Okayokay. My IQ is 75. Once someone told me (family member who knows about my IQ) that if they had to describe me in one phrase, it‘d be „literal waste of space“ it really resonated with me.

This is to say, that I am generally incompetent across most things. This goes to the extent wherein you could affirm that I have no areas of strenght (compared to other people, not myself) and I am generally ass or mediocre. Forrrrr example, once I had to do a poster; I literally couldn‘t do it, and my teacher gave up on me and gave me something easier to do. I‘m useless as shit!

That‘s fine with me though. I try to do at least enough not to inconvenience other people lmao. I don‘t understand money, abstraction, anything of that sort.

Even when other people teach me, I struggle to acquire skills, a lot. Like, my dad tried to teach me how to wash clothes but I kept messing up and couldn‘t get it, so he just gave up. I felt bad for him lol.

If you‘re curious about anything about low IQ, living with it, the consequences of it, ask away! I did this post somewhere else but got deleted
:(.

The weird thing is that I can drink wine and grape juice just fine. But when I eat them I my chest hurts everytime I breathe for the rest of the day.

How do you even know what loving yourself feels like if no one has ever shown you what love feels like? I don't understand.

Hello everyone 👋

Please help me with book recommendations to deal with this mental illness: My problem is I care too much about others opinion, judgement, bad things some friends did to me in the past keeps replaying in my mind whenever I'm free. It's chronic to the point I can't stop disturbing this sub with my issues.

I've been doing therapy for two years for my anxiety. Although I've improved vastly, I still have anxiety.

I could take meds, but I really don't want to.

So what's the solution?

To sum up this past year:

deaths of two people close to me

hospitalized twice

long distance girlfriend of 1.5yrs cheated on me (21m) with one of my best friends in january

all but two of my hometown friends have entirely cut me off because of this breakup (I've been away for college)

and most recently

in the spring, i became intimate with a girl who later spread false rumors about me after i told her i didn't want to go out with her. on top of these SA allegations (which i have proof isn't true) i've heard utterly insane things, like people saying i actually kick puppies or that i SAd a 13 year old??? i genuinely have no idea where these things came from

fast forward to now, nobody in my department will talk to me save my professors and my roommate. i've told my two hometown friends about instances where i will enter common areas, and people, many of whom i've never even spoken to, will actually drop their conversation and disperse. it's hard to describe this to them without them thinking that i must be exaggerating, but i'm not, and it sucks. since this semester started it's been constant eyeballing, people flipping me off or saying ew when i pass by, and it's just dehumanizing.

i've gone to the school about it, the most they did was recommend i go to therapy.

i reached out to one of the only other friends up here if she wanted to catch up, since we hadn't talked much since summer, and she outright said that she didn't want to be seen with me for the sake of her own reputation, even though she knows nothing that's been said about me is true.

i'm only ever in this one building/department, so i don't have any opportunities to make friends without going out of my way to join a club or go to a bar or some place off campus, which i've discovered is seriously unreliable and unsustainable with my work schedule. (my job does not give me the opportunity to speak to my coworkers)

i've only got this semester and next spring left before i graduate, and i've seriously considered dropping out or transferring to a new school, but I'm not sure how well that would fare going into a new school with only one semester left. in any case, i'm in a very competitive program at a very competitive school and it would suck to get my degree from somewhere else.

i have nothing and nobody. i'm sleeping 16 hours a day and still constantly exhausted, missing my lectures. i've always been one of the most extroverted and outgoing people i know, but i've gained such a distrust for people since all of this has happened. i've been contemplating suicide. it's hard to want to get up at 8 in the morning to sit in a hall with people who are hoping they won't have to sit by you that day.

fuck me

A. Damn my unfullfilled potential.

B. I regret that I didn't spend more time with the people I loved.

C. I regret that I lived after others expectations, and wasn't true to what I wanted to be, or did what I really wanted to do.

D. I really wish that I had sense enough to have taken properly care of my health, before.

E. I regret that I held grudges and over very old wrongs done to me or was angry/upset/annoyed with people over such trivialities. I wish I had let go and moved on.

