too much to take Crazy part is i ain't even doing anything


r/self 2h ago

17M, struggling mentally for months and feeling like I don’t know what to do anymore

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About me

I’m 17M and I have mild autism. I tend to say I just have autism and that’s about it, because it doesn’t affect me extremely heavily, of course. There’s some noticeable stuff, but nothing heavy in terms of support or anything.

I also don’t currently go to regular school. Instead, I go to a place that’s meant to help me build some routine and eventually get back into school or work.

How I’ve been feeling

I’ve been struggling mentally for the past few months. My mood can switch between feeling okay, really low, angry, numb, or like I need to cry. I can also laugh and joke normally while feeling absolutely terrible, which sometimes makes me question whether I’m actually struggling or just faking it.

I have very low self-worth and often feel like I’m not allowed to feel this way because other people have it worse. I also don’t really see much of a point in life sometimes.

I’ve had/have suicidal thoughts as well. Sometimes they’re more passive, sometimes I joke about it, and a few times over the past few months I’ve thought more seriously about it. I’m not sure what to do with these thoughts anymore. Although recently, when I’m feeling bad, I’ve been getting more of a tingling feeling about really just wanting to slit my throat or strangle myself etc, And last night i also had a suicide dream or whatever you wanna call it.

Things I’ve already tried

I’m currently on citalopram, and we previously tried quetiapine, but it didn’t really help. I’ve also already had therapy with multiple different therapists and tried different approaches/methods, but unfortunately none of it has really helped.

My friendship

One of the things that has been bothering me a lot is my only real-life friend. I get along with other people at the location, but he’s the only person I’d actually call a close friend.

He’s already 18, and eventually one of us will leave the location. I have no idea when that’ll happen, and I’m scared that we won’t stay in contact afterwards. I asked him about it before, and he said he doesn’t know because he isn’t very good at keeping in contact with old friends.

And I asked him if we will hold contact if one of us leaves. He said, “I don’t know.” He also does not have a lot of contact with old school friends besides a handful, and I dislike texting.

I’ve even asked my friend before if he still wanted to be friends because I was worried he was only being nice to me. He reassured me that he didn’t see any reason not to be friends.

The weird thing is that I actually enjoy being alone too. We hung out outside the location once and had a great time, but afterwards I was also relieved to have some time alone again. So I don’t think I constantly need him around. I just really hate the idea of losing the friendship.

What I’m wondering

I guess what I’m wondering is: how do you stop constantly worrying about losing a friendship that hasn’t even ended yet? And how do you deal with being so scared of being replaced or forgotten? And what to do with myself to begin with?

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

Yes, my parents know about how I’ve been struggling.


r/self 2h ago

Note to self: this is nature's world and we are lucky to be living in it.

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So you can't be a spoiled brat because we can only so much rebuild the world in our image. We can't even conquer human nature, so what more bad luck caused by natural circumstances?


r/self 3h ago

Depression

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I’ve written on here before about my depression and suicidal thoughts but everything seems to be getting worse. I have these major mood swings that make me feel like I’m either on top of the world or the most shittest person ever. I’ve talked to my therapist about it and we’re looking at the possibility of bipolar depression. I’m seeing a psychiatrist soon but I can’t seem to get out of my own head.

My self-esteem has been hurt so bad and I’m tired of living this way. The fact that I’m only 19 makes this harder. Do I have to keep living this way? Are meds my only way to be semi-normal, even if it’s temporary?


r/self 4h ago

Person I knew passed and it really made me wonder

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Person I knew passed and it really made me wonder who would miss me when I would pass. Of course rest in peace to them. Said person was a really chill person and likable, their gofundme has thousands of dollars of donations and their tribute post online has hundreds of likes. For me though, I'm not popular nor likable because of some stupid stuff I did in my past without thinking them through. I wonder if I'm wasting my life just wasting away at home. I'm still pretty young though (me and them graduated from highschool a few years back). Sorry if it's weird I'm making someone else's death about me it just really made me wonder


r/self 22h ago

so tiring to be the therapist friend

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It’s so difficult being the friend who’s always there whenever someone needs a person to rant to, when they need someone to vent all their feelings out, the person they get to whenever they’re in trouble and need someone to reassure them and give them solutions.

But when it’s my turn to be upset, to be mad and to need someone to listen to my rants, suddenly no one is replying to me. No one cares about my feelings and are instead dismissing my feelings just because I should learn to “accept” bad things happening.

It’s so tiring to be treated like this when I would never do this towards them, but it’s like they don’t care that I’m struggling or not feeling well just because THEYRE okay.


r/self 1d ago

I’m here ♥️

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I just wanted to jump on here real quick & make a post for everybody -

If anyone is going through something, if anyone just needs to let off some steam about something, if anyone needs advice on something, you just want someone new to talk to without judgement? Or just someone new to talk to in general- My inbox is always open to anyone!
I have been through SO much in my life & I know how it feels to feel like you don’t have anybody. there is probably nothing that I don’t relate to somehow or someway.
Either way, I’m here for you ♥️


r/self 1d ago

If your parents haven’t prepared you for their death, they’ve done you a disservice.

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The best possible outcome when you’re a parent is that you die before your kids do. The alternative, being a parent whose children die in your lifetime, is infinitely worse.

Parents should treat them dying in our lifetime like it’s an inevitability, because it is. If your parents did not prepare you for that, they’ve failed you in this regard.

This means preparing you for the world without them. It means preparing you to be able to handle the emotions of it. It means being honest with you that it WILL happen and it CANNOT be avoided.

There are many reasons that parents can fail to do this, and none of them are good reasons. Denial, their parents not doing this with them, ignorance, etc., and it doesn’t matter. We have all of the information of all time at our fingertips. Parents know they should do it. If they don’t, then they’ve made at least one mistake.

Signed, a parent with two kids.


r/self 9h ago

My way to be "productive"

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I spent the whole weekend doing this one homework and also another one, both days Saturday and Sunday, and now I have no clue how to plan and get myself to study for exams

I don't have motivation, and I just did those 2 homeworks because I knew I couldn't do them last minute

Not asking for advice because not the sub for that, I just felt like sharing


r/self 6h ago

I’m Tired of Doing my Hair

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I have extremely curly type 4 hair, and I’m sick of people acting like just because something isn’t extremely hard to maintain that it’s not harder to maintain than other hair types. I’m saying this as someone who loves my type 4 hair, IT’S A TON OF WORK! Curly hair literally is prone to knots and needs to be detangled more often because of how it wraps around itself. I literally love how my hair looks, but can’t stand taking care of it because it’s too much work and time and energy to constantly detangle my hair and have my arms up for 4 hours straight anytime I want to do any hairstyle.