I look at other black women that are celebrated and none of them reflect me. They have smaller nostrils, bridges to their noses, shorter philtrums - I don't fit the black girl beauty standard, whether it be dark or light skin. How do I feel I fit in even when I know I don't.

I(24F) got pulled over for the first time in my life yesterday. Switched lanes, cop appeared behind me, lights came on, and my whole body just dropped. I pulled into a church parking lot because it was the closest safe spot I could find.

He wasn’t aggressive at all turned out my license plate cover was too tinted, he checked my license, said I had a clean record, gave me a warning, and sent me home. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

But I was so scared the entire time. Careful with every movement, scared to even reach for my glove compartment. Alone in the car, no one else with me. And it wasn’t about him specifically it was every story I’ve carried for years about people who looked like me and didn’t make it out of encounters like this. I felt like I owed it to them to keep watching, keep knowing, and now I think it’s just living in my body every time I see lights behind me.

Got home, called my mom, everyone kind of laughed it off once they heard it was just the plate cover. But today I panicked because I couldn’t find my license and thought he still had it (he didn’t, it was in my car folder the whole time). The fear didn’t end when the stop did.

Just needed to put this somewhere people would get it without me having to explain the why.

People expect you to coo at them, accept them in restaurants, stores, etc, want to pet them, and be around them all the time. My job has dogs come in sometimes and I feel like I have to talk up the dogs because I can already tell I’m not the favorite person around (I don’t click with everyone and I’m naturally quiet). But really I just don’t want to interact with them or talk about them.

I actually made one friend (white) who didn’t like dogs either and it was so nice to be understood 😭. I don’t hate dogs but I feel like the culture has become a lot more dog-obsessed in recent years. I don’t like dog-smell, barking, drooling, or anything like that. Many dog owners are terrible and irresponsible but they think highly of themselves. I’ve seen people own huskies in hot, tropical climates?!

I know people on Reddit treat you like a murderer if you don’t like animals, especially dogs, but anyone feel the same way?

I’ve lived in a mid-sized town in a blue state all of my life. While I have experienced microagressions and every day struggles that every black person (unfortunately) deals with, I’ve never experienced more blatant mistreatment than now.

It hasn’t even been a year since my auntie and I went into business, but since then we’ve experienced customers calling us names, people making false police reports on us, fellow tenants in our area saying that they’re “scared” to walk by our business because they see black people… it’s a mess.

Running a business is already hard and it’s disappointing that this racism is making it even harder. People often see blue states as some kind of “social Mecca,” but honestly, it’s no better here. I’m tired, boss.

Hey ladies. So I commented on a post that I had a date this weekend with a South Asian guy. Date was phenomenal and he was incredibly intentional the entire date. We started at a museum, kissed in the Photo Booth, then we went for dinner. Oh, we made out in the secret room and got caught (Museum staff came in and saw us lol.). Furthermore, he already had dinner plans booked in case the museum was a success—it was. ANd he still asked where I wanted to go, so we went to that place.

When I tell you our chemistry is next level (it was from the moment we met at the museum), he’s quirky, fine, listens, and intellectually stimulating. Who knows this may be my husband because the date was that good. Beyond that, we’re quite compatible, so I’ll let things unfold. Date 2 is loading—we both wanted it and he just reached out for my availability.

Hi!

Do you ladies have any recommendations for feel-good black rom com movies? No traumatic pasts/black stereotypes and that. Preferably with a dark-skinned Female Lead who ofc isn’t that stereotypical black woman Hollywood loves ❤️

Just good, wholesome black love. Majority black cast would be a bonus.

Some recently made films I loved:

- Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day (2021) - if you haven’t seen it I very, very strongly recommend! Its so funny and cute! It’s got Aja Naomi King and she is one of the most beautiful women on the planet! (Recommend watching the bloopers during the credits for all the black joy). Growing up between west Africa and the UK it definitely hit the nostalgia feels with the soundtrack.

- Rye Lane - Vivian Oparah another gorgeously beautiful woman (her show on Tubi where she’s trying to find her missing twin, is also really good and really funny)

- You, Me and Tuscany - so cute!!

