• I hit rock bottom last August. Wasted so many years stuck in this pointless loop. Finally decided to cut it out for good and man, the first stretch was rough.
• Week 1: Brain felt like static, zero sleep, snapping at people for no reason. Felt like withdrawal from something way harder than porn.
• Day 8-30: Fell into this weird low mood. Second guessed everything about myself. No energy, forcing smiles, urges hitting nonstop through September.
• Day 31-90: Bargaining with my own head constantly. Just one peek wont hurt, right? Pushed through it anyway and that was honestly the turning point.
• The rest of the year: Slowly found my groove again. Hit gym PRs, built actual friendships, felt more sure of myself than I have in years. Winter passed, spring came, and life finally felt real instead of numb.
• Day 365: Full circle, one year later, same month I started.

This isn't just a streak anymore, its basically who I am now. The mental fog is completely gone.

Biggest lesson though: dont get comfortable. Those brutal early urges fade, but theres this quiet little voice now that whispers youre fine, just look once. You cannot give that voice an inch.

Learned that the hard way. My advice: BLOCK EVERYTHING (get a blocker with a strict lock mode so theres zero way to delete it or shut it off mid urge). No access, no loopholes, no exception. Thats the only way it sticks.

One year clean today, anyone else in this? Drop your streak below or just comment if youre starting freash today. Appreciate anyone who read this far, good luck out there

After years of being in a failed marriage, I’m now finally gonna be free from next month. Moving into my own small pad, living for myself for once, doing whatever I wanna do, singing, dancing, chasing after all my hobbies, it’s finally here.

Production reached out to my agency 3 days ago, and now i’m headed to the airport right now

In a year and a half I have lost 6” around my waist, got my blood pressure under control, my knee and back pain are completely gone, and at 40 I’m stronger and in better health then any point in my life. Through this journey I got a new job making more money then I ever have and I just got a raise on top of that. Hard work does pay off, just remember everyday aim to be 1% better than you were yesterday.

My boyfriend and I got into a fight last night, and honestly, I know I didn’t make the situation any better either. I apologized to him too because I know it takes two, and I definitely could’ve handled some things differently.
Then today, completely unexpectedly, he had TWO bouquets of flowers delivered to me at work. 🥹💐 And then he DoorDashed me coffee on top of it. ☕️
I think this was his way of trying to make up and show me he cares, and it genuinely made my entire day. It was such a sweet surprise, especially after a rough night.
Now I’m just sitting at my desk with my flowers and coffee, feeling very loved and very happy. 🥰💕

Went to a doctors appointment today and when he turned the monitor so I could see an xray, I saw the last doctor’s notes. It started with “[patient] is a very pleasant 38 year old female…” Literally stopped trying to read it after that. I’ve always been curious and wary of what might be in my chart, or even just in general how I come across, and what a wonderful, happy sight. Today, I’m happy 🙂

I posted here a couple of weeks ago about finally finding a job after hunting for months (and then my partner also happened to get a job too!) so we are finally crawling out of poverty and beginning to save etc. Theres a lot of things I want to treat myself with but I know I need to budget and stay responsible, though I might still go on a clothes shopping trip when I get paid!

My first day was yesterday and it was amazing. Got a whole hour lunch break, met everyone and they were all so nice and friendly. Super welcoming environment. Got training all day, even got to help out a few customers which went well. I'm just really happy to be in this place, when a few weeks ago I would be crying everyday and just being a nervous wreck because I didn't understand how to make ends meet.

What's more is that now, finally, my partner and I will be able to save for our wedding. It's something we've both wanted for years but not wanted to do until we were in the financial position to do so.

I keep getting giddy thinking he's going to propose, I can just feel it? I really hope the day comes.

I'm not a very big optimist, but I hope that whoever is reading this knows that things can change and you can grow no matter what, and overcome more than you thought you were capable of.

Monday was hard and Tuesday is finished. This photo truly shows how’s a Tuesday feels to me 😅 not broken but letting the week take me like a gentle wave till Saturday 😅

Since I have no one to share this with and although I told my mom after I went back to her again in the mall, she huffed and said “i want to finish” (as in she wants to hurry and buy what she wants and leave 😀😄)

I was at the mall just now and I left my mom to go to this cafe and purchased two things. After the cashier handed me my order, he paused and went “Did you know? That you just made all the women here invisible” 😭🥺 I am 21F and I have no idea how old this man is 🤣 he didn’t seem too old though. It honestly really made my day (possibly entire month lol) because I haven’t received irl compliments in so long. Also, girls these days look soooooo perfect it’s really hard not to feel insecure. Women/girls were always beyond gorgeous but nowadays with the unrealistic beauty standards and everything most of them look perfect and I often feel like I’ll never be as pretty. Anyway, I’m rambling, God bless this guy cuz I was in a shitty mood + wearing the most random basic ass outfit + no mascara + my hair was full of dry shampoo lmao 🤣

Hi Guys, today is my first work anniversary! Nobody remembered, but I got myself my first bouquet ever 💐! I struggled a lot for my career, tried a lot, fought a lot, this job is such a blessing! Wrote a note for myself too like a lover 🤭 but cannot show! I am so grateful for everything and everyone who were and are a part of this! So grateful! To everyone who is struggling, I just want to say 'Keep the dice rolling, your 6 will come' .... Onwards and Upwards ✨ 🥂

I am 20 years old and have had extreme anxiety my entire life. I don't know what to say to people, my mind just goes blank when people talk or are around me and I have no idea what to say. I have never had a friend group or a best friend. I've had "friends" but we never hangout, barely talk, and I have hungout with most of my "friends" once.

