Proud of your education: A successful career comes with the right education. You will be proud of yourself for picking the right education to support your career. Education is powerful because it offers unlimited opportunities to apply your knowledge and advance your career. No matter what kind of career you are in, you need new knowledge to become successful.

Proud of your career: You are happy and grateful to have developed a successful career for yourself. Your career supports you financially and nourishes your soul and spirit. You feel like your career positively contributes to society and the world.

Creativity and innovation: You believe there are unlimited possibilities because a successful career increases your creativity and ability to continually innovate.

A positive outlook for the future: You believe a better future exists for your career because you are doing wonderful things to advance it. You often feel excited because you know that you will do great things in the future.

Reach your full potential: You believe you can reach your full potential because of your career. Reaching your full potential means you are using your passion to help yourself and others. You keep learning and growing to improve yourself and your career. Your career helps you create meaning, purpose, joy, happiness, and fulfillment.

I feel like such a stupid idiot and a complete failure.

Just... so many of the things I do don't turn out right, and even though I always think I'm doing my best and really trying, hindsight always ends up showing all of my bad judgement and terrible decisions even though I should have known better.

And it should be fine. It's good to make mistakes, and you're aupposed to get things wrong so you can learn afterwards, right? But I can't ever seem to learn.

It's like some part of me has set a contest for just how well I can outdo myself on stupid decisions every day.

This ranges from huge mistakes like making a big commitment to something O shouldn't have or throwing money away, to small and completely absurd things like deciding to stick a wad of gum to my hotel room's window blinds, so I can stick them to the wall and have some more privacy from the opposing window but panicking when this doesn't work and I can't get the gum off again.

Actively working on improving mhself never seems to imrpove anything, and I always mess up there. Just standing still and being completely passive doesn't end well either. Trying to fulfill someone else's ideal for me doesn't as well.

Anyone got any advice that could fix me?

I feel like such a stupid idiot and a complete failure.

Just... so many of the things I do don't turn out right, and even though I always think I'm doing my best and really trying, hindsight always ends up showing all of my bad judgement and terrible decisions even though I should have known better.

And it should be fine. It's good to make mistakes, and you're aupposed to get things wrong so you can learn afterwards, right? But I can't ever seem to learn.

It's like some part of me has set a contest for just how well I can outdo myself on stupid decisions every day.

This ranges from huge mistakes like making a big commitment to something O shouldn't have or throwing money away, to small and completely absurd things like deciding to stick a wad of gum to my hotel room's window blinds, so I can stick them to the wall and have some more privacy from the opposing window but panicking when this doesn't work and I can't get the gum off again.

Actively working on improving mhself never seems to imrpove anything, and I always mess up there. Just standing still and being completely passive doesn't end well either. Trying to fulfill someone else's ideal for me doesn't as well.

Anyone got any advice that could fix me?

I'm too self-critical.

Every time I make something or do something, I cringe at myself, decide I did a horrible job, shouldn't have tried in the first place.

If I don't decide that right away . . . well, give it an hour. Sometimes a day. Sometimes more. Eventually, I hate almost all the things I've done.

For example, I like to write things, and I want original names for characters. I put some sounds together, try to make something that sounds good. I write it off as sounding like baby-talk. After a while, I will have come up with a name I like, but give it a few weeks and I've deleted the name, and now I'm just writing in first person or avoiding writing altogether. I don't know which names are good because I hate them all, so I can't improve!

This problem isn't just with creative activities either. I might get very passionate about something I'm doing, like acting or signing up for something, only to think later that it was dumb and weird.

I feel like it's similar to the way people usually don't like their own voices. Personally, I hate my voice, but to most people it's likely perfectly fine. Nevertheless, every time I hear a recording of myself I cringe and wish other people weren't listening to that.

How can I get a sense of my actions/creations' true qualities, instead of half my dislike for them stemming from the fact that I made them?

[M22] my whole life, I’ve been extremely pain-avoidant (emotional, mental, and physical). Here’s a few ways that’s affecting my life now:
- I’m a doormat / yes man, and only push back if I don’t think it will result negatively
- I don’t have any friends, and don’t want to go out and meet any, the thought is intimidating for no good reason
- I spend most of my time alone watching movies, playing games, smoking and drinking
- I’m not totally happy with my girlfriend, but I’m too afraid to end things and endure the pain of being single / finding someone who’s a better fit for me

Basically, I’m a total coward, and I have a false belief that I am fragile and can’t endure pain. And it feels better to take the lazy route and not risk pain. This holds me back because my life never changes and I never experience anything that I yearn for. I just wish for things, and then get bitter that it’ll never happen, because I’m not brave enough to make a change.

If you're bored, you need to do more side quests.

