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Have you ever gone from having a fun social life to suddenly having almost nobody to talk to? Because that's pretty much what my life feels like right now.

I'm 22F from India. I spent two years at university, and honestly, those were some of the best years of my life. I had a great friend circle, was pretty popular, and had so much fun. But after leaving university, everything changed. I barely talk to my old friends anymore, and some of those friendships turned out to be pretty disappointing.

I also had a male friend I was really close to and used to share almost everything with. But he's busy with his own life now, and we barely talk anymore. I understand that people move on, but I still miss having someone I could talk to about anything.

The ironic part is that I'm someone who genuinely used to enjoy being alone. I felt more productive on my own, read a lot of psychology books about becoming mentally stronger, being emotionally independent, and not getting too attached to people. I always thought being able to enjoy my own company was a strength. But now, it feels like that very mindset has backfired on me, and I'm struggling with a kind of loneliness I never expected.

I'm currently preparing for a competitive exam in January, so I've been staying home for the past five months. My parents are pretty strict about my studies and don't really let me go out. I also live in a tier 3 city, so meeting new people and finding things to do isn't that easy.

The thing is, before university, I didn't have many friends either, but I never felt this lonely. I guess experiencing a fun social life and then losing it makes the loneliness hit differently.

I have hobbies like dancing and singing, but they don't really fill the void of having people around. Seeing my old friends hang out with others gives me FOMO, and I can't help wondering if I'm wasting my 20s sitting at home while everyone else is making memories.

I know my exam is important, and I want to focus on my future, but I also want to enjoy my life NOW. I want to make friends, go out, have fun, and feel like I'm actually living instead of just studying and waiting for life to get better.

Lately, I've been feeling increasingly low and worrying that I'll end up alone forever. I know that might sound dramatic, but that's genuinely how I feel sometimes.

Has anyone else experienced this after leaving university? How did you deal with the loneliness and rebuild your social life, especially when you couldn't go out much? Am I overthinking things, or is it normal to feel this way?

I'd really appreciate some honest advice from people who've been through something similar.

Adult hobbies have this weird habit of turning into side hustles before they even get a chance to be fun. Make something? Sell it, and learn something? Monetize it, finish something? Better take photos and post it somewhere. I’m trying to find weekend craft projects where the whole payoff is basically, I made a tiny space, and now it exists. Miniature scenes appeal to me because there’s a clear sequence choose a little theme, assemble one section at a time, eventually switch on the light, put it somewhere, and call it done. There are still annoying parts: a three hour project can easily run longer, tiny steps can go wrong, and finishing is not always as fast as the box suggests. But maybe that’s part of the point. What hobby gives you a real sense of achievement even when nobody pays you, sees it, or cares that you finished?

I am opting out of paying into any retirement.

Assume that you are making 50k per year, paid twice a month.

Even at 6%, (which is on the lower side of average to contribute you’d pay $2999.76 each year into retirement savings.

Rounded up that's an extra 3k per year to do whatever you want/need to.

I would much rather have that 3k while I'm young and alive to enjoy it instead of banking on living to retirement age and finally getting my money when I'm old and too decrepit to truly enjoy it.

I am never having kids and I work a job that can be done at any age, so if I do live to retirement age then I'll just keep working. But anyone could die tomorrow, or in a month, or in a year and then all that money that you earned and put away is just completely wasted. And who knows, you might be alive but the country might have collapsed by then.

Basically I'm deciding that I want the full amount of the money I earn now (after taxes of course, no escaping that) rather than banking on a future that might not even exist.

It's my birthday today and I'm 28YO. I always hated birthday and whole month of it. This time I tried to not so hard on myself and managed to saty positive all week but I crashed out today. I ahte myself and I'm feeling pain, dredful and exhausted. I don't want to talk to anyone and I'm very irritable. And i hate myself for that. I fucking hate birthday. What should I do? Im not so down in entire year than birthday...every time.

I’m almost 40 and still feel like I’m figuring life out as I go. At what age did you actually start feeling like you had your shit together?

LinkedIn ain't working out too well and would like a good referral for tech 🫩✌️

Hey everyone. Asking because my overhead recently went up about $1k a month between a new lease and CA gas prices going up. I drive a hand-me-down, paid off car, but gas is still about $400 a month, so uber and/or DoorDash is kind of out of the picture. I already have an office job while still in school, so work is pretty confined to business hours. Other than that, I spend the scattered remaining hours doing some mixture of homework, chores, gym, or seeing whatever friends I can, if time permits. I’ve worked both retail and food before, but both are somewhat hard to come by nowadays because I don’t necessarily have 20+ guaranteed hours a week to provide them. Times are hard on the boulevard so I’m taking any and all suggestions. Give me the obvious, the obscure, and the crazy.

I never have energy snd i can never keep any jobs! Or go to college. Wtf am i supposed to do?

Well I don’t really know what much to do except for to post something anonymously.so he we go life has always been tough for me especially growing up and not fitting in and being “different”. But I guess and as we get older we come to expect that. But as life went on things got harder and I lost my mom to a car accident which broke my whole world and I have always struggled to pick the pieces back up. And recently life been really tough because I lost my job after trying to get my very first place and on top of that my dog needs medical treatment that I have been struggling to pay for but I love my babies to the moon and back just like my mom did to me and will do anything and everything for them. So I guess jm making this post for advice as someone who is 22 lost there job and is fighting harder than ever for his family how do people get through it all.

