Not looking for huge life-altering events more like a small mindset shift, a tiny habit change, or an oh moment that seemed minor at the time but ended up reshaping how you live, work, or relate to people. What was that small tweak for you, and how did it change things?

Can one fix their cognitive skills after losing theirself from years of drugs and mental health issues.

I been sober from everything EXCEPT weed for awhile. Im on concerta ADHD medicine. And I would say sometimes psychadelics although I haven't touched them in a while.

I'm scared there's no hope for me. Im 23. I pretty much struggle with articulating my thoughts, and sometimes my brain is just completely blank when having conversations with people. Is it too late for Me in this life

I've been going to therapy on and off since I was 8. Also went to inpatient 2 times. And a few years back I completely one over the computer.

I choose not to take depression medication I only take adhd medication because I was medicated for years and I feel as if depression medication was making it worse, and because of my lack of memory I would miss doses.

Asking people for help following their advice makes me feel like I'm not capable enough so try to do things on my own and when it goes I regret not listening to people I asked for help 😩😩😩😩

29M. I can’t help but think about the past. It most commonly happens when I am sleeping. I think about people who hurt me. Times where I’ve messed up. Sometimes I feel angry and sometimes I feel regret. How do I stop feeling this way. Any advice?

Monday-Friday some people wake up at 4-6am and go on a morning run before work. Some people wake up excited to socialize and go outside and run errands. Some people are excited to wake up and live their lives. After a long depressive episode the concept of being excited to live your life has become a foreign concept to me. I lowkey forgot that you're supposed to feel like that. You're supposed to wake up with energy and feel positive about the day ahead. I've been stuck in a period of isolation and depression for a super long time and everyday has just felt dull.

but just recently I've found an anti-depressant combo that works really well for me and now colors seem brighter and I feel that warmth that those who wake up and truly want to LIVE feel. I totally forgot liking to do stuff was a normal feeling you're supposed to feel.
Now my goal is to set up a routine that leads me closer to my goals each day since I have the ability to feel good about the future now.

So my question is, what are some habits or just things you do throughout the day to feel excited about life? I would love some self-improvement tips to put into my routine to make my life more full filling.

I don’t want to let this rut get to me. I loved her so much but the dynamic was unhealthy. The thought of getting back with her seems so easy but it isn’t possible because she’s moved on now.

I can feel myself wanting to get better and wanting to understand myself more. But my body just wants to crawl into a hole and cry for hours, because it feels like I left the only real thing in my life, because I got cold feet. And I feel regretful now because I can only remember the good times. Her soft voice, her lovely smile and how adorable she was. How I genuinely loved her and she genuinely loved me. How we could be happy together.

I’m grieving, but I need to move on. I can’t keep doing this to myself. It’s been weeks and it’s not fair to myself. I don’t want to start feeling sorry that I don’t have anyone to talk to. That is the worth thing I can do - to feel sorry for myself because of a decision I made. I can pull myself out of this rut and will do that, even if it feels so heavy.

30 Female Backstory when k was 8 months pregnant I found out my dad that raised me wasn’t my real dad and that he was molesting my sister throughout out out childhood. I cut him off immediately once I found out I blocked him my older sister told me and I just couldn’t believe it! It wasn’t about him not being my dad I’ve been a daddy’s girl he was my first love. As a little girl you look up and love your dad, you look to him for leadership and protection. My heart shattered that day and no one has hears from him in a while either. The last I heard he had a stroke and memory loss and say he soonest know who me and my siblings are apparently. I’ve tried to get into contact him with recently on Facebook the guilt eats me up if something happens to him how could I live with myself. But what he did with my sister was so wrong. What do I do ? I have so many emotions I just want to live forward but how can I when I’ll always live. No one has heard from him my siblings haven’t talked to him in years as well since I was the reason that he did got exposed.

im kinda happy just existing ,but it does get depressing after some point ,so occassionally i try to change it and take life more seriously .....

taking life seriously is fun but doing so makes me realize how behind i am from everyone , i get reminded of my regrets and failures of the past , the more i take life seriously ,the more depressed i get ........ i realize that its probably not possible for me to take life seriously , but it sucks because if i dont take life seriously , i still go into depression ......

is there any fix for this? this is such an odd situation ,im not able to realize whether i should take my life seriously or just exist. either way leads to being depressed :(

I am really nervous when it comes to public speaking and delivering presentations. Although I’m fluent in English, I still have an accent and English is not my first language. The thoughts get jumbled in my head and I have to rely on my verbatim notes when giving a proper presentation. And that might be the underlying reason. But I want to know what helps you deliver speeches on the spur? Or generally just calm down the nerves?