- Launch a business

- Build a top 1% physique

- Run a marathon

- Create software

- Write an essay

- Backpack across Asia with no plan

You feel bored because you stopped experiencing all that life has to offer and got too comfortable with the routine that was assigned to you.

when you feel like there is no point or purpose or meaning to anything. what is something that actually works. im not talking about breathing or journaling. what helps. i feel like im going to lose my mind. i am contemplating going to prison on purpose (non violent) just so i can give up and people stop expecting things from me. ive tried so much. i use to love volunteering and working with kids. and now i am just so empty.

I carry a lot of shame with me on a daily basis, and have since I was a little girl. I have a pretty good understanding of where it stems from, and how it manifests, and what it looks like. Yet, I still very often feel ashamed, and notice my thoughts devolving into shame spirals. These thoughts and feelings are triggered pretty easily. It’s relevant to note that most of the time I feel shame when I haven’t done anything wrong. I think shame is a deeply counterproductive emotion, and I really want to let go of it. Does anyone have any advice or know of any coping skills I can use?

I'm a 24 year old guy, I have never been in a relationship. I have convinced myself that it's never happening for me and I think that my belief manifests itself, eventhough I don't want it to be true. I know it's bad to think like that, but I can't help myself.

The worst of all is I feel like I'm a very quality person and like I have so much to offer. I'm likeable, thoughtful, caring, smart, funny, a great listener and so much more. I'm not without flaws, but I have a bunch of positives going for me. I make friends really easily. I've had girl friends that I'm comfortable enough to talk with about that sort of stuff say I just immediately give off friend vibes which is also something I'm looking to change.

There have been so many failed attempts, dates, everything in my life that have never amounted to anything that I've started to believe that it just isn't in the cards for me. And having a family and being a dad is something I really want some day.

It's occupying my mind so much and I can't shake feeling stressed and sad about it, my friends tell me it's surely going to happen, but I've managed to convince myself it won't over the years. I feel pathetic and, frankly, disgusted by the way I wallow in my own misery.

I desperately want and need to figure out how to change my mindset, how to get out of the vicious cycle that's sabotaging me and blocking me from ever finding someone.

Had a to-do app, habit tracker, journaling app, meditation app, reading tracker — spent more time organizing my self-improvement than doing it. Deleted it all. Now I write three things on a sticky note each morning and do them. No streaks, no dashboards, nothing to check. Turns out I was hiding from the actual work behind a nicer interface for thinking about it. Anyone else realize the tools you built to help yourself became the thing in the way?

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hello, I do not know if this flair is the most fitting but I wanted to get this out there since it's been a constant snag in my life for years

I'm 21 and I attend community college in Alabama, USA. I'm going for HVAC, and while the career is good and I like certain aspects of it, I still feel like my engagement just isn't there. I hardly engage with other students there, no friends and It has culminated in middling grades and a declining performance. I'm dragging my feet in the mud it seems.

HVAC for me is not a career I see as critical to my future, it's just something I do then I go home.

Has anybody been in the same boat or know the feeling? I call it "living life as a ghost"

Meaning being in the motions, i do something but never fully engage with it nor feel a true connection to what I'm building and the people around me.

I want to overcome that.

I long have wondered if I developed a "non-committal" mindset because sometimes I avoid engagement and I've made MANY excuses about it (more than I'd like...)

I'm less interested in hearing "Stay with hvac" or "Just switch careers"

and more interested in hearing from people who struggled to engage with their own lives. What helped you tell the difference between being in the wrong field and approaching the right field in the wrong way?"

Be honest, I'm prepared to hear out everyone, even the negative comments.

TLDR; I'm living my life in "neutral" mode and it's affecting my career.

I'm 2 days vape free, and I'm proud. I'm mostly writing this to motivate myself and remind myself why I am on this journey. Maybe it will help others too. A year ago, a started vaping at work because I saw my coworkers doing it. I asked for one hit, didn't even know I was supposed to inhale, and suddenly I became completely dependent. I started thinking about it constantly, even though I hit it only once. Having ADHD makes my dopamine all messed up and vaping helped me regulate that in the small bursts I always craved even before I started vaping. Now, a year later, I am in a relationship, writing a book, drawing, being a creative person who wants to better themself. I feel like I lost a part of myself in vaping, an innocence and creative part of myself that came up with ways to think critically and work through emotional problems. I cannot believe I of all people started to vape--maybe a lot of poeple would say the same--but I went to a very hippie school and was always the timid, shy kid who looked down on partying and drinking and smoking weed. I became the very thing I hated, and now that i'm quitting I don't hate those things but I do want to reconnect with the version of myself who was independent from substances and who puts my time and energy into the good things in my life that fulfill me. I think of how my sex drive has gone down, how flat and depressed I feel unless I get that head rush (which is rare and only if I haven't hit it in hours) and then go back to the same feeling, I think about how I can't go out unless I bring my vape. If I leave my vape home, I can't enjoy a nice time out with my friends. Nicotine is probably one of the fastest, easiest things to get addicted to. It has such a clear identity, its this manipulative drug that makes you need it to be okay, to even do normal things. It's weird because I don't have a lot of regrets about vaping, aside from sneaking it around and embarrassing myself by leaving to vape in bathrooms.

