Life really sucks rn and I know there’s hope out there, can you pls help me find some?

Too much doom and gloom lately and I would take literally anything from you guys to help me feel better,

Anything

I’ve recently turned 29, and all of my friends and family are either married or in committed relationships. I used to feel ashamed that I wasn’t with someone after failed relationships and awful talking stages. I felt like I was going to be one of those guys who never settled down.
Slowly, I’ve reached the point where I no longer care, and I realise I can’t waste my energy and my life waiting for someone to come and save me.
So, I’m going on a month-long solo trip around the Philippines. I’m not saying I’m giving up on love; I’m just going to have fun and see what happens.

I'm 19 autistic, in a tough living situation, and I quit my factory job about 2 months ago. I'm a photographer mainly, that's my dream, but also a musician and artist, just creative in general. the factory was killing me, it was either slowly be consumed and live a depressed and easy life, or quit, burn the boat and hope luck strikes.

I live in a small town, there was 1 previous photography job available about a year ago, and I got an interview. I spent a weekend making a new portfolio specifically for the job, and they loved it. It went perfectly, they said they wanted me but had a few more people to interview and I'll have an answer Monday. They never replied. This was when I got the factory job, I needed work.

Well, this month the second photography job in a year was posted, and I got an interview for this too. My CV clearly is strong enough. I showed up 10 minutes late snd drenched in rain because there was no parking nearby. I hope that this was good, or at least neutral. Most people would give up rather than show up late, apologetic, tired and drenched, but I needed this job. The interview went well, I understood the role, had experience, and love for it, and I tried to also show that I could get along with their head photographer.

It's a 5 minute walk from my house, which is incredible for me being autistic, being able to nip home on break makes me feel a lot more comfortable being out for 8 hours a day 5 days a week... It's also my favourite type of photography, working mostly alone, doing what I love, it was just perfect.

The interview went well, she bigged me up a bit and said that she thinks im a good fit, and I'll have a reply by Friday. It's now 3am Saturday and I've heard nothing. All hope isn't lost, there's a slim chance I call them up on Monday to ask about it and get good news, but I can't hope, it's a slim chance.

I was living on an emergency fund, which ran out, and now I'm selling stocks (my future) to live on. I reckon I've got enough for about 2 more months before I have no money and no savings...

It's unlikely I get this job. But unfortunately I need a job. My only qualifications are basic GCSEs and a diploma in creative projects. I am qualified for photography and art, and no jobs are available right now.

It's looking like I'll be joining another factory for god knows how long. The next photography job listing might be next week, or next year. I'm scared I will fall back into depression, lose my creativity, and find nothing fun. I try to see the good side in everything, I am my friends rock, I don't get down. but suddenly out of nowhere, I find myself for the first time in a long time lacking hope.

any guidance would be appreciated

I need some reassurance, at least midterms are coming up right? I don't want to boycott, I just want to enjoy whatever good comes up

Anyone want to help me? Please

I’ve been battling a health concern. I’ve been traumatized by doctors gaslighting me so much that I’ve been scared of seeking care and treatment altogether. I’m considering starting again to talk to doctors maybe someone can help but I’m scared

I’ve had lots of ups and downs in my life but this is absolute rock bottom. I’m passively suicidal everyday wishing it will all end .

I am an 18 year old full-time dance student training to one day dance professionally, my goal is to commercially dance back up for artists. I dance 5 days a week, 6 hours a day in all styles. I injured my ankle back in March, rolling it pretty bad in a chorus heel, I have always been weaker in this ankle as I used to roll it as a kid.

I also have accessory navicular bones in both feet which have been a bit sore after long days on my feet but have never actually caused me severe pain on a regular basis. Recently I have found out that when I rolled my ankle 6 and a half months ago, I injured/ripped the extra bone away from my foot and it’s cause my arch in my foot to flatten as the bone grows within the** **posterior tibial tendon. I haven’t been able to dance a full day without pain especially barefoot or in a so danca chorus heel as the extra bone causes me too much pain to the point I’m limping and also my ankle literally has barely any structure integrity. (Surprisingly I can do a stiletto boot from time to time, also dancing in a sneaker with good inserts allows me to stick it out longer - its really ballet that hurts the most because the canvas ballet shows are basically like dancing barefoot; I have never done pointe as my physio said from 12 years old that my ankles are too weak, so I don’t have to worry about pointe)

I am having surgery in the next couple days on my ankle/foot which stops me from dancing the rest of this year and the start of the next. This is what’s being done:

Left ankle stabilization mini open/Arthro
Brostrom
+
Insertion arthroereisis screw
+
excision
accessory navicular
+
Tibialis posterior repair

So basically to what I understand:
- ATFL and CFL ligament tightening?? I don’t believe that my ligaments are torn?? Just very loose? Potentially slightly torn but not too sure.

