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I'm kind of a bad texter / emailer and it's never bothered me too much, but now it's to the point where I feel it's one of the top things holding me back from both fulfilling friendships and professionally in my creative pursuits. How can I overcome this? [more inside]
posted by internet of pillows at 12:39 PM - 12 answers

I think for a long time I've explained away my extreme laziness and procrastination with my deep anxiety and depression. It has definitely been significant. However recently, I've been thinking how I've always been like this from a very young age, even when I didn't have full blown mental health issues. Admittedly, I think I was a very anxious child but I wonder, is part of it a genetic thing? [more inside]
posted by Sunflower88 at 11:24 AM - 23 answers

I'm currently in the process of trying to buy a house with my spouse. I mentioned this to my best friend, and he drew a boundary: he can't support me in this, though he's happy to support me in other things in my life and lend an ear on any other subject. How do I navigate this? [more inside]
posted by six sided sock at 10:34 AM - 32 answers

My housemate and I ended up sleeping together a few weeks ago, and it morphed into a complicated but wonderful romance. Now she's suddenly moving out to go travelling, and ultimately back to her home country. How should I act, and how do I move on? [more inside]
posted by osmond_nash at 2:53 AM - 14 answers

What's the etiquette around testing other people's kids? Specific details inside. [more inside]
posted by MiraK at 7:29 PM - 76 answers

My elderly parents are in an untenable living situation at their (unexpectedly) conservative retirement community. They have a 0 lot line home and their newish next door neighbors abuse it mercilessly, banging trash cans up against my parents' bedroom walls, letting their abused dogs bark ceaselessly for hours, etc. My parents can't sleep, and they can't report these neighbors because the community's HOA is atrociously inept and may retaliate against my folks as opposed to the neighbors. I fear for their health and their lifespan. What can I do? [more inside]
posted by The Adventure Begins at 10:42 PM - 28 answers

I am taking care of a family member who is recovering from surgery, and my family member is acting like a jerk. Help me cope. [more inside]
posted by crunchy potato at 5:17 PM - 18 answers

When I am working with a particular coworker on projects, they tend to randomly introduce untrue, unfounded, and illogical ideas about what we're supposed to be doing and then refuse to back down. Sometimes it's easy enough to say, "Okay, let's work on a different part for now and come back to this," but sometimes the disagreement is about something fundamental to what we're doing, so we can't move forward without external clarification/correction, which makes it hard to get anything done. It also really pushes my buttons, and I'm tired of getting angry, so I'm looking for advice on how to handle this more productively, or maybe a pop-psychology/self-help term to describe their behavior, so that I can find advice elsewhere. [more inside]
posted by anonymous at 5:04 PM - 16 answers

A very close friend couple of mine became pregnant in January, and are expecting their baby next month. I'm thrilled for them, but I'm also struggling with the transition of the friendship. Tips and suggestions would be much appreciated. [more inside]
posted by dubious_dude at 12:27 PM - 48 answers

I am friends with people who have, or are willing to tolerate, Mike Pence rules. I find them highly problematic and thus incredibly difficult for me to respect. Does anyone else have personal experience with this? What is the best thing to do about them? [more inside]
posted by sockmeamadeus at 11:39 PM - 27 answers

I've just started a new job in the past few months and I was so happy. It's a step up and I felt comfortable with the team, which was unprecedented for me and felt like it was going to be a good next step in my career. It made me feel more positive about doing accounting, which I've been resistant to for so long. My manager has been super busy so I've barely spoken to her these past few months. However, she's now begun training me (remotely) and I'm finding it to be a very unpleasant experience. [more inside]
posted by Sunflower88 at 6:03 AM - 17 answers

I keep experiencing a troubling interaction pattern at work. Today I had another one. I had to take almost the whole rest of the day off just to process this. Because usually when I think about something for a few minutes I start to understand it. But I keep thinking about this and no answers are occurring. So that's when I usually hit up AskMe. [more inside]
posted by bleep at 1:35 PM - 47 answers

Sometimes, I want to say to someone something that would mean, "If you are romantically interested in me too, I think I’d really being in a romantic relationship with you, but if you are not interested in me that way, I want you to know that I would be happy to be friends with you, and would not be doing one of those creepy pining-after-you-while-hovering-in-the-friend-zone kind of things with you, I honestly would be happy in that case to just be your friend." (more inside) [more inside]
posted by MollyRealized at 10:37 AM - 29 answers

I am hosting a party that I may need to cancel. I need to figure out if I should or not. [more inside]
posted by pando11 at 1:15 PM - 22 answers

My manager is driving me crazy by being so unreliable. I'm managing him more than he's managing me, and I have so much resentment about it. Please help me figure out how to resolve some of these issues without going off the deep end. [more inside]
posted by danceswithlight at 12:20 PM - 19 answers

Selling my son's car audio subwoofer on FB Marketplace. Questions about in-person exchanges with a "gift of fear" vibe. [more inside]
posted by Caxton1476 at 9:31 AM - 7 answers

My extremely close friends (their three kids call me "auntie") have a pre-teen who is suffering from mental illness and behavioral challenges, and making everyone around him miserable. I'd like to hear about how other people coped with this kind of situation. [more inside]
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 8:01 AM - 11 answers

It's becoming clear to me that I'm probably neurodivergent, although I don't seem to easily fit into the categories I know about. I would love some resources or advice. [more inside]
posted by Zumbador at 10:43 PM - 10 answers

How to heal from a weird, ambiguous heartbreak filled with false promises and hope? [more inside]
posted by armadillo1224 at 5:11 PM - 10 answers

Sometimes I feel like I'm an anomaly when it comes to following through on my goals. Whenever I say I want to do something I put in effort into doing it. Maybe I'm exaggerating, and I don't always follow through, but even so I feel like I do and people always tell me that I'm very consistent on following up with what I want to do. [more inside]
posted by Tarsonis10 at 7:13 AM - 44 answers