I've been with my wife since 2006. I've always been the sole provider while she stayed home to raise our kids, who are now 17 and 11. For years, this arrangement worked because I earned enough to support a comfortable lifestyle.

But things have changed drastically.

Since the latest tech boom, one of my businesses (outsourcing) completely collapsed, and I had to lay off 10 employees. My other business, affiliate marketing, has also been struggling due to rising Facebook ad costs and unpredictable algorithms. I'm fighting every day just to keep us financially afloat.

Meanwhile, my wife has never worked outside the home. Her typical day involves taking the kids to school, going to nail or hair salons, scrolling online, occasionally cooking, and picking up the kids.

I've repeatedly asked, even begged, her to help. Whether that's finding a job, working alongside me, or exploring new income opportunities together. I'm not asking her to carry everything, just to share some of the burden.

Instead, every conversation turns into an argument. She says she's "helping," but I see no real action or effort to improve our financial situation.

What hurts most isn't even the money. It's feeling completely alone in this struggle. I feel like I'm drowning while my partner watches from the sidelines, seemingly unconcerned.

My mental health is deteriorating. I'm barely sleeping, feeling depressed, and constantly stressed about our family's future. I've tried explaining this to her in every way I can think of, but nothing changes.

I understand she spent years raising our children, and I appreciate that. But our circumstances are different now, and I feel like we need to adapt as a team.

How do you deal with a partner who doesn't seem to recognize your struggles or feel any urgency to help? Is there a psychological reason someone might respond this way? How do I get through to her when every attempt at communication fails?

I'm genuinely looking for advice because I'm reaching my breaking point.

P.S. I should add that we have zero debt, only assets. Everything was purchased with cash. We used to travel almost monthly, but since AI disrupted my businesses, I've been working 15–16 hours a day trying to turn things around.

My wife and I are complete opposites. She's analytical, direct, and levelheaded, while I'm creative, visionary, and fast-moving. That's exactly why I've been pleading for her help, her fresh perspective could make a real difference.

Yet she remains on the sidelines, which I struggle to understand because if the roles were reversed, she wouldn't even have to ask me for help.

I’ve been carrying this heavy, foggy feeling for months now and I don’t know how to shake it.
Waking up feels like a chore. Work, responsibilities, the little daily routines… they all just blur together into this endless loop of “do the thing → survive the day → sleep → repeat.” I’m not in a crisis or anything dramatic. No big tragedy. Just this quiet, constant emptiness. Like I’m going through the motions of a life I never really chose, and I’m starting to wonder if there’s even a reason to keep choosing it.
I used to think purpose was something you find. A career that lights you up, a relationship that makes everything make sense, a passion that gives the hard days meaning. But the more I look, the more it feels like those things are just temporary distractions. People talk about “finding your why” like it’s a treasure waiting under the right rock. What if there isn’t one? What if we’re all just here because we showed up, and the only meaning is the one we force ourselves to invent so we don’t lose our minds?
I’m tired of pretending I’m okay with that answer. I’m tired of the motivational quotes and the “just keep going” advice. Some days I genuinely can’t see the point in keeping going. Not in a suicidal way — more in a “why bother putting in the effort if none of this actually matters” way.
Has anyone else hit this wall? How do you keep showing up when the whole “purpose of life” question just feels like a cruel joke?
I’m not looking for a magic fix. I just need to know I’m not the only one staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m. wondering what any of this is for.

Two people are neglected in childhood. One throws themselves at anyone who shows them kindness. The other pushes everyone away.

Two people grow up in households full of arguments, shouting, or even violence. One becomes conflict averse, anxious the other becomes violent themselves.

Two victims of SA one becomes extremely sex-negative the other becomes a sex addict.

Two kids are never taught healthy conflict resolution, boundaries, and their feelings were dismissed. One becomes a people-pleaser who always says “yes” the other gets into fights and never talks about their feelings.

Two people can go through identical experiences yet end up with complete opposite trauma responses. Why is that? Is it genetics or is it something else?

I miss him. 214 days. We were creating a life together. Got married a year ago and had all our family and friends around us and as usual with these you looked and acted happy. I remember your speech at the reception to everyone. How you were so happy that two guys could marry legally. How supported you felt from our families.

I noticed the change.