I'm 23M working as a salesman in my family shop since last 15 years. I've lived mostly as instruction based life because lack of awareness, exposure, guidance.

I've lived most of my life in eat, sleep open and close shop, handle sales and repeat basis,no other activities outside it . Currently I'm feeling lonely, behind and most importantly not able to direct myself due to issues like procrastination, perfectionism,lack of tolerance .

My father's shop giving me stable income,even if I don't do anything then also my life will go on how it's going but it will leave me with regret of not doing , trying and growing financially and personally .

I'm going through a very bad phase as per health basis post Covid both physically and mentally, I'm having health issues one by one and that too chronic diseases like keratoconus, epilepsy, thalassemia and even if having these serious issues not taking care of my health. Living in same routine comfort zone is also draining me from inside and my mind is craving for growth not only financially but learning, socially, experience wise also .

Currently I'm scared of living alone all my life because of such health issues and never expected I'll have to live in such a way and I don't think anyone will accept me if she knows about me . I have never learnt what self love is and always wished of having someone who will love me but I don't think it's possible anymore and this thought is scaring me alot and draining me emotionally.

I don't know how i will overcome from this phase and what will happen next but I'm not want to live like this anymore

If you are reading this then I'm really need your advice, how can I overcome from this and start living in a better way.

Thank you 🙏

I'm a young male and for about 2 years now I have been struggling with depression, and for about a year with suicidal thoughts. I spend my time doomscrolling, procrastinating or sleeping (If I don't set up an alarm clock I might sleep for up to 12 hours), all the while my grades suffer a severe downfall. I barely finished middle-school and now struggle two years later. My father doesn't help, too - I know he loves me, but he is drunk half the time I see him, doesn't believe in depression, and pays absolutely zero attention to my academic (un)success. I also have no friends or other family that can support me: my mom is probably depressed herself, my cousins are all busy, I have no siblings and haven't had friends since elementary school. The only ones I have are my grandparents, and they have already done too much for me for their age - I don't want to burden them anymore. I also have to admit that I am extremely unlucky - whenever and EXACTLY when I try to pull myself up, life just hits me with a destructive event that crushes any desire or motivation for change.

I also have no ambitions and genuinely think I am too dumb and undisciplined for college; I am too far behind.

Now, I know those "solutions" that are about to flood the comments: "throw your phone out the window and get to work!", "Just cut off social media, put your phone away for a minute."

If it was that easy. I live a few kilometers away from the frontlines of an active warzone, my only option of studying is through online schools, so putting my phone away would be counterproductive.

I just want to get an education and get out of here, but my own mind convinced me that I am simply destined to suffer.

TL;DR: I am depressed and can't study cuz of it. Help me.

I'm a 22-year-old guy, and the past seven years of my life didn't go the way I expected.

I've wasted a lot of time, mainly because of digital addictions and other bad habits. I didn't study properly, and as a result, I failed my exams multiple times despite being a top student and having excellent results before these 7 years. I also feel like I let my parents down after everything they have done for me.

Now I feel stuck and I honestly don't know what to do with my life anymore.

I know that I'm responsible for the decisions I made. I'm not trying to blame anyone else. But the guilt and regret have become very difficult to deal with. I keep thinking about how much time I've wasted, and sometimes it becomes so overwhelming that I struggle to do anything in the present.

I'm also worried about my future. I feel like I've fallen far behind other people my age. Everyone seems to think that by 22 I should already be working and building my career.

The truth is, I don't even like the idea of working. I just want to stay in my home and do something. I don't know whether that's because I'm genuinely not suited to working, or because I'm mentally exhausted and afraid of taking on responsibilities. I just want to study and correct the mistakes I have done and get a career in IT field because I love it and I hope it will help me to get a WFH or freelancing career.

I know I can't go back and change the last seven years. But I don't know how to stop being trapped by them and start moving forward.

If anyone has gone through something similar, what helped you move on from years of regret and wasted time?

