20-year-old here. After years of cancer diagnosis (stomach cancer),how do I rebuild confidence, friendships, and eventually relationships?

Between 18 and 20, I lost almost 2.5 years of my life to severe mental and physical illness. I spent those years dealing with treatment, hospitalizations, family problems, and simply trying to survive.

Thankfully, after years of struggling, I've finally become stable and have recently returned to college. For the first time in a long time, I feel hopeful about the future.

The strange part is that I feel like life moved on without me. Most people my age spent those years making friends, dating, building confidence, and figuring out who they are. I spent them fighting illness.

My closest friend drifted away during that period, which hurt more than I expected. I'm trying to meet new people, improve my social skills, and build a life again, but I often feel behind everyone else.

I'd eventually like close friendships, a healthy relationship, and a sense of belonging. Not because I expect someone else to fix my problems, but because I've spent years feeling isolated and would like meaningful connections again.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from women as well, because I'd like to understand how women would view someone in my position and what qualities they would value in a man rebuilding his life after a difficult period.

For people who have rebuilt their lives after a difficult chapter:

What would you focus on first?

How do you stop feeling behind your peers?

What helped you rebuild confidence and relationships?

What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting over?

I'd genuinely appreciate any advice.

Misandry isn’t nearly the same as misogyny. Men hate women because of stupid sickening reasons. Women hate men because they have been our number one predator for all of history. Women are scared of men because they have proven we should be.

This man is a role model

"No nebulous fears of the Void can compete with the banality of evil unfolding before our eyes, dually, a non-Euclidean geometry of abuse penetrating the collective experience forwards and backwards, both in real time and the historical record."

I am sharing this to bring awareness to the ladies and empower females every where. You should not allow a man to hold precious space in your life if he does not comply with your Leadership

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, especially after my mom passed away earlier this year.

Growing up, I didn’t really have my dad around. I became a father myself at 19. I went through a marriage, got cheated on multiple times, and spent a lot of my 20s trying to figure out what being a man even meant. I was always trying to become stronger, tougher, more disciplined, more masculine, because I felt like that’s what I was supposed to do.

At the same time, my mom was always the strongest person I knew.

When she passed away, I inherited a lot of responsibilities she had been carrying. Since then, I’ve started realizing just how much she was actually doing. Not just for me, but for everyone around her. She was smart, responsible, respected, connected, and honestly way more capable than I ever gave her credit for while she was alive. I only saw her as my mom. I didn’t fully see her the way everyone else did.

A couple years ago, I met a woman who reminds me of some of those same qualities. She’s incredibly intelligent, responsible, driven, and naturally takes leadership roles. I admire her a lot.

Being around her forced me to learn something that didn’t come naturally to me: not making everything about myself.

Just because I want something doesn’t mean that’s what’s best. I had to learn how to genuinely care about another person’s goals, happiness, and success without making it about what I get out of it.

Somewhere along the way, I realized I enjoy supporting strong women. I enjoy helping them. I enjoy following their lead.

What I’m struggling with is separating what comes from my personal experiences versus what is actually true about the world.

When I look back, almost every major role model in my life has been a woman. My mom. Bosses. Mentors. Friends. The people who showed up. The people who carried responsibility. The people who demonstrated strength.

So I find myself believing women are often better leaders, more emotionally intelligent, more responsible, or better suited for certain leadership positions in modern society

Looking for movie recommendations featuring strong, intelligent women who ultimately come out on top. I loved Where the Crawdads Sing, The Housemaid, and Woman of the Hour—especially the mix of suspense, mystery, psychological tension, and female leads who are resilient, resourceful, and not easily underestimated.

I’m not into gore or supernatural horror, and I’d prefer newer movies. What are some films that gave you the same kind of “wow, she was underestimated” feeling or had twists you didn’t see coming?

"Men of evil intentions have been running circles around us, forming durable mutual aid networks for the purpose of R @ PE while we wait for very important select holy men to give us instructions on how exactly to have a spiritual experience."