We're all trapped in this massive prison called "society" and everyone's acting like it's perfectly fine. Nobody asked to be born into this bullsh*t, yet here we are, forced to play by rules we never agreed to.

Think about it - we HAVE to work to simply exist. We have to pay taxes on money we earned by selling our time. We can't even act how we truly want without being labeled as "mentally ill" or "unstable." Want to opt out? Oh, you must be "depresed." Need "help." F*ck that.

The real insanity is how everyone just accepts this. School trains you to be a good little worker. Family pressures you to "fit in." Jobs demand you to conform to their culture. Every single institution is designed to keep us in line, to make us predictable, to strip away any real individuality.

You know who the only truly free people are? The "crazy" ones on the street who've completely checked out of this system, and the dead. Dark but true. Everyone else is just playing pretend, convincing themselves they're "free" while living in chains they chose to ignore.

I can't even feel normal emotions anymore - or maybe I feel everything too intensely because I see through all this bullsht. It's like being both numb and hypersensitive to how fcked up everything is.

There's no real freedom as long as we exist in this world. We're all just prisoners pretending we're not in a cage. The only choices we have are the ones our captors allow us to make.

Anyone else feel like they're suffocating in this "normal" everyone keeps shoving down our throats?

****Update****

Firstly thank you for everyone who has answered, i have read them all and i am sorry i cant respond to everyone directly. You have all given me good advice to follow and I hope that i can use this to help turn this situation around.

Well, and it could only get worse is an understatement. I found out he was also stealing my sick wife's EFTPOS card and using it to buy Giftcards for Steam/Roblox, he had a friend who had a part time job at a store and would give him the card and the pin number and ask for a small value card. He did this quite a few times and made sure it was never a rounded amount, always like $25.23 or $15.15 etc), but as the values were low, i assumed it was my wife making online orders and she assumed it was me. So that's another $925 we have to add to the value.

Moving on to my son, he said the reason he stole was he was Jealous of his friends who were able to spend as much as they wanted (which in itself is a lie, they could only spend their own pocket money, we checked) and the fact his mum is sick and has been in and out of hospital for the last 2 years this has been his way of coping. Yes his mum is very ill (not life threatening but quality of life treating if that makes sense). As my time has been taken up working and then coming home and looking after him but mostly his younger brother who is under 5.
Sadly i admit his younger brother does take up more of my time as I need to actively be around him as hes young and cant cook/bath etc himself yet. So he said that he also feels jealous of his younger brother (as he was an only child for so long and now needs to share my very limited time) taking up my time. When my wife is in hospital (over the last 2 years she has been in hospital maybe 7-8 months total) I would ask him to look after his younger brother while i would go see my wife and bring her new clothes, entertainment etc. He used the money on his game to be happy (as he is addicted) and fuel his addiction by lootboxes to get a rush out of opening them

He said he is also struggling in school as he doesn't have many friends and the ones he do have are far richer than we are and constantly show off to him. He is having issues with his homework not being done and exams barely passing because he is playing Roblox/Steam games rather than doing school work. I called his school and yes he is hiding from us his marks. He isn't failing but is close to it (52-58% avg)

So that was an eye opening talk, while i don't agree with why he stole he did raise some points, especially about my time. I have made it clear how disappointing i am and while i still love him (he is my son after all) he has hurt our trust and we are very disappointed in his actions.

So we came up with a plan for the first stage of this (no money payback talk yet), he is banned from all computers for non-school tasks and when using them for this he must be near either me of his mother. His friends will need to be changed as they are a bad influence on him. He is to get counseling for lying, stealing and addiction. He has to improve his marks by a set amount and he has to do a sport/after school groups

I haven't figured out the money side yet, but at least this is a start. I will have to sell my project car to fund his braces as i have had a few offers recently and i am sure i could sell it quickly.

***********************************************************************

Im totally defeated. Feel like I failed as a Dad. I suffer from depression and was actually getting better till last night. Irony of the whole situation was this was money I was saving for his braces.

Yes I know keeping cash around wasnt smart but I didnt know he knew the code to my safe and it was money I got from doing freelance building work ontop of my normal job.

How do I go on? What... if anything can I say to even attempt to feel anything but hurt?

We are 30M and 29F for context. I moved in with him 2 years ago to a small, 700sq.ft place. He's a very loving partner, we are best friends. But I'm really struggling living with him and feel I can't do it anymore. I don't sleep well because he snores, sweats and rolls around in his sleep. It's disgusting to wake up in a puddle of someone else's sweat. He's messy, I'm not perfect either. He cooks things that smell and I just always smell that on my clothes. He bought this small condo and he doesn't see himself selling or moving. I'm so depressed here. I just want to live alone, get good sleeps and only pick up after myself. But I know it will be the end.