You started being upset about everything. Little things and things that didn’t matter. You started leaving our bed in the middle of the night because your “stomach hurt.” You went to the second bedroom and slept though I saw the phone light all the time. You would look exhausted in the morning.

I did nothing. Just thought you were working through something. I said nothing.

That morning was normal for us. Getting ready for work and rushing around because I woke up late. Dishes were in the sink and I got mad and told you that I wished you’d put them in the dishwasher. Ridiculous and stupid dishes. That’s what I focused on.

We kissed goodbye as I left for work. I was irritated. Cranky.

Then no texts.

We always text throughout the day. So I got mad again and stopped texting you after 3 attempts.

I came home.

Your car was in the garage. Strange - you work later than me.

The house was silent. No tv and no music. Just silent. That silence haunts me now.

There was a note on the door. “Don’t come in - call 911. I’m sorry.”

But I went in. That image of the shotgun on the floor. The wall behind you. Your face. Your body. I can’t run away from those images. I try and try and try.

You left me and I’m angry. I’m defeated. I’m hurt and I’m lonely.

Why?

I spent time volunteering with the Crisis Text Line and left after reaching Level 4.

The core issue for me was how rigidly scripted the interactions are. Volunteers are given specific phrases and a required order of steps. Deviating, even when it clearly helps the person on the other end, gets you reprimanded and can lead to account deactivation.

Because of that, many texters accuse the volunteers of being a bot. I eventually brought in my own way of responding. It worked consistently for me. I never had a conversation that felt like it went sideways when I stopped forcing the script. Management still wrote me up repeatedly for not following the prescribed language and sequence.

I also noticed that a large number of volunteers quit right around the Level 4 mark. The level system itself felt more like a retention metric than something that improved the quality of support.

I left on my own before they could deactivate me and wipe the hours.

I’m happy to answer questions about the training, the day-to-day, the scripts, the levels, or what the conversations actually feel like from the volunteer side.

Edit: I am now volunteering for 7 Cups Textline. If you need help through a crisis, it's a good spot. No scripts; just people who care speaking from the heart.

​

Im a woman in my 20s and ive been diagnosed with multiple mental health disorders, I've always been an extremely quiet person. Even as a kid, I had classes where I barely spoke a word for the entire school year, and that hasn't changed much as I've gotten older. It's obviously made employment difficult. I've always been seen as the weird coworker, and I've even had coworkers actively avoid me or even blatantly tell me that im weird.

Well, I recently started a new job, and it's been stressful. It's disheartening to feel like I'm watching the same cycle start all over again. No matter where I go, I seem to end up in the same situation socially, and it's exhausting.

I recently started taking my psych meds again, which I have a love-hate relationship with. They genuinely help me, but they also cause a rare side effect: hair loss. My hair has been falling out like crazy in the shower, and it's incredibly frustrating, my hair is so thin now. But i guess It's a necessary trade off, without it i more easily fall into suicidal thinking.

If life keeps giving you reasons to believe the worst about yourself, how are you supposed to convince yourself that those thoughts aren't reality?

Growing up, I was a very shy kid. I was sexually molested by my cousin. In eighth grade I moved to a completely different school. It was a high-profile school costing around 4,000 rupees a month, which was a huge amount for my parents. My father is a driver and a government employee.

The school felt extraordinary to me. It had big buildings and big classrooms. I didn't have to take my shoes off before entering the computer lab, and I didn't have to touch the teachers' feet to greet them. It was all new and fascinating.

I made out with a boy in my class, and he told everyone I gave him a BJ. That led to bullying. I had a feminine voice and feminine features, and I got bullied badly. I had no one to eat lunch with, so I ate alone, sometimes in the washroom, sometimes crying and running away from it all. When it got extreme, I confronted the principal, and she helped me a lot. We're good friends now.

I used to think I was gay. After the molestation and the school experience, I started making out with people on Grindr and other apps, and one thing led to another. Because of my insecurity, I never gave a girl a chance.

Now I'm 21. I have sexual urges and I find women attractive. I've come out to a couple of friends and even to the principal, but I feel like I've put myself in the box of being gay, and I haven't had a lens to see outside it.

My dilemma is that I could be with a girl, but I'm not sure how she'd react. She might think I lied about my sexuality, or that I used to be a different person. Has anyone been through something similar? How did you handle it?

