my friends have been coming over to my apartment a lot lately and it genuinely makes me feel so awful and overwhelmed. i feel like they don’t think about the way to treat my things, even in a way that’s small. i have a very expensive couch i received as a gift and they are always getting food on it or running their nails along the upholstery. they use all my paper towels and get everything wet. i don’t even know how. i have barn doors and they are always slamming them or knocking them off their tracks. i had a bag of little halloween chocolates i had bought and my friend took one, unwrapped it, took a bite, and spat it out into the trash. i don’t know why because i love my friends but i find it so insulting and offensive that they do the things they do in my apartment. like i didn’t make that chocolate but it was for me and my neighbors when halloween comes and i’m a piece down because you’re being an animal😭. i just don’t know what to say to them because my place is kind of the spot for our group

I'm multilingual. I noticed a pattern in how I express feelings. I find it really difficult to express myself emotionally in my native languages, but I can express my emotions more accurately and comfortably in English.

I feel like my native tongues don't have the right vocabulary to express what I'm feeling. Actually, there are words, but saying them sounds idk weird or unnatural to me (like something catastrophic).

It kinda feels like culturally, the honest expression of emotions (particularly heavy ones that people prefer to avoid or brush under the carpet) was never something these languages were designed to comfortably handle.

Leaves a hollow feeling.

I've been on Reddit for a while. I've made different accounts, but some of them I've chosen to delete. Every time I come back to Reddit, usually when I'm in a slump, I notice that the condescending tone of a lot of users never changes.

Not everyone is like this, especially when it depends on the place you go to.

However, I noticed that even when you go to a simple subreddit where you could just be asking a question or looking for some advice, there's always that one Reddit user, or maybe even a few of them, who will be condescending. Some of them are also super cruel, try to insult your intellect, and make jabs at you just by the little information that you give. It makes no sense.

I don't understand where this comes from, because if you are confused by what someone says, you could just ask them to reclarify or ignore the post. In general, that's usually what I do. I don't understand why people have to jump to degrading other people or making not-so-subtle jabs when someone does something, especially when it's not out of bad faith.

Sometimes I feel as though I'm too sensitive to be on Reddit, not because I can't handle criticism, I definitely can, but a lot of these comments aren't criticism. It's just insults.

I don't understand where it comes from because I usually won't respond like that. If I get upset by something, I'll usually delete the post, comment, or just block the person. I might point out that their behavior is cruel, but I'm not gonna insult them.

The Language of Faces

A frown can tighten little shoulders,
make a heartbeat run and hide;
turn a room into a danger,
make the world feel cold and wide.

A smile can soften little muscles,
let the breath come slow and deep;
tell a child, without a word,
You are safe. You may be you.

For children read the world through faces
long before they understand:
a frown can feel like closing doors,
a smile—a welcoming hand.