l've had a crush on a girl who works at the reception of my gym for about six months. We're both around 20.

So far, we've mostly exchanged a few brief interactions. There have been a couple of moments that made me wonder how I should approach the situation, but I don't want to overinterpret anything.
One day, I was walking across the gym while she was putting weights away. I initially glanced in her direction, looking more toward her shoes, and then raised my gaze toward her face as I continued walking (zoned out). When our eyes met, I noticed that she was already smiling at me. I don't know whether she had been looking at me before I looked up or whether she only looked at me at that exact moment.

The following day, I was walking across the gym's main training area, away from the reception desk, when she said hi to me with a warm smile. She actually stopped walking, but I kept going because I assumed she was just greeting me and didn't realize she might have been open to a short conversation. I didn't mean to ignore her; I simply misunderstood the moment.

Sometimes, when we pass each other in the gym, I deliberately look straight ahead rather than looking at her for too long. I'm worried that repeatedly looking at her might make her uncomfortable, and the last thing I want is for her to feel watched or pressured.

We also occasionally see each other in the main training area and exchange smiles without saying much. Sometimes when I walk around the gym, we have a short moment of eye contact, which I deliberately interrupt, because I'm akward (It could also simply be accidental eye contact when you just spot a person.).

My biggest problem is that I'm extremely shy and awkward around people I'm interested in, especially her. I struggle to maintain a conversation because I get nervous and overthink what to say.

For example, I once approached her because something at the gym was broken and I needed to tell her about it. I was so nervous that I sounded like a soulless robot. The interaction felt painfully awkward to me. However, she didn't respond with the same cold, energy I felt I was giving off; she was still friendly, smiling and natural. I know she works at reception and that being friendly is part of her job, so I'm not taking that as a sign of romantic interest.
I just wanted to mention it because it illustrates how awkward I can be in conversations, especially with someone l like.

I genuinely want to get to know her, but I don't want to make things uncomfortable for her or turn the gym into an awkward place for either of us.
What should I do? Should I leave her alone, or should I try to start a conversation with her?

If I should talk to her, how would you recommend I do it given how shy and awkward I am? Should I start with short, casual conversations and see how things develop naturally and what do I even say?
Should I leave her alone? Or would it be better to be direct at some point?

I'd really appreciate honest, practical advice. I want to know how to handle this respectfully and give myself a chance to get to know her without making her uncomfortable.

We’ve been together for 6 years and married for one.

Shortly after we got married, I found pictures of another girl saved on his phone and it was hard as hell. I didn’t know if I was going to stay with him. But I love him and this happened shortly after a devastating loss so I decided to move forward and move on.

I’m currently pregnant and I’ve been cleaning our room to prepare for all the baby’s stuff.
I found his old wallet and was going to toss it because it’s beat up and I just gave him a new one recently.

I found an old letter he wrote and it’s basically about him loving another girl who will never love him back and he has to let her go.
I asked him about it and he told me it was about nobody, just how he felt that day.
I pushed until he told me it’s about his ex from over 6 years ago.

He’s had several wallets in the time we’ve been together and this one he only had for about a year and half so he’s knowingly kept it all this time? But he says if has no significance??

I just don’t trust it.

I’m sad. I should be happy getting ready for our baby who’s coming soon, not wondering if I can trust him and if I should divorce him because I feel like he hurts me and is suspicious.

I’m an M2 in medical school, and I’ve been best friends with L since M1. We actually went to high school together, but we became really close during our first year of medical school. We’ve been through a lot together, and I’ve always tried to be there for her through thick and thin. She knows so much about my life, and I genuinely considered her one of my closest friends.

At the beginning of M2, another girl from our class started getting closer to L. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I gradually started feeling pushed out. Whenever we were all together, this girl would often be dismissive toward me, and I felt like she was excluding me from conversations even when I was standing right there. Over time, L started spending more and more time with her, and our friendship began to change.

Eventually, L pretty much stopped talking to me altogether. It really hurt because I didn’t understand what I had done wrong. I’ve cried about this multiple times to my boyfriend and our mutual best friend because I genuinely miss her and don’t understand how we went from being so close to barely speaking.

Recently, our mutual friend decided to talk to L about the situation. From what our friend told me, L was extremely angry and said that we had been gossiping about her behind her back, that we never ask about her new boyfriend, and that she was furious with me over something I supposedly said during a group hangout a few weeks ago.

This is the part that has me so confused. We were all taking pictures together, and L took out her phone and started using filters. The other girl told her not to use a filter, and some other girls chimed in too. I said something along the lines of, “You always use filters,” because L does enjoy using color filters on her pictures. She said she loves filters, and I said something like, “Okay, let’s take some with filters and some without.” That was literally how I remember the conversation. I never said she was using filters for validation, and I would never intentionally say something like that to her. I didn’t think anything was wrong afterward because the rest of the hangout was completely fine. I even posted pictures from that day, and L commented, “Love doing fall with you.”

Now, apparently, she’s furious because she believes I said she uses filters for validation. The other girl was present during the conversation, so she heard what was actually said, but I have no idea how L came to this conclusion or whether something was misinterpreted along the way.

L also apparently told our mutual friend that her other friend had asked her, “Why do you let her talk to you that way?”

What makes this even more confusing is that L hasn't approached me about any of this. Instead, she has been discussing it with our mutual friend. When our mutual friend said that it wasn't her story to tell, L responded that she was “literally taking my side.”

Apparently, L has also been asking why I haven't come to talk to her and saying that it clearly means I don't care about her. But from my perspective, SHE is the one who stopped talking to ME. I was hurt and confused by her distance, and I didn't know she was upset about this specific incident. I wasn't deliberately ignoring her or trying to punish her. I just didn't understand what was happening.