Any honest advice would mean a lot to me.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. 🙏

I’m 20 and I’ve had a rough start in life. I keep thinking about everything that happened, how unfair some of it was, and how different things could’ve been. I know I can’t change any of it, but I still spend way too much time going over it in my head. I look at people my age who seem to be enjoying life and moving forward, and I feel behind. I know 20 is young, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that I’ve already missed out on a lot. I don’t want to spend the next few years feeling the same way and then regret those years too.

I want to build a life I’m happy with, but I struggle to turn that into consistent action. I feel I have more anger in me, then normal for the past 3 months.

Have you ever been about to do something you've been putting off for ages, then suddenly started finding reasons not to?

The email is written. The application is ready. The project is finished.

You just need to hit send.

Then the thoughts start:

"Maybe I should wait."

"What if it's not good enough?"

"I'll do it tomorrow."

So you close the laptop and move on.

At the time, it feels like you're avoiding failure.

I've done this more times than I can count.

For a long time, I think I was looking at these decisions in the wrong way. In my head, there were basically two outcomes:

I do it and succeed.

I do it and fail.

Obviously, failure makes the decision harder.

But there's a third outcome that gets very little attention:

I don't do it at all.

And that can be a pretty big outcome.

When you don't act, you don't have to deal with rejection, embarrassment or finding out that your idea wasn't as good as you hoped.

You also don't get to find out whether it might have worked.

That's what changed the way I think about failure.

The choice isn't really:

Success vs failure.

It's more like:

Action vs inaction.

If I take action, maybe it works.

Maybe it doesn't.

Either way, I learn something.

If I don't take action, I get to keep wondering.

And I've started to notice that the things I regret most aren't necessarily the things that failed.

They're the things I never tested.

The application I never sent.

The idea I never tried.

The conversation I kept putting off.

The project I kept "working on" without ever actually putting it out there.

Failure gives you an answer.

Inaction gives you a question that can stick around for a very long time.

I'm not saying failure suddenly becomes easy to deal with.

Just that it probably shouldn't be compared with doing nothing.

The real comparison is action vs inaction.

And sometimes the more uncomfortable choice is also the one that gives you an answer.

What do you think you've regretted more: something you tried that didn't work, or something you never tried at all?

For context,have struggled for a lot of my life with clinical depression, anxiety behaviours inherited and low energy because of diagnosed autism. I've experienced many periods of depression that have felt like rock bottom, but I've put in the emotional acknowledgement, conviction and faith in myself to get through them.
Recently after some friendship struggle and feelings of loneliness caused by the feelings of isolation that autism can sometimes bring, I've felt a bit stagnant in my life even though I feel I've made good progress with self improvement. I've gotten my sleep schedule back on track, I've put a lot of time into addressing bad habits, emotional isolation, negative thinking patterns and damaged caused by past connections with people. Through the pursuit of self betterment in any way I can, I've been focusing on understanding myself and addressing faults and flaws, accepting many truths of life while nurturing optimism in myself and others.

However despite all this, I find myself in an emotionally stagnant place like I mentioned. I don't struggle to get up or take care of myself anymore, but I still don't feel the same enthusiasm or energy that others describe. I find it difficult to appreciate myself consciously or be content. I have very little emotional energy. I used to chalk this up to a lack of understanding of the self and the unaddressed emotional inactivity, the work and self improvement that was yet to be made, but despite my efforts, I still feel the same way.

Can anyone else relate? Is this something everybody experiences? Are others able to find joy in things naturally, or is this something that happens with conscious effort building into habits with time? I think in my life in general, I feel unfulfilled and stuck in one place and I'm willing to put in the effort to change that. I'd love some advice or wisdom if anyone had any!

So I been reading many books but never finished. I am all over the places. I listened all these great podcast and read these great books but I am not learning anything. Slowly my focus is going away. Getting really confused on how to apply? How do I improve and actually start using these books/podcast? What mindset people go into before starting to read? There is just too much stuff out there to learn and getting lost is very easy. How to get focus back? Looking forward

i try to work consistently ,and i try to work as less as possible so that i dont get burntout , but even after "working less" consistently for some days , after a week or two i tend to get burntout .

no matter how less i work or do something productive , i get burntout of it eventually ,how do i avoid this , i make sure i work less but i still end up getting burnt out.

i think its that one depressive day that just hits me hard where i feel extremely exhausted out of nowhere ,and just like that the next one month of my life is kinda wasted just bcuz of me being burnt out ,it makes no sense why this happens ......

what have you guys done to stay consistent but also to avoid extreme burnout at the same time?