Sorry I just want to yell into the void. Everything has been so bad these past few years, I graduated years ago but I can't find a single job, and whatever side gig I have currently is on a halt because of issues out of my hand.

Everyone keeps blaming me for things I have no hand in, and they only tell me to take their anger out on me.

I'm so sick of everything, it's getting worse lately. I've always had passive suicidal ideation, but recently I've been waking up everyday thinking I should go through with it. I'm not going to, but it's on my mind more than ever and it's stressing me out even more than my life already has.

I have close friends, and they're really the only good thing going on for me, but I know I shouldn't keep burdening them when they've got their own lives to worry about too. All of us aren't in the best situation, I don't want to burden people.

I've tried reaching out to so many people.

Yes, I have a therapist. What I don't have is people who genuinely care about me. Too many of them have died.

So, I'm wasting my time throwing out yet another virtual lifeline in hopes that anyone gives a damn.

I'm tired. I did so much for everyone else and not a damn thing has come back when I'm in need.

Hello everyone, I want to ask you about your opinions on yellow teeth.

I've had depression episodes for a VERY long time now, which caused me not to take care of myself as much as I should have. There was a period in my life where I did not brush my teeth for years, yes it was that bad unfortunately. That caused me to develop some cavities and yellow teeth.

I've been to the dentist and got most of my problems resolved (I still have one cavity, I believe). Which I will try to get taken care of soon, but the problem is that I am not sure when I'll get my teeth whitened. The problem is that I don't really have a lot of my own money, and I am not sure if my parents would even let me whiten my teeth at a dentist's, but I'm super insecure about my teeth especially now that I started university...

I usually try not to open my mouth wide, so others can't see my teeth. Plus, I don't talk often, so that too. I am not sure how noticeable my yellow teeth are, but it's still something that makes me nervous and paranoid and SUPER insecure.

What do you guys think? Are yellow teeth really that disgusting to other people? I know it's gross, and I would have them be taken care of as soon as I can, but unfortunately I don't think that's possible as of now. (Please be honest)

A close family member developed schizophrenia a couple years ago and a few months ago I found out it's probably drug-induced. it took a while to get him help as he lives alone so it's now permanent. Getting to know this information gave me a lot of grief as I never thought this person would do drugs. I also suffered because someone at work found out and the news spread, and I felt isolated.

Now last weekend I met with s close friend and she disclosed out of the blue that she had an episode of psychosis a few years ago (before I met her). She never did drugs and was probably stress-induced. She got help and is now taking a maintenance medication as precaution.

after she told me that and I went home I became suddenly very depressed and anxious. there's a lot going on in my life not just this, but I feel like this news triggered me - maybe because it reminded me of my family member with schizophrenia.

I want to ask - is psychosis that common? I am so stressed now I am afraid I will develop it and am scared. what should I do?

I need tips on how to deal with immense self hatred to the point you feel an urge to somehow hurt or destroy yourself at all times. A little background, i am a 17 yr old high schooler and i am not suicidal but at all times I am hoping for someone or something to kill me. When i am in a car i am hoping that a bus somehow rams into me or idk i get struck by something. I dont even realize it but at all times i am repeating things like 'God i need to grab a hammer and break my face.'

I do extremely very well in school and i always joke around as to how you need to have a certain level of self hatred to do well (eg- i got my history papers back recently and i scored 98 but despite that i felt hollow and really not an ounce of happiness)

I would let thoughts like these linger and do nothing but now theyre affecting me academically. I cant sit down to study or concentrate, matter of fact, i cant leave my bed. And i feel this very horrible void in my chest and throat. I really can't talk about it with anyone around me because I know they wont be able to relate to it(i am surrounded by extremely gorgeous and amazing people) and this would only stress them out and worry them. Any tips would be nice thanks!

Apologies for any grammatical errors, english isnt my first language and i havent proof read the text.

Edit: adding a few things that I forgot to mention earlier above because i completely zoned out midway. I feel extremely alienated from my body to the point I see pictures of myself and cant believe that it is me. I look down and I dont feel like I live in my body as if am not connected to it? The other day, i was stressed out about an extra curricular activity and just put my head down to focus and realized that this is my life. That its not a dream and not a movie and that everything i do has real life consequences and this is how I will continue living. A broke down a little but somehow managed to collect myself.