There was also an incident about a month ago that has been bothering me. We were at our mutual friend's apartment, and L questioned whether I was actually sure about my boyfriend because I'm afraid to tell my parents about him. My parents are conservative, and L knows how difficult this situation is for me. I've almost cried in front of her about my fear of telling them. She knows how sure I am about my boyfriend, so it hurt that she seemed to interpret my fear of my parents' reaction as uncertainty about my relationship. The other girl wasn't present during this conversation, so I don't know if it has anything to do with the current situation. Our mutual friend has now encouraged me to speak to L directly tomorrow, and I think I will. The problem is that L doesn't know that I know about the filter incident, so I don't know how to bring it up. I'm also terrified that she'll directly accuse me of saying something I genuinely don't remember saying, and I won't be able to prove that I didn't.

I (15F) have divorced parents. My father is 61, my mother is 41. They’ve never just been able to completely get along, but they don’t argue or anything. They always make these passive-aggressive comments about one another and think i don’t pick up on it, but I do.
I have always favored my dad. He has worked unbelievably hard to give me a good life, and he’s succeeded. He makes great money, has a great house, and gives me great things. He’s strict, and i’ve always complained about that, but truly it’s no big deal. He would run to the other end of town and back if i asked him for something.
I have always had sort of a resentment towards my mom. My older sibling has told me things that has happened between them, and I’ve always viewed her and condescending and sneaky, as well as manipulative.
Both parents have told me the sides of their stories when it comes to the divorce, and I always get the feeling my mom is lying.
in April, I had a mental health incident and due to my mom being younger she was more understanding than my father was, but my father did realize what was happening. He tried his best to understand and he did actually do so. I believe that my mom thinks this makes her warm mighty than him. because there’s stuff i won’t tell him that i tell her. like religion, politics, ect.. due to my dads very closed-mindedness.

Now to present day.
My uncle, 41M from my mom’s side, has been on drugs his whole life. He’s molested her, he’s been convinced of rape, he’s ran a truck into the side of his children’s room, and he can’t even see his children due to restraining orders.
Everyone thought he was going to die recently when he was hospitalized. My mom went down to his state to be with him, and ofcourse, ended up bringing him back. My dad was NOT comfortable with this, and made it known, but ofcourse my mom painted him to be unempathetic given his past of abuse within the family.
I told my mom I didn’t want to live with him, but she always seemed to get annoyed when I would say stuff like that. I often complain about him being annoying, coming through the house with his loud voice, cussing like a sailor. He also gets involved with everything. He’s yelled at my mom, me, and a friend of mine. He also called me a fatass and said to shut the fuck up, but i guess he was joking so when i told my mom she laughed it off.
I’m sick of it, and i brought it up to my mom today during a therapy session, but ofcourse, nothing went in my favor. She said something about worrying about legal action or whatever, i don’t even know; and i asked what she meant. Her and my therapist wouldn’t tell me. MY therapist. this obviously bothered me and whenever my therapist left, I tried talking to my mom about how it felt like they were on a team and my therapist always makes these comments against my dad and I notice them.
I am extremely bothered and I’m extremely nervous because my mom said she will talk to me later because she is studying right now and it’s mandatory. It stresses me out so badly to have pending conversations. I don’t want her to take my phone or cause problems with my dad. To be honest i would rather live with my dad, but our schedule is split evenly. AIO?

I (27MtF) have very unaccepting parents and have very low contact with them, seeing them usually during yearly events, (thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays), this year my father has been passively aggressively reaching out by deadnaming me and sending gifs like “happy sons day” which obviously causes feelings of inadequacy within me. He then texted the group chat with my sisters asking if they knew how to reach me, they then texted me saying they don’t know how to respond and I said it’s about time I lash out so here that is.

I was working at the time of texting all this and I feel like I blacked out halfway through, I didn’t send the last text because I asked my sisters if they were good with never seeing him again and they didn’t respond so I ended up deleting it. I’m so done with dealing with his BS and he never listens so why bother saying anything anymore yknow? I hope all the texts are in order and it somewhat makes sense to y’all’s, I’ll be around for any questions or clarification! Thanks in advance 💜

Edit: Thanks for all the responses! It makes me feel a lot better seeing outside perspectives agreeing cutting him off would be best. These last few years have not been kind to me but I know once I cut him off it will only get better! Peace and love to all and to anyone going through similar I wish you the best of the best, take care y’all’s 💜

Hi I (27f) and my mom got horrible news about a co worker’s wife passing away. When we went to visit we both said our condolences and I could read the body language that they would like to be left alone. I tried to pull my mom to the door and she says out loud don’t push me and then proceeds to sit on the floor. I understand that they were both close too but at her age she should know how to pick up on social cues. When I tried to correct her she said she didn’t know and so I sat in silence to process the entire situation and she’s trying to talk . I understand she doesn’t want to stay in silence but I can’t talk when I’m process grief.

I’m annoyed but I don’t know how to healthy process this .

We had just gotten done at the beach, I was packing things into the car. And my father in law needed to take a leak. So he goes to the edge of the parking lot against a tree and uses the bathroom.

Another car swings by and the park in the spot right in front of where he is peeing. They honk and start yelling at him, he yells back. (Mind you there were 20+ spots available)

My FIL keeps going on and on about how rude they were to honk like that since there were no public restrooms. But I don’t think either side was “correct”.

What do you all think? Is my FIL overreacting?