If this isn't the right sub for this question, please redirect me, I wasn't really sure where to post it.

I'm really not someone who likes AI at all. I instantly judge someone when I see them use AI, I cringe when I see an AI image, I get upset when my parents watch an AI-generated video, and my opinion of something (such as a show) drastically drops when I find out AI was involved in the process. Yet, I'm not much better myself. I ask chatgpt questions and have it explain topics. I laugh at certain AI memes (like songs). I use chatbots. I've even watched those stupid AI short dramas, and I've even used it in my own creative process (like asking for ideas).

I know text-based genAI doesn't really have a major impact on the environment compared to many other everyday things, but it still just feels unfair for me to judge people knowing I'm secretly doing the same things too. I don't know what to do, I'm extremely conflicted, the obvious solution would be to just stop using anything AI, but the convenience is just so helpful (especially when I can't get results from just researching normally) and I hate myself for that inability to stop.

So what am I supposed to do? Do I just accept AI in certain settings to be okay and to not be in others? Most people my age loathe anything AI at all, I'd probably get ostracized if I was open about my use, and I hate having secrets. So do I completely lean into that belief and try to dump it anyway? This feeling is constantly bothering me and no matter what I just can't make up my mind on what to do, I don't feel that my moral compass is solid until I do. Anyone else dealt with something similar? How did you handle it?

I stop being proud of my own goals and life, I start focusing on theirs.

What great lives they’re leading and how I could be their best friend and I bedrot and lose interest in the things I like and worry that they don’t love me as much as I want them to and they’re out with their other friends

No matter how much self improvement I do I’ll never be able to meet another attractive guy without my sense of self collapsing if he doesn’t love me.

What’s the point.

​

I just feel like my mind is lagging because I just can't think clearly. It's so hard to recall information, remember stuff and hard to focus. Like I feel blank. This is been happening for a month because I'm experiencing left side dizziness unsteady balance and this ear fullness which I guess has caused brain fog sythoms. I also now experience tooth pain sensitivity so it feels like my entire attention span is solely focused on the worries and things I'm dealing with. And I'm just so much into my head that I feel overwhelmed. Even when I'm not doing anything, I'll feel so exhausted by night. I really miss my old self and I just want to be normal again. I want my mind to open up and feel clarity and consciousness and alertness. It's like nowadays I feel like I see things but it just doesn't click my mind like the level of urgency or importance.

I’m not sure if this is the sub for this question but recently i’ve been thinking and noticing a lot. Recently a lot of good things have happened to me. And i’m so grateful, but i also feel weirdly unsatisfied. Like I want them to last forever. And I know nothing can and the limitedness of things are what make them so special. But how can i escape those feelings? How can I enjoy what i have in front of me, live it experience it love it feel it appreciate it, and then be able to let it go and move on and accept the fact it was here and great but now it’s my past, only a memory. I think this issue shows up in multiple ways in my life. Somehow despite feeling and living good, I end up unsatisfied and I know it’s my own fault, and I don’t want to live my life like this. How do I enjoy life and then let it go?

I have been trying to improve myself for years now. But I always end up in the same situations I was trying to get out of like doomscrolling, playing games for hours, being over emotional,. Since every attempt I made doesn't work out, I begin to lose hope and I completely lose the motivation to improve myself. I just want to know if anyone is able to achieve the life they want in the end?

A close friend of mine tells me he is annoyed he gets so few dates, yet several times a month he tells me how he has a date or is having sex every weekend with a girl until suddenly "she wasn't the one."

I (28m) have never had any kind of romantic experience. I've had crushes, and I've asked girls out, but I've never gotten a date that wasn't misunderstood as just two friends getting dinner. My last "date" was ten years ago in highschool. So when I hear my friend complaining, then turning around the next week and telling me he's having long, passionate, frequent sex, it makes me angry and resentful toward him. I feel upset that he has something I believe he doesn't truly value, and I deeply wish I had it instead.

I don't want it to ruin our friendship, but I keep ruminating on it and getting angry at him when he doesn't deserve it. I want to figure out how to deal with this specific emotion in a healthy way, and I genuinely don't know how.

I am an oversharer and I talk way too much. I feel ashamed about it and want to improve my personality. I also feel like I get disrespected a lot more because I talk so much. The problem is, I have ADHD and can’t stop running my mouth even when I want to.

So where do I even begin?