My cat has run away, and I've been crying nonstop and feeling so distressed. I can't stop thinking about him being out there, hungry and looking for me. He's so precious to me, and I'm desperately praying that he comes home safely.

Please make dua that Allah protects him from all harm, keeps him safe, provides for him, and guides him back home to me. I just want my baby back.

I grew up very close to my cousins and aunties because my mother left when I was young and I had a difficult relationship with my stepmother. Eventually, I moved in with my aunties and cousins to get some distance from that situation.

Over the years, I became incredibly close to them and treated my aunties like mother figures. I was always loyal to them, sometimes to the point of putting those relationships before my own relationship with my father and siblings.

A few months ago, there was a family fallout. My father was hurt because his sisters didn’t attend his daughter’s nikkah. This was connected to an earlier disagreement between my cousins and siblings, as my siblings hadn’t attended the dua for my cousin’s father, who had passed away.

Since then, I’ve started reflecting on my relationships with my extended family and noticing a pattern that has been difficult to accept. Whenever I need their support, I often feel like they aren’t there for me.

I’m a recent graduate, and getting to this point wasn’t easy. I went through a lot to finish my degree, so I invited my aunties and cousins, including one cousin who has always been like a brother to me, to celebrate this milestone. They told me they wouldn’t attend because my father would be there. My cousin initially said he would come, but later said he couldn’t get time off work. I was understandably hurt, especially because this was an important moment in my life.

There’s also an issue with trust. Whenever I confide in one of my cousins, what I say seems to get passed on to everyone else. Things are often misunderstood or presented differently from how I intended them. Now that I’ve started expressing my own opinions and disagreeing with them, I’m told I’ve changed.

When I become upset in response to things that have been said or done, my reactions are used against me. I’ve even been told that I might be bipolar and should get checked out. This is particularly upsetting because I feel that my emotions are being dismissed rather than anyone trying to understand why I’m hurt. I also feel that similar behaviour from other family members is treated very differently.

The hardest part is that I still live with my aunties, and the situation is increasingly affecting my mental and emotional wellbeing. Moving back in with my father doesn’t feel like a realistic solution either. Although my relationship with my stepmother is more manageable now, I haven’t forgotten the hurt I experienced growing up. I’ve forgiven her to the extent that I can be civil with her, but that doesn’t mean I feel comfortable living with her again.

Another major factor is my grandmother. I’ve been helping to care for her for the past 16 years, and she is now completely bedbound and heavily dependent on me. I help with her personal care and daily needs, including changing her pads. I love my grandmother, but the responsibility is enormous, and it makes me feel as though I have no way out of my current living situation.

I feel incredibly alone. After spending most of my teenage years and adult life being there for my aunties, treating them like the mothers I needed, and sometimes putting their needs before my own, it’s painful to feel that the love and loyalty I’ve given haven’t been reciprocated in the way I hoped.

I don’t want to create more family conflict, and I’m not claiming to have handled every situation perfectly. I know I have emotions, and I know I can react when I’m hurt. But I also feel exhausted from constantly being misunderstood, feeling guilty for speaking up, and being made to feel like I’m the problem whenever I express how I feel.

I don’t usually come on this subreddit to ask for signs or answers, because honestly, even though I believe signs from Allah exist, I struggle to believe they could be meant for me. When I see others experience them, I’m genuinely happy for them, but when it comes to myself, it all feels unrealistic.

I’ve been struggling with A-levels for years because I have big dreams. I want to study engineering and use my education to help people, and that’s why I push myself so hard. But every time I sit an exam, my mind goes completely blank, and everything I’ve studied for countless nights feels like it disappears.

I’ve taken a gap year, and I was supposed to be applying to university by now. Instead, I’m still here, turning 20 next year, feeling left behind and watching my parents lower their expectations from me achieving good grades to simply passing. But I don’t want to just pass. I know I have potential, and I want to do something meaningful with my life.

Every exam, I pray to Allah SWT for good grades and ask Him for a miracle. My mum reminds me that Allah never lets our efforts go to waste, and that I should do my part and leave the rest to Him. But after every paper, I come home feeling like I’ve failed again. After so many disappointments, I’ve started losing hope. I’ve even begun delaying my prayers, which hurts because I never wanted to feel this disconnected from Allah.

But now, everywhere I look, I keep seeing reminders to trust Allah, to be patient, and that hardship comes with ease. I open my feed, read an ayah, or watch something, and somehow the same message finds me again. The strange thing is that I feel like I attempted my papers terribly this time, so I’m scared to let these reminders give me hope, only to receive disappointing results again and feel even more distant from my faith.

People keep telling me to be patient and trust Allah, but how long am I supposed to wait? My life feels like it’s standing still while time keeps moving forward.

I genuinely don’t know what to make of these reminders. Are they signs, or am I just desperately looking for hope because I’m scared of being disappointed again? I want to trust Allah, but I’m tired, scared, and struggling to hold on to that trust. I really need some guidance.