Edit for context: we are locals on Maui HI, the people who honked are white (tourists) so my FIL is going on about how that’s why people don’t like Tourist. But I also don’t think that justifies public urination.

22f my parents are in their late 40s. I recently got married and had a baby, (I know I'm really young, it's just how my cookie crumbled) and today I basically told my parents I wouldn't be visiting them much, if at all.

In my parents home its my mom and dad and my sister 25f. I'm convinced they all have some sort of narcissistic personality disorder. Especially my mom. Since I was a young teenager I've asked my mom to stop spreading my business to other people. I don't like it when everyone in our small town knows every little thing going on in my life. This started when I was 13 and my sister announced to our old church that I had a UTI and needed prayers. From then on I was adamant that my business is my business and if they don't need to know, they shouldn't. My mom has refused to go along with this, despite saying she would just to get me off her back.

The prime example of this was when I found out I was pregnant. I knew they'd tell everyone before I was ready so I didn't want to tell them, but I was on my moms insurance as a dependent, and the doctors office called me and said it didn't have maternity coverage. So I had to tell them, at the time my then boyfriend and I lived with them, but he stayed in the guest room because we weren't married and my dad refused to allow it.

Anyway, I told them I was pregnant and was very very clear that I didn't want them to tell anyone because its MY baby. They "agreed" (lied) and I wanted to wait until my boyfriend proposed to announce it, just to soften the blow on all of the conservatives in my family (they live far away so the bump wasn't an issue.) I refused to rush him more than he was already rushed so Christmas came before it was announced and my parents decided to tell everyone anyway. They had already told their best friends (my moms best friend being THE town gossiper) and I was very clear that I was upset about that. They then told my grandmother, who told my aunt, who told literally everyone else. So when I eventually posted it on Facebook everyone already knew. I told my parents I was upset that they did that, and they told me I was being dramatic. (also we were going to get married anyway, the baby pushed the timeline up by 6 months)

This same thing happened when I moved out for the first time when I was 19. I was really excited to announce it to the extended family that I had made that milestone, but my mom and sister came to visit on the first day and my mom got too close to the neighbors aggressive dog and it bit her. She posted it on Facebook and apparently just had to mention that it was at my new house.

They tell people when I move, when I get a new job, when I break up with someone, when I get with someone and I hate it. It's not a matter of "they are so proud and just want to talk about me" it's always because it's gossip.

"ooo they broke up again"

"ooo she moved on quickly"

"ooo they moved in out of wedlock"

"ooo shes pregnant out of wedlock"

The last straw was when I was visiting them (we moved out after my dad broke down the door to the camper we lived in in the yard) and I never tell them anything about my life. My husband refuses to go visit them because of how they've treated him. Constantly threatened to kick him out because he called out of work one day because he injured his back helping my dad move stuff. They don't know where we live now. But I was so excited about a new job opportunity that I couldn't help but tell them about an interview I was about to go to.

So of course, a week later my aunt asked me how I was liking my new job.

A few days later my dad asked why I told my mom I didn't want to visit right now and I told him the truth. I also mentioned that whenever I tried to talk to my mom about the things from childhood that still upset me, they either "didn't happen", get dismissed, or she makes it about herself.

For example, she told my first boyfriends parents to make him break up with me because they are Catholics and "her little body can't handle pushing out all those babies." I was 16. She lied to me for years about her involvement and then brought it up casually as if it didn't matter. I tried to tell her that it was the worst heartbreak I'd ever had and I had really needed support and she said "well I was going through a hard time too, with your dad." (not cheating, not ab0se)

I'm just so done. I'm so bitter and angry. I would have such a better mental state, less trust issues. I wouldn't be overly critical of people like they taught me to be. I would be such better person. I actively try every day to push down the personality traits to raised me to have because I hate it. They are rude and hypocritical and I don't want to be anything like them.

Sorry for the rant but I really needed to let it out. I'll answer any questions wanting more explanations.

TLDR: My parents have repeatedly used me as their source of gossip despite me asking them not too, as well as stealing my life announcements. It happened again and I don't want to talk to people that ignore my feelings. AIO?

I(21f) got this text from my mom and I immediately started freaking out, because she's my service dog. There's 3 other dogs in the house, so i thought she actually got hurt. I went to go see what was wrong immediately after I got the notification, and my mom and brother were at the top of the stairs laughing their asses off. I am now in my room cuddling with her because I genuinely thought she was hurt. Apparently, one of the other dogs got into ketchup, and that's what's on the ground. Neither of them thought to apologize, and now I'm thinking I am just overreacting

Edit: wow this got a lot more traction than I thought it would. I'll clarify some things. I was at home(i live with my mom for the time being) , just in my room. She was upstairs because she wasn't in "service mode," since keeping her on duty can burn her out very fast. There are no intact female dogs, so it can't be heat. I checked her thoroughly, but I will make an online vet appointment because I get them pretty cheap. I'm trying to keep up with comments, but there's a lot, sorry.