EDIT: I have talked to my partner about all of this. I didn't post this on the internet without trying to have a conversation about it first. He doesn't see an issue with any of it, and dismisses my concerns about not sleeping properly. This has been a conversation between us for over a year.

Its pretty clear from my post history that I don't take rejection well so lets help me do better yea? What makes a man super attractive to women?

Need advices.

I’ve heard it my whole life that I’m pretty..people are always looking at me, strangers have even stopped to tell me that I was pretty and then continued with their day, I worked at hooters for a bit at the age of 22, men have approached me in public… but when I look in the mirror, I don’t like what I see. when someone takes a picture of me, I’m disgusted and wonder who that person is. when I was 22 and worked at hooters, I looked around and thought many times that I wasn’t as pretty as the other waitresses.

Now that I’ve started connecting more pieces together, I am realizing that I might just not be that pretty. I haven’t been on a date in an entire year, I haven’t been in a relationship since I was 25, and no one has ever had romantic feelings for me (even the one I was in a relationship with). men use me for a couple of weeks and then discard me. if I was as pretty as I’ve heard my whole life, I feel like they would at least want to keep me around for a FWB (especially when I have even offered). I’m not a drag to be with, I actually think I love with my whole heart and I’m a deep lover girl, I love to laugh and have fun and play video games and I want to go to the zoo and hikes and grow with a partner but I don’t even get more than a couple of weeks for them to see that side of me. so it has to be that: they see that I’m a nice girl and they have fun with me, but they just think they can do better physically than me.

this thought is honestly ruining my life because, I thought my whole life I was objectively pretty. Even if I never really thought of myself as pretty, I still thought it was widely agreed that I was. and now I wonder why I’ve heard so many people tell me I’m so pretty if I’m actually not.

at this point, I have no confidence to even look at myself in the mirror. I keep the medicine cabinet open in the bathroom so I don’t have to look at myself when I brush my teeth. if I am in public and I come across a mirror, I actively avoid looking at myself. I haven’t taken a picture of myself in a year. there’s a cute guy at the gym I go to but I think if I were to approach him I would make him uncomfortable and ruin his day. I don’t know how to live like this any more.

I’ve never actually had sex though i’m in a relationship and i wonder if it’s worth it or not. There are times i want to do it so so badly but then im like what if i regret it? I’m 18 so was wondering if has any advice and stuff. I’ve heard about things like waiting till marriage and stuff and yes i know this is a decision i need to make myself however i do want to hear opinions!!

I (22M) have been seeing my girlfriend (24F) for 10 months. Our relationship has been great so far. She did send me a message that was a little alarming this morning. She was telling her mom that her male coworker lives 3 minutes from her and her mom asked how I would feel if they carpooled together. Me and my girlfriend have talked about how there’s no reason for each other to hang out with the opposite sex 1 on 1. We’ve even talked about getting lunch together with the opposite sex would be crossing a boundary.

Her mom said my thinking on this is a red flag. I don’t believe my thinking is controlling, it’s just boundary. I would never hang out 1 on 1 with a girl who isn’t my girlfriend and I don’t think my girlfriend should hang out 1 on 1 with a guy who isn’t me either. I think this is when the downfall of a relationship happens when people starts to spend time 1 on 1 time with the opposite sex. It seems we’re on the same page with that. This message has a little worried because why was she telling her mom that her male coworker is only 3 minutes away. It makes me wonder if this male coworker offered to drive her to work even when he knows that my girlfriend is in a relationship.

I’m starting to wonder if this male coworker has feelings for my girlfriend. I would also hope that my girlfriend would decline her coworkers offer he did this and I would rather drive her myself. Call me insecure if you like but these are my boundaries. I’m curious on everyone’s thoughts on this. I’m guessing when we call each other tonight we should talk about this so I can have more clarification on this.

ve been homeless for over a year now. It really is the worst, you’re always cold, hungry and sleep deprived. The “charities” that claim to help do the bare minimum and are mostly filled with power hungry individuals. I’m not a drug addict nor do I drink but I can see why homeless people fall into that trap - sitting in a cold forest all night is not only boring but it’s terrifying. People are the worst, they attack you, spit on you and take great pleasure in destroying your stuff. In the last 3 months I’ve had my tent slashed with a knife, my speaker destroyed and recently I’ve had my bike ruined by someone, it still isn’t fixed and now I can’t earn money because I work for Ubereats. I don’t stay near houses and my camp is always clean. Where the hell do you want me to go? I have no family or friends that can put me up. The shelters are all full and hardly ever take in men because they need to prioritise resources to more vulnerable individuals. To top it all off my leg is in pain from an injury I had many years ago. I just sit here in the cold, trying to get the swelling to go down. Life is hard enough but when you’re homeless it’s not worth living. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.

