u/Less_Ant3138

Past two years have been living alone with my partner. Absolutely loved it. Now I’m out of college and we’re hoping to move out of the state by the end of the year so didn’t want to commit to another year long lease in our apartment. So we’re temporarily living with their family.

I forgot how much living with people other than my partner makes me just want to sit in my room all day and do nothing. For about a week I was so on top of my routines (self care and doing my hobbies and chores) but I’ve just settled back into hating being perceived by the other people in the house. I am comfortable living with my partners family as I have in the past but it doesn’t make it any better. I’m a homebody and love having my space and just going about my day without the feeling of being perceived. But now I’m living with an additional 3 people and they’re always in the common areas that my desk and stuff is in. Absolutely not upset with them for this (duh, it’s their house) but why is it so hard for me to be productive when I feel like I’m being watched.

All I wanna do is hole up in my room bc I just don’t have the energy for social interaction (partner’s mom just likes to make conversation any time I’m trying to do stuff) and I cannot get over the not wanting to be perceived. This was also an issue when I had roommates my first two years of college. If someone is in the room I’m in I just feel like they’re watching my every move even though I know logically they’re not. I just can’t get comfortable. Only place I feel I can let my guard down is in our room when I can be alone and don’t have to mask.

My partner is the only person I’ve lived with where I don’t have this issue, probably bc we’re both neurodivergent. We never feel the need to mask around each other. But I hate having to mask in my own home. If I had the space I’d move my desk into our bedroom but there’s just not room. It’s a single floor home too. Just none of this feels like “my space” the way it did when we had our own apartment and it’s got me completely thrown off. I just feel awkward doing anything and find myself getting annoyed at people just asking me questions or making conversation bc I just want to be left in peace to go about my day. I like social interaction when I leave the house, not when I can’t escape it in my own living space.

Haven’t let this affect how I interact with their family, I’m always very pleasant, but I feel like I just can’t get comfy, I just wanna sit in bed on my phone to avoid interaction. I feel like a freaking high schooler again. It’s temporary but idk it’s really starting to bother me. I need “my space” to be bigger than a little bedroom.

Really not sure if this is related to my ibs (diagnosed about a year ago but been dealing with various issues through my life, I’m 22) but figured I’d post here to get some insight.

So I’m having various issues that compound on each other and are making my life harder :/. All my life I’ve had a relatively small appetite. Not that I don’t get hungry, rather that I just get full faster than seems normal. The amount of food I can eat in a sitting seems low compared to my partner and most other people in my life. But I frequently don’t get very strong fullness signals which ends up in me eating what I think is a normal amount, just to end up being nauseous and in pain for often times up to an hour because I overate without even realizing . Soda fills me up really fast so I usually only have water with meals or drink very very slow. There’s been many times that my fullness signals don’t kick in until I’m at the point that taking one more bite would make me throw up.

And then there’s the other side, where I get hungry again fast. Probably bc I couldn’t eat a large enough portion. So I’m hungry again in like 2-3 hours. I work at a grocery store so I frequently have to go 4-5 hours between meals. And of course if I go too long and let myself be hungry for too long, I get so nauseous, once again. And then it’s hard to convince myself to eat bc being nauseous ruins my appetite, but eating is the only thing that will fix the problem. Even on days where I’m off work, my hunger signals don’t seem to kick in until I’m REALLY hungry, or I just don’t notice them? Idk. And many times I’ll realize I’ve gone too long without eating and I feel like I’m going to throw up and sometimes even get the shakes and lightheaded. If I don’t eat breakfast within like an hour of waking up I feel like I’m bout to die lol.

To make matters worse I’m neurodivergent and a bit picky about food. I’m vegetarian and that’s actually helped me with avoiding flare ups, I naturally get more fiber and do try to focus on getting enough protein. But in general I’m still picky and have a very hard time forcing myself to eat something I’m “not in the mood for” even if it’s something I normally like. Sometimes I’m craving one thing and if I can’t get it, it’s game over. I feel fatigued much more than people I know and if I could sleep 9 hours a night, plus a 3 hour nap, I would. I really worry I’m kinda accidentally falling into disordered eating habits bc all these issues make it so hard for me to eat enough, and I feel like I’m just nauseous way more often than is normal. I know for a fact the past few months I consistently do not get enough calories in by the end of the day. Been thinking about trying to utilize more liquid nutrition bc i do love a good protein shake, but being neurodivergent and having some mental health issues makes it really hard for me to consistently take the time to make a protein smoothie and clean the blender every single day. I know getting more exercise would help too bc I naturally eat better and feel better when I’m active, but once again I just feel fatigued all the time so getting into a routine now that I no longer have my college sport to rely on is hard. And work takes my time :/.