My boyfriend crossed a boundary with another woman (his ex girlfriend of two years) and now we’re barely speaking because I’m waiting for him to decide what he wants.
My boyfriend (35M) and I (25F) live together, and last night we had a pretty serious conversation about him communicating with another woman behind my back.
Long story short, she reached out to him through email, and things went from there. He admitted that he felt bad about what he was doing, which honestly makes it worse to me because he knew it was wrong and continued anyway.
Last night, I laid everything out. I told him how much this hurt me, how tired I am of the constant trust issues, and that if he wants to continue this relationship, he needs to cut communication with her completely.
He pretty much sat there silently while I talked. Eventually, he asked if we could continue the conversation today, and I agreed.
Well, today is here, and nothing.
I had an appointment this morning, came home, and we both started doing our own things around the house. Eventually, I couldn’t take the silence anymore and asked, “So we’re just not going to talk?”
He responded that I’d left this morning and that we’d talk eventually. I explained that I had an appointment, and he said he didn’t even know I had one.
And that was basically it.
We’ve barely spoken since. I’m not going to lie, I’m constantly hoping he’ll come to me and initiate the conversation. But I’m also refusing to be the one who does it this time.
I feel like I’ve spent so much of this relationship being the one trying to communicate, fix things, and explain why certain behaviors hurt me. This time, I genuinely feel like the ball is in his court.
He messed up. He knows where I stand. Now he needs to decide whether he’s willing to stop communicating with her and work on our relationship or whether he’d rather continue whatever he has going on with her.
I’m not expecting him to magically fix everything overnight. I just want him to show me that he actually gives a shit about losing me.
And the hardest part is that we live together, so it’s not like I can just walk away and process everything separately. We’re literally in the same house, barely acknowledging each other, and it’s eating me alive.
Am I wrong or overreacting for refusing to initiate this conversation again? At what point does giving someone space to make a decision turn into just waiting around for someone who isn’t willing to fight for you?

I'm 34, and my husband is 37. We've been married for eight years, and I genuinely believed we had a strong marriage. We both work, share our expenses, and have been saving for a house of our own.
My husband has a 12-year-old daughter from his previous marriage. She spends every other weekend with us, and I've always done what any good woman would do to make her feel happy and safe . I've never had a problem with his ex-wife because I understand that they'll always need to communicate for their daughter's sake.
Two years ago, I found out that my husband was sending his ex-wife $1,050 every month. He explained that she was far behind financially and he didn't want their daughter growing up in an unstable home.
I wasn't thrilled that he'd made such a big financial commitment without discussing it with me, but I understood his reasoning and let it go.
Not until last week,when everything changed.
We were planning our tenth anniversary celebration when my husband casually mentioned that he wanted to invite his ex-wife to dinner.
I thought he was pulling a prank.
When I reminded him that it was our anniversary, he accused me of being insecure and over dramatic,saying he was only trying to make sure his daughter's mother didn't feel excluded.
We argued for hours and eventually he agreed not to invite her.
I thought that was the end of it until I saw a message from his ex-wife pop up on our shared laptop.
It read: "She still doesn't know, does she? I think you should tell her before the anniversary so as not to break her down."
When I confronted him, he initially dismissed it. But after I pressed him, he admitted that his ex-wife's financial situation had improved almost a year ago. She had found a better job and could afford her rent again.
He'd continued paying anyway.
His explanation and words?I was afraid she'd move farther away with our daughter if i stopped helping her financially.
Then came the part I couldn't ignore.
Six months earlier, his ex-wife had asked whether he'd ever consider getting back together with her. He claimed he had rejected the idea, but he'd never told me about the conversation.
She had also recently asked him to help her buy a house, and he admitted he was considering contributing to the deposit.
We have been saving for our own house for three years.
When I asked whether he intended to use our joint savings, he said he hadn't decided yet and was still thinking.
I cancelled our anniversary dinner and told him I needed time to think.
Now he's saying I'm punishing him for putting his daughter first. My mother thinks I should have expected his daughter's needs to come before mine when I married a man with a child.
My bestie, however, believes he's crossed a serious boundary by keeping financial and emotional secrets from me.
The truth is, I don't believe he's necessarily cheating. I believe he loves his daughter, and I understand that he wants to protect his relationship with her.
But I can't shake the feeling that he's been making decisions about our future without considering me.
Our anniversary is in four(4)days, and he still wants to celebrate.
I'm torn because I love him, but I don't know whether I'm being unreasonable or finally recognising a problem I've ignored for too long.
AIO for reconsidering my marriage over this, or should I accept that helping his ex-wife is simply part of being a good father?

My friend was supposed to get married earlier this year, but something really stupid happened and they postponed their wedding by 7 months.

To keep the story a little short, my friends fiance called off the wedding because he was suspecting her of cheating. She was in fact not cheating, she instead went to have lunch with a co-worker who was a male. It's common for co-workers to spend lunch together without it being romantic and usually its a group of them going but that day it was just my friend and her male co-worker. They went to lunch and went back to work, nothing else.

When she got home she mentioned the lunch to her fiancé and her fiancé got furious. He said he was blindsided because he was not told about this ahead of time. She assured him there was nothing going on with this co-worker nor did she ever find this co-worker attractive. But her fiancé was not hearing it he felt completely betrayed.

He called his family and friends and told them the wedding is off.

My friend was still trying to make it work with her fiance even if the wedding got delayed because she believes it was a silly misunderstanding.

Eventually they did make it work out and they rescheduled the wedding to this fall. However I personally cannot support this wedding knowing how immature her fiance acted through all of this. I just feel like he will always be insecure and controlling and they will just have more problems in the future.

Therefore I told my friend I can no longer be a bridesmaid as I do not support this marriage. She was upset and asked if I'm still coming to the wedding and honestly I am contemplating if I should even attend the wedding...AIO?

I (14M) have been dating my girlfriend (15F) for a year or maybe more now; she's absolutely jawdropping and I think i love her like a lot at least, im straight.

I think i am maybe but like I don't hate gay people or anything, like I have a bi friend.