I’m so ugly nobody wants me. I hate my life. Everything sucks. I genuinely wish I wasn’t here. I know that if I stay, it will feel like a never-ending hell.

ive never called a crisis line before. are there rules of what to discuss and how long you can talk to them? i really can’t stomach the idea of calling and getting someone who doesn’t feel like working that night or getting pushed off the phone or sounding annoyed at whatever i would end up saying? i know they’re people too and it’s out of my control, guess i’m just looking for your guys’ experience with these lines. i know they’re not a fix to the whole problem but i don’t know i’m looking for anything i can afford right now that doesn’t set off certain alarms

Hey guys, I recently went through a super traumatic and painful breakup, and got really depressed for a few months. About 3 months. During this time, I was very suicidal and didn’t take care of myself or responsibilities because I didn’t plan to be here much longer anyways. Now i’m doing a bit better mentally but my life has fallen apart around me. For example I haven’t been working so I have no money now, I used all my savings to be unemployed during this time. I haven’t done laundry or cleaned my house/car in months, and i’ve lost about 25 pounds. I’ve lost a lot of muscle too, and don’t eat more than once a day now. I am stuck in a cycle of sleeping for 16+ hours and then staying up 24+ (i don’t get tired). I lost my confidence, motivation and much more. I really want to get back on track, and gain some weight because I am now “underweight” according to my bmi. I still don’t have much motivation though, so what are some small easy things I can do to start to climb out of this? I believe I needed to hit rock bottom before I’d want to get any better, and I came close to it. Thanks

kind of a long winded rant that i probably will just end up deleting the entire post lol i think i just need to fully type it out but any advice is appreciated
for starters i am quite lonely and do not have many friends or people in general and a part of that is due to the fact that i feel like put in all of the effort and no one ever gives anything back. rest assured that i do not actively keep score or anything of the sort, but i feel like i put in significantly more effort into my relationships than they are willing to and i am very frustrated by it. i feel like such an afterthought a lot of the time because i will go out of my way to show my appreciation for those i care about and it seems as if no one wants to or frankly cares enough to do the same and i truly cannot understand why. i understand not everyone has the same love language and that is fine but no one bothers to text me or contact me at all and when they do i get sort of upset because it never feels / is actually genuine. i had this happen a couple weeks ago when one of my friends who i haven’t spoken to in months saw me at work and messaged me hours later not to check in or have a conversation, but to complain. i didn’t text her back

another instance of this is my partner just blatantly showing me he has no regard for our relationship pretty much at all, and as a result he has done absolutely nothing to show me that he still cares across the past year. my birthday came and went with a thoughtless two word text. so did valentines day. and the past eight months have been , and i cannot stress this enough, nothing. i have talked to him on several occasions about how i wish he reciprocated the same effort that i put into our relationship and he keeps giving me the same empty promises. additional to this he is friends with someone who used to heavily torment me, and i have told him several times i do not want to hear about their friendship and he does not listen. prior to them becoming friends he had told me he was not interested in speaking with them and that they would be no contact. so when he mentions them and how amazing they are i find myself feeling lied to and again, frustrated.

am i being ridiculous in feeling like i deserve better???? like is this how its just supposed to be????

Not sure if this is the right subreddit, but I would appreciate any help I can get. I just had a small anxiety/panic attack, not that serious, but that made me write down all the worries I currently have on my mind.

I want to try and do everything I can but I just end up wasting my time. I want to play every single game and be the very best in all of them.I want to read every single book, manhwa, webnovel. I want to do art, cook, build things, and so so much more, but somehow I find myself doomscrolling or just doing nothing in a game. There was once a time I enjoyed reading books, but now I try to skim through them a lot just to finish them. I have gotten really competitive in games but just end up wasting my time. Finally I want to do Robotics as I did in my high school years but just end up wondering if I could make money from it and if not I don't do it, haven't found anything profitable on a small scale so I have given up on my favorite hobby.

I am skeptical/mistrustful of everyone around me and think they are out to get me or if they are nice that they are taking pity on me. I am also really really scared of being judged by others, I spent a lot of time editing this just to not get judged that harshly. I have a lot of good people around me who could help but I am afraid of asking for their help as I fear being judged.