F. I regret that I didn't work hard enough to have that career I wanted.

G. I regret that I was stuck on the same useless 9-5 job for decades.

H. I wish that I had stayed in touch with my friends.

I. I regret never expressing what I really felt and my true emotions.

I want to preface this by saying I am NOT su!cidal/having thoughts. What I mean by my title is that lately my anxiety has become a lot for me. I’ve seen a cardiologist bc I was having chest pains/palpations and thankfully was cleared. The anxiety was even causing/is causing lack of sleep and lack of motivation. I have been trying my every efforts to seek the best help. I am currently seeing a CBT bc this seems to be mental. Now my anxiety has progressed to having some sort of neurological disorder bc I had a brief moment of confusion while driving. I haven’t told anyone else this, but I feel like I’m tripping over my own words more often too. Part
Of me feels like idk if I could live with something being wrong me and would rather not exist. Not d!e but ultimately not exist. My mom has always tried to reassure me that neither her side of the family or my fathers have health problems but I know that doesn’t mean I could be in the clear. I feel like a burden to my BF bc he sees my anxiety and is the most loving person when it comes to my mental health but he doesn’t deserve the spiraling thoughts from me or my mother. I use to be so capable of pulling out of these anxious moments and right now I feel so weak to where depression has come back. (after being in the clear for 10+years) I’m trying to take vitamins and supplements to maybe help, therapy now but anxiety is making me tired. It’s 12:38am and I should be sleeping but I can’t.

At some point, I'm like, "nah, society gives out too many consequences to people who act like hot messes."

So previously, as an introvert, I hated people because they were too loud, too rude, too stupid at times, and generally I found holding a conversation to be quite tedious.

Now, as a person who has made friends yet started hating them, I realize that I hate people simply because they are uncontrollable. I don't hate my family, however, no matter how some things they say truly hurt me and bother me.

But other people I just genuinely cannot care about anymore. It's like I've come to a realization where everyone but my family is replaceable and so when they show me a side of themselves I dislike I can immediately just separate from them.

I cannot make real bonds with people. The more I get close, the more I hate them. I think I'm just going to have superficial friends from now on that you can have a meal or a drink with, chat for a while, then easily not see for months and not care in the least.

Am I broken as a person? I'm not sure. But the same thing I said, that everyone but family is replaceable, I've heard that from other people as well, and I'm just wondering what on earth is happening to humanity that we've all started to hate each other and close off.

Another lockdown would be nice.

Douglas Harding has this fun thought experiment in his book, where he points out that we only know we have a head because of mirrors and other people. In our actual moment to moment experience, we are just an open space that the rest of the room happens inside of.

Tried paying attention to it on my walk today and it felt surprisingly peaceful, like walking into a painting instead of being trapped behind eyes.

Anyone else ever play around with that mental switch?

Coming home from work, just outside my subdivision, 2 cats ran in front of the road as I was approaching.

I heard a loud thump.

I turned my car around to check.

I had to put it out of its misery. The other cat was looking over the side of the ditch, checking on their friend.

There are dozens of ferrel cats in my area, but this one had a collar.

I feel terrible.

Every few weeks, I feel like I need to change my whole life. New habits, new goals, new routine. I feel motivated for a while, then slowly go back to my old ways.

Maybe the problem isn't that I don't know how to change. Maybe I am too focused on the excitement of starting instead of the boring part of staying consistent.

Trying to figure out how to break this cycle.

Obviously nothing weird. Just chit chat and talk about life and games, movies or whatever.

I tried doing the name 100 women challenge using QTCinderella's rules

https://x.com/qtcinderella/status/1772787434704814530

I quit at 47 names after 20 minutes. I could've probably named like 20 more names, but it would've taken really long.

I wanted to talk about it, because it's actually pretty frustrating. I'm really bad with names and trying to do the challenge just felt like my brain doesn't work properly. There were a ton of women that I could think of, but I couldn't remember their names. I googled the challenge to see how other people have done doing the challenge and it really seems like I'm in the minority with how badly I did.

Aside from my bad name recollection, I was also bad at the challenge because of my interests or should I say my lack of certain interests. I don't watch any women's sports, so I couldn't write an entire sports team roster. Well actually I don't really watch any sports aside from F1. Still most of my interests are male dominated.

I thought I would be able to name more politicians, but I only named a few. I consume a lot of content about politics and world news, but 99% of that doesn't stay in my head and the parts that do are vague recollections of events and people.

Most of the names I wrote are actresses, singers and content creators. To me it makes sense that I remember singers and content creators, since I actually write their names when I'm searching for their stuff. Trying to remember the names of actresses was annoying, because I probably thought of 50 actresses that I couldn't name.