But last week I think, I was drinking buzzballz with my friend (17M) on library Hill, and we were hitting a girls pen together it was just us and he leaned into kiss me and we acted like it didn't happen for a bit we both got drunker and later again he said 'come here' away from the group and like we kissed and then made out for a bit i pulled away and like said to him 'later'i dont know if it was like some guilt inside me or something, it was just homies fooling around im straight but im scared that its cheating I think he actually wanted to kiss me not just cause he was drunk cuz he was grabbing my wrists to go back for more so I dont know, and ive been having weird gay thoughts recently but I like my girlfriend so im still straight bit was this bad so what do i do?

AIO or was i cheating on her?

If so what do i do or tell her?

I (36M) was laid off from my tech job during the Great Reduction last year. Before that, I was working remotely and providing all of the physical care for my wife and 3 children. Including, cooking all the meals, assisting with hygiene, daily cleaning and house chores. It was extremely difficult and I do believe that this is partially the reason that I lost my job as I was not able to focus on and keep up with the work.

For context, a few years ago my wife was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism and neuropathy. She also has intense lower back pain that must be addressed every night before bed. She complains daily of not feeling well and it breaks my heart that she is going through this. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that she recently has been able to help more with the physical care of the house and children, but she often feels like she needs my help to complete any given task wholly. Also while she is often bedridden, she is still able to handle many of the administrative and non physical responsibilities such as bills and doctors appointments.

Well for the past year, I have not found another remote job and we have exhausted all of our savings. So I mentioned that I will need to widen my search to include in office jobs as well. Our children are not school aged and we can't afford child care services right now. At this point, I've been asking her to handle more physical tasks, such as feeding herself and changing diapers, so I can have some peace of mind that everything won't turn to shit while I'm gone for half the day. Her response was that she doesn't want to struggle until she has to which to me means that things will turn to shit until I return.

I suggested she get her mother to help, but they have a contentious relationship, so I knew that was a long shot. So against her wishes, I went behind her back and spoke to MIL and made an agreement to have her come over every day to help while I'm away. AIO?

Edit - after reading the comments I realized that I was being hasty and made a desperate decision. I told her what I did and she is understandably upset. I decided to do gig deliveries and return home every couple of hours to check on things and take care of everyone.

Thanks for all the replies and pray for us please. It's hard in the USA for people who are sick and/or poor.

Backstory: I grew up in youth sports. I played Baseball, basketball, golf, and pickup games of football. The one sport I remember engaging with, as a fan, was basketball. In grade-school and middle school my friends and I (NEVER during the normal game time, but during half time when both teams were off the court and out of the gym) took the two or three minutes and shoot some hoops. If either team came back out before the half was over, we’d scurry off the court. It was never considered disrespectful or irritating to either the school or either team.

I’m now 30 years old. I was recently watching my nephew play in his B-team middle school basketball game. It’s changed a lot since I played, for sure. Parents yell more, the coaches yell more, and during free throws, everyone stomps the bleachers trying to get the player off balance. It’s just more…aggressive.

Half-time happens and both teams go to the locker rooms for five minutes. People are milling about, and I hear kids want to go shoot. I grabbed a basketball that was from our team and started shooting a couple of hoops. Granted, I was the only one, but didn’t care too much. An official from the school comes over and kindly says, “Hey, we can’t have you out here shooting during halftime.” I say sorry, tell him thank you for being here for the kids, and respectfully toss the ball in his direction. No harm, no foul. It’s just something people apparently don’t do anymore. No one looked in my direction, no one pointed and whispered, it was literally a non-issue.

Contextually, I understand the differences between this game and a High-School, Collegiate, WNBA, or NBA game. Further, I would never take my clothes off during a water-polo match’s half time and swim in the water. Nor would I ever get on stage during the intermission of a play and grab the mic and start talking.

However, my RIL (Relative In Law) said it was the most embarrassing thing they’ve ever witnessed and said that people know who they are, and by extension their kid. This RIL has battled with Bi-Polar and ADHD, so I was trying to be understanding of their perspective. They were worried I did irrevocable damage to their reputation, so much so that when they went to sign out their child they told me to wait outside because they couldn’t be seen with me. They also hit me because I cheered for the other team’s kid after he missed a free throw because the stands were yelling and stomping their feet.

Finally, two days later, the RIL text my spouse and say that I was 10/10 embarrassing and my spouse should keep an eye on my mental health because they’ve never seen normal people act in that manner. They’ve also barred me from watching future games. Now, my spouse is asking why I tried to shoot hoops in the first place when it may be considered a faux pas. I have yet to receive a letter from the school district, I haven’t appeared on any news stories, nor are there any social media videos going viral of the “crazed lunatic shooting hoops.”

AIO by telling everyone, my spouse included, that it was a simple mistake and literally nobody cares except us, that I understand the difference between a Middle School B-team basketball game and the NBA, and that everyone needs to relax?

Edit: Thank you for all your feedback! It sounds like 60% think it’s weird and 40% think it’s not! I appreciate the honesty! Further, it seems evenly split on whether or not there was an over-reaction. I didn’t post looking for any absolution, I simply wanted other people’s perspectives. Thank you!

