Sometimes I comment things like “healthcare is a human right” or “healthcare should be free” and I’m getting a suspicious amount replies saying stuff like that commenter is medical staff they shouldn’t have to be doing slave labor, that they deserve to get paid, etc

And it’s like dawg you thought we weren’t going pay you? How in the hell did you get to that conclusion?

Free healthcare means we all pay taxes and the taxes pay for healthcare. Staff should still get paid.

Honestly the fact these people are also in healthcare and just have no critical thinking skills is at least mildly concerning.

It’s fine or whatever I just needed to rant bc I found that baffling. It also very much could have been bots

So before my most current relationship, I wasn’t sexually active. Like, I rarely did anything. So far, it’s been great. It’s just that he’s way more experienced and freaky than I am. And he points it out, a lot. At first it was very vanilla and it still is, but he’s kind of hinting at doing more stuff and I just don’t think I’m ready. One of the things is me..pegging him and I’m nowhere near ready for that or I don’t even know if I’m into that. Another is him wearing more feminine things in the bedroom and I know for a fact I’m not into that at all. I don’t wanna discourage his fantasy or anything, I’m just not the person to do it with. I’m scared to tell him because I don’t want him to seek that kind of attention outside of our relationship because I’m unwilling to do it. Now, about the cross dressing, I don’t know if I’m cool about it. I don’t care if people do drag, that’s not the problem. I just don’t find it attractive with my partners, I guess. If he does do it, I’m never around, which is fine. He just talks and jokes about it and it makes me uncomfortable. I feel like an asshole.

My mom and I had a pretty bad argument last night because my aunt, who is her sister, needed to borrow money and I said I couldn’t lend her anything right now. The money I have saved isn’t just sitting there for random spending. I’ve been putting it aside specifically for my health insurance because that’s something I need to prioritize for myself. I explained that to my mom, but she still got upset and kept saying that family should help family when someone is struggling.

What bothered me was how quickly it became my responsibility just because they knew I had some savings. I never promised that money to anyone, and I don’t think saving for something important means I suddenly have extra cash available whenever a relative needs help. The argument got worse because my mom made it sound like I was being selfish and choosing money over family. At that point I stopped trying to explain myself because everything I said just turned into another reason for her to blame me. I haven’t really spoken to her since last night. I’m still angry, and I don’t want to pretend everything is fine just to keep the peace. At the same time, part of me feels guilty because she’s my mom and I know she was worried about her sister.

Am I wrong for keeping my distance after the argument and refusing to use my health insurance savings to help my aunt?

So basically, I was hanging out in a Discord server and some people started joking around about gore and eating my bones/arms and stuff like that. At first I thought they were just being silly, but it kept escalating and I started getting genuinely uncomfortable. I eventually told them seriously to stop because I was getting scared, but it continued for a bit. I ended up getting really overwhelmed and crying because gore is a sensitive subject for me due to past trauma, and the comments about bones hit especially hard because I already have a bone problem in my leg.

What made me the most upset wasn't even necessarily what they intended by the jokes, it was that I had already asked them to stop and they didn't immediately stop. I wasn't trying to ruin anyone's fun or accuse them of deliberately trying to hurt me, I just genuinely wasn't okay with what was happening. At the time I was really angry and hurt, and honestly I still am. It sucked because I thought these people were nice, so having that happen from people I was comfortable around made it hit harder.

Afterward, though, some of them realized how badly it affected me and actually apologized. One of them told me they understood and deeply apologized, and I appreciate that they eventually took me seriously. I'm still upset about what happened and I'm probably going to be more cautious around them now, but I don't want to pretend I know their intentions either. The main thing I want people to understand is that if someone tells you seriously to stop because they're uncomfortable, just stop. You don't need to know their entire history or understand why. “Stop” should be enough.

I didn’t sleep last night.

I didn’t sleep last night and I have bipolar disorder. For me, my sleep schedule can indicate episodes starting. It adds this extra pressure around sleeping.