Its summertime, and I want to enjoy it purely. I want to feel alive again, go places with my friends and family without worrying about a vape, leaving it at home, etc. I'm done for good, even if there is a part of me that still craves it during withdrawals. I want to find fulfillment and rushes of happiness in organic, healthy things. I cannot move forwards and be independent in college and take life seriously while also vaping. It's a distraction and breaks my focus the moment I start craving it. I want to be a happier person, I want to feel good both physically and mentally. I will do this and if you are also doing the same, let me know! we're in this together.

{Unable to attach the link but if anybody is interested I’ll send it to them. I’d consider it an enlightening and uplifting essay, but it covers my experience grappling with dark thoughts and grief after my first ‘real’ experience with grief. I’d say it’s pretty light for something covering the subjects it does but content warning for death/loss, su*cide, and su*cidal thoughts}

Hope this finds you well. I’m currently navigating a very trying time in my life with numerous significant life changes, including my mother’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis. It’s been a lot but I’m getting through it okay so far. It made me think of an essay I wrote a 1-2 years ago during and in reference to another challenging time of my life. I wanted to share it here for anybody who may care to read it or may appreciate anything about it. Open to any types of comments or responses, positive, neutral, or negative. Either way wishing everyone peace and happiness ✌️❤️

I've gone down this rabbit hole of calculating every single action I take through an environmental lens, from how long my showers are to what fabric my clothes are made of to how much plastic packaging my food comes in, and I've reached a point where I feel genuine panic every time I throw something in the trash. I spent three hours last night researching whether it's better for the planet to use paper or reusable cotton towels and I ended up so paralyzed by conflicting information that I just sat on my kitchen floor crying over a paper towel. I want to be a responsible person and I know caring about the environment is important, but this constant guilt is eating me alive and I don't know where to draw the line between being mindful and being obsessive. I'm not looking for permission to be careless, but I need advice on how to care without completely destroying my mental health over every small decision I make during the day.

I've had low self esteem as long as I can imagine. I don't feel like a full person. I'm 22, obese my whole life other than a short spurt where I battled an ed but still obviously had very low self esteem. Externally I try to be kind, but internally this manifests in me hating most people around me aside from my immediate family (husband and son) and one friend who I still sometimes struggle to talk to.

I feel powerless to do much to help myself. I have no health insurance, so I can't go to therapy. My son is two years old, and I feel like I'm always buried beneath responsibilities and a mountain of chores that I cannot seem to even make a few dents in. I don't have clothes I'm confident wearing and my hair is a damaged mess that feels unmanageable. I DO have the ability to financially invest in my appearance, but it will take a few months. I cannot manage working more than 30 hours a week without feeling extremely burnt out. I'm always sick, I'm always tired, and I've been dealing with depression and chronic mental illness since elementary school. Due to my history with an ed, losing weight to help my self esteem is incredibly difficult. I struggle to do basic self care.

One of my biggest issues is feeling unable to talk to others. I have a very social job, but trip over my words with social anxiety often. I make too much money with too much flexibility of my hours to find a new job (bringing home 1200 every 2 weeks even working under 30 hours a week, in a low cost of living area.). But I feel like an outcast everywhere I go, especially because my only social interactions are a bunch of teenagers at work who are very religious and honestly self centered and mean as many teenagers are. I live in a very Christian area and have been an atheist as long as I can remember.

Every social interaction leaves me feeling drained and in my head. When I go to play places with my son, I feel like all eyes are on me even though I know they're not, and spend most of the time trying to keep a cheery attitude while playing with my son while thinking that I'm a horrible mother.

I try to exercise often, doing things I find enjoyable, but fall off after a couple weeks feeling too tired and sick to put energy into it. I try to find hobbies but end up in the same boat. The only hobby I've managed to maintain is listening to audiobooks of a series I enjoyed while in middleschool.

I'm just looking for tips on how to climb out of this. Maybe a step by step on things to focus on. I feel like I am in and endless loop of struggle that has been going on for over a decade now. There have been times I've been able to feel better temporarily using positive self talk or self care, but it doesn't last.

So guys I am 19 at the moment. Have been alone for most of my life and haven't talk to girls for 3 years and I am really anxious around them.

Back in school I used to creep them out. I figured out I looked angry and serious all time closed body language and aggressive sort of (I was going through a lot addictions and a lot).

