toxic relationship

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Not many things are as frustrating in the dating world as discovering that somebody you thought was the perfect guy wasn’t perfect at all. If we’re lucky enough, this kind of thing happens early, and we’re attentive enough to see it and take action. After an event like this, we can get caught up in any sort of justification for our significant

‘I met his college best friends at a pub and he instantly morphed into a loud, obnoxious alpha bro’: Woman wonders if she is overreacting or if the perfect guy she was dating suddenly dropped his mask

We all want the best for our partners; we want them to do well at their jobs, to get a raise, to reach their goals. Sometimes, we also want them to look their best because we see them with our loving eyes, know they are the prettiest in the room, and we want them to shine at all times. But what happens when what’s driving our partner's actions is not nece

36-year-old man constantly ‘fixes’ and critiques his 34-year-old girlfriend’s appearance: ‘When I tell him it bothers me, he says I'm taking it personally and that he just wants me to “look my best”’

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When friendships consist of trios, it’s only natural that sometimes two of the people involved team up and the other gets left out. I’m not saying it’s ok; I’m saying it happens. I have many long-term friendship trios that have evolved in many ways through the years, sometimes leaving me out, sometimes leaving somebody else out, and sometimes being

20-year-old woman ghosts friend after she compares her to a bad ice cream flavour: ‘Once you try it, you kind of start to like it. And it has all of these layers like it's deeper than you thought, but you have to learn to like it.’

Closure is a funny thing; it’s never entirely clear to us what we are trying to find when we’re looking for it. Oftentimes we want to express our side of the story before we let go of the other person completely; other times, we’re secretly hoping to reignite a friendship or a past love affair; but every time it’s a

Man wonders if reaching out to an ex-best friend for closure is worth it after three years of no contact: ‘I feel like doing that might help me finally let her go completely and close that chapter on a good note’

This could qualify as a horror story. It would be a good A24 film. A man gets smart-fridge notifications in the middle of the night while everyone is sound asleep. In this case, discovering a snack-eating ghost would’ve been a better outcome than what really happened. Infidelities are not solved via an exorcism

Man catches wife’s affair thanks to his smart fridge’s notifications: ‘She said she slept the whole night through, no interruptions. That was the exact wrong thing to say to a man holding fridge-door notification data’

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Friendships are something most people want, yet not as many people make an effort to find and maintain them. It’s a tough subject because socially, we assume it's something people should naturally know how to do, and I’m starting to think many people fail at it because it doesn’t come as naturally to everyone.

Man wonders whether people are putting less effort into maintaining friendships, or whether people don’t want to be around him: ‘They always say “we need to hang more”/“we need to do this again soon!” and then they never reach out to set something up’

I never thought baking delicious brownies could be implemented as a revenge tactic. Being 100% honest, I don’t even think the people who ate them understood it as such, but I’ve now got to a way deeper realization: Maybe the only one who needs to feel the revenge worked is the one who did it.

Student cooks delicious brownies as revenge against annoying teammates: ‘Even years later, I occasionally get a message from a group member asking for the recipe. I ignored them all’

Since when has shutting down and going quiet been considered overreacting? Of course, it can be used to make someone else furious, but I don’t think this is the case. Sometimes, when you receive a complaint in the form of aggression, the best you can do is stay silent and wait a while until, eventually, you are able to talk about it with the other person in a more mature manner.

Man shuts down when his girlfriend gets insecure with a restaurant server and spends the entire evening making petty remarks about her: 'I was wondering if I was overreacting by going quiet and just keeping to myself for the rest of the night'

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Some people connect more easily with their inner child. Sometimes, so much so that it’s difficult to distinguish them from the adult person also living inside them. If we got stuck at some developmental stage, maybe it’s helpful for us to try to re-elaborate it once we are older.

30-year-old man starts treating his 28-year-old wife like she is a toddler because she acted like one towards her child:' I then told my wife to apologize, then after she said sorry I told her to say what she was sorry for'

As we get older, we realize that being part of a group often costs money. We have to go for drinks, we celebrate birthdays, and we have dinner parties. On birthdays, we buy gifts, drinks cost money, and dinners are expensive, even if they are hosted by a friend of ours. For some people, it’s very hard to assume you don’t have that much money, and they’d rather fake it ‘til they make it.

Man exposes friend who always expects someone else to cover her bill during dinner parties: 'Before ordering, I quietly asked if everyone was okay paying for their own meals. Everyone agreed'

The much-feared group projects Back when I was in college, I had to work in groups all the time, and many of these things happened to me. And I suppose they happened to anyone who went through any sort of formal education.

College student is forced to do a group project in which nobody does anything so she decides to get revenge: 'I let the excruciatingly silent seconds drag on every single time, looking slowly to both of them with each question and taking my sweet time'

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This story is the final proof that no absolute narrative exists; two people can have two opposing interpretations of what happened, and most of the time there is no use in trying to convince one of them otherwise.

Woman thinks her best friend of ten years is in love with her, friend says she is not and she doesn't believe it: 'Now, years later, I still question myself. Was there something I was unconsciously feeling and suppressing?'

Two wrongs don’t make it right, but at least we’re even. Sometimes, in relationships characterized by disappointment, and even more so when disappointment always comes from one end, we have to revert to something more than words to set a boundary. I mean, when we are already tired of talking, and it falls on deaf ears.

27-year-old woman considers not celebrating 28-year-old boyfriend's birthday because he didn't celebrate hers: 'I just don’t care that much if he feels special or loved'

I have the strongest opinions about this story, but let’s bear with her, because I presume we all know what it’s like to be in love and how hard it is, sometimes, to see the red flags for what they are. It starts with a long-distance relationship; can you guess where it ends?

27-year-old man hosts his long-distance girlfriend for a week in his tiny room at his parent's house, 29-year-old girlfriend is afraid of bringing up moving to her cousin's house for the remaining days to be more comfortable: 'I feel so awkward'

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Weddings are life-altering events; when we’re getting closer and closer to them, our opinion changes, new fears arise, and we might feel called to call it quits.

Man was supposed to be a groomsman on his 22-year-old friend's wedding until he cancelled it and ran away with another woman, now he wants to request reimbrusement for his investments: 'I want my money back for everything I put into HIS wedding'

Introverts and extroverts speak different languages. The same event can be experienced in totally different ways depending on whether the person experiencing it is an introvert or an extrovert.

26-year-old leaves a hangout early because her friend didn't tell her she was bringing another friend, and now she questions her reaction: 'Later she went to chat with a table of pilots, and again I felt left out'