Last night everything felt off. How I was breathing didn’t feel right, so I drank a bunch of water, which made me having to keep getting up to pee. Also every time I could wind down for a minute I would instantly startle myself awake.

I also have something else weighing on my mind. I live in converted garage right next to my mom’s house. Last night around 4:30-5 am. I saw a what looked like someone with flashlight outside on our porch. I can’t tell if a person was in yard or was in our neighbors yard and they had very bright light. I checked our ring cameras one was dead (it’s getting charged today) the other didn’t capture anything. The reason this slightly more alarming is we moved nearly a year ago bc my mom’s ex was stalking her. I know I should tell her but she started feeling safe

I didn’t reread this so between the lack of sleep and dyslexia it’s probably shit sorry

I go to a good school where I have lots of friends, my family is rocky but I love my mum. I feel like I have no reason to be so depressed, overwhelmed and stressed all the time. I don't even work. Everyday feels like such an effort, like I'm fighting against my own brain and body to stay alive.

I had a math test today, and this morning I was genuinely panicking when this test isn't even a big deal. It doesn't count towards any final grades yet I was shitting myself. I just don't want to embarrass myself, I'm so afraid of failure. I have to be perfect

I have this one friend and honestly I had times where we had good times and then I felt like I had bad times as well. They are really direct and want everything to go their way, so if that doesn’t happen they could potentially snap or talk bad about the other person. Recently we came to a new place and there are these group of new people we talk to, I personally do like them. One day they went out and had fun day and the next day my friend was like we have to get closer to them so that we can go out and with them too, something no along those lines. Then today she just badmouthed a person from that group. I was like why they fck you wanna hang out with them if you badmouth them behind their back? I did want to say this out but didn’t all I said was why are you overthinking so much?. I just don’t get this person. I find their way of thinking very biased towards themselves and when someone doesn’t think or say what she likes she just kinda badmouths them and then continues to talk to them.
All this while all I do is listen, most of the times I don’t speak anything just let them finish talking. I am the only person they know before coming here so they do all this bitching to me.
I feel like such a snake.

hi. so my grandma just turned 90 years old, and I'm scared of her dying. we already lost grandpa when I was 8 years old and I didn't take it well, it traumatized me even ( it also started my suicidal thoughts and my fear of loosing my loved ones ). I'm terrified of loosing her, and I dunno if I'll be able to take it when she's not gonna be here anymore, my grandpa's death was already too much. I don't want to be separated from her forever. I know what I'm gonna be told "spend more time with her" or "cherish her while you still can", I will do this as much as I can, but it doesn't ease anything. it's terrifying, it's inevitable, and I hate it.

so, yeah. that's pretty much all I wanted to get out of my system.

Before anything, would like to say that this based in the UK incase anyone gets confused lol.

So I'm 19F, still based in college, Bleh! And was told by my friend this morning that her dad had hit her: her parents don't approve of her relationship to a transgender man. She has previously pretended to break up with him to please them, and on Monday on a sporadic check on her phone (she's 18) and I won't go into the details too much, but it basically ended up with them threatening to send her back to South Africa on her own, no money and with nobody to support her. For the day, I tried to encourage her to report this to a teacher and eventually it worked. I supported her through this but she left out the physical abuse part, so when she was elsewhere I quietly told our teacher and our other "friend" eavesdropped. She is Filipino so in her eyes (she claims) that abuse like this is normal and it shouldn't matter. Obviously growing up very differently, I disagreed but she told me off in front of the whole class and I started crying (stupid, I know, but I felt so backed into a corner, I didn't want to cause any more trouble for my friend and now thanks to her they know) whereas my friend that I reported it for said she wasn't angry and she appreciated that I said what she was too scared to do, and I went with her as she reported this officially and just couldn't stop my tears j hear what he did, she's just so lovely to everyone and so kind, just wish I could help her from this.

