When I'm frustrated or anxious or upset, I vent to the few friends I have. This is a negative coping mechanism as it damages our relationships. I also experience extreme remorse after doing so, which further perpetuates it because I'm constantly asking to be forgiven.

Earlier this year I tried to see a therapist and ask for advice on this. She dismissed me and said that it's ok to do that and you can't simply keep everything inside.

She was incorrect and was also a shitty therapist for various reasons (she was 15-30 minutes late to each session and just dismissed anything I said).

I'm hopefully trying again with a new therapist soon, but I need advice in the meantime. It is actively damaging my relationships.

"Journaling" is not an option because I can't stop what I'm doing at work to go journal something whenever the need arises.

Thanks all. I can delete on request if needed.

First, apologies if this isn't appropriate for a community called "casual conversation". I just don't know of another conversational community to post in. I am more than happy to delete this on request.

Does anyone out there seem to get addicted to their bad moods? Like, you've been feeling down on and off for a week. Instead of seeking out media, conversations, etc. that you know you like and makes you happy, you'd prefer to keep absorbing unhappy media and talking about unhappy things to keep you unhappy. It's almost like you begin to enjoy being unhappy and you don't want it to stop. What the fuck is even that though? Are some people just meant to be insufferable like that? I don't understand why this happens. When I'm happy, I want to continue to be happy. When I'm down, I want to continue to be down even if there is no discernible reason.

Just curious on your thoughts. Thanks for your time.

For context, my job involves the use of voice dictation software constantly for 8 hours a day. So I am constantly talking to the computer and thus my threshold to talking to others is significantly reduced.

I also generally enjoy talking as it is in my nature. So I need to combat that.

There is also the caveat that...for politeness and problem solving sake, I still need to be able to respond to questions from others (which is often).

With this in mind, how can I work towards never speaking to anyone unprompted? Does anyone have any specific techniques I can use? I think what I'm really missing is a method. It's like trying to pain the Mona Lisa without knowing any painting techniques. Thanks.

Edit: People are really making me out to be an evil psychopath with no empathy. I get that you can only tell so much from one post, but it's incredibly far from the truth. I have people that love and adore in my life and would do anything for. It just takes me a long ass time to get to that point...and as an introvert, my social battery with new people wears down quickly. Online dating is just difficult. I am not rude to others. Conversations just quickly peter out and neither I or my match end up continuing for much longer. The "ghosting" I speak of is often mutual. These aren't people I've interacted with for months that I suddenly stop talking to. It's chatting for a day or several and then we peter out.

If you think from this small post that I am such a psychopath as to discard a literal child, I don't know what to tell you. It's just leaping to such wild conclusions that I don't even know how to respond. I don't even necessarily want kids...I just want to be able to have the option to.

I'm sorry if this is too odd or specific of a question, but I have a bit of a dilemma.

I live alone. I have some work friends work friends, but they basically stay just friends at work. So I get lonely sometimes. And sometimes I just want to have someone around to do stuff with me. And sometimes I wonder what it might be like to raise a family.

So I occasionally try dating apps. But when I finally get someone to respond to me, my reaction is first a little bit of excitement, but then I get annoyed at having to chat with someone I just met all the time. So I unfortunately act like a dickhole by then ghosting them soon after. Even if I manage enough stamina to chat back and forth for a week or so, it always just ends up tiring and a bother to me.

The thing is, I don't really have much capacity to feel attracted to people. I'm probably somewhere on both the asexual and aromantic spectrums. So you'd think, why date? Just make a friendship then. But there are some things you can't do with a friend...like raise a family and such.

Plus, I don't even think I could manage a friendship with how difficult it is for me to like someone. I don't like anyone I just met. It takes a long time for me to enjoy and appreciate people, and many never actually make it to the point of someone I really like. There have been a couple of times where I have tried hanging out with people as friends and it's just...kind of dissatisfying to me?? Yet I really like hanging out with certain members of my family. I don't get it.

Plus like...what are you even supposed to do on a date or on an outing with friends? What are you supposed to say when you're chatting with a partner? How long and often are you supposed to chat with each other? I feel like I need some sort of a step by step guidebook because I don't even know what the hell people are supposed to do with each other.

Sorry if this is too specific. I'm just wondering if anyone else out there is as confused with human interaction as I am.

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Hi all. Apologies if this is not allowed here. I know people out there are struggling, but I just want to share my good news with someone.

It's a big milestone of accomplishment in my life, but I feel weird just telling family members or my online friends about it. The only other people who know are my coworkers because we all got the same raise. Money doesn't go as far nowadays due to crazy inflation post COVID and my area has higher cost of living than where I grew up, but I'm still very happy about this. I remember back when I used to only make minimum wage. All those years of schooling eventually made their way back to me. I'll never make as much money as someone like a doctor, but it's definitely enough for me to live comfortably as a single person.

