u/kyleYOOOO

This actually happened yesterday afternoon, but I’m dealing with the fallout today.

​My main group of friends had already left for the day, and I still had some time to kill on campus. I saw a group of female classmates sitting together, and since I genuinely just wanted to socialize and expand my social circle, I decided to walk over, sit down, and join their conversation.

​I thought everything was going totally fine. We were chatting, I asked them a few casual questions (including how they did on our recent school grades/exams to keep the conversation going), and from my perspective, we were all having a pretty solid, friendly time. I left feeling like I’d made a good effort to connect with people outside my usual crowd.

​Fast forward to 5:48 AM this morning. My alarm hasn't even gone off yet, and I wake up to a direct message from one of the girls in that group.

​She essentially dropped a wall of text letting me know that my attempt to join them actually made her and her friends super uncomfortable. She specifically mentioned that asking about their grades was awkward, that me sitting near them felt intrusive, and that if I had any intentions of getting close to her or her group, she had zero interest. She finished it off by asking me to keep everything strictly about school from now on.

​I was hit with total emotional bomb (and that's being generous). I was acting in 100% good faith with zero weird or predatory intentions, so finding out that my presence was read as intrusive and creepy stung pretty badly. If I had caught even a single hint of discomfort yesterday, I would have apologized and walked away right then and there

​I didn't argue. I replied owning up to it, told her I had no bad intent, apologized for making her feel uncomfortable, and agreed to keep things strictly academic. Right after that, I archived our chat, noticed she unfollowed me on social media, unfollowed her back to match her energy, and now I'm just sitting here at 6 AM realizing I completely misread a room and turned a normal Tuesday into an awkward social nightmare.

​TL;DR: Tried to be friendly and join a group of female classmates when my main friends left campus, thought we had a fun time, woke up at 5:48 AM to a text letting me know I made everyone uncomfortable and to never try getting close to them again

I AM SO STUPID

This happened today, and I'm still feeling pretty guilty about it.

For context, we have household caretakers (yayas, I live in the Philippines) who have been with our family for a long time. I've always been comfortable talking to them, so I didn't really think much before bringing something up.

Recently, I got the impression that my mom might be resigning from her job. I wasn't even sure if it was true. I literally said something along the lines of, "I could be wrong, but I think my mom might be resigning."

To me, it didn't feel like I was leaking some huge secret because I wasn't stating it as a fact, and I was only saying it within the household. I didn't think twice about it.

Well... my parents found out I had mentioned it, and they were PISSED to death (even saying that is being too generous)

Their point was simple: whether or not my mom is resigning is her news to share, not mine. Even if I wasn't certain and even if I only told our caretakers, it still wasn't my place to say anything.

The worst part is that this isn't the first time I've shared information that wasn't really mine to share (or any fuckups I've done around them or related to them). I have a history of speaking before thinking, especially when it comes to things that involve other people. So, I can't even sit here and say they're overreacting—they're not. They're frustrated because it's a pattern.

I apologized, and honestly, I don't have much of a defense. I didn't have bad intentions. I wasn't trying to gossip or cause drama. I just didn't stop and think, "Is this actually my information to tell?"

Now I'm feeling pretty embarrassed and wondering how I can rebuild their trust after repeating the same kind of mistake.

So... TIFU by learning that even if you trust the people you're talking to, someone else's personal or professional news is still not yours to share.

Has anyone else had to break this habit? If so, what helped you become more mindful before speaking?

TL;DR: I casually told our household caretakers that I thought my mom might be resigning from her job, even though I wasn't sure it was true. My parents found out and were furious because it wasn't my news to share. This isn't the first time (and definitely not my 100th time) I've spoken without thinking, so now I'm trying to figure out how to rebuild their trust and stop repeating this pattern.

probably cold take idk

From what I've seen, community consensus is that a lot of people absolutely HATE jumping, and I honestly don't understand why. To me, it feels like a lot of players treat normal progression as if it's the only "correct" way to improve, when in reality it's just the most common way. Just because the majority prefers beating levels in order of difficulty doesn't automatically make it objectively right—it simply means that's the progression style that works for most people.

At the end of the day, progression is a preference. Some players enjoy steadily climbing the difficulty ladder, while others are more motivated by setting one huge goal and grinding it until they eventually beat it. Neither approach is inherently wrong.

I completely understand why people recommend normal progression. It helps build consistency, develops a wider range of skills, and is generally the safest path for improvement. For most players, it's probably the most efficient method. But "most efficient" doesn't mean "the only valid option."

If someone decides they want to jump from A to D, or from E to Z, why should that be looked down upon? If they understand how much time and effort it'll take, accept that they're probably going to die tens of thousands of times, and they're still having fun, then what's actually wrong with it?

People often say jumping builds bad habits or slows overall improvement. Sometimes that's true. But that's also the tradeoff the player is choosing to make. Not everyone has the same goal. Some people want to become well-rounded players, while others simply want to conquer one level they've dreamed of beating for years.

There are countless examples of players making massive jumps and succeeding. Is it uncommon? Absolutely. Is it inefficient for the average player? Probably. But the fact that it works at all proves that jumping isn't some objectively "wrong" way to play the game.

I don't think jumping is objectively better than normal progression. I also don't think normal progression is objectively better than jumping. They're just two different approaches, and people should stop acting like one is the only "correct" way to play.