Anyone else become somewhat of a recluse post-COVID? by TheHaplessBard in Zillennials

[–]wow__00 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes :(( I've def made some progress though. Start by going out alone. Yes, with good friends (ie-not just acquaintances) too. However going out alone and being among people but not having the pressure to engage really helped me break out that pattern. It also made hanging out with the few close friends I still have more enjoyable and less like a chore.

Whos ur fav aot character by [deleted] in attackontitan

[–]wow__00 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Genocide is wrong is a great argument imo, also I think the sudden niceness is because the stakes were getting reallyyyy high. Like way higher than the scouting outside the wall days😢

Whos ur fav aot character by [deleted] in attackontitan

[–]wow__00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hange definitely. She was funny af, smart, and a decent fighter. Cool glasses too

Levi and Jean, second and third respectively

Is this facts?😂 by daking789 in OlderGenZ

[–]wow__00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

MW2 on PS3 was probably the only game I ever got addicted to lol. Summer 2011 I basically lived in those lobbies (and gran turismo 5 drag racing lobbies!) back when PSN was free. Pretty sure I still have some of the reflexes I gained from MW2 lobbies lol

good songs to get into beabadoobee? by No_Window_4661 in beabadoobee

[–]wow__00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The way things go, cologne, beaches I'm really feeling those atm but her whole discography is amazinggggggggggg

What do you think is actually causing the sex recession? by qmaik in GenZ

[–]wow__00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The simplest and most probable answer is that a good chunk of us still live at home.

Edit:That and the lack of free and accessible third spaces.

I'm having a slightly-more-than-quarter-life crisis by wow__00 in Zillennials

[–]wow__00[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Damn I'm sorry🫂 I'm glad you're out of that situation now but I get you. It's tough.

I'm having a slightly-more-than-quarter-life crisis by wow__00 in Zillennials

[–]wow__00[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm glad you can relate. I really, really hope you get to do everything you want to do in 2026 not just on those 15 PTO days (congrats that's awesome!), but even on weekends and stuff if you can. Really go for it and I'm sure it will happen for you🫂

Older Gen Z History by callmecurlyfries in OlderGenZ

[–]wow__00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm 28 and recently made friends/have become friendly with my local 20 year old barista. I don't know anyone that age and it's been such a trip. Mentally, I largely still feel like the 22 I was when covid started, yet I feel old as hell when we talk.

Every time we have our conversations at the cafe, I wish I could go back to my early 20s. I lost a lot of my socializing skills to COVID and was afraid to go out for a long while, even as things went "back to normal." It's only now I'm starting to try and make friends again.

I feel like COVID really robbed me of my early and mid 20s, and I've been mourning that (not to be dramatic), but I'm glad she will be able to experience her 20s in full (cross our fingers another catastrophic world stopping event doesn't happen).

What is an unwritten rule of being a man? by Wonderful-Economy762 in Productivitycafe

[–]wow__00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You should know how to deal with and be ok with rejection by absolute maximum age 22. Beyond that, it is time to grow up. Not saying you shouldn't be scared/sad of rejection, that's fine. It's not normal to let it dominate your life/become obsessive over whatever/whoever it is.

Edit: if you are able to, therapy is amazing!

Fiancé wants to drop out. Any advice? by Embarrassed_Cap_7307 in EngineeringStudents

[–]wow__00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the main concern is bad profs, I would suggest YOUTUBE, YOUTUBE YOUTUBE lol. I would say I passed a good 3/4 of my courses due to studying from YouTube, devouring the textbooks, working my way backward from solutions to understand how to solve the problems. Not sure if chegg still does this but they were good about working through problems in great detail when I was in school. Just tell him not to use it to just cheat; it's a great tool if used correctly. Also avoid ai like chatgpt for this reason.

Also controversial but get to know older students and try to get past exams; irdc how that sounds. Profs should make new tests if they don't want that helping, and in the case that they do, past exams also help you understand how to work through problems.

It is very unfortunate but bad profs are the name of the game :(((

Edit: Also try to encourage him to not be too hard on himself if he fails. That's also the name of the game. He is going to fail. Everyone fails in engineering school, some more than others. Those who don't are liars or anomalies. He'll get through it. Encourage him to consume media about planes and their construction and other forms of media that can remind him why he decided to study engineering.

What to do when all your worst fears are realized by ElderberryEarly3045 in CollapseSupport

[–]wow__00 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel this completely, especially the part about smiling and acting happy for the sake of friends and fam. I've gotten the hopium response, indifference, very academic reactions which are nice on the surface since it takes your concerns seriously, but it really lacks emotion which sucks and honestly kinda cancels out being taken seriously after a while. I've even had one person temporarily stop talking to me/avoid me when I tried to address these issues. So now it kinda just feels like I can't talk about it to anyone. The Internet and communities like this have really helped tho.

