u/Arty_was_here05

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I genuinely feel like my life has been completely out of control lately, and I don’t know how to fix it.

The weird part is that it’s not like I’m incapable or untalented at the things I try to do. I’ve started a ridiculous amount of projects over the years and a lot of them were actually going really well.

For example, I taught myself animation and made full high-quality animations entirely by myself. But then my phone started getting full on storage, and instead of just deleting stuff, buying storage, or getting a device dedicated to animating… my brain basically went “nah” and I stopped completely.

That’s the pattern with almost everything in my life:

The second there’s even a tiny amount of resistance, my brain refuses to continue.

Music is another one. I’ve composed instrumentals, written lyrics, layered vocals, made OST-style tracks, etc. And I KNOW some of the stuff I’ve made is genuinely good. Not in an ego way, but objectively “this sounds catchy,” “this rhythm works,” “those vocals came out nice.”

Listening to my own unfinished songs already gives me dopamine.

And yet I still cannot sit down and finish them.

Same thing with writing. I spent over a year outlining and building what’s basically an entire novel series in my head. Then one random night I got hit with insane focus and motivation and wrote 13 chapters — around 11,000 words.

I loved what came out of it.

Haven’t continued.

Same thing with YouTube. I made videos, edited them well, got decent engagement and views, and then never uploaded again.

At this point it’s affecting everything, not just “productive” hobbies. Even chores feel impossible to start. Even VIDEO GAMES feel exhausting to begin sometimes.

That’s the part that scares me the most.

It’s like my brain doesn’t want to do anything at all unless I randomly get hit with some rare burst of hyperfocus.

The issue isn’t skill.

The issue is getting myself to START and continue once friction appears.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Is this just severe procrastination, burnout, dopamine issues, ADHD, depression, executive dysfunction, or something else entirely?

Because honestly, I’m tired of watching myself waste years worth of ideas and potential while doing absolutely nothing with them.

AITA for snapping at my partner’s little brother after taking care of him for over a year?

I (20M) live with my partner (23F), her mom, and her 11-year-old brother.

He’s a very difficult kid to handle. I work with kids, and he struggles far more than most with listening, emotional regulation, schedules, and anxiety/panic attacks. He hasn’t had much consistency growing up either — his mom pulled him out of school around age 5 and stopped homeschooling him for a long time until I pushed for it to start again.

Over the past year, I ended up becoming one of his main caretakers while my partner and her mom work. I help him with homework, chores, meals, training, etc. I care about him a lot, but over time I started feeling burned out and frustrated from constantly being in a parental/authority role with him.

I had already talked to my partner recently about wanting to step back and just have a more normal “older brother” relationship with him because I felt like he was starting to resent me.

The incident happened during martial arts classes at the school where I teach (he’s a student there). After his class ended, he started making loud noises with a walkie-talkie during another class I was teaching. I told him to turn it down. He turned it back up and said his sister told him to use it to tell her when class ended.

I was already frustrated because lately he’s stopped listening to me in class and treats me more like a brother than an instructor. So when he talked back, I got angry, walked over, and yanked the walkie-talkie out of his hand while telling him he can’t talk back to me while I’m working.

I know I handled that badly. I shouldn’t have reacted physically out of frustration, even if I didn’t hurt him.

Later he told his sister what happened, including that I looked angry and grabbed it out of his hand. He wasn’t lying.

Now everyone in the house is treating me like I’m a terrible person and saying I’m bad for him. What’s bothering me is that I’ve spent over a year helping raise and care for him, and both his mom and sister have said much harsher things to him during their own moments of frustration.

I’m not saying that excuses my reaction. I just genuinely can’t tell if I crossed a serious line or if they’re reacting too harshly over one frustrated moment.

AITA?

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I (20M) live with my partner (23F), her mom, and her 11-year-old brother.

He’s a very difficult kid to handle. I work with kids, and he struggles far more than most with listening, emotional regulation, schedules, and anxiety/panic attacks. He hasn’t had much consistency growing up either — his mom pulled him out of school around age 5 and stopped homeschooling him for a long time until I pushed for it to start again.

Over the past year, I ended up becoming one of his main caretakers while my partner and her mom work. I help him with homework, chores, meals, training, etc. I care about him a lot, but over time I started feeling burned out and frustrated from constantly being in a parental/authority role with him.

I had already talked to my partner recently about wanting to step back and just have a more normal “older brother” relationship with him because I felt like he was starting to resent me.

The incident happened during martial arts classes at the school where I teach (he’s a student there). After his class ended, he started making loud noises with a walkie-talkie during another class I was teaching. I told him to turn it down. He turned it back up and said his sister told him to use it to tell her when class ended.

I was already frustrated because lately he’s stopped listening to me in class and treats me more like a brother than an instructor. So when he talked back, I got angry, walked over, and yanked the walkie-talkie out of his hand while telling him he can’t talk back to me while I’m working.

I know I handled that badly. I shouldn’t have reacted physically out of frustration, even if I didn’t hurt him.

Later he told his sister what happened, including that I looked angry and grabbed it out of his hand. He wasn’t lying.

Now everyone in the house is treating me like I’m a terrible person and saying I’m bad for him. What’s bothering me is that I’ve spent over a year helping raise and care for him, and both his mom and sister have said much harsher things to him during their own moments of frustration.

I’m not saying that excuses my reaction. I just genuinely can’t tell if I crossed a serious line or if they’re reacting too harshly over one frustrated moment.

AITA?

​

I (20M) live with my partner (23F), her mom, and her 11-year-old brother.

He’s a very difficult kid to handle. I work with kids, and he struggles far more than most with listening, emotional regulation, schedules, and anxiety/panic attacks. He hasn’t had much consistency growing up either — his mom pulled him out of school around age 5 and stopped homeschooling him for a long time until I pushed for it to start again.

Over the past year, I ended up becoming one of his main caretakers while my partner and her mom work. I help him with homework, chores, meals, training, etc. I care about him a lot, but over time I started feeling burned out and frustrated from constantly being in a parental/authority role with him.

I had already talked to my partner recently about wanting to step back and just have a more normal “older brother” relationship with him because I felt like he was starting to resent me.

The incident happened during martial arts classes at the school where I teach (he’s a student there). After his class ended, he started making loud noises with a walkie-talkie during another class I was teaching. I told him to turn it down. He turned it back up and said his sister told him to use it to tell her when class ended.

I was already frustrated because lately he’s stopped listening to me in class and treats me more like a brother than an instructor. So when he talked back, I got angry, walked over, and yanked the walkie-talkie out of his hand while telling him he can’t talk back to me while I’m working.

I know I handled that badly. I shouldn’t have reacted physically out of frustration, even if I didn’t hurt him.

Later he told his sister what happened, including that I looked angry and grabbed it out of his hand. He wasn’t lying.

Now everyone in the house is treating me like I’m a terrible person and saying I’m bad for him. What’s bothering me is that I’ve spent over a year helping raise and care for him, and both his mom and sister have said much harsher things to him during their own moments of frustration.

I’m not saying that excuses my reaction. I just genuinely can’t tell if I crossed a serious line or if they’re reacting too harshly over one frustrated moment.

AITA?

EDIT: To give more info since some brought it up. I don't think there's a work Inbalance, there's a money one though. I work 2 jobs, 3 times a week from 11 till 9, and the other 4 times a week from 4 till 9. They work Monday to Friday, sometimes Saturday and Sunday.

They make more money than I do though because I am not documented at the moment (working on that) but they are. So they have a better job than I do.