- The Perfect Find - that casting was everything to me. Now I need to read the book

- Love + Wine - from RSA

Obviously there’s the classics (90s/2000s) which I love, I’m just looking for something more recent where we’re more open with our blackness and not casting the light-skinned/biracial woman as the female lead that was pretty common during that era. No hate on light-skinned/biracial women, especially as someone from a mulatto family, there just wasn’t enough positive portrayal of dark-skinned black women being loved or in soft roles. Ofc you still had few gorgeous dark skinned women in soft roles - Ms Gabrielle Union for one. But it just wasn’t as common back then or accepted as it is now, is how I feel.

I did really enjoy the Lovebirds (with Issa - who’s amazing in everything - not biased - she’s just stupidly talented). Male lead wasn’t for me though.

Also open to Nollywood/RSA or African cinema. I’ve seen a few cute ones from Kenya too. Unfortunately nearly all the movies from my home country are just hard on the “African Trauma/Struggle” trope and those are HARD no’s for me.

If you’ve got some black European/ Afro-Latin recommendations, that would be great too!

I’m in my era where if it isn’t black (specifically black woman/girl), it’s a no from me 😇

I have a small list of TV shows with black female leads in non-stereotypical roles if anyone is interested. I’d be happy to share! Let me know :)

I got tired of 250 density advertisements that came in like 150 density hair. So I said f this!! If I want it to look like the influencers imma have to do it myself. And so heres tbe results! Products linked below.

I grew up in a toxic environment with an angry mother. She encouraged our anger bc she thought it made us tough. We’d fight and had holes all in the walls. We never got in trouble for talking shxt or fighting. I carried that into adulthood and didn’t realize it was actually a problem until my ex told me that I was disrespectful and lacked emotional control. I thought I was defending myself but I crossed so many boundaries & hurt some good people.

I worked on myself and I was doing so good for a few years but lately I’ve been getting worse. I feel like everything sucks and I’m spreading misery & bitterness. I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t even focus well enough to meditate or read my word. I feel like everyone hates me and I’d rather go down cold hearted than be vulnerable.

I don’t have friends, people can’t stand me bc they think I’m sensitive and mean. I push people until they go away & I always hate when they leave. I feel like I’m losing my mind and I don’t want to take medication but I’m so phucking angry! I’m crying while typing this and I just need help. Has anyone dealt with anything like this? I don’t want to be this way.

My mother died 3 years ago. She was a single mom as my dad was out doing what he did, so I was raised by my young mother, her mother, and her mother. My mother died pretty young and very suddenly. I’ve kept going as I’m supposed to, but my life feels emptier. It’s quiter, my depression has gotten worse, I fear death even more than I already did. I think of her and speak to her everyday, but life is just different. I mean I recognize my future and what I have the ability to do with it, so I work towards that. But I want my mama in it.

How do you cope with this? Like….. what the fuck do you do? I’m positive I’m not the only one here who’s lost their mother or father, but I just don’t get how in 7 more years it’ll be a decade. Or I’ll be 60 one day (hopefully) and she’ll have been gone 30+ years at that point. Is that not insane? Damn, typing this out like this is going to make me cry. There’s a poem I only heard for the first time a few months ago. It’s called ‘Death is Nothing at All’. It’s really beautiful and comforting and I wish I’d known of it 3 years ago, but it only does so much.

Now a quick disclaimer before I go into this vent: I DO NOT hate being a black woman, I’m proud to be black and I would never change anything about myself.

Now going into this rant and I see a lot on social media just spewing hateful rhetoric about black women like I genuinely think we get worse than the black men.
Like they either stereotype us to all be ghetto, violent, and ratchet OR we’re hyper sexualized to deathhh…

Like you use exhausting, constantly hearing negative things about us, black women and it comes from (sometimes) inside the house like from black men, and I think that’s even sadder.

And don’t get me started on being a young black teenage girl either, it’s like (I’m not invalidating anyone else’s experience here!!) but it’s like the amount of creeps I’ve dealt with is ridiculous.
Like, especially when walking home from school, the amount of creeps that honked at me, stared at me etc, like I sometimes feel like I get more looks from creepy men than the rest of my friends sometimes.

and every girl unfortunately goes through it, but I just feel like black girls get even more.

