u/Signal_Voice8640

When I was around 8 years old, I developed an intense fear of death. It wasn’t just an occasional thought, it consumed me for months. I would lie awake thinking about it, wondering what happened after we die and being terrified of the idea of simply ceasing to exist.

The thought of death would trigger full-blown panic and anxiety. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the realization that one day I would die, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

During that time, I kept having the same dream over and over again.

In the dream, I would walk toward the edge of a cliff overlooking the coast. The ocean stretched out endlessly below. Every time, I would reach the edge, fall, and hit my head on a rock.

There was no pain, no panic, no darkness in the frightening sense. Instead, I would immediately drift into what felt like an endless void. I couldn’t feel my body anymore, but I was still somehow aware. The best way I can describe it is complete peace. Absolute stillness. It felt as if I was floating weightlessly forever.

The dream repeated for many months. Eventually, it affected the way I thought about death. As a child, I started convincing myself that maybe this was what dying was like, not scary, not painful, just letting go and drifting into a peaceful nothingness.

To this day, I don’t really fear being dead. What I fear is the process of dying. The idea of a slow, painful death scares me far more than whatever comes after.

Has anyone else had recurring dreams as a child that completely changed the way they view death?

I’ve been friends with my best friend since 2021, but we’ve been especially close for the last four years. She’s honestly like a sister to me.

About two and a half years ago, she started dating this guy who, in my opinion, is terrible for her. He’s cheated on her multiple times, and he can’t stand me because I don’t like him. I mean… why would I? I’ve watched him repeatedly hurt someone I care about.

Their relationship has been on and off the entire time.

Every time they break up, she comes back into my life and our friendship is exactly how it used to be. We hang out, talk all the time, and it’s like nothing changed.

But every single time they get back together, she disappears. She barely texts, never wants to hang out, and eventually I stop reaching out because I already know how it’s going to go. It feels like our friendship only exists when she’s single.

At first, I really tried to stay involved in her life even when they were together. I’d still reach out, invite her to do things, and make an effort because I didn’t want our friendship to depend on her relationship status. But after watching her go back to someone who constantly disrespects her and cheats on her over and over again, I got emotionally exhausted. It became hard to keep investing so much energy when nothing ever changed.

They recently got back together again, and once again she’s gone. I miss her, but I’m tired of feeling like I’m only her best friend when her relationship isn’t working out.
Part of me wants to reach out because I genuinely love her and miss her.

The other part of me feels like if she wanted me in her life, she’d make the effort.

Has anyone else dealt with a friendship like this? Did you keep trying, or did you eventually let the friendship fade?

I’ve been dating my boyfriend for a bit now, and I can’t shake the feeling that his two sisters don’t really care for me.

The thing is, they’ve never actually been rude to me or done anything objectively wrong. They’ve never insulted me or excluded me outright. It’s more that whenever I’m around, they don’t really acknowledge me or try to include me in conversations.

I’m naturally a very shy and quiet person, so that doesn’t help. If I feel like someone isn’t interested in talking to me, I tend to retreat instead of forcing conversation.

I do try to make an effort. I’ll ask questions or make small talk but it usually doesn’t go anywhere. It often feels like I’m just… there.

Meanwhile, they seem perfectly comfortable talking to everyone else.

What confuses me is that I don’t get this feeling from the rest of his family. His parents are wonderful. They always talk to me, include me in conversations, and genuinely make me feel welcome. I truly feel like they care about me, which is why this feels so strange. It’s really just his two sisters.

His sisters are also a few years younger than I am, so I don’t know if it’s an age difference, different personalities, or if I’m simply overthinking the whole thing.

Because nothing has actually happened, I don’t know if I’m reading too much into it or if they’re just naturally quiet around me. I also wonder if my own shyness makes me come across as uninterested, creating this awkward cycle where everyone assumes the other person doesn’t want to talk.

My boyfriend hasn’t mentioned anything, and I don’t want to create a problem where there isn’t one. At the same time, family is important to me, and I’d really like to have a good relationship with them.

This year, we’re actually hosting Christmas at our house, and I’ve already caught myself thinking about it. I’d really like to feel like part of the family instead of feeling like I’m just another person in the room.

Has anyone else experienced this with a significant other’s siblings? Did things naturally get better over time, or am I just overthinking normal family dynamics?

TL;DR: I thought he was just my best friend. Turns out he was the loml all along. ❤️

In early 2023, I got a follow request from this guy. We followed each other for a while and would occasionally exchange messages, mostly just replying to each other’s stories. Nothing flirtatious, just friendly conversations.

Toward the end of 2023, I was looking to switch gyms. I was also hoping to meet new people and make some new friends, so a new environment felt like a good change. I noticed he went to a gym that had caught my attention, so I reached out to ask about it. Since he already went there, I asked if he’d be willing to show me around. We picked a day, met for the first time, worked out together, and I quickly realized he was such a cool person. We hit it off right away.

After signing up at the gym, we often saw each other there and would always say hello and talk for a bit. Eventually, he asked me on a date, and I said yes.

