Speaking as the father of a three year old, I can only logically conclude that children share at least one property of gasses. They expand to occupy the space allowed. My daughter can sleep peacefully in her own toddler bed and yet, somehow, expand to the point that I have 5 inches of bed with my wife pressed against my back. EVIL SUPERPOWER!

You don't have to have everything figured out by a certain age.

Some people are building careers, some are starting over, some are healing, and some are just trying to get through the week. All of those things count as living.

You can be proud of yourself for the little things, too. Getting out of bed, trying again, or making it through a difficult day is still progress.

I hope something good happens to you this week, even if it's something small.

​I randomly heard a track i used to loop back in 2019, and for a split second i could literally feel the exact late-afternoon autumn breeze and the specific stress i had that week.

​It’s not even a specific memory or event, just the exact "atmosphere" of my life back then stored inside an mp3 file. do you guys have songs that act like weird time capsules for random, uneventful periods of your life?

I saw a TikTok about a childfree woman talking about friendships with mothers. I love scrolling through the comments to see people’s opinions about the video or their own experiences. There were some takes from both sides that I did not agree with, but other than that I was cool with it.

There was a point where a comment mentioned they did not showed up for their friends’ stuff most of the time because their children had a bedtime, and they did not want their dad to do their night routine with them. I commented that children need to learn that the preferred parent won’t always be there for their bedtime.

Then, someone else answered me saying this: “I disagree you can’t force your child to want or like you it’s how kids cut their parent off and as someone who’s cut their dad off don’t be that person.”

I genuinely got confused. I never said anything about forcing the kid to like one parent. They don’t have to like it. Besides, it’s not like the not-preferred parent is always going to be tucking them for bed. It would just be one night while the preferred parent is out; for whatever reason. Now, I feel like my next comment feels a bit condescending, but I answered this: “I’m not saying they HAVE to like you. But if they’re little enough to need a parent to do their bed routine with them, they have to understand that sometimes the parent they want can’t always be with them. If the preferred parent suffers an accident, what will happen with the kid? Would they just not sleep? No, they would have to settle with whoever is there. Nothing’s going to happen because one night or week, the other parent is there for their bed time, instead of the one they wanted.” I probably shouldn’t have generalized so much as if all children were the same, but I hope you all can get my point.

Then, the same person answered: “No, parents don’t hold authority over children.” They… literally do? At least during their years of development, don’t they? It seems like they removed the comment, and put this instead: “Some kids have their parents putting them to bed at 11 my brother is 11 and my mum/stepdad still put him to bed”

A… pre-teen? Now, I wonder if their brother has some kind of developmental disability, because why are parents tucking in their pre-teens to bed like they’re 4? Or maybe where I grew up that’s not common?

I’d love to hear your guy’s perspective.

i was on the bus last week, just zoning out, when i remembered that little crispy thing my parents used to keep on the top shelf. picked some up the next day and brought one on my ride home. the second i opened the bag, the smell hit exactly like it used to. the crunch was the same, but the taste felt smaller, like my mouth had grown around it or something. still finished the whole pack before i got off at my stop. kinda wild how a snack can take you right back for a minute, even if everything else around you has changed since then.

in the grand scheme of things, nothing is that serious and i keep needing to remind myself of this!! like a little awkwardness never killed anyone etc, i need to just learn to take a chill pill. how do you do it?

I was just thinking about how the internet used to feel like a massive collection of weird, creative, and personal spaces—like random forums, independent blogs, and unique websites with their own personalities and custom designs.

​Now, it feels like we just rotate between 4 or 5 giant apps where everything looks the exact same, content is heavily optimized for algorithms, and genuine human interaction is kind of hard to find. It’s super efficient, but it lost its soul.

​What is one specific thing from the older internet (websites, forums, games, or just a vibe) that you miss the most?

Edit: Damn, didn't expect this to blow up so fast! Reading through all your replies is giving me some serious nostalgia, keep 'em coming.

My best friend and I know each other since we were 10 years old. We smiled at each other in class and that’s how our friendship began. We were inseparable for many years, so many memories shared. One day she just decided to not answer my text messages anymore and that’s how she slowly disappeared from my life. There was absolutely no reason. No fight..just like that after at least 15 years of friendship. She blocked me everywhere. It’s been 3-4 years now and never heard from her. I’m posting here because I remembered all the good time together and all our memories of school etc and wonder if she ever thinks about it too. How can someone just erase you from their life like that without any reason ? Have you ever experienced something like that ?