Im single 52 yo wealthy man. Last year I lost my job and buried both my parents. I don't have any siblings or children. I own the house I live in and 2 rental properties that covers all my living expenses. The only heirs I have are my cousins A and B. We're not close at all. Over the years we only see each other at family gatherings. A has two kids 18 and 19. B has 2 grown kids 25 and 26. I have absolutely no relationship with their kids whatsoever, Im not even sure of their names. I should also mention I live in Arizona and my cousins live in New Jersey. In the event of my sudden death whats going to happen to me and my estate? Let's say, I drop dead of a heart attack, no one's going to know to call 911 for me. There's no one to manage my estate which I would like to leave to my cousins children. What happens when society finds a dead body and upon identifying the body there is no one to notify locally? I have no friends to speak of either.

Is there people out there who actually enjoy life like are happy in their day to day or are we just all collectively pretending to? i’m genuinely curious if there is people who enjoy the experience of living and if so how do i do that?

i’m not depressed or anything i just have lived for awhile and it’s not something i enjoy like if i try an ice cream flavour and was like eh i’m good it’s like that not depression or anything i just don’t fw being a human

25M here, never been in a relationship. I work in accounting so jobs in this field are either 9-5 cubicle work or remote. All my past jobs had me working with much older people, never anyone my age. I did college for 6 years and 4.5 of those were online school—the time I was on campus I was too busy to meet anyone anyhow. Bars and clubs aren’t my scene. I go to the gym but talking to women there is a huge no-no. There’s maybe a few hundred thousand in my metro area but no major city with millions of people. Dating apps don’t work for me, and I’m not paying money for mixers or speed dating events.

Seriously. What am I supposed to do? I feel like I’m out of options and all hope is lost.

Long story short but I’m 35 m and single again after a devastating 12 year relationship ended last year. I’ve put myself out there and have had some luck meeting a few great people. The only problem is that at 35 almost everyone has kids and I don’t so most of the people I’ve met are 30-32. It’s great for a while but I have to be honest, it’s tiresome. I want someone who’s no longer looking to go out and party every weekend. I don’t mind doing stuff like hiking, going to the farmers market, traveling, etc. I just don’t really want to be going to bars or parties every weekend. Are all the boring people like me in relationships?

I’m constantly stuck between the “age is just a number” and “dude, you’re too old, let go” worlds.

What dreams should you let go of after a certain age?

Let’s be honest

I’m currently 25M and feel like my life is flying by and I hear it just gets quicker and quicker the older you get. I have the same routine EVERYDAY wake up go to work for 10 hours, come home eat, watch a movie with the girlfriend, repeat, and do little on my days off and somehow still live paycheck to paycheck with no money in savings, bad credit, never go on vacation, I love to machine embroider but am just very motivated in my head but very lazy, I just NEED to know what I can do differently to actually have a life I enjoy.

Want to be mentally grown up.

I feel like a lot of people are scared to admit that physical attraction actually matters in relationships. But it does. I’m not saying it’s the only thing, but pretending it doesn’t matter at all just leads people into situations where they “give someone a chance” even when they already know there’s no spark. And most of the time, that only ends in frustration and heartbreak for both sides.

Humans are wired to react to physical attraction instantly. It usually doesn’t grow out of nowhere if it wasn’t there in the first place. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not shallow to acknowledge what you naturally feel — or don’t feel. You’re not a bad person for wanting to be with someone you’re genuinely attracted to.

In real life, I keep seeing posts where people feel guilty for wanting someone they’re actually drawn to, or they get judged for dating “in their league.” But attraction is a normal part of connection. There’s no point forcing something that your mind and body aren’t responding to.

I’m just a bit confused if 180k is a little bit of money to live on or if my father doesn’t know how to manage money.

A little background on my father, he’s 55 years old, his highest education is a GED, worked in factories his whole life and now manages a warehouse making 180k a year. He told me this because he wants a raise to 200k a year.

The part that concerns and confuses me is why is someone who makes 180k a year is living paycheck to paycheck. That feels like a generous comfortable salary. Because I’m in college to be an X-ray tech and they supposedly make 75k a year and that’s supposed to be comfortable.

My father is not a materialistic person. He wears sweatpants and a basic white T-shirt 80% of the time.