And I don't know where to look for girls Or How to talk and get a girlfriend. I am fat and ugly I am 5'11 but I look shit. I have no problem talking with boys men anywhere or older women (40-80) but In my library these two girls one was sitting in front and one was beside I was so anxious and felt weird couldn't even look at their faces. I don't know guys I am confused. I liked a girl she rejected me and I am trying to move on.

Hello, I am 16F and till last year i had my life together, now i've got a lot of things to fix, friendships, academics, physical health, mental issues , so basically 2026 hasnt been a kind year to me and there has been a definite downfall, I just am overwhelmed on seeing the amount of things i have to fix and that makes me scared from starting. I need advice on how to overcome the fear and actually start and accept my state. Any help would be appreciated

I am 22F have some weight to lose after gaining it after going through a heartbreak last year. Im currently on my summer vacations and need to find a routine in which i get my sleep and do things i always wanted to i.e working out, journaling, walking, courses, skincare, grooming, finding my style, overall being a productive being. Any routines you guys would suggest?

I have fallen in love 2 times in my life and this man has only used me. And one of him was my closest friend and the man I still love. I already have issues and the one recent happened totally destroyed me. Because I gave him a second chance, and hurt myself even more.

It is not easy for me to find new people to to love again. I still love this guy but he doesn't want me. We have even went no contact in the past for almost a year but did not help.

I am feeling very embarrassed for being used again. I feel like dumped trvsh

I found a goal-tracking app that I actually like so far. Adding a goal, breaking it into daily habits, and checking in each day feels simple enough that I might stick with it.

The only issue: it looks like I can add one goal for free, but adding more requires a subscription. I want to work on a few things at once like health, learning, and getting more consistent with work, so one goal doesn’t really cover it.

Are there any genuinely free apps you use for multiple goals and daily habit tracking? Or is there a system that works better than an app?

I can't stop and it's affecting my life. I was a few minutes late to work because of it. Thankfully i work from home. It is starting to interfer with my personal life and idk what to do 😭 even in conversations

i am going through so much and if I am not daydreaming I am doom scrolling on reddit or youtube :( I lock up my phone to not doomscroll and then I just daydream even more.

i always struggled with daydreaming but now it is like 10x and it is usually about people because I have no friends. I work remotely so i rarely see people.
I have health issues so i cant drive

I was doing okay until i had a really really health scare July 8th and this guy stopped talking to me the 4th of july. so i guess the two combined and a few other things just made me want to escape and not think about anything at all.

I am seeing a therapist next week but no therapist has really understood maladaptive daydreaming.

I wish you all the best! I hope you never reach my level 😅

I still have hope. I feel hopelessly hopeful lol.

has anyone else gone through this? there is a subreddit about maladaptive dreaming but idk if anyone here has had that issue too :/

Anyone get discomfort paralysis?

Like i'll feel uncomfortable about something and just do nothing to change it. I tried testing it out, laid on a cold floor and it wasnt great but I just kinda felt the incentive to just keep laying on the floor. like it was cold wtf.

I know thats not the right response to discomfort.

not just sensory like i am taking classes but i could fix things by standing up for myself more, getting a job, just straight up setting boundaries.. no ive let the last few years kinda roll around with minimal changes.

Sometimes i push back, sometimes it works, sometimes i do take more of a stand for myself.

might sound like a silly question because i do know how, but idk how to explain what i want to ask. i grew up being a therapist friend, people always came to me with their problems, and people always complimented me on how good at “being there” and “saying the right things” when someone’s upset.

but this past year i developed my own issues, i also severely got burned out not just emotionally but in every aspect of my life. i had to isolate myself from people because i couldn’t ignore my shit anymore and the idea of “comforting” someone was so daunting and draining. not because it felt like a burden, but because i didn’t know what to say anymore.

but i recently have started socialising again, and ive learned to keep my shit to myself in a journal and the odd time i’ll vent about it and whatever. but the friends i have just go on about it. i feel awful saying this, because i know what it’s like to be suffering and just wanting someone to care and give you a pity talk. but it’s so draining, before i would be able to ignore how burned out i was getting but it’s like i have limits on myself. when it hits that limit, i genuinely get exhausted so quickly and start to fall asleep which makes me feel worse.

it’s not an issue of me not caring about my friends or anyone, it’s an issue of not being able to be there the way they probably are used to me being there. i just get so tired and drained. i don’t even know what to say when someone’s upset now and i feel like an awful person for it.

I love being there for people ,that is just how I am but I feel like they do not reciprocate the energy. This makes me wonder if I should just change and be like them or should I just lower my expectations?

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I feel like my life hasn't moved in the last 12 months but honestly it's been like more then 8 years. And I just don't understand what does it take to change my life and create the life I want. It's like I'm the CEO of my life yet I feel deep down I should be fired because no company in the real world would tolerate and accept laziness procrastinating overthinking and no action. And that's the phase I've been living in and gotten so used to it.