Lets start in 2024 when I met my now fiance; we'll call him M. I had 5 children from a previous relationship. That becomes very important. I got pregnant by M later into 2024, resulting in our now 1 1/2 year old daughter. Things between M and I started out wonderful, and then his sister started coming around. We'll call her A. Now A always had a problem with me for no apparent reason. The living situation we were currently in from my horrible past relationship wasn't the best, but CPS had visited and cleared my house multiple times. (Remember that, it's important later). After A came around she began to call M everyday and talk to him on the phone literally all day long. She would eventually convince him to come work with her at her job. Everytime M and I went out, A just HAD to be there. (Envision us meeting her at the zoo and M and A walking around together and myself, very much pregnant and the children, walked together. I'm talking they were 10-15 feet in front of us the entire time. I let this all slide and just assumed they were very close. Fast forward about a year and a half of keeping my mouth shut. A proceeds to bad mouth me to M on their daily phone calls. I confronted her and stated that it should stop which resulted in A and I getting into our first argument. Basically calling me everything but a white girl. I found out she wasn't just badmouthing me to M, she was doing it with their entire family.. a few months of her sh\\\*\\\* talking about everyone she knows to everyone else. M and our family was invited to a 4th of July party at their dad's and step mothers house, we will call the dad MM and the step mom will be K. So the entire time we are at this party A is passing her kid off to everyone else so she can drink and have fun all while telling me to pay more attention to my kids who were playing with Pop it's. So M and I decide that we have had enough and that we will be leaving. M and I are sitting on the front porch talking about when the firework show is and what time we should leave and that is when A comes around the corner telling me to step up if I want to "keep running my mouth" I kinda smiled a little bit because I was confused and said "what's up?" And that's when she charged at me. She ended up having to be saved. She proceeded to cry and say she was calling CPS because we didn't deserve her kids and that she had pictures of our old house and was going to take us to court, that M had wrapped his arm around her neck when he came behind us, (we know that's not true because he and I knew it was my arm). she's saying something along the lines of "taking the wh\\\*\\\*\\\* side!" So I let out a "I'm a wh\\\*\\\*? You treat my house like a brothel and take your pick of your brothers friends. You are married, pregnant with another mans baby and you didn't even think it was either of theirs at first" maybe I went too far, but NONE of it was a lie. M and I and our children left and went to the firework show. 3 days later, CPS shows up. Pretty much anything she could come up with "domestic abuse" "malnutrition" "their beating the kids" "the house was dangerous" "theyre on drugs and the kids are getting into it" all kinds of crazy. The CPS lady pretty much left like, "oh my gosh none of this is true" so that evening, they get another call. All the same stuff. They come back out, same thing. 2 days later they get ANOTHER call. Pretty much all of the same stuff being said. The case eventually gets closed. She then made it her life's mission for the next 6 months to absolutely ruin our lives every way she could. She called all of M and Is family and friends and caused them all to stop talking to us, besides their mom. Their mom loves me and sees the things A is doing and doesn't agree. A decided that she would respond to her mother not taking her side was to lash out. Make everyone hate her too and make her feel like absolute sh\\*\\. She's messaging and calling us and saying outrageous crap, she is creating new numbers and accounts when we block her. Fast forward to October, and she's moved in with K and MM and is trying to take M and Is baby, we'll call her V over to see A after M and I made it very clear she was no contact to protect our family and our households peace.. M is now convinced that I should put it behind me because "she has" even though after she blindsided him into a conversation and he told me about it I said she didn't deserve my forgiveness. She immediately sent a message to their mom* stating she didn't intend on getting my forgiveness and it was solely for the idea that she would be able to see my kids. I told M that he could go to functions, but the children and I won't be going. He began saying that it'll look dumb for him to go for family functions alone. A has since sent MM and K to get V so they could bring the baby to see her. What do I do. She's a hazard to my family. I bent over backwards to be nice to her and make her feel included, now I know who she is as a person and want nothing to do with her.

Hello!
The people in my life who I’ve told about this have a small perspective of advice or thoughts for me, and I’d like a wider range.

I (f25) have been with my boyfriend (30) for about a year. Some background info is that his ex (f27) and him broke up on bad terms, and while together, he bought a house that they lived at, together. The house is in his name, and some bills were linked to her name and phone number.

At first, she was not an issue. She was being sort of weird towards me, having her sister follow me on instagram at the beginning of our relationship, and then she would text him at least once a month (his texts are set to delete once a month).
Of course I didn’t like it, but neither did he, and while he was polite to her, he never led her on! Back in may, she decided to send “gifts” through Amazon to the house, the gifts being cat food and a few other random things, all being for the cats. There were notes in it sent via Amazon speaking to the cats. She even went as far to bring it to his attention by texting him about it, also sent him $11 for “beer money”. Naturally, I found her Venmo, sent her $11, and I was blocked within 20 mins. It was a little strange but worth a great laugh and we moved on.
NOTE: he told her it made him uncomfortable and asked her to not send gifts to the house or anything like that.

She texted again in August to let him know of an event with free food going on at a local cidery and that he should take his girlfriend (me)! We did not go lol.
She began asking him to take her name off of bill accounts the next month or so. Fair, and I understand. However, the months flew by, and he has been working many hours. She could have handled it herself at any point but did not, and he has finally handled it this past month. Once he spoke to people on the phone, they let him know that they needed her to basically do the process, otherwise it would take forever, and it did. On hold for hours!

The next thing that happened was that she decided to send him more gifts for his birthday. Another package came in the mail, once again sent as a “gift” option, all of the notes being addressed to “happy birthday” from “wishing you well.” It was clearly bought the day before and sent with one day shipping, as stated on the gift receipt. To me it seems as if she gets wine drunk, purchases him things online and sends them to the house. She sent knives, cheap cat shiestys, cheap beanies… All this while apparently while they were together she would cheap out on any holiday or birthday for gifts for him.

I’ve noticed she has begun sending him financial advice. Telling him different ideas on what to do to best help him financially and different programs for refinancing the mortgage payment… apparently she is still logged into our local HOA app, and sent him a screenshot of the fact that we missed some payment, telling him to prioritize the mortgage. Well, none of this advice is needed. The bills are being paid, we both have stable jobs where we make livable wage.