- a screw is being inserted (keyhole style??)to take weight off of the tibialis posterior tendon and bring back my arch (I have pretty low arch to begin with)

- they are slicing my tendon down the side and removing the extra bone

- and then repairing the tendon after removal of the bone.

It’s all been kind of hard for me to wrap my head around and ive been trying my best but I’ve kind of been relying on my parents to understand. It’s really scary and I do believe everything will be okay with time but not dancing for this long is new to me and honestly I feel like I have this pit inside of me now that the one consistent thing in my life is taken from me for so long.

I am in a cast (non weight bearing) for 1-3 weeks (I believe it’s 2 as my post op appointment is 2 weeks after operation), then I’m in a moon boot for 6 weeks totally non weight bearing at all, then it’s at least 6 months until I can get back into light dance which I’m still not sure what light dancing even means to a non dancer.

I’ve always loved dance and I’ve been doing it competitively since I was 5, now in this last year I’ve finally been able to take the extra step to train in a pre-professional environment. Now that this has been burdening me for 6+ months, I’ve realised how much dance means to me. I think I had become comfortable to the fact that it’s always been apart of my life and in a way I’m grateful that I’m falling in love with it all over again but I can’t help but feel empty inside and anxious all the time and jealous of my peers dancing (I’m not jealous in a malicious way I just wish I could dance right now too).

It just hurts so much to see them put together performances and train and sweat. The end of year performance that they are putting together currently is so my vibe and I hold back tears every time I watch them dance because I love it so much.

Luckily I have other outlets to let out some steam while I can’t dance, I love to sing and act which are big parts of the production too so I am still involved.

I am no stranger to being uncomfortable and working hard, I know it’s going to be a long journey of rest and physiotherapy and taking things slow (I am big on not going back too early cause I’ve seen the damage it can do and I’m not risking that).

I am just rambling now but please, share your stories with me and give me some hope that it’s all going to work out.

Erm the thing that keeps bothering me is- what's the point of life? I mean I'm not cuuicidal, but time and again I find myself wondering that is it truly worth living? Wouldn't it be marvelous if I could just disappear? They say you're yet to watch sunset of this place, have this food blah blah blah

But for me,, the amount of effort that goes into living one's life, feels far too great for the amount of substantial happiness it offers. Given our economy, we're just existing and not thriving. (Please give positive answers, I wanna hopebait so bad)

I'm hoping this would reach the right viewers, amen.

Im going into my freshman year of college with a placement in remedial math. I took calculus in high school and scraped by with B's all four years. I understand that math isn't my best subject, but I'm feeling hopeless about falling victim to the % of people who drop out of their stem majors because of math. For context, im an Astronomy major at ucsd. I see a lot of posts online that make me worry and fear that I'll eventually drop out too, so does anyone have any stories or advice about making it through remedial math in STEM? Im honestly in desperate need of some crazy hope that "I can do it too".

for inspiration on a project, i was looking for a piece depicting a library functioning after the end of the world. for some reason "post apocalyptic library" only returns libraries laying in ruin. i wanna see people making the best of a bad situation.

I need hope. I have severe debilitating IBS that seriously affects my social life as a teen. I feel like a burden to everyone I meet because I have to let them know. Im good at hiding the severity so people think it’s just a little stomach ache or something. everyone’s always telling me I’m doing wrong and giving stupid advice while I’m actively in moments of weakness. I’m just feeling so hopeless and I need some nice messages of hope.

I slept through my alarm today and by the time I walked up to work (I’m only allowed to take “my” car when the weather is especially bad) I was 20 minutes late. My manager was so pissed at me that she made me clock out, didn’t even want me working today. She’s told me before to my face that sometimes I make her so angry with the things I do that she has to spend a few days thinking it over before she’s calm enough to confront me about something I did wrong. That means that this frustration was me was presumably her at her calmest, and as usual I don’t know how long she’s actually been stewing this over.

The worst part is that this is the third time I’ve gotten a major lecture like this from a manager at this job. It’s been over a decade of working here but I’m not sure if that matters, it’s still the third strike. I’m supposed to work again tomorrow, but I’m expecting that I’ll probably be fired before then.

And if I’m fired then for all intents and purposes my life is over.

The fact that I already had this job, worked this job for so long, haven’t left it for something Real and Productive like welding or engineering, was already basically a failure. I was already a living, walking, day-to-day failure. If I can’t even keep this job? This is the success equivalent of someone killing a cactus that they were given in the hopes of one day working up to being seen as responsible enough to own a pet.

I already have no money, student debt from a degree I never managed to finish, barely any social life, no meaningful contributions to society, living with my parents, and now I might have no job on top of it. Admitting to my parents that I flunked out of an art degree, one that I argued for the chance to try out no less, was the most shameful, depressing, and mentally ruinous day of my life. If I need to admit that I got fired from a job like this on top of that, it would make the degree look like a drop in a bucket next to the ocean.