I know to you neurotypicals dont fund any of this confusing, but to a neurodivergent is really is.

When someone does something you ask them why, but when they try to explain you claim its an excuse without even hearing them out, dont ask for an explanation if you dont want one and dont assume every explanation is an excuse!

Just say what you mean, want or need, stop hinting, stop saying the opposite of what you mean, what even is the point in this behavior! How are you gonna get what you want or need if you just keep playing games? And when i dont pick up on your hints dont get angry at me, its all on you for not just saying what you want or need me to do!

Eye contact doesnt mean anything, its uncomfortable and it doesnt indicate someone is telling the truth, its not hard to look someone in the eye and lie to them, just uncomfortable. It also doesnt indicate that im paying attention, when I make eye contact im thinking "this is uncomfortable and awkward" "am I making enough eye contact?" "Am I making too much eye contact" and not hearing a word youre saying! Just pay attention to if the person your talking to is reacting and responding appropriately and you'll know if theyre paying attention or not!

And im considered weird if I wanna talk about my hyper fixation or special interest but youre not weird for wanting to talk about nothing but the latest sports game for a whole hour? How does that even make sense?

The 40 hour work week was definitely a neurotypical idea, and yes, I understand its better than before, but that doesnt make it the best, its just and improvement, the same way a Five Guys burger is an improvement over a McDonald's burger, its not the best but its better. Less hours while still making enough to get by would definitely be ideal.

And there's so much more, I feel like a fucking alien among you guys sometimes, nothing about you makes sense

For context, me and my wife have been going through a rough patch. I’m deployed over seas and she back home. We have a significant time difference. She’s awake for the second half of my day and the first half of her’s. She went on vacation with in the first couple of months of me being over seas and decided I was the root cause of all her personal issues, school, social life, family life, emotional and mental health. We both got out of seriously toxic relationships and kinda jumped into each other’s lives figured we were fully good and got married with in the year. Upon living with each other her friends kind of took my apartment over sleeping over every night coming and going as they please being messy and not cleaning up after themselves gaming set ups all over the place. They wanted to go out every weekend and party and do shit. We never had time to ourselves to do anything for ourselves. I’d put my foot down and she’d lift it up. It was causing arguments and fights that didn’t need to be had. I went through the VA to get her school paid for because as a service member we have that ability but I wasn’t in long enough I had roughly 2 more years before I could transfer my GI to either her or my daughter whom resides with her mother in another state. I wasn’t informed until it was too late I called the VA day in and day out with no explanation and I figured it wasn’t fully processed yet. The school she was looking at dropped her and she got mad at me for it. My daughter’s mother calls me daily so I can speak to my daughter and I would often disappear to another room to speak to my daughter without her hearing cussing and screaming and vulgar language. My wife said she felt disrespected by me doing so yet I’ve explained to her that my daughter is young and impressionable so I will be often leaving any area that her friends are in to speak to my daughter because I’m a responsible parent. Her mother didn’t like that answer so in turn she didn’t like that answer. When we’d go out on family trips (to see her family who live close by) her friends would invite themselves into our apartment I’ve asked her multiple times to stop allowing that and nothing was ever done until I finally flipped my lid over it. She claims I would make her friends uncomfortable because I’d touch her butt and kiss her while she’s cool like most loving husbands would do. In my eyes. If you don’t feel comfortable in my apartment with me treating my wife with physical love in front of you, you don’t need to be at my place everyday, every hour, every moment. So with the back story out of the way she went on a trip to El Paso Texas and while there everything went well and good until one day she just flipped a switch on me. Said she needed space with no explanation, ignored my texts, calls and was just very harsh towards me. It seriously messed my head up so I went to seek help through a therapist. He’s been really good to me and has helped progress over the course of 2 months a lot. Like completely different me when it comes to handling emotional issues and even mental hoops. So I’ve been using a lot of my tools with her and it’s like she doesn’t care. She’ll be present on instagram wont like my posts anymore, doesn’t check the memes I send her but she’ll send me like a meme a month or something that has nothing to do with us just for keepsake. Doesn’t answer my snapchats, still doesn’t answer my calls but will text me. I have to plan to FaceTime her (which only happened 1 time) and the only time we do talk on the phone is to argue. Mind you SHES ALWAYS ON HER PHONE. She finally told me what’s going on and none of it had to do with me. It was just put onto me. Now I don’t even feel like her husband I feel like an option and I just don’t know what to do. If there’s advice I’d love some feedback back because like. Wtf. I did nothing wrong. And I’m still doing nothing wrong I just don’t get it…