The date went great. We got to know each other on a deeper level, sharing stories about our lives, experiences, and past relationships. I opened up about spending eight years in a toxic** relationship, while he told me about his previous engagement that ended after discovering she had been unfaithful.

Even so, I wasn’t sure I was ready to pursue anything romantic. Part of me felt like maybe neither of us was truly prepared for that step. Both of our relationships had ended about a year earlier, and I worried that moving forward too quickly might be rushing things. Especially knowing he had gone through a failed engagement, I remember thinking, “There’s no way he’s completely over something like that yet.”

The truth is, I had already been emotionally done with my own relationship long before it ended. Leaving was the hardest part, walking away from eight years of familiarity wasn’t easy, but once it was over, I was able to start fresh and rebuild my life. Looking back, I realize I was projecting my concerns onto him because I couldn’t imagine how someone could go through something as serious as a broken engagement and be ready to move forward so soon.

So when he asked me out again, I told him I wasn’t interested in anything beyond friendship, though I genuinely hoped we could still stay close. I had so much respect for him, he was a genuinely good person and an overall great guy.

Over time, he accepted that nothing more would come from it, and our friendship grew into something incredibly special. We didn’t need constant communication or daily hangouts; no matter how much time passed, we always picked up right where we left off. Somewhere along the way, he became my best friend.

We spent time trying new places to eat, we got Disneyland passes and went often, played video games, and shared everything on our minds. Conversations flowed easily, from crushes and goals to everyday thoughts, and people often assumed we were dating. In reality, we had built something just as meaningful, a deep, genuine friendship.

What made it even funnier was how openly we talked about other people we were interested in. He’d tell me about potential dates, I’d share stories about guys who wanted to take me out, and we’d laugh, give advice, and support each other through it all.

Whenever I was struggling, he showed up without hesitation. Sometimes that meant picking me up and taking me out just to get me out of the house. During my darker moments, when I’d withdraw completely, he never stopped checking in, reminding me I wasn’t alone and that someone cared.

And I tried to be there for him in the same way. If I didn’t hear from him for a few days, I’d start to worry. He had his own struggles, and whenever he was going through something, I made sure to show up for him too. Since we both loved trying new food spots, I’d often invite him out just to help him clear his mind.

Looking back, that mutual care is what made our friendship so special. We genuinely cared about each other long before either of us admitted there might be something more.

At some point, I realized I loved him, but I thought it was just friendship love. Little did I know, it was actually so much more.

Then one day, I had a dream LOL

In the dream, I was laying on his lap while we watched a movie. I remember feeling really calm and comfortable, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. His hand was pressed against my arm, and I just felt…safe. I couldn’t even see his face, but somehow I knew it was him. It wasn’t something I questioned, it just was. When I woke up, I couldn’t stop thinking about it because I’d never felt that way about something before.

I had never been to his house before.

A week later, he invited me over for tacos. The moment I stepped into his living room, I froze. My chest tightened, and for a second it felt like the air had been pulled out of the room. Everything, the couch, the lighting, the placement of the TV matched the dream exactly. Even the feeling was the same. That quiet, comforting stillness. My heart started racing as realization slowly clicked into place. It wasn’t just a coincidence, it couldn’t be. In that moment, something shifted inside me, and I knew without a doubt it had been him all along.

After I told him about the dream, everything changed.

We began spending nearly every day together, staying connected from morning until night. Somewhere along the way, our friendship naturally evolved into something deeper, and before we knew it, we had fallen in love.

Fast forward to June 2026, and we’ve officially been together for a year and a half. Sometimes he likes to joke that throughout our entire friendship, he was just waiting for me to realize we would end up together.

What started as a random follow request turned into a friendship I never expected and eventually, a love story I never saw coming.

He’s my best friend, my favorite person, my safe place, and my partner. I can’t imagine my life without him, and I love him more than words can ever express. ❤️

I need some unbiased advice because I’ve been struggling with this for over two months.
My boyfriend and I have been together for about a year and a half. Our relationship doesn’t typically have issues like this, but something happened in April that I still can’t get over.
I discovered that he used AI to create/edit a picture of himself with another woman. It wasn’t just a random image he came across. He was actively editing it and giving prompts to make changes to the photo. Seeing that hurt me deeply because it felt intentional and personal.
Around the same time, I also discovered that he watches porn a few times a week usually after I leave for work in the mornings. Normally I know people have different opinions on porn, but what makes it harder is that our sex life isn’t very active. It left me wondering why he seems interested in sexual content but not in being intimate with me (we’re active 1-2x a week).
Since then, my trust has been broken. It’s now June and I still think about it regularly. I constantly compare myself to other women. I feel insecure, unattractive, and not good enough. I’ve reached a point where I genuinely dislike what I see when I look in the mirror, and I hate that I’ve allowed a relationship to affect my self-esteem this much.
The thing is, I’m no longer sure whether I’m upset about the specific actions or whether I’m realizing that I don’t feel respected in this relationship. I want to be with someone who makes me feel valued, secure, and chosen.
My question is: If you were in my position, would this be something you could move past? Or is the fact that I’m still unhappy and struggling with trust over two months later a sign that this relationship may have run its course?
Please be honest, even if it’s something I may not want to hear.