Ive been spiraling all morning now while I keep refreshing my email to see if I get a notice of termination or something. I genuinely struggle to think of why I shouldn’t just kill myself if I really do get fired. It feels so beyond unrecoverable, like I no longer have anything to offer society. The closest I have to a legacy, my “art” (if I can even call it that) has just been a couple decades of mediocre meaningless scribbles, none of which has ever touched anyone’s life or even come close to having an impact on the world or the people who see it. It just feels like I’ve had my trial run of “life”, and it was okay, but I failed and it’s over now.

I think a lot about a quote by Brendan Manning. “In every encounter we either give life or drain it, there is no neutral exchange.” I feel like a parasite. Unproductive, pathetic, and borderline unworthy of society, doing nothing but draining life from everyone and everything. I understand that there are friends or siblings who might try to see my life as more than just the productivity I’ve failed to offer, who can maybe delude themselves into thinking my exchanges somehow gave them life instead of siphoning it, but it truly feels like the burden I put on the world outweighs the distress I might cause by being gone. I mean, people have to experience the death of others all the time, surely they didn’t expect everyone they know to live forever?

And even if this is all fake…if I keep my job, or even if I somehow do deserve to live…what future is there? I’ll go back to being stuck in a dead end job with a hundred thousand dollar student loan-shaped failure hanging over my head, I’ll go back to my parents needing to change the subject when people ask about me instead of my actually productive siblings, I’ll go back to having a therapist who’s spent months ignoring these kinds of feelings I have because he’s decided the only things that matters about me anymore is that I get a Real Productive Job for Real Useful Members of Society.

And it’ll just keep getting worse from there. We’re approaching potentially the largest climate disaster in human history. Democracies around the world seem to be silently decaying into fascist oligarchies. Wealth inequality is completely unchecked. Even if I did continue to live, and found the joy and passion of a creative career and lifestyle - the ultimate end goal I’ve been striving towards - it won’t matter. I’ll be trying to make art in the charred husk of a decimated climate, stick as a permanent underclass, and that’s only if I don’t get exterminated for my sexuality or ideology, or drafted into a forever war. It feels trite, cliche, liberal, uninspired, whatever you want to call it…but for the first time in my life it really does feel like we’re at the end of history. If I don’t kill myself, will I really open myself up to living a full life? Or will I just be delaying the suffering and ruin I was going to experience anyways?

I feel ashamed putting this on my main account, the one I wanted to just stay about my art and funny jokes and the games or fandoms I like. Now it’s permanently going to be tied to this miserable spiraling of a hopeless loser with no place left in the world. But I don’t know if I can wait for whatever hoops I might have needed to jump through for a brand new alt account to not be flagged as spam. And besides, it’s not like my art was worth anything anyway where a useless rant like this would detract from anything.

Long story short, I've had a few really rough years. Struggled in my dream career because of mental health/burnout and then moved from the city to a small village to be an unpaid carer for my dad, who had end stage dementia.

He passed recently and I'm struggling with how to rebuild my life.

I'm doing the "right" things, like getting my ADHD diagnosed, therapy, talking with loved ones, focusing on things that will build my self esteem and meds, etc. I have even applied for a few jobs (none are my dream, as I don't feel ready) but I just still feel very lost at the moment.

I know this will pass but if you've got any positive stories about rebuilding in your thirties or from rock bottom...I would really appreciate it.

Just need a little bit of optimism and encouragement. I just need to know that others have been there and it got better...a lot better.

Long story short: I made a stupid joke and a friend of mine was very hurt. I tried to make up but I guess this is something that will require some time.

In my adult life, I've always tried to be as good as possible and never hurt anyone, but lately I've been finding myself to be angrier and angrier every day: I see this when I go to bed, when I talk to myself, and of course when scrolling social media or reading the news. That joke came from this.

I don't want to be angry. I want to be better than this. This felt like a wake up call to try and be a better man. But sometimes it does feel very hard to be good.

My life has been going well recently, and yet the world seems to be falling down and I feel like everthing I do is worthless. I'm lucky enough to work for my local authority, which is something that would have the power to make people's lives better, and yet, as corny as it might sound, this always turns out to be just a toxic environment.

Do not get me wrong, I love my job, but it is very difficult to deal with all the toxicity coming from everywhere, and I feel like I've been taking to much of this toxicity inside me. This is of course not an excuse for what I did, but I feel like it's an important element of why I did it

I've been thinking about the common quote that a wise man is just someone who has made more mistakes than you. I don't know if that's true, but I know this is not the man I want to be. I want to be better.

But I really do not know if I am able to.

