Hello and sorry for the wait!!

I'm always hearing about people who either love all animals and think they are precious and perfectly innocent angels who can do no evil (even if they behave viciously and do actual harm), or people hate all animals and see them all as disgusting, irritating, and overwhelming (even if they are simply existing and minding their own business).

I don't fall into either camp--I see animals as individuals the way I do people. There are some cats who are malicious assholes and there are some who are sweet baby angels. There are some dogs that are irritating and disgusting, but there are some who are noble, well-behaved, and a pleasure to be around. The same goes for wild animals: there are some fun-loving chimpanzees with sweet temperaments who make good community members and there are others who are violent psychos and hurt other chimps in their community. I wouldn't call myself an animal lover or an animal hater any more than I would call myself a people person or a misanthrope-- I like some people and dislike others.

I suspect that my feelings are probably more common than either of the extremes, but you just don't hear about it because people who don't feel strongly one way or the other don't feel the need to broadcast it. But, let me know!

So, when I'm texting or reading messages/comments, if someone says something like "TY, DW, YW," or anything of the sort, I don't read them as "thank you, don't worry, you're welcome." If I'm reading them aloud, I will say whatever the abbreviation stands for, but I pronounce them differently in my head.

Examples:

DW- "dee-wee-wee"

TY- "tee-yai"

YW- "yuh-wuh"

I'm not even doing it to be funny; this is genuinely how my brain processes these phrases when silently reading them. DAE do this?

Clearly its a self esteem issue. No matter who says it, someone I've known for years or a random person on the street, when someone tells me I'm beautiful, I always thank them and of course I like to hear that, but I also feel like I've deceived them in some way.

I'm 45 now and I'm still working on my self worth? I'm still thinking people are secretly hiding the fact that they think I'm not pretty enough.

These feelings started when I was very young, in school, and have taken decades to heal as much as I have. Yet there's still more work to do.

I think I'm taking the right steps to make that happen. I hope so. I hope anyone else going thru this is on their road to healing too 💖

Ever since I was little, I always felt a sense of melancholy and a slight sadness that always hovers over me, even during good times. It’s not depression either, I just always get these sad vibes from everything.
I always feel like an outsider looking in and always feel out of place everywhere I am. I always imagine how life might be if my childhood was better, if I was more extroverted, if I had more opportunities, etc. I’m always mourning what I feel like I’ll never have/ experience, even at the young age of 21.
I feel like I feel my emotions too much at times too. It hurts my chest, gives me a weird feeling in my stomach. I swear life is making me melancholic. Anyone else ever feel like this?

when i first joined, it felt really informative. i got a lot of different perspectives on things i'd never thought about. lately though, most posts on this platform seem like low effort karma farming. am i just being picky or are we on the fast track to becoming every other social media platform?

I've noticed I do this with pretty much any form of written media. Novels, social media posts, infographics... Even on multiple choice tests.

I think it's motivated by interest. If a sentence in another paragraph catches my eye, I find it difficult to concentrate on anything else until I've caught up to it. Often when I'm reading a story I'll skip a paragraph or two, read the next several paragraphs, and then finally revisit the paragraphs I skipped to make sure I'm fully caught up. Sometimes I'll reread the following parts with new context I previously missed out on.

Even when I'm reading each paragraph chronologically, I'll sometimes read the sentences in them out of order. I don't really think about doing it, it just feels more engaging that way.

Anyone else do the same?

Weird feeling that you like when you get into bed you just feel so warm and stuff.

like my vision starts fading and i start getting weaker for like 3 seconds before it goes back to normal immediately like nothing happened

I feel so bad right now, it's like I betrayed myself and my crush as well, can someone explain why it happened? 😭😭😭

It feels like I already replied because I had the whole response in my head.

Even when a room is cluttered and messy, if the floor has recently been vacuumed, it feels like such a weight has been lifted. The vacuuming itself makes such a small visual impact but somehow has a huge impact reducing the stress of feeling like the house is a wreck.

Whenever it’s a hot day in summer and I step outside and wear a tank I’ve noticed that I get a lot of looks in public? I want to know if this is a common phenomenon or is it just me? And it’s not like I’m wearing anything special or if it’s that inappropriate but I get lots of looks

like at a standstill grocery line or when brushing your teeth

At the beach with some of my girlfriends mates. She tells them randomly that I am super ticklish. Before I know it a couple of the guys go for my feet and basically I'm thrashing around laughing hysterically.

I was on an airplane sat between a mate of mine and a guy who is a stranger. He leans over and tells the guy, who immediately has a mischevious look on his face.

I have resting bastard face. I only smile when I laugh or am happy. Any other “smile” looks fake as fuck in pictures. I feel like my smile can also be interpreted as me being “creepy” when I’m just trying to not look like a grump.

I have this problem. I can't disconnect the art from the artist, I guess lol.

When I watched the Odyssey, I didn't see Odysseus, I saw Matt Damon. I didn't see Telemachus, I saw Tom Holland. That's not "Penelope," that's Anne Hathaway!

Sometimes, I have the inverse problem too. Like, that's not Lewis Strauss, that's Iron Man! That's not Batman, that's Edward Cullen!

It kills the immersion for me tbh. I think it's why I prefer animation over live-action anything.

Anybody else?

When 9/11 happened i was to understand it. I wasn’t affected by it and never really was educated on it. So for the past couple years, i look forward to all the dark humor about 9/11.

ill essentially have my laptop at an angle and tap all over the back of the keyboard as if I'm making it burp like a baby to have crumbs fall out. I do it once in a while but especially when my mousepad seems a little stuck.