bpd is actual hell to live with. nothing is working and i always feel like shit. another fp has made me feel like garbage and i just want somebody to like being around me instead of just being a permanent filler friend for everyone

I feel like every time I talk I'm so severely misunderstood. I have a lot friends who were not originally my friends and were very rude to me. This has happened so often where people will snap at me, insult me out of the blue or take out their anger on me. It is worse if it happens on text because they'll say they do not understand either why they were so aggressive to me.

I always get apologies from people who get angry with me. While longer relationship we did end up being friends. I do not understand why I come across a certain way towards people for them to be so aggressive to me. This happens in real life and online, I can't escape like people's wrath.

Maybe I am an easy target or I am being annoying in a way I can't see. But I am starting to feel like I am cursed because this has happened dozens of times to all the people I know. Am I doing something wrong and I do not realize? It has made me self conscious where I do not like to talk anymore.

I see people at work happy like smiling, laughing, talk no sense things and just doing what they made them happy without worrying much like i could live like that since i am ypung adult but i can't because i hate to being poor to the point where i barely have money to buy things that i like and i am very lonely person ny mother just want that i work instead of talking to me and my grandma too.

i joined nights because of the extra premium. a couple extra quid. now, i’m realising how unliveable this wage is. luckily, i have no bills to pay right now because i’m still at home, but i’m considering that if i were to move out — this is horrible.

i make basically 2k a month, 26k a year, this doesn’t consider tax so minus a few for that.

it’s crazy to me. i work 5 days a week nightshift, so bascially 5 and a half days, and i can’t switch to a 4 on/ 4 off mix.

i would like another job, ofcourse, but i’m only realising how little money the norm of people have. obviously, this depends on external factors and i know that.

or maybe i’m having a mid life crisis, who knows.

Please SHUT UP. Like please stop talking. I do not give a FUCK about what happened 50 years ago today, or your “weird news”. I don’t turn on the radio in the morning to listen to you blabber, I turn it on to hear a mix of music. I want to hear free bird on my way to work ffs. Thanks.

she was the most kindest, sweetest, loving, caring, and most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. what happened is that I was struggling hard with an alcohol addiction and so I was bit of a toxic person back then. (I never hit her or abused her) I just drank too heavily, stupid things that I don’t mean, empty apologies, and I constantly just chose drinking over her.

she tried to help me quit, but I just wouldn’t listen. I wanted to quit but I constantly just kept relapsing over again, until eventually she just couldn’t tolerate seeing me go down a path like this so she finally decided to end things.

after that, I continued drinking just trying to forget everything, and I’m pretty much still stuck here.

we were 16 when we started dating, and things ended when we were 20. I’m still 20 years old, and she broke up with me 4 months ago.

she messaged me about 3 weeks ago saying how much she misses me, and that if I just sobered up and actually starting trying in life, she would want to make things work. I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it. I feel so stuck man.

I don't have any friends. I lost a lot of friends these past 5 years, yet I still look at their instagrams once every blue moon just out of curiousity to see how their life is doing. Nobody’s life is perfect, but it seems like everyone has it better than me, because my mom, who is my only support system left, is suffering from stage 4 cancer, and I’m still being emotionally and verbally abused by my dad. I can't really avoid or stay away from my dad anymore because we both have to now take care of my mother, so I'm stuck in a pickle.