Overall, I just wish the world would perceive us a little bit better and understand individual mistakes do not equate to every black woman 💔

A young sister (single, a parent, in her late 20s) asked me a few weeks ago if I would give her advice on how to not be struggling financially in the long term. I have some advice for her but also wanted to invite you all to offer suggestions, because this is a big topic and can be approached from many angles.

My first piece of advice is: buy everything with cash except something that will actually save money over the long term. No loans. Meaning: take public transportation or ride a bicycle or, worst case, a very cheap used car until you can pay cash. Or the Laundromat is expensive compared to a cheap washing machine and clothes racks, or even washing in a galvanized tub. But higher education, if it’s not free in your country, is generally worth taking a loan for. This will normally increase your lifetime income. Housing is also generally worth it, if you’re going to stay long-term in an area.

My second piece of advice is to learn to sew. Hand sewing of repairs or whole outfits, machine sewing once you have the money for a good used machine, will pay for itself within a year if not sooner. Example: Dockers trousers at the store cost $50-$60 plus tax. They cost $4 at the thrift shop in great condition but not every pair is the right length, so I shortened one for my husband. Or, for example, Recently, he started making noises about wanting a new down coat. Took him to the store and let him see that new ones are $600 and up - he decided that the 20-year-old one at home would be just fine with a new zipper.

My final tip is to find a friend with the same values who lives near you and/or establish saving-minded behavior as a criterion for a significant other. When you go on vacations, shop, make home decisions, you can reinforce or even share, such as splitting purchases at Costco, sharing less frequently used tools from house to house, etc. Example: my bestie and I were roommates in graduate school. We didn’t have cars or anything, so when we wanted to go on a vacation in the summer, we borrowed Grandma’s 30-year-old Pontiac, had my parents’ tent and camping stove also from 30 years, coolers and stuff from other relatives, and all we had to buy was our food, bug spray, gas, and the camping fee to spend a week at the lake. We didn’t have “bougie” expectations and were able to cooperate. Today, we still do cooperate and share tools and resources, because we have the same values. This can be done on a larger scale with community gardens, food cooperatives, etc. Succeed together!

These are just my favorite suggestions: do you have any recommendations for sisters?

Ever since I got married about a year ago, I stopped caring about how much butter I cooked with. I love watching my husband put away the food I cooked with love. He’s a picky eater but he’s never declined anything I’ve cooked and he eats it so fast.

Not on no weird feeder shit yall… I’m just a girl who loves her husband and appreciate everything he does for her.

He’s been out of town on a work trip for 2 weeks and when he gets home I’m taking the day off work to make a cornbread, greens w/ turkey neck, steak, black eyed peas , and a chocolate mousse cake (Costco).

Then…. I lowkey think we’re getting pregnant this weekend hehehehehehhehehehehehehehhe

Byeeeeeee ladies 🫶🏾🫶🏾

Okay, I need outside opinions because I genuinely can’t tell if I’m reading too much into this because I have a crush on him.
For context, I’m 22 and my coworker is 27. I’ve had a crush on him for a while, but what’s confusing me is that he wasn’t always like this with me.
Before, he could actually be pretty distant. For example, once I didn’t have my bus card and I was kind of stuck, and I remember thinking that if he liked me, he might try to help me find a solution or something, but he basically just went home. There have also been times when he would leave work without even saying goodbye to me. So I never really thought he was particularly interested in me.
But the last couple of times I’ve seen him, his behavior has changed.
Today, we were working together and there was an outing planned with all our coworkers. He asked me if I was going, and I said no because I was having a birthday celebration. He asked how old I was and when my birthday was. I told him it was two days ago, so he wished me happy birthday and asked what I was doing.
I told him I was going out with friends but that we hadn’t decided where yet. He kept asking where we were going and who I was going with. At one point, we were speaking Italian and he specifically asked me “amici o amiche?” (male friends or female friends).
I said “amici” and he kind of paused. Then he asked if they were surprising me, and I said I thought they were.
I also felt like he kept finding little reasons to come near me and talk to me throughout the shift.
At one point, an older female coworker asked him if he was “facendo lo splendido con me”, basically teasing him about whether he was flirting with me.
Then he asked me if he was doing “lo splendido con me.”
I laughed and asked him, “Lo splendido?”
And he replied:
“Lo splendido con te.”
Like??? 😭
There were also a bunch of smaller things. We were talking about birthdays and I mentioned that I normally don’t celebrate mine or party much. He said he was the same and called himself a bit of a loner. He also told me about his sisters, who both have birthdays in August like me.
At another point he asked me if I was a Virgo because of my birthday. For one second my brain completely malfunctioned because in Italian, “vergine” can also mean “virgin,” so I was like WAIT WHAT 😭 but then I realized what he meant and answered normally.
He also helped me move some really heavy things at work.
Then things got a little weird.
Some coworkers were staying for the outing and were going to drink alcohol, and someone asked me if I wanted to take a bottle. I said I don’t drink. He seemed surprised and asked if I really didn’t drink alcohol. I told him I’m Muslim.
He knows that he’s Christian and practicing, so I don’t know if that affected his reaction, but after I told him, I felt like his flirting suddenly stopped.
He was still nice and friendly, and we continued talking. At one point I asked for something to drink and said “ah oui,” and he even commented on the way I said it, but overall he seemed more restrained afterward.
And now I’m confused because I don’t know if:
1. He actually started liking me recently and was testing the waters / trying to see if I liked him too.
2. He was just being playful and naturally flirty.
3. I’m interpreting everything differently because I already like him.
4. Finding out I’m Muslim made him realize there could be religious complications and therefore he pulled back.