18F incoming freshman in college. Been thinking about how dumb I am to live in life independently, because it has to happen in the future, right? you go to work and stuff, and not ask financial stuff from your parents anymore. it has to happen, right? it'sbound to happen, that's life. however, i think i am just too dumb to live and to be an adult. i dont think i will be able to pass college. i think my brain has stopped developing since i started 7th grade. i am diagnosed with major depressive disorder and that makes things even harder for me. i just don't know what to do anymore, i can't understand things deeply and surely. i just hope that i'll be somehow an average person who will know how to live. i didnt pass state universites entrance test (state u in my country is where u dont have to pay any tuition fee) and private colleges are just so expensive, i feel guilty, because there is a high possibility that i will fail, i can study when i was still in high school, buti cannot understand complex things in college, i just know it.

(TW: brief discussion of depression and such)

Hey everyone, my name is Dylan but you can call me Dilly.

As you may or may not know, there's this person named u/EdgynStupidName (she/her) who's feeling really sad and has been expressing her feelings and struggling with thoughts of NOT wanting to be here anymore. She's in a really hard place right now, and I know a lot of us can understand what this pain feels like.

Let me just say this is our time to give her the love and support that she deserves. If you see her posts or comments, please take a moment to reply and reminder her that she's NOT alone because she ISN'T alone. Even if you're also hurting, letting her know that you see her and that she matters could mean the world to her.

u/EdgynStupidName, if you're reading this, you're NOT alone because you're NEVER alone. There is hope. We're holding the light with you in the dark, even if you can't feel it right now. We're here for you, we need you and we love you. You're kind, you're nice, smart, compassionate, resilient and such. We're always here for you, no matter what.

​

I've been thinking lately about how hope and kindness are connected to each other. I have found that whenever I am in a bad place and in search of hope, what often brings it to me is this almost religious feeling of overall non-directional kindness. That if I am willing to be kind to the world, it itself becomes a brighter place, and I am myself making it so it can be a place worth living in. That if I am willing to be kind, then humanity can be a kinder place, that I am somehow preserving humanity's ability to be kind (however a small and humble act it may be)

​

However, finding that feeling is sometimes quite a challenge. So I wanted to know your thoughts on where do you find your source for getting that inspiration.

​

I'll also take movie and book recommendations.

​

Source of picture: "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse" (2022)

Go to a pride parade, say thanks to your father, hug your bros, add a 35% opacity rainbow flag to your profile, just celebrate :)

So about a week ago i got back in contact with my ex-girlfriend, why? I wanted to set things right basically i left her for another girl (didnt cheat) then that girl was a reaaaal b!tch and yknkw shi goes down and i relaised what i lost (a kind loving woman) so after about 4 months of self pity and dooming i mustered up the courage to text back saying that im sorry i went in with zero expectations of anything, i just said how sorry i am and how much i miss her and how wrong i was she replies back saying she misses me too (we're in the green) not even a week later im here snuggled up with her. (I have also apologised to her mother and i still have yet to apologise to her father and brother, but i will when i meet them). So in short i became a man and owned up to my mistakes and is trying to make things right and redeem myself to alot of people, not bad for 16!

Hey Fam

I’ve been reading old psychology papers that never got popular. Some really insightful ones about why people give up vs why some keep going.

I’m planning to make short videos explaining one study at a time.

Does anyone have recommendations for lesser-known but high-quality studies I should cover? (Especially on hope, survival, or mindset).

(If allowed, here’s the 79-second channel trailer: https://youtu.be/2tpF22zgVLQ

Channel: The Buried Findings)

I’m not gonna leave a big story, but I’m losing hope in staying alive and the last time I did I almost left this world for good, and I’m 50% sure I shouldn’t die so soon so I’m having a hard time not noticing all the bad things about myself

ive only just graduated highschool but I’ve never had a job and never learned how to drive, I only do chores around the house and I feel like such a freeloader because I am.

what do I do, how do I stay hopeful?

I’ll always have gender dysphoria, I’ll always be in this wretched, disgusting flesh prison God trapped me in. No matter how much I achieve in my transition, even if I bottom surgery, I’ll never be what I should have been. I’ll never get the life I should’ve had as a cis woman

I just hit 30 days no contact with my ex and I'm really proud of myself, but it's also been really hard. I still think of her every day, and I still love her just as much as the day she left, but I lack the heart to tell her that. I just want her to be happy and live her life. It's been a few years since we broke up. And frankly she doesn't feel the same way about me, she's moved on, I don't think she thinks about me much either. It makes me happy to know that she's living her life, but I have no idea what to do with myself. If I can't move on from my feelings then I have to at least find a way to pick myself up and carry on. That's why I decided to go no contact until I can find a way to live regardless of how I feel about her. Sometimes I wish I could tell her I'm thinking about her, when I look up at the night sky I sometimes wonder if I could somehow relay messages through that to tell her that I still care about her no matter what I am to her. I would like some encouragement to keep going through this.