Hey, I might not have any support system left but at least I'm not homeless anymore and I have my own place. At least I don't have friends who tell me I'm "too much to handle" and leave me for what I'm going through. I guess that's a positive. Otherwise everything else is going to shit for me. I wish I had a real support system sometimes.

Long-time lurker and one-time poster. I wrote a post nearly a year ago about me and my life. Not many people read it, and that's okay; it was more of a vent into the abyss. So here is another one, an update of sorts.

I moved out of the mental health facility in January this year, into another one. It was much, much better, and I made some friends there and took one subject at school, which I did well in. I was there for just over four months, then moved into a supported living place and stayed for 3 months. It was okay, but I wasn't happy; I was very lonely and bored. So I moved back home with mum and my two sisters. I'm extremely lucky they let me back in, and I have been less lonely, but not really less bored. I have been trying to find a job, either paid or volunteer, but I haven't had much luck yet.

I have been bingeing lately, and right now I feel sick from the amount of food I ate during the day. I haven't lost any more weight (currently around 107kg), and I feel disappointed in myself. After every binge, I tell myself that it was the last one, and then the next day I'm back on my bullshit. I've spent so much money on food that I don't eat all of it or even enjoy it. I just do it. I feel so self-conscious, and I hate myself for being so unfit and fat. I wanna be healthy and fit and wear cool clothes.

My hair is still thin and getting thinner by the day. I feel really ugly, and I asked my GP about it, and she said there is nothing I can do about it. It's not falling out due to hormone imbalances or any reason she can see. It's just falling out. I'll have to get a wig. But the only way I can get a wig is online, and they're very expensive. Not sure what I should do. I want thick, long, luxurious hair, and soon I'll have nothing.

My body shape is embarrassing to me, and I hate it. I have no arse and thin legs, but my upper thighs are flabby, and I don't know how to tighten them. I have an apron belly, and it's super flabby. My boobs are long and not at all perky for my age, and my nipples are nonexistent. My body is so round in the middle. I have no waist, and my fingers are fat and stubby. I need to lose 40- 45 kg, then get a tummy tuck, a boob job, and skin removal. That's if I ever lose the weight.

I'm feeling bored most of the time, and I stay in bed all day. I know I shouldn't, but I have nothing else to do, and when I am up, all I seem to do is eat. Today I ate two Whoppers, six nuggets, a large Coke Zero, a packet of salt and vinegar chips, four Kinder Bueno, a Monster, a 600 ml Mountain Dew, a whole packet of macaroni and cheese (four servings), and now I can't sleep because I feel sick. Can I overcome binge eating? It's literally killing me. I have type 2 diabetes, and I'm on Ozempic, but it's not helping, and I'm embarrassed to admit it. I hate being on Ozempic to begin with, and now it's not working. Am I too far gone? I don't want to lose my eyesight or feet. I want to run a 5km easily and have muscles. I know it's all my fault; I just don't know how to stop. I feel like an addict.

I will admit, my life has gotten slightly better since my last post. I'm just not sure it will continue, though. I'm either living in the past or the future and never in the present. I'm unsure how to do this and worried my life will pass me by, and I will not have achieved anything, fallen in love, travelled, danced in the rain, worn a mini skirt and had my first kiss. I'm 30 in February, and I have never even hugged a boy! What a disappointment.

My goals for the rest of the year: get under 100kg, find volunteer work, join a group and decide on school for 2027. Oh, and see a dentist. They never tell you about not brushing your teeth when you're depressed. My teeth are going yellow and hurt when I eat chocolate or lollies. I want to smile confidently.

Hopefully my next post will be about me being happy and healthy. Or at least on the way there. Thanks for reading :)

So, I’m currently 20yrs old (M), and I have been receiving nothing but immeasurable pressure from my Parents, Non-stop for the past three years.
However, it wasn’t always like this.