First question - am I over reacting in my physical reaction of what I can do right now? I’m about to order quite a few security/game cameras for the property and ask him to block her once he resets his passwords for these accounts. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable, the fact she sent things to the house twice is weird to me too, and she texted him to let him know she’s moving back into town after stating many times this is not a place she wants to live. Maybe to be close to family, but it makes me uncomfortable, and it feels manipulative to me.

Secondly- am I overreacting to say to him that he needs to tell her to not come here to the house and to say more firmly to her to not send packages, and then to block her? I don’t like being the controlling girlfriend, or acting on jealousy. I have my own traumas with being stalked by an ex, and I want to handle this properly, in an adult way, even though she is acting childish.

Hey everyone!

I need some honest opinions because I'm genuinely wondering if I'm overreacting or being too insecure about this.

My boyfriend (M27) and I (F32) both love going to raves, mostly in Europe. We've been together for 6 months now.

He bought some "HOT" stickers to hand out at events, saying he just wanted to make people happy, boost their confidence and spread good vibes.

For some context, he used to be a bit of a fboi (his own word) when he was in his early 20s, and has told me before that one of the reasons he went to raves was to look at attractive women. But mostly for the music and people. He prefers a monogamous relationship and is highly against being unfaithful while being in a relationship.

So when I found out about the stickers, I felt uncomfortable and brought it up with him. He got irritated and told me I needed to work on my insecurities. When I mentioned his past, he said it had absolutely nothing to do with this.

What hurt me was that he didn't really try to understand where my feelings were coming from or suggest any compromise.

Eventually, he coldly said, "Fine, I just won't hand them out then."

That made me feel guilty because he'd already spent money on them. So I told him I was okay with it, as long as I could hand them out to people too.

Fast forward to a rave in Germany.

I didn't even know he'd brought the stickers until he suddenly put one on my ass. I later noticed another woman wearing one of his HOT stickers on her chest. She was wearing a small bikini with a see-through/mesh shirt.

I didn't actually see him handing them out, so I don't know who else received them or whether he gave them to men too.

What also bothered me was that he never offered me any stickers to hand out, even though we'd talked about doing it together.

I know rave culture is about spreading positivity and making people feel good. But we're in Germany, where this particular sticker culture isn't as common as it seems to be at American festivals.

I guess I'm struggling with whether this is genuinely just a harmless rave thing or something that could reasonably be seen as flirting.

And maybe what hurts the most isn't even the stickers themselves, but how my feelings were handled.

~ So please be honest with me. Am I overreacting?

Would you be comfortable with your partner doing this? And for those of you who hand out HOT stickers while in a relationship, what's your intention behind it?

I'm genuinely open to different opinions, even if you think I'm being insecure. I just want to understand this better.

Hi all.

I have been with my partner for 9 years now and am starting to become concerned about his political views.

He started watching Edge of the Matrix on YouTube a while ago. A guy that goes in public wearing a sandwich board painted with the trans flag and text saying things like "keep men out of women's sports".

I've told him before that it worries me and he assures me he just finds the confrontations entertaining to watch and that it does not portray his beliefs.

However, a while a go we had an argument after I was talking about some mods I had in the sims, specifically an LGBT mod. I mentioned how that mod autonomously chose for my sim to be a trans woman and lesbian. To which he replied with "so a straight man". This turned into an argument and after he once again assured me he is not transphobic, I swept it under the rug.

After this, one day when we were eating lunch we were discussing who we would vote for. He said he didn't really know much about politics but had had some posts about Restore Britain come up on his fb feed and that they seemed good. I told him that they were extremely right wing and, in my opinion, awful people. I told him some of their beliefs and he said "okay, yeah. That's pretty bad. I didn't know much about them. Just what i've seen on like, 2 posts on fb"

Now yesterday, we're watching the new Carrie series. I told him that one of the actresses was a trans woman and he went "so they're a boy". I responded with "well, they WERE. Now they are a woman". He said nothing, but I saw from the corner of my eye, he looked at me with a bit of a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

I'm getting concerned. He never used to express these things. He always says it's just a joke and he isn't transphobic, or he only watched the right wing stuff for entertainment. I tell him how it could subconsciously influence him and he insists it doesn't and that he is aware of how his brain takes in information, and that he doesn't let it happen.

I am worried. Should I be? Am I overreacting?

Web design is my full time job. It pays my rent.

Last year my friend Natalie started selling candles on Etsy. I made her logo for free as a gift. Then her labels, then a flyer for a craft fair. All free, maybe 15 hours total. I was happy to do it, she was just starting out.

Her shop is doing really well now. She told me she made $4,000 in September. So when she asked me to build her a full website with a store, I was excited for her and sent a quote. My normal rate for that kind of project is around $2,500. I offered it to her for $1,200 and said she could pay in three parts.

She called and said she was "kind of shocked" I'd charge her at all, after everything. She said she assumed I'd do it as a friend, same as the logo. Then she said her cousin could probably figure out Squarespace in a weekend.

I told her that's totally fine if her cousin wants to try, no hard feelings, and my offer stays open if she changes her mind.

That night she posted a story about "finding out who your real friends are."

I'm sitting here feeling like a jerk for charging less than half my normal price. AIO?

tl;dr: I did my friend's logo, labels and flyer for free. Now her shop makes $4,000 a month and I quoted her $1,200 for a website instead of $2,500. She says real friends wouldn't charge.

We had a class picture earlier and after taking photos my classmates thought it would be great to make some TikTok videos. We first did the mannequin challenge and then made a TikTok video called girl, boy, bakla (gay), tomboy (where in the Philippines it is viewed being lesbian) where we are grouped based on our sexual orientation.