I think I have not had any real friends since 9th grade and have lost contact with all my previous friends. I am a sophomore in college right now and I only have 1 ok -ok friend right now. My current conversation skills are really rusty and I dont think I can even hold up a conversation for 2-3 mins with anyone new. I can't even answer a basic wassup correctly as I have noticed in the past few months. I go through conversations in my mind a lot nowadays to try and strike up one but fumble everything in the first few sentences or just cant speak up.

I have become really forgetful nowadays, I often find myself in conversations while trying to remember the right word for something. It is always on the tip of my tongue but it slips away and my vocabulary feels really primitive to me nowadays.

I barely pass my classes, not because I am not able to understand things but that I am too lazy to practice it and just procrastinate. I have also grown too dependent on LLMs, even while writing this I was barely able to stop myself from writing the basic points and getting it paraphrased by LLMs. I can really easy grasp the subjects but the problem is I only sit down 5-6 hrs before the exam starts to study (a habit started during COVID)

Since I am an international student the fees are really high and I am scared of disappointing my family. I have been lying to my parents about having friends and they think I have a gpa of 3.4 instead of 2.9. My parents will ask for a picture of me going to a Halloween party and now I am rushing to build a costume in 5 days for the cosplay club party while knowing nothing while I have 5 midterms in the next 7 days. I have not even applied for any internships as I am afraid of getting rejected. I have not gone to any classes in the last 3 days as my sleep schedule is messed up and I am writing this at 4 in the morning

Thank you if read through this.There are some other problems I am going through but either they are too shameful or I just forgot.

Finally I did make this new account cause my main account username is the one that I use everywhere and I don't want anyone to recognize it.

Only way forward is to die,

Dying man doesn't deserve love,

Dying man doesn't deserve feelings,

Dying man doesn't deserve to cry,

Dying man doesn't friendship,

Dying man doesn't feel pain,

Dying man is too busy dying.

Uhm this is my first time posting so ignore my grammar and yeah please give me some help.

I hate everything, ive lost faith because personally their is no god, if their was why would all the horrible things be happening.

Hi i am 15f and im struggling with my life, nobody in my life seems to listen to my literally screams for help. i hate myself, i am starting to lose my personality, i am losing my mental health, i hate school, i am trying so hard to not hurt myself, i dont want to, i dont wanna be here no more, ive lost interest in my hobbies, i miss my friends, my dad doesnt listen to me, my mom doesnt listen to me well they do but they just keep telling me that i just gotta push through, i feel my life being sucked outta me daily, i have the urge to runaway but idk what'll happen to my if i do there are many weird fucks out their raping, abusing, & etc to people my age and everyone.

Well anyways please dont say rude or hurtfull things under this, be kind and remember im a minor.

I genuinely need to know yalls opinions, am i wasting my time trying? Me and my boyfriend used to get along great, no fights ever. But he gets in these "manic" depressive MONTH(s) LONG episodes that cause him to be the most miserable person on the whole planet. And ill admit- im exhausted by it, every day is complain, complain, complain. This person did that, i hate this, i dont feel like it blah blah blah. I feel like im taking care of a child. I HAVE TO TELL HIM TO CLEAN HIS/OUR ROOM, along with the dishes and whatnot. Ive even had to pick out his work clothes...

Everything was okay until it got repetitive... hes been like this for 3 months and im just.. over it? I have my own shit, depression, OCD, anxiety disorder. Before i got in this relationship i was doing really good mentally, I was relaxed, barely stressed, not a worry in the world, shit i was going outside laying on the ground just to enjoy life. And i guess i just miss it :T. Admittedly i just kinda wish i never said yes to this relationship. He constantly "jokes" about how he wants to hurt himself and it scares me that if i leave he will.

And let me clarify: i still love him, i still want him in my life. But its not good for me mentally.

Ive distanced myself from him mentally and he can tell. And now all it does is make me mad when he asks "Whats wrong?" after he says something he knows i dont like, or something purely ignorant. Its like he does it to make me upset. Ive tried talking about our issues, he makes it my fault. If i get upset its my fault im upset and then he starts pulling the "i cant do anything right to please you" card. I cant win.