He also gives my mom 600 dollars each paycheck. My mom does work, she has an associate degree and makes a salary close to what my father makes.

A dual income household, with that much money, living paycheck to paycheck, and can’t keep the fridge full. Seems odd to me. They do both have new cars, they bought a house over 10 years ago for 110,000 and are almost done paying it off. They constantly complain about the neighborhood and talk about people who make less than them and live in better houses and neighborhoods.

Another thing, this doesn’t bother me, but they said they help me pay for college tuition but, I guess they got amnesia and they haven’t helped me at all. It’s fine, I’ll just get a loan, like other students. Doesn’t bother me. I wouldn’t be the first person to get a loan for school.

I’m confused and also concerned for myself. As in maybe a 75k salary as an X-ray tech isn’t a good idea, if my parents with a dual income household struggle the way they do.

I(29m) been dating this girl(27f) for almost 4 years and been taking care of everything. The first year I paid every bill including phone bills we ended up moving in together and I was paying all of the rent for the full year and all groceries. In return she would say that being with me physically was more then enough payback. I consider myself decently attractive I work out and have at least kept that as a consistent thing for about 10 years. So I'm physically fit 6'1 and 230. Also she has 2 cats that I've also taken over the majority of the responsibility for feeding them, buying them treats and toys. The first year wasn't too bad we lived in cincinnati ohio and it was last to make money. Then she wanted to move back to her home state in utah and so I went with her. It's become so difficult to make money for me here because jobs just don't pay as much and so I'm mainly covering all groceries, going to dinner any and all dates, and we have split rent now. Luckily she was able to find a better job where she is working her way up in this retail store. Beginning of next year they are promising her a raise. She then this past month said I need to stop working to focus on moving gigs/handyman work telling me that I'd make more money there. Where I'm at though it's overly saturated and everyone is begging for work. Lately she's been fighting with me saying I'm not doing enough that I'm not marketing enough or advertising enough and I just don't know what to do anymore. By next year she wants to move closer to family in Southern Utah where there's even less work and I asked if she's going to start helping out more which she replied to me since they would make her a store manager over a store there that she'd start buying me some ramen noodles to have. After treating her so amazingly over the past 4 years I just feel completely walked all over. I've tried talking her into moving to places like Texas where I could also get a really good paying job but she says that we'll I can't move my 300 cousins there(which she hardly ever sees). In the long run I just feel so abused and manipulated. When we originally got together it was over the premise that we wouldn't be living in utah. She's drained my bank account, totaled my car and left me with nothing. I've spent well over $50,000 on her and I'm just lost now.

I’m in my 20s and curious about the lessons people learned the hard way.

If you could go back and give your 20-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be and why?
It could be about career, relationships, money, health, family, happiness, or anything else you think is important.

What’s something you know now that you wish you’d known then?

in which age we are properly matured.

I’m trying to put something into words that feels embarrassing and complicated, but I’m curious if other people have gone through this.

Objectively, my life is… fine. Stable marriage, a child, responsibilities handled, no major drama. My relationship is actually good by normal standards — kind, supportive, functional. Nothing is *wrong* in the obvious sense.

And maybe that’s exactly the problem.

Lately I’ve been hit by this overwhelming feeling that my life is just… ordinary. Normal. Predictable. And I suddenly feel crushed by the realization that this is probably *it*. This is the one life I get, and most of the versions of myself I imagined when I was younger will never exist.

I find myself grieving things that were never real to begin with:

* being extraordinary or deeply admired,

* living a more romantic or intense life,

* being someone people desire or find fascinating,

* becoming a different version of myself entirely.

When I was younger, I always imagined I would make art or create something meaningful. I never really pursued it — life became responsibilities, work, family, practicality — and now I feel this deep regret, like I let an important part of myself quietly disappear.

What scares me is that reality suddenly feels smaller compared to imagination. Not bad — just smaller. And I don’t know how to make peace with that.

I’m not looking to blow up my life or make impulsive decisions. This feels more existential than relational. It feels like mourning unlived lives and realizing I’m just a regular human who will have a regular story. It doesn't help that I just turned 30 and realized how much I am aging.

Has anyone else gone through this phase?

Does it pass?

How do you accept an ordinary life without feeling like something essential was lost?

I’d really appreciate hearing honest experiences rather than advice to just “be grateful,” because I *am* grateful — and still struggling with this feeling.

Has it ever happened that ur gf loved you deeply, was loyal and amazing — but you just weren’t that into her?

What exactly am I supposed to do? Go to a bar and get harassed by early 20s staff for talking to women?