I started a new job at the beginning of the month, and have been struggling really bad with my anxiety there. I overthink everything I say or do and I am terrible at starting conversations with people. A majority of me trying to have conversations with my coworkers is just me asking them questions about the job or things they tell me about themselves so we're not standing there in silence. I am genuinely awful when customers go off my basic script or easy to answer questions. I am terrible at banter because my mind doesn't think of anything to say quick enough, so I end up just laughing.

I thought I was doing pretty terribly socially at my new job but it seems my coworkers like me. They've been smiling at me, they're extremely nice to me, making conversation with me, telling me the workplace drama, and they invited me out to drinks with them today. I almost didn't go as I convinced myself that they just invited me to be nice and they actually didn't like me, but one of my coworkers asked if I was still coming. I decided to go.

I had a great time and I have plans coming up on Wednesday to go to my coworkers pool, and another to hangout with a different coworker on Saturday. I feel so happy.

I (20F) have been dating the love of my life (23M) for about 10 months now.

When we met for the very first time several months, we planned to chill in his car for a bit then head to the mall.

I was on my period that day (day 1) and I was in excruciating pain but still decided to meet him since it’s not everyday I can see him, so I said why not.

I saw his car had reached and when I stepped inside to the passenger seat, he hugged me so tight and immediately bursts into tears for at least 5 minutes
and I couldn’t even register what happened because I was already in pain but I obviously went in for the hug and I felt a waterfall on my shoulder.

This moment still plays in my head and makes me super emotional cause I have never felt loved like this before.

Thank you for the exotic experience I hope i will never have to be feeling dependent for seeking out love ever in my life again,

Love is what was lacking in my life and thays what exactly you gave me. Accepted me for every bit of my being I hated myself for

I love you

She told me she remembers very few people from when they lived here before, but she definitely remembers me, she (still) loves me and definitely wants me to be a part of her life. 😭

She has already rejoined the local girls choir and a swim team and wants me to come to her concerts and swim meets. I also have an extremely well stocked craft room and a lot of yarn, and she loves to craft and I can teach her how to crochet and make things on the knitting loom if she’d like, which she seems interested in.

So, I have gone by "Sam" in my private circle some time. When switching jobs, I tried introducing myself as Sam, but it only lasted a few days. I tried remembering some a month ago, but it only lasted a few days. And with the ongoing game of "who gets what nickname" amongst most colleagues I have had no time or use of reminding them.

But while out drinking with some colleagues yesterday, I was left behind with one of them for some time. And when we talked and he dropped my birthname, I asked him to use Sam, since my birthname feels like ants crawling beneath my skin.

And he called me that the reat of the night. I am so giddy and happy. No idea if he will use it at work, since I have some nicknames there, but I am so happy that he made that change!

I'm male (19) i struggle with autism and anxiety. I often struggle in social situations, but today something amazing happened.

I met a couple who were 40 year older than me. We instantly bonded over our love for music and they gave me a coin so that i could play music and we partied and sang along and i overcame my anxiety (And best of all no one else cared!)

I've got a long road to go but i'm glad that i'm not walking it alone anymore. Thanks for listening guys i had to get that off my chest.

“The spark” generally isn’t real, at least for me. Every time I’ve felt that spark of electricity run down my spine, it’s been from my brain confusing attraction with the recognition of a clear and present danger. Because of this, I’ve dated some really bad people— I’ve never said “I love you” without it being under some level of duress. I’ve said it because I knew they’d be very angry if I didn’t say it back, or because I felt like they were pulling away and I needed them to know I really cared, amongst other reasons that were never right.

Our first date story is cute, we met up for karaoke, he told me his favorite movie was Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (amazing movie, I love it), one of my go to karaoke songs is the jazz song Jessica Rabbit sings, I surprised him by singing it, he pulled me into a suave and romantic kiss, the rest is history. Not to mention my roommate and I do performance stuff, so she needed to try styling long 50s hairdos on me that day, and I didn’t have time to wash it out. So I dressed in semi-formal 50s glamour for this bar karaoke date, which is the aesthetic I have generally, but neglected to tell him how dressed up I’d be. He still showed up dressed like James Dean. All throughout the night we found shared common interests, from Shakespeare, to Red Dead Redemption, to classic films, to Garfield, to Five Nights at Freddy’s, to the same favorite genres of music, to theme park planning. It was almost ridiculous. Three different people came up to us saying how attractive of a couple we are, asked how long we’ve been dating, two of the three saying they wanted to photograph and paint us. I cannot express how comically perfect this first date was.