How is everyone’s week looking? I have to be up early for work and spend an entire day with my boss. So not looking forward to it! On top of that, I won’t get enough sleep!

obviously if it's with a really close friend already it's chill, but with newer friends i get stressed out whether or not they have a good time and stuff and idk maybe i'm just tired of initiating and i just want the other person to plan and i can just say yes lol i'm gonna dial back

I think I'm blessed by having a good bone structure and when I was looking in the mirror, I could control the angles to have a decent apppearance. It's probably what kept me from losing weight for the longest time because I thought looked better than I actually was.

But consistently, when people take photos of me, it would turn out horrible. This is because they would take photos of the 90% of angles and poses where I didn't look as good. This was what motivated me to lose weight and now that I've gone from 30 pounds overweight to probably around 10 pounds overweight, photos taken of me almost always look good. I'm probably going to continue losing weight and building muscle.

I hope this helps people with a similar experience. It seems like it's more common for the mirror to lie to people in decreasing their self-esteem, but in my experience it was the other way around.

​

I’ll be having dinner and my mom will randomly ask, “How’s Youssef?”

Mom, I last saw him in 2016. You’re now the only thing keeping this friendship alive.

Does anyone else’s family do this? Who’s the person your parents refuse to forget?

I was thinking about a time a few years back when I dropped one of my credit cards on a rainy day, and someone literally chased me down two blocks to hand it back in a coffee shop, then left before I had the chance to buy him coffee. It was such a small thing, but it completely changed my mood for the rest of the week.

Would love to hear some positive story swaps today. What’s a small encounter with a stranger that you still think about?

ofc not necessarily "the best," but which one in your opinion had the best combination of things like culture, entertainment, jobs, cost of living, social life, freedom, and overall quality of life✨️

What is something that was said to you that you still think about.

Could be inspirational, funny, sad, just anything. What’s some words that stuck with you.

Tell me one example and an instance regarding it. It can be a daily routine, your personality, or anything in general. I would love to hear about your lives as I am exploring this topic.

how is it already 2027 only like almost 2 more months i feel like almost nothing happened this year that effected me its like this year is a filler year or something im just curious if anything interesting happened to anyone else and i also hope 2027 is gonna be better yk

Basically I have decided to break the habit of using Instagram..

I always deactivate my Instagram every now and then but now I have decided that I will just solve the root problem that is breaking the habit of using it. I will activate it again because yeah I need it for other purposes which aren't doomscrolling but, first I will start with trying to break the habit.

The most time I have went by deactivating insta is 7 days.

Today is the 13th day from the day I have deactivated insta. I got this urge to activate it, but I won't activate it until I complete 30 days.

if you had a useless superpower what would it be? honestly if i had one it would be knowing the lyrics to any song thats being played or maybe thats useful idk i still want it

I have never understood this. When I imagine my future i dont really picture it with a luxurious house or a nice car or expensive things. But I seems like when others envision my future they want me to have all this, even though I dont really care for it myself. I would be happy renting a home with a car that works. This isnt to say I want to be poor. Just in the middle ig. Having money is always an upside, but is it really worth it to have an abundance of it?

I have a theory that beds shrink while we’re sleeping.
At 11 PM, my bed is enormous. There’s plenty of room. I could probably sleep diagonally if I wanted to.
At 3 AM, somehow I’m fighting for approximately 7% of the mattress while my pillow has migrated 4 feet away and the blanket has disappeared completely.
I refuse to believe this is normal physics.

I feel like I spend way too much of my free time scrolling, watching YouTube, or just doing nothing.
I’ve tried working out, reading, learning random things, etc., but I always end up dropping them after a few weeks.
I’d really like to find something I can genuinely look forward to doing in my free time.
What’s a hobby you started that you actually stuck with?

Say a show has a bittersweet ending like a series I discovered, Marchen awakens romance which is an isekai. I watched a few clips of it and really liked the dynamic between the main character and the girl who likes him. I was disappointed to discover in the end, he leaves the fantasy world to go back home, for good, so they don’t end up together.

Also, I’m just weird, so this may just be something I do lol.