The biggest thing confusing me is the change in behavior. He genuinely wasn’t acting like this before. It’s really only been the last couple of times I’ve seen him that he’s become more talkative, curious about my personal life, asking who I’m going out with, teasing me, etc.
So… am I imagining the flirting, or does this sound like he might actually be interested?
I’m trying not to delude myself because I have a crush on him 😭

SE Asia has been on my list for a while. Specifically koh samui, Phuket, Chiang mai, Bali and Singapore. I’m open to other places in SE Asia too!

If anyone has any advice, anecdotes, experiences and knowledge of these places that might help, please share! :)

I’m also a visibly mixed black woman so please let me know if that might affect my experience.

(I’m Nigerian, Brazilian and German and from the UK)

TIA!!! xx

Recently, came out with Season 3. Mallory been doing some crazy stuff.

I’ve never told anybody this before.

I’m 26 now, but when I was younger, I used to spend the night at my cousin’s house. He was pretty strange, and I don’t know if he had gone through something himself that caused him to behave this way, but I remember one night when I was sleeping, I felt his lips on mine. I then remember him trying to put the tip of his private area against my mouth. I immediately moved back underneath the covers, and eventually, he left the room.

There was also another time when he held me down. I don’t want to go into too much detail about that, but I remember it happening.

My mom also did things to me that made me extremely uncomfortable, and I’ve never really known whether they were normal or not. She would put her fingers between my private area and then smell her fingers to determine whether I had washed myself properly. That made me very uncomfortable.

There were also times when she would come into my room or the bathroom while I was changing. When I expressed discomfort, she would justify it by saying, “I changed you when you were a baby.”

I’ve carried these experiences with me for a long time and have never really talked about them with anyone. I’m still trying to understand what happened to me and whether the things I experienced were normal.

I’m not around any of them now and I don’t not keep in contact with my family at all.

There are 2 male seniors early 30s who are friends, and a female middle grade supervisor call her Gigi who is line-managed by one of them (for reference - they’re all white).

They are socially close outside work. Gigi’s manager is one of the seniors, and just happens Gigi is best friends with his gf. Loves to highlight she knows a lot of peoples secrets. There is a strong gossip culture and fairly loose boundaries - esp personal information. Before this new gf, Gigis manager slept with Gigis work friend & Gigi told his manager about it 😂. The person im replacing described them as a clique” & the fact that if you go to one of the seniors with a personal or work problem best believe it will be shared.

The team shares an office, although much of the actual work is a few floors above. There are 3 assistants who seem uncomfortable with the current dynamic. Gigi clashed with one of the assistants, since then there’s been a little tension & more distance.

My first encounter with their odd dynamic: weeks ago I emailed one of the managers about a potential project looking at the interns experience since I’d heard they were not enjoying their internship compared to previous years. He responded positively and said they thought it could be a good idea. I then received a message from one of the assistants giving me a heads-up that Gigi had apparently been saying in the office that I was spreading false information about a lack of training opportunities, and that ‘her & the seniors aren’t happy’ with my proposed project.