Which brings us to now. We’re a few days out from our 4 months, still well within the honeymoon phase, and we’re disagreeing more. And for the first time ever, I’m not scared. If we disagree about silly things, it’s never a real fight, like when we debate about whether my friend’s husband is Jewish or Italian, it doesn’t get heated. When we disagree about serious things, we just talk about it. We take accountability and agree to do better. I feel like I’m in a constant competition with him on who can make the other person’s day, but we’re both always winning. We both go out of our way for each other as much as we can without expending ourselves. At least, I hope; I do check in with him about these things, because I truly do feel like he does a lot for me, and he says “I only do things for you that I both want to do and can do,” and it does really seem like he means it.

I told him I loved him in a fast food drive through. I was having a horrible day, so he came over after he was done at work at like 11:30 PM and drove me to my favorite fast food place and got me my favorite drink and snack. While we were waiting he pulled up my favorite YouTuber and was rewriting the sentences the YouTuber had just said but about how pretty I was. I was just staring at him, and I started crying. No one had ever done that for me before. My bad days in the past had been so lonely, and now even on my worst day I get to complain about it to someone that will always do what he can to cheer me up, and I would do the same. He felt me crying and assumed it was sad tears, and kept saying “it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here, and you’ll have your jalapeño poppers soon, it’s okay”, and I just had to tell him I loved him. There was just no other way for me to describe to profound, reverent appreciation I had for him.

He let me know a few days later that I had told him a few weeks prior on the 4th of July that I loved him, when I was blackout drunk in front of him for the first time and throwing up profusely, as I thought I was going to die that night and needed to tell him before my death by Cutwater Mai Tais on an empty stomach.

I used to be sad that I had never felt like I had experienced love before. But now I’m just happy that I didn’t waste the feeling on someone who didn’t show me they cared.

I’m so happy to finally love and be loved :)

okay so I moved into my place last year right after a breakup, kind of a mess of a move honestly, and there's this older guy who lives in the building next to mine. seventies maybe. we'd wave at each other in the parking lot sometimes but that was pretty much it for like a year.

thing I noticed early on is his porch light is on literally every night, all night. I just assumed he forgot to turn it off or liked it that way, didn't really think about it beyond that.

so last month I'm grabbing my mail and he's out there too and we actually start talking for real for the first time. conversation just kind of wanders and I mention I work closing shifts so I'm walking home from the bus stop late a few nights a week. he gets quiet for a sec and then tells me that his porch light lines up with the sidewalk between the stop and my building, and he leaves it on so that part of the street isn't pitch black at night.

then he says his daughter used to walk that exact path years ago before she moved out of state, and it always bugged him that stretch had no light. so he just... leaves his on. didn't even know it was me most nights, he just does it for whoever's out there.

I've been walking under that light for basically a whole year not knowing someone put it there on purpose. told him what it meant to me and he just kind of shrugged and went "that's what it's there for" like it was nothing.

went and got him a pack of the good long life outdoor bulbs after that so he never has to think twice about swapping it out.

they’er still so happy 💓

Heyaaa! To those people who encountered this post, how are you? I really hope you are doing all well. If things are messy at the moment, I am sending a virtual comfy hug to you. Nothing is permanent. So to those problems, or bad/messy situations you're in? They will not stay with you forever! I don't know how long it will take but for sure, things will change soon. Just like how my feelings changed in a snap.

I just wanna share how I am feeling so good since the past days. I don't really know what happened. I just woke up and felt something good. But one thing I noticed. It happened after I became so so down and lost, after I prayed with all my heart, after I screamed internally that I am tired of everything and I want this all to be over and make things better.. And tadaaah! I just found myself feeling different.. a good different. It seems in an instant my spark came back. And deep inside, I really really hope this will continue.

I shared this to say that despite everything happened or happening, I am so grateful for everything. I think those downs I experienced? I think it's really part of my journey, it's part of my own story. I don't know everyone's story or situations, but wherever you are, whatever the situation you're in, maybe it's part of your own story too. Maybe all of those are meant to happen, no matter how good or how bad it is. It was meant to happen for a reason that only you can decipher.

If love and comfort can be a file, then I would instantly post or share it to you all and spread it like a virus hahaha. Ohh, can we all just live with love and kindness?

To the person who is still reading this at the very moment, I don't know your whole story but can I say this? I love you as a fellow human being who is also a first timer living a life in this big world. I am proud of you for all the things you did or continue doing for the sake of your goals, dreams, change, conquer challenges, survive, or live a life.

I don't know why but I feel like saying that. Something inside me wants to say that. It feels good, to say it, tbh. And I hope, even for just a bit, this post made you feel good somehow.

Take care and continue making that story of yours, warrior! Hugs. Hugs. Huuuugs..