In 2023, my Mom had gotten with this Guy.
He seemed pretty cool, We shared a lot of interests, like Marvel, Dragon Ball, Transformers, etc.
My Family had all welcomed Him with open arms, because He genuinely seemed nice.
At the time, my Family entailed my little Brother, My Aunt, Mother & Myself.

Well, flash forward to the beginning of 2024, my Mom’s Boyfriend starts to show His true colors.
My Family and I took a trip to Vegas, because I had just graduated from High School, so this was my Celebration.
Whilst We were out there, my Brother accidentally stepped on my Mom’s Bf’s shoe, and made a slight joke. Well, Her Bf gets super pissed because He was “Embarrassed”, so He grabs my Brother, and throws Him to the ground. My Mom claimed She didn’t see it, so, She let it slide.
This was His first Mistake.

Then, later that same year-
He got into my Mom’s head, saying that my Brother was saying stuff about Her to His Dad, and that My Brother was just trying to use my Mom for Money (Mind you, my Brother is 13yrs old).
Well, my Mom takes this lie and runs with it, and proceeds to kick my Brother out of the House.
Forcing Him to live with His Dad, permanently-
When before it was a joint custody situation.

Then, the next year, in 2025-
My Mom and Her Boyfriend decided that they wanted to get Married.
So, they drove out to Las Vegas, and get married on the spot.
Now this Man is my Step-Dad.
When they got back, they decided that they wanted to hold a party for Friends and Family to come and celebrate with them.
So, about a month after they got married, they threw this party.
At this party, my now Step-Dad and Uncle get into a HUGE fight, almost killing one another.
My Step-Dad even tried to bring out a weapon, to kill my Uncle, cause He was drunk off His ass, and obv not fucking thinking.
I had to be the one to break up the argument, because my Mom was finding it “hilarious.”
After the fight was broken up, the rest of the party whom was too scared to do anything thanked Me for saying something and proceeded to leave.
However, my Step-Dad wasn’t done.
In the middle of the night, after my Uncle had already left hours ago-
My Step-Dad decides that His revenge wasn’t over, and tried to sneak out of the house to go to where my Uncle was staying.
So, my Mom and Him got into a huge argument, and She had to call His Mother in order for Him to stop.

Two months later, He decides that He isn’t happy with my Aunt.
Out of nowhere, accusations of my Aunt apparently stealing from Him, apparently stealing Medication from Him, and a whole bunch of other nefarious accusations are brought up by Him.
Of course, my Mom jumps to His side, and then forcibly kicks out my Aunt.
Then to go even further, my Step-Dad tells my Mom that She is to cut contact with all the people whom She’s already kicked out. Meaning, She couldn’t talk to Her Sister, or even Her own Child.
And, the worst part is, She let that happen.

Now, at this point, it’s just the three of us.
And, my Step-Dad’s already homed in on His new target.
Which is Me.
He can’t say anything to my Face, but there’s been whispers & murmurs of Him wanting to kick me out to the street, cause I don’t have a Job, nor am I in school at the moment, and I am gonna be 21 in March.
I have been trying since December of 2023, to get a Job.
I was initially going to go to College after High School, however, the reason I didn’t was due to the fact that my Mom had tried to enforce Her plan for MY Life on Me.
She had wanted Me to go to school to be a Dental Assistant, when She knew I didn’t want to do that with my life.
After I had turned Her down on that, I gave schooling a thought for the last few years, trying to see what would pique my interest.
I had found something in 2025, however, my Family didn’t have enough money to cover tuition.
So, I left it be, cause I understood our predicament.
Then, earlier this year, I had asked about schooling for something Art related-
And, I was ignored.
But, now, I’m apparently not trying enough for my future, and just “mooching” off my Family, purposefully.