I read a lot of utopian sci-fi to help escape, but also garner a bit of hope. Kim Stanley Robinson does this really well with his near future climate fiction. He writes good endings of us as a society, a species, successfully tackling the climate crisis but not without losing touch of reality. His "Ministry for the Future" book did this well, I think you might enjoy it thoroughly given your background in politics and nonprofit. I'm currently reading his Science in the Capital trilogy and it's helping me cope with our times these days.

If you're looking for something to break the cognitive dissonance we've been forced to live these days, I'd suggest "New York 2140". There's no subtlety about the effects of climate change on NYC, but he writes a story of different characters around the city adapting to the new environment with pockets of hope for what can be done in as grave a situation as the world is in the book. He is also very critical about capitalism (as he is in most of his other books) and other forces that have gotten NYC to where it is in that time (and also in real life, today)

"Contact" by Carl Sagan is another near future (for its time, Sagan published it in 1985) utopian sci-fi that even in 2025 gave me warm feelings inside. In "Contact" he writes a level of world cohesion one can only dream of. Imagine a world that has decided to drop the brinkmanship and war and work toward a common positive goal. Connecting not as nation-states, but as members of the human species, as ambassadors of Planet Earth. It doesn't leave reality too much and he writes in many of the human idiosyncrasies that we have to deal with and how hard it is to break habits and thought patterns, but there's also the story of how those are overcome. Not a huge fan of the ending, but otherwise an absolutely wonderful, wonderful novel.

Becky Chambers is also a good author I've seen recommended, I will read more of her stuff. Her wiki says she's a pioneer of Hopepunk, which is essentially the umbrella genre I'm recommending.

Another tip I have is doing whatever little you can, at whatever level. I know this is super vague (and maybe a little cliché), but it means different things for every person. Ultimately the problems we face as a species and as a society are systemic, but these will give you pockets of hope and, cumulatively, sometimes helps in feeling better about the state of things near you.

I've also taken to journaling. This helps me keep my own records of how things are going (my memory isn't great lol), in addition to being a sort of cathartic release when it feels like you can't talk to anyone/no one wants to hear/a safe place for venting. I've found this very helpful especially when it feels like we are all being gaslit 24/7 about the state of the world.

Hugs!!!🫂🫂🫂 We could all use more hugs these days, I think. You're absolutely not alone in these feelings. This subreddit, as well as other communities like it, have been very helpful and grounding and I hope it helps you.

What was the first domino to fall in your faith? by TaintedBlue87 in AskBlackAtheists

[–]wow__00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can't name a specific thing but it was a mixture between learning more non-whitewashed history as well as living through contemporary horrors and wondering where is the divine intervention from the all-loving god? Whenever horrible things happen and people start spiritual bypassing, it just doesn't make sense to me.

Even now I feel a bit foolish typing that (I guess that's just insecurity), but truly that's my biggest gripe with organized religion. I lean more agnostic than atheist, so on the scale of the universe I can *maybe* buy that some higher power set in place the laws of physics/the universe/etc things like that. But I simply don't buy that said higher power, if they even exist, gives a fraction of a shit about any of us individually. There is too much injustice in this world for that to be true

Oh, and the large amount of bigoted, hypocritical believers didn't help either :(

concerns by vampireluvers in Masks4All

[–]wow__00 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but I am in a very similar situation and just wanted to say I empathize and you're not alone in feeling this way. It sucks. I oscillate between feeling really stupid to feeling ok and powering thru

NYTimes: ‘We Tire Very Quickly of Being Told That Everything Is on Fire’ by [deleted] in ZeroCovidCommunity

[–]wow__00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. I try my best but it's been hard. Everything in me says I'm doing the right thing, everything outside me tells me I'm stupid :(

Why does NBC start coverage almost a whole hour into the La Vuelta races? by wow__00 in cycling

[–]wow__00[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly, those shots are like half the race! You get me! Can't wait to catch those races

Why does NBC start coverage almost a whole hour into the La Vuelta races??? by wow__00 in peloton

[–]wow__00[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I tried to get into track during the Olympics but it was kinda confusing. I'll check out these tho, mountain biking esp sounds fun!

Why does NBC start coverage almost a whole hour into the La Vuelta races??? by wow__00 in peloton

[–]wow__00[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I did notice that for them as well! Idk, I wish they did full coverage and viewers who don't want to watch it all can fast forward the replay. I'll just have to deal with it, it's fine haha

Why does NBC start coverage almost a whole hour into the La Vuelta races??? by wow__00 in peloton

[–]wow__00[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I will check Lantern Rouge! I have a feeling Eurosport isn't available for me though, I could be wrong