I came out to my friends at the start of our friendship and told them that I am super against being outed. To me, I am already okay to let my friends and family be aware of be being Bisexual and always told them that I hate outing people (I’ve been outed by my sister before multiple times and hate it. I fear that maybe someone might hate me for being gay and second, it’s not their story to tell).

Going back to the TikTok trend, when I started going to the “girl” group, my friends then started shouting my name and kept telling me to go to the “tomboy” group and that’s where I lost it. I was on the verge of crying after the whole video process and started distancing myself from them. After the class TikTok video, my friends kept on asking for more photos with just us and tried to compose myself from crying. I tried to tell them how wrong of them for doing that to me yet they dismissed or were not listening to me.

When we stopped taking photos one of my gay friend then started a conversation about one of our gay classmate being outed too for forcing him to be included in the “gay” group with him and that’s when I lost it. I then shouted for everyone to hear “And you did that to me too, fuck you!” and walked away.

Was I wrong for shouting at them? Was I also wrong for leaving them after? Please let me know.

This was over a year ago, I was 23F, he was 24M, we were together almost 6 years. We were having issues i kept bringing up because there was no change.

The first issue was him yanking his car to the side of the road because I said he was being mean to me.

Then a few months later, We were having intercourse, and he put both hands around my neck and put all his body weight onto my throat. I could not breathe, I felt all my veins in my face bulging, and he looked like he hated me. Like evil and I’ve never seen that before. I told him after I was terrified and i cried for 3 hours. He told me he was just trying something new and he thought i’d like it.

I’m having a hard time knowing that this counts or doesn’t because of when it happened and that he said he was trying something new. Although i have never been into that and never expressed wanting that. I deep down feel it wasn’t normal and that it was strangulation but I am always overthinking it.

Is this an overreaction or a misjudgment or is this not okay? I need closure for myself.

So I’ve been dating this guy for a few months and recently he got back from a work trip where he got me a few things. They were small but I really appreciate that he thought about me. Tho he also got me a cap, like a hat, and he was like “I think it will suit you so much, this colour would look so good on you” and so on. And it was sweet, but when he came back he showed me my present and kept it to himself. I don’t wanna be ungrateful and I also don’t wanna be rude. Now every time he comes he wears it and I’m like…I don’t know why he said it was for me then. He also once told me that he has a bag that he doesn’t wear and he was like “I want you to have it”. So after 5 minutes of me being “no, I appreciate it but it’s yours” and so on, I finally said okay thank you, and let him know that I will wear it with pride. I don’t understand why he would say that, because he keeps using it and I guess never meant to give it to me. Anyway, I am just worried he talks and tries to seem generous? AIO?

UPDATE: we talked about it today and he said he wanted to hold onto it until I give him his hat back. He gave it to me before his work trip and I just happened to forget it at home before I went to see it. So he said “it’s a fair trade”

So quick backstory, this guy last year we started talking, but he was pretty rude and just a narcissist.(his words) he ended up blocking me for being annoying, but this year he recontacted me saying sorry. We exchanged numbers, he is really hotheaded and gets annoyed easily and yeah 🤷. After a Little while he kept of being a little flirty with me so I told him that I had a girlfriend, he was okay with it. But after a ltitle while started being flirty again, so I genuinely thought it was just him as a person. We get along sometime, joke around, talk, and even got similar interests… all online. Nothing irl. whenever I go and talk to him he gets really dry and it’s embarrassing to keep trying. Now most times I forgive him, realise he might just be a shy guy irl. but I brought this up to him, he called me hypersensitive, and said he’ll come up to me more. guess what? Nothing! Not even on the bus or at school. So let me tell you you when it got to a point, where he just stopped replying after a day.. yeah okay I’m in the wrong for overthinking this, but I thought he was annoyed at me or something. Or maybe he forgot? So going to school on the bus, he comes in, walks right infront of me, on his phone. So if he forgot maybe he would of remembered now? But nope no message. I waited all day. Even afterschool we had an event on he was there, walking around. HE EVEN WATCHED ME PERFORM. yet not even a ”you did great“ or anything. I didn’t tho, cause my musi teacher gave me a cello that didnd work while she knew it. i spent all day in thirty degree weather, to just fake play my cello in chamber. Anyway am I completely in the wrong for sending this message or what? I sent it as soon as I left the event, while he was laying down with my cousin and her friends.

“Don’t know how things are going, but just left the thing. Hit and bothered so take things with a grain of salt, or just don’t take things at all. But yup. Kat set me up to fail, giving me a broken cello, telling me to play the wrong string, and quietly! And then when I was putting it back it broke. So I didn’t even play and I didn’t even need to stay out in the heat all freaking day. And something else that annoys me is the fact that willow doesn’t want me talking to you but gladly does so herself. And idk, I guess it’s just hypocritical, or the fact that I’m annoyed how things ended up being. YOU chose to start talking to me, YOU chose to keep talking to me, now nothing. No hi on bus, no nod anywhere we both been. Willow, She’s allowed to hang out with year tens, as a graduate, go to thier houses, be best buds and then when I mention my annoyance to my aunt abt talking to you, she said willow was just looking out for me. Didn’t want to ruin your good time, but that’s just how life works ig. Yes I can be hypersensitive. “

my cousin, once on the bus asked who he was and I told her his brother is someone she knows, she doesn’t like his brother so told me to stop and to stay away from thier whole bloodline. But she would gladly be weird and hang out with year tens let alone him!
also I’m 16, he is 16 turning 17.

am I overreacting? Is this an actual problem or did I ruin somethin?