Anyway, I'll delete this in a bit (or sooner if it gets removed by a mod), but I hope you guys out there have a good weekend.

Edit: Thank you guys very much :)

Edit 2: Jeez there are so many more comments than I expected. You guys are so nice!!

I apologize if this isn't allowed, but I wasn't sure exactly where to put it. Just let me know if it's inappropriate and I'll delete. Thanks.

I'm a loner, so my life is basically just work and the internet. Two of my coworkers are among my favorite people in the whole world, but one of them doesn't like the other one and will complain to me about how they don't like them.

We work incredibly closely together...only a few feet apart for hours on end. Our job also necessitates that we frequently communicate with one another. In the beginning, I absolutely loved it and there was no conflict.

Now, I often get my one coworker complaining to me that the other is lazy. And I'm not going to lie, the "lazy" one definitely takes more breaks than everyone and doesn't at all work as hard as the others. But that doesn't really bother me because she's a super incredibly nice and friendly person.

But over time it has bothered my hardworking coworker more and more and driven a wedge into what I would have once considered to be a friendship between the 3 of us.

It never gets to the point where there is yelling or arguments or anything, but it absolutely ruins the mood and then I hear about it later.

I interact with these people for hours on end every single day and I'm just not sure how to handle it. I've been struggling to know how to deal with it for months now.

To top it all off it gives me endless paranoia that the hardworking coworker secretly resents me and hates me too. This stuff never used to happen before, but know I feel like it's all that happens.

Whenever I come across a song with specifically rapidly switching and ping ponging or warbling right/left effects, I get chills. But it's hard to find exactly what I mean.

The only two songs that I know of that exemplify this are:

• Such Great Heights by The Postal Service
• Slow Me Down by Emmy Rossum

I heard the latter song first and I'll never forget that moment I was sitting in front of the stereo and hit play, not knowing what to expect. I kept repeating the beginning of the song over and over again to hear that effect in the intro, amazed at what my ears were hearing.

There are a few more songs I've listened to that do this, but I've lost them and can't remember what they were called sadly. I've been combing through my music library but haven't found them again.

An example of songs that do NOT fit this criteria are Left and Right by Charlie Puth or Runaway by Kanye West. I don't really care that the lyrics switch ears. It doesn't provide that indescribable experience that the songs I posted above give.

I'm finding that this is such a hard thing to Google. A lot of people link to songs simply with "right left stereo effects", but I'm looking for something more specific as in the above. I'm specifically looking for rapid right left switching effects, and NOT just instruments occasionally played in a different ear.

My genre of choice is pop/EDM and modern pop, but I'm open to others. Thanks all, I'd really appreciate it.

Edit: Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the responses, guys. There are so many songs to wade through. Thanks!

Hi all. Apologies if this isn't the right community for this type of question. Just let me know and I'll remove it.

Recently I've been struggling a bit. There are a few people in my life right know who I care deeply about. They are going through some very rough times right now. (Ex: money issues, sick relatives, etc.)

I am very frustrated because I hear about what's going on all the time and I am powerless to do anything to help. The advice I've had in the past is "just be a friend and be there for them," but there is only so far I am mentally and even physically able to go with that. All I want to do is to fix it and make it better for them but I can't.

And it's been making me go a bit crazy tbh. It's pretty narcissistic of me to be reacting this way, but I can't help it. I don't tell these people that I am stressed out because of them and I don't tell them that it is affecting me in any way. It's such an asshole move for me to be feeling this way but I just don't know how to get out of it.

I try to be nice and friendly all the time, but it's killing me. I just want to be able to help but I can't. I'm completely and totally powerless.

Surely there are those of you out there who care about others and have run into this issue before. What the actual fuck am I supposed to do? "Just be a friend" doesn't help my mental state or do anything for any of the issues that any of us have.

Thanks all.

Somewhere within the last few updates, it seems that haptic feedback has been added to whenever you swipe over a post.

I know a lot of Apple users were asking for this, but I really don't like it as an Android user who doesn't have haptic feedback for apps normally. It's annoying for my phone to be vibrating every 2 seconds when I'm doing things. Is there no option to turn it off?

Thanks! Loving the work you guys do!

I am having some family members visit my place for the first time since I moved in and I'm pretty excited. It's a small thing, but yeah. I have a tendency to work most weekends because I don't have a social life so it's a nice change of pace. Do any of you get to do anything fun? Hooe your Friday goes well!

I know the question is a bit vague, but I'm hoping people will interpret this however they see fit an give their own experiences.

To be honest, I'm struggling a bit with this right now and would enjoy reading others' experiences.