Idk this kinda turned into me complaining but I’ve just been feeling helpless lately and having more instances of nausea related to my eating habits, and fatigue like all the time. If my stomach could just handle larger portions I feel this wouldn’t be nearly as much of a problem. Could go longer between meals and actually get enough nutrition.

I have a 5.5 shrimp and snail tank currently, I’m going to be moving states somewhat soon and just don’t have it in me to go through the process of moving an aquatic aquarium. I’m going to rehome my current colony of course (any advice on how to go about that is super appreciated) but I’ll be keeping the tank and would love some suggestions for inverts good at that size tank.

No aquatic, I’ve decided I’d rather just not bc idk how many more times I’ll have to move homes. I have a 10 gallon that I’ll be using for bdf beetles and other desert beetles, so not those either. IMO 5 gal isn’t big enough for a tarantula and my partner is kinda scared of spiders in general. Would be nice to make it bioactive bc I do like plants but that’s not necessary, tho I think if I can’t decide on an invert, I’ll make it a bog terrarium for carnivorous plants. But yea, with those things in mind, any invert suggestions?

I’m in a bit of a specific situation haha. I’m just about to graduate with a BFA in illustration, from an art school. In the past 2 years my focus and passion has become scientific illustration and I’ve just gotten so passionate about public education, science communication, and biology/ecology/conservation. I don’t have interest in medical illustration, so I don’t *need* a science degree to get a job, but so so many of the successful science illustrators do have a degree in biology/zoology, and frankly I’d love delving more into the science side. It would be amazing to have that extra level of expertise so I can better obtain those opportunities working with organizations/institutes/etc. Hell at this point I’d be psyched to work at a local wildlife center of some sort even if it’s not an art position, like I said I’ve become very passionate about outreach and public education. My issue is that I just spent 4 years at an outrageously expensive art school, so now I’m in hella debt. And I really need to start working full time, I live with my partner hours and hours away from my family, and we have two cats lol. So I think I can only reasonably do something online that I can pay off as I take the classes, to not add to my debt and still be able to work. Im ok if it takes me longer to complete the degree by being a part time student. But I know biology courses really need the hands on aspect of being in person. I’m just feeling a little lost and stressed about the future lol. Nature has been a passion my whole life and sometimes I regret that I didn’t get a biology degree and just minor in art, but at the end of high school I didn't even know about science illustration and had no idea just how passionate about science and education I would become. All I cared about was doing art. But I don’t regret the amount of skill I gained at my school. Any advice on programs/schools/etc would seriously be a help.

For context I’m a college athlete equestrian. I ride for an hour twice a week, plus weekly weight lifting and yoga. For the past 2-3 now I’ve been having low back pain and I just can’t seem to escape it, and it feels like non-horse people in the sports med field just don’t understand the mechanics of riding and how its affecting my body. It feels like almost every day my lower back has a dull ache. Not my muscles, but actually in my spine, at least that’s how it feels. I have a strong core and keep it very engaged while riding, I know I’m not arching or rounding my back. On weight lighting days that we do squats or deadlifts I also end up extra sore in my back, and on days I ride particularly bouncy horses. I really dont think it’s a sore muscle problem and I just don’t know what to do if it is an issue with my spine. Sometimes cantering on bouncy horses feels like my vertebrae are jut being repeatedly slammed together, despite my butt not even leaving the saddle at any point. Even now, I had a very light work ride on Monday but today, Wednesday, as I tack up for my ride, my low back still hurts. It just feels constant. Idk if this is related, but when I pick my cats up, I usually lean back a bit while holding them, and sometimes it feels like my legs go weak suddenly? idk if maybe I’m dealing with a disk issue, compressed vein, pinched nerve, or what, but I just don’t know what to do to fix it or if this is an issue worth bringing to my doctor.