I live w my parents and i fear itll just get worse when i move out

My job stress and general responsibility stress has caused me to eat very little. I have had these sorts of issues due to adhd, but since i got my call center job, i am so extremely stressed during the week that i pretty much only eat dinner and even then avoid it. Im scared its making my gains at the gym nonexistant and is bad for my health.

Its not just my job. Its not being able to chill enough to slow down in general. I do not relax much. if i have "free time", i get so paralyzed with deciding how to spend it that i just dont do anything. Its not just my job, but also general responsibilities.

Im seeking therapy, but im still new at working full time. i have worked before, but at previous jobs, even during super busy shifts, i could still chill enough to eat. Call centers are generally just shitty to work at, or so ive heard, so i am hoping its better with another job. my psychiatrist has me on medicine for anxiety but i cant take it unless i absolutely have to bcs it will knock me out. it doesnt make me less anxious, it just makes me sedated, so its only good for blood work or flights or smthn.

Anyone got advice for adjusting to "adulting" and allowing myself to slow down? im not even doing half of adulting yet and im struggling, so i am hoping i can get this under control before i am living alone. Im not even doing a good job at it, i had to clean a ton of mold out of my fridge from food i forgot to clean for weeks and my laundry is piling up.

I'm 18 and still live with my parents. I can’t even go to places on my own time. I don't know how to drive for one, and my parents are really busy. If I ask for something from them, I'll have to wait months to get it. I want to be able to go to places I need to on my own time. Like stores or gyms or friends' houses. Maybe I can get a taxi to take me there, with my parents' permission, but that probably won't work because my Dad doesn't take anything seriously. Maybe I could ask someone I know to take me there with my parents' permission.

Anyone in a similar situation to me, what do do?

I have a college education, I also get job offers for decent jobs pretty regularly in tech. I went to college to work with software, and now I have relationships with some software companies and I get contracts from software companies.

However, it’s not enough money. I was working with one primary company for a while because the money was steady and I liked the work. Then I got a new manager and was abruptly let go. I guess I didn’t realize how vulnerable I was.

A few weeks later I’m homeless. I understand that I need to get some other job to earn the money for a new apartment, but I don’t even know where my skills would translate.

I know this seems like a fairly straightforward process for a lot of people but for me I actually am not sure how to dig myself out. I currently have 2 really good contracts and a few smaller contracts that I COULD be working on and I WANT to. But I’m homeless, I have no place to work.

I’m 24, I earn good money, my career is on paper what is traditionally aspired for at my age.

I’ve come to the realisation I’ve let it be the thing that defines me, my days generally consistent of just working and then falling into shitty dopamine habits from porn to doomscrolling,

I’ve got few other hobbies that aren’t tied to my work, I’m super lazy and can’t stick to anything new for more than a few days.

I’ve tried being consistent in the gym but can’t seem to stick at it even though I know it’ll be good for me, I’m super skinny and feel like I’m constantly getting skinner.

I wish I could get off social media but I work in the field so it’s not really possible, if anything I actually hate it, I never post on anything personally about me and hate the idea of it.

I live alone in a desirable place, my job is remote. I can go back home to see my family whenever but after a few days I always just want to be away from home again, knowing that I will be pretty alone.

I have friends I’d like to see but the thought of messaging them asking to meet up gives me killer anxiety, the fear of rejection kills me.

I’m single and never been in a relationship, I’ve had what I think is interest from women and typical drunken encounters, but sober I can’t bring myself to let women know I find them attractive.

I constantly hide the way I feel about life, and like to help others with their own problems instead of my own even though I know the person I should be trying to fix first is myself. I lie about how I’m feeling and a lot of things to make others think I’m doing well in the parts I know I’m not.

I feel like I’ve been awaiting the moment something is going to click and change, but it still hasn’t happened yet. I have friends, none I see day to day, but I’m aware they’re moving forward in life, getting into relationships and generally building towards something, and it’s really dawning on me I’m really not.

I wish I could stick to things I know I need to focus on, I wish I didn’t have constant anxiety about myself, I wish I didn’t hide behind ADHD as the reason for all of this.

Just fed up.

Daily reminder. ✨

I’m turning 27 and I’ve never had a stable job. I landed one this year and the fear of committing to it weighs over me. I’m from Australia so we’re very far from all the countries people choose to live in. I spent my 20s in unhealthy relationships, bouncing from job to job, undiagnosed and unmedicated adhd (until recently) and dealing with mental health issues, combined with overall low self worth. I’m in a healthy relationship now with my boyfriend who I absolutely adore and means the world to me but I keep thinking about how I haven’t been able to live overseas like I would have wanted to. I hear alot of people saying it’s something you should do and gain life experience while others say to build your career etc. I’m in the weird age where I feel like it’s time to start taking life seriously since where I’m from (Australia) the cost of living crisis is cooked. I know my boyfriend wants to buy a property together before things get more expensive but I’m afraid I’ll be locked in to something and won’t be able to be flexible. I don’t know how to navigate this time in my life. My mind constantly goes from: move out of your parents house where the trauma happened, see how you think and where your head is at when you’ve left and have your own space to just travel now while you’re young with no responsibilities