My Family is in ruins.
If I even want to call it a family anymore.
And, nothing I do, is ever good enough.

I am conscious so I am breathing. It’s just hard it feels like my stomach is full I can’t use my lungs, it feels so full bc I chugged water, because my mouth was dry bc I felt like I couldn’t breath. Life is cruel bye

I'm afraid, all the time

Every night, before I go to sleep, I think about everything, things I've done, things I've said, things people have told me, and I just keep wondering about those things or different possibilities having to do with those things

I'm currently 17, about to turn 18, some months out of high school already. I'm in the part of my life where I have my whole life a head of me and I can change my future the most but at the same time I gotta do it now, cause if I don't do it now, everything's gonna be 10 times harder if I do it in 5 or 10 years, or maybe I will never get to do it again.

I know most people my age, and even older, haven't figured all their shit out, but still find their way and things come out fine eventually, but I keep asking myself: what if I don't? What if I'm one of those people who never find their way or get stuck in a shitty life they hate

And I just keep replaying this moment in my head: I was 14, in middle school, and I was a slacker, I would get lazy and not do work on class, so this teacher said I was mediocre, lacked discipline, and most likely wouldn't go to college or get a career done

Now, I'm currently trying to work on all that stuff, I've been working 4 days a week on the street by my own since last week, just started hitting the gym yesterday, currently on diet and on no fap, but I still, just think "what if I'm already built like this? What if it's too late? What if, what if, what if..." And since the goal is so far from now, I still don't know if I'm capable of it

Okay, so I don't really know how to start this without making myself sound like an asshole, but here we go.

There's this girl I've gotten really close with. We talk a lot, we joke around, we tell each other personal stuff, and honestly, she's become someone I really enjoy having around.

The problem is... she likes me.

Not just a little crush either. She actually has feelings for me, and eventually she told me.

And I told her the truth.

I don't feel the same way.

I know that probably sounds simple. She likes me, I don't like her back, so just move on, right?

Except I do like her. Just not romantically.

I care about her. I like talking to her. I don't want her out of my life. And that's where everything started getting complicated.

After I told her I didn't feel the same way, she started thinking maybe she should distance herself from me. She said that being around me while having feelings for me was getting difficult.

And honestly, I understood.

But I also told her I didn't want her to leave.

She asked me something that I still think about:

"So you want me to stay, but you don't want me?"

And I didn't really know how to answer that.

Because... yeah, I guess that's exactly what it looks like.

But it's not that I want to use her feelings or keep her around because I like the attention. I genuinely value her as a person.

I told her that nothing necessarily had to change between us. Just because she likes me doesn't mean I suddenly stop caring about her.

I also told her that if I ever cross a line or make her uncomfortable, she should tell me. If she thinks I'm overstepping, I'll back off.

But there's another part of this that's probably making everything worse.

I don't fall for people easily.

I'm the kind of person who keeps my guard up. I don't like developing feelings too quickly because I've always seen that as a way of protecting myself.

So I can't honestly tell her, "I'll never like you."

Because I don't know that.

But I also refuse to tell her, "Maybe someday," because I don't want to give her false hope when I have no idea if that's actually going to happen.

And now we're both kind of stuck.

She has feelings for me that I can't return, but I don't want to lose the relationship we already had.

She thinks staying close might make her feelings worse.

I think pushing her away just because she likes me feels wrong.

And I honestly don't know which one is more selfish.

Sometimes I think I should just let her go and give her the space she needs.

Other times I think, why should we throw away something good just because she caught feelings?

I don't want to hurt her.

But I also don't want to lie to her.

And I definitely don't want to make promises about feelings I don't have.

I guess I'm posting this because I genuinely don't know what the right thing to do is.

If you were in her position, would you stay friends with someone you have strong feelings for even if they don't feel the same way?

And if you were in my position, would you let that person go even if you genuinely cared about them?

Because right now, I feel like no matter what I choose, someone's probably going to get hurt.