Interestingly even tho I'm finnish I only named one finnish person (Tarja Halonen, former president). I'm chronically online and I don't watch TV or anything like that so everything I consume is more international/american. I really should follow domestic politics more tho.

I also tried the same challenge, but with men. I completed it in 28 minutes. Didn't surprise me that it was easier, but I was surprised by how many male content creators I named. I didn't realize how skewed the gender distribution of the content creators I watch is. Aside from content creators I also found it a lot easier to name male politicians and athletes. Even tho I don't really watch sports, I could name a lot more famous male athletes. There are just more really famous ones like Lebron James, Messi etc.

Have you guys tried this challenge and how did you guys do?

What a struggle it is to have a struggling phone, one that you have to make multiple prayers and have to twist and turn the cable just to get it to charge🚮

Im a facially below average guy, was at a kids birthday party with my family and I was off to the side with my mum complaining about my long shoulder length hair saying I wish I could just cut it off and she like usual told me not too but then she said "you'd look plain", I've fucking hated my long hair I've had for most of my life for the longest time but I've been too afraid to cut it because my mum has basically drilled it into my head so much that it looks good and that id look plain and wouldn't suit short hair so I just basically put up with this ungainly mop on my head and tie it back everytime I go out to reduce the sensory discomfort of it

So, she always tells me that I look beautiful and immediately dismisses any of my rants about people having abject reactions to my looks but this specific line really made me feel sus that my mum actually on some level recognises that I am below average looking and that my long hair is the only thing that makes me "stand out", because if she really thought I was "beautiful" surely she'd tell me id look good with any haircut? But she just absolutely insists that my long hair is my "shining glory" no matter how many times I tell her how much I fucking hate it, so here I am 27 years old, my 20s are almost over and I still have this fucking shaggy mop on my head which I loathe all because I'm too scared of how she'd react if I got it all lopped off, it might send her into some weird mental breakdown since I've had it shoulder length since I was a child

At college today, I was sitting in a chair in the hallway, waiting for my friends to finish their class. And a girl walking by with a nurse behind her all the sudden started making weird sounds.

A low, constant sound. Like she was in pain. At first I thought maybe it’s some sort of disability, but then the nurse started holding her up, and sat her down on the chair next to me. And she was shaking so hard my chair shook, it was terrifying, I’ve never seen someone shake like that before.

I tried not to look over, it was maybe like ten seconds before she stopped and went slack. I had stood up by then, and the nurse was with her, she must’ve passed out, I couldn’t tell because her cap was covering her face.

I saw another nurse rush down the hallway with a wheel chair, but I was walking out by then.

Holy shit was it terrifying, just seeing it I can’t imagine going through it. I really hope she’s okay.

Medical emergencies will forever scare the shit out of me. Have any of you seen this before? It’s so surreal. Like I’ve read about seizures and saw stuff online but seeing it happen in real life is so different.

which will revolutionize society's views on the death penalty

Pretty underweight (always been) 19M. For the past 4 months, I have been experiencing a constant feeling of unreality. It feels as though I am drunk/high or half-asleep, as if I am on autopilot and everything around me feels somewhat unreal. I have searched online, and my symptoms seem to resemble derealization.

In addition to this, I experience fatigue even when I sleep well. The fatigue does not seem to depend on whether I do physical activities during the day or not. However, over the past few weeks, I have started sleeping poorly and waking up early in the morning.

I also experience headaches, pressure in my head, and neck pain. I have tried muscle relaxants and massage therapy for the neck pain, but neither has helped. Also at the start of this i sometimes felt like fainting when walking but it has gone away. I also have noticed one singular eye floater on my right eye.

What could be causing these symptoms? They do not occur in distinct episodes, and the headache is not particularly severe. It feels more like a tension-type headache.

I have tried Triptyl, but it did not help. My thyroid function is normal, as are my vitamin B12, B9 and vitamin D levels. My ferritin level is 37. And it has been changing from 49 to 24. I also havw crohns disease which is in remission.

My neurologist prescribed escitalopram as a trial, which I took for two and a half months, but it did not help. She also did head mri and there was nothing wrong.

I have no history of trauma, no panic symptoms, and generally do not experience much stress, apart from the stress caused by these symptoms themselves.

