Note: Some submissions include topics of suicide. Please proceed with caution.

"I look forward to the once-a-month, 'I want to go hang out with my friend Sarah' 'Aww, shucks, I guess I’ll go play cards' conversation. I’d go play cards once a week if I could!"

"I feel this one. What is wrong with me that I largely only feel any gratification when I’m doing things that are completely unproductive, and everything else feels like an imposition? I wish I could get even a modicum of satisfaction from completing a project around the house, running an errand, or cleaning. I’m only happy when I’m sitting on my ass."

"My wife loves to play a game where she asks me to put on headphones because she can hear the video game that I'm playing. Then she'll talk to me from the other room and get mad at me because I can't hear her...I'm wearing the headphones that I put on because she asked me to wear them. I haven't quite figured out the rules yet, so I lose frequently."

"I definitely feel you, brother. I'm scared to even get married because I don't want to go into debt, just trying to put food on the table. I'm only 22, and even I can see significant changes from inflation."

"Also, when I was a stay-at-home dad, we had a two-year-old and a newborn. I was struggling with keeping up with housework, cooking, and all that. She didn't understand why it was so difficult. 

One day, she told me, 'If I had hired you for this job, I would have fired you by now.' A couple of years later, when the kids were older, we switched, and she stayed home. She eventually apologized for what she said to me. I said it was okay, but I never forgave her for that."

"I use, 'When you said X, I heard Y.' For example: 'When you said I don’t feel like having chicken again tonight, I heard I’m sick of your cooking, and 'Why can’t you make better meals?' Then you have the opportunity (or she does) to say, “Oh, hun, that isn’t what I meant at all…'

If you can both be honest and use this, you will end up having conversations that really help you understand each other’s state of mind at the moment, BEFORE it escalates to saying things that can’t be unheard."

"I feel this. Her eyes just start to glaze over, and I can see she's mentally checking out. I end the conversation and go do a chore or something. She doesn't ask questions or find gifts that align with my interests. However, and I'm probably a little bitter, I'm expected to be engaged with her interests and pay attention to the little things, or else she will not feel like I'm bonding with her. It's a little maddening."

"I had an ex laugh at me for shaking after being in the middle of a shoot-out. I was literally shaking. I've seen so much violence and stopped a ton of violence. I couldn't tell where the shots were coming from — I hid and then ran.

She laughed at me — a woman who had never seen any real violence in her life. She laughed at me for being scared and mocked me, saying, 'I thought you were so tough, you've been through all this stuff. Look at you shaking like a leaf.'

I've seen and handled worse since then. I could never share with her after that. That basically killed anything I would ever share with her, and she knew everything."

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.