My symptoms started in the final days of my new job in car repairshop where i was moving car tires and lifting them. Im not sure if this can be linked to that because i didnt have any symptoms expect the final days. I have not been working at all during this 4 month period.

What could be the underlying cause of these symptoms?

Hi, I went to my friends house recently and we were going to plan our first girls holiday for next summer and just have like wine and snacks or something. But, I'm not gonna lie I can't really remember but we ended up doing shots and I'm not sure how much I drank but I'm a heavy weight and it was probably a lot... I don't remember what state anyone else was in but I don't think nearly as bad from my memory I ended up lying down on her living room floor throwing up with her mum and one of my friends helping me.

I am genuinely soooo embarrassed cause I obviously just went too far and don't know whether anyone else was even that drunk. I messaged her the next day to say sorry + thank u and she said i didn't need to apologise.

I'm not gonna lie I just want reassurance / someone to share bad stories as I'm really nervous to see them again.

I worked for 12 years as an editor. My specialty was developmental editing, meaning I helped authors with big-picture stuff. In fiction, that meant critiquing and workshopping story beats, character development, plot, continuity, themes, and literary devices, as well as the author's style and technique. In non-fiction, that meant fact-checking, research, going through interviews and data, developing the author's thesis and arguments, and more. 

There was just something so magical about the whole process... imagine you meet this person who is working on this little stick figure sketch. And it's just stick figures, but you can see that this means something to the artist; it's something deeply special and personal to them, and you can tell they have the dedication to become a great artist someday. 

So every day you coach them and teach them, polish up their technique, and then after a while they've made this masterpiece, and it's beautiful, and it's everything they wanted it to be, and this artist is just so happy that they've made it! And maybe they won't be like... Van Gogh famous or anything, maybe they don't make a million dollars, maybe they don't even make a hundred, but they've done something amazing - with their own two human hands! - and they're proud, and you get to be proud of them because you were a part of it. 

That's what it feels like. 

A lot of the clients I worked with, they had no one to share their work with. They didn't talk about it with their friends or family. It was all just a bunch of ideas in their head that they were trying to translate to text. And then I'd talk to them about their work, and they would be so passionate and excited, and their passion was always so infectious. They'd get so hyped up about their work, and I got hyped up with them. 

It's hard to explain the joy that you feel from being around passionate, creative people. Being a part of their journey. You just soak in all that energy, and it makes you feel alive. Because these aren't just ideas in random people's heads, being an editor meant I got to watch all these stories become real, tangible things I could actually hold in my hands!

Truth be told, I moved on from that career path because I had a family and freelancing just wasn't stable enough to support them. Some months you do good, but others you don't, and I needed something that was more reliable and consistent because I have people who depend on me now. The industry can be pretty cut-throat, and you're competing with an endless, faceless army of scammers who prey on new authors. 

I keep up with trends in the industry, and it makes me sad, truth be told. From the moment you start to take your writing career seriously, you are assailed by scammers - from phony editors and cover artists to scummy vanity publishers to slimeball "social media managers," and promoters and advertisers. So much of the industry is designed to take advantage of creative people and leave them penniless and unfulfilled, and with AI now it's gotten even worse. 

I always tried to be the person I would want in my corner if I needed it. I hope I don't sound conceited when I say I feel like when I was an editor I got to make a real, meaningful difference for people. 

Authors - all creative people, really - just need someone who believes in them. Their stories are cool, fun, interesting, and special. I've had more fun going through amateur manuscripts with offensive grammar than I ever have reading bestsellers. Stephen King is great, but when you finish something like It, you don't get to, like... hang out with him on Discord and help him work out his next book. 

In another life, I would have done this till the day I died.

I went no contact with my family. Am I going to run out of supportive people or support lines because I’m scared they’re going to be related to my past family. They constantly seek me out. They constantly make attempts. I’ve gone no contact but I’m so drained from cutting people out of my life following them because I’m scared somehow magically they willl be connected to them or lead me back to them. What if I really do run out of people to support me

I have my ups and downs like everyone but generally I'm quite a happy man.

Last night after going out drinking and coming home some of the worst mood and feeling of Doom ever hit me for a relatively small reason and I felt like the day won't pass and I couldn't get to sleep either, so I experimented on slowly hanging myself with my belt from the doorhandle but ultimately backed out.

I don't know what got into me.