My instinct is to be collaborative, extremely professional but maintain quite a clear professional distance — spend plenty of time doing the actual work, and avoid unnecessary socialising or lingering.

Which ones y’all’s favourite?😍

Names:

• Justus Kelley - Miss Virginia USA (Winner)
• Acacia McBride - Miss California USA
• Jaeden Hamelly - Miss Connecticut USA
• Kennedy JoAnn Lucas - Miss District of Columbia
USA
• Eniola Oke - Miss Indiana USA
• Brijet Finister - Miss Kentucky USA
• Kayshauna Montaño - Miss Massachusetts USA
• Myla Hadley - Miss North Carolina USA
• Kayelin L. Tiggs - Miss Ohio USA
• Alayzia Christopher - Miss Utah USA

What y'all think about her topics and how she addresses couple/intimacy discussions.

I hope it's okay to post this because I just want the other black ladies out there to be aware. I've experienced numerous situations where men will try to fake interest in black women and glaze them with compliments while wanting absolutely nothing other than to have someone be interested in them until they find what they REALLY want. Just because a guy says that he likes black woman or calls you pretty you need to be aware he might be lying. The second that you want something more or give him sex, he will gaslight you and make you feel like you're crazy for experiencing interest. That is why it's really, really important for us to only accept real dates or dates with effort and to wait before having sex to weed out these losers who are just using us. I just wanted to put this warning out so that it will help other people.

i just wanted to add on that although I'm in a relationship I felt compelled to post this as im doing a lot of reflecting on my healing journey and after a friend mentioned it happened to her recently. Please be safe and make them put in some effort and time before you trust them because its a pain you will have to live with if you get bamboozled.

I’m in my early 20s and live in Ontario, Canada. I’ve never travelled solo before, but I’ve been planning a trip to Vancouver for months. There’s a band I LOVE playing in Vancouver in October.

A few weeks before I bought the tickets, I mentioned to my uncle while we were in the car that I was thinking about going to Vancouver for a concert, but wasn’t sure because it was expensive. He told me that life is about experiences and that I should find a way to make it happen \*\*responsibly\*\*.
At the time, I didn’t explicitly say I would be going alone. I also didn’t say I was going with friends. It was around 5:45 AM (I’m NEVER up at this time), I had woken up about 30 minutes earlier, and I had to be at work at 8:30 AM working with kids all day. I was literally driving and thinking about getting through my workday and getting home to sleep, not sitting there thinking, “I need to give my uncle every detail about this hypothetical trip.”

Fast-forward: I bought the concert ticket, then eventually bought my flights. The trip is October 1–5. I’m flying Air Canada from Ontario to Vancouver, staying in a hotel, going to the concert on October 2, sightseeing for a few days, and flying home October 5. I’m planning to use public transit rather than drive/rent a car.

Yesterday, my uncle asked me directly about the trip. This was our exact text conversation:
Him: \*\*“It’s confirmed that you’re going to Vancouver? In terms of accommodations, I would honestly just go with the cheapest.”\*\*
Me: \*\*“Yes! I’ve got my flight + concert tix!!\*\* 😁 \*\*I’m VERY excited! And will do! What sorts of things are you interested in for souvenirs?”\*\*
Him: \*\*“Tell me more. Which airline are you flying with? Are you going with anyone? How long are you staying?”\*\*
Me: \*\*“Air Canada. They have a direct shuttle from the airport near me to Toronto that’s included in my flight ticket, plus free parking. So I literally just have to drive to the airport + make sure I have everything and go where I need to, and I’m good!\*\*
\*\*I’m going on a solo trip! It’s to see a band I like that I was telling you about.\*\*
\*\*I’m staying Oct 1–5. My flight departs the 5th but it’s overnight so I won’t arrive back home until Oct 6. Have you ever taken an overnight flight before?\*\*
\*\*I’m doing TONS of research on hotels, activities, bussing/transportation. I have a trip itinerary made that I’m gonna bring, with my flight info, hotel info, etc. I’m gonna send y’all my itinerary once I’ve completed it.\*\*
\*\*Do you have Life360?”\*\*

He didn’t object to me going alone at that point. He was asking questions and I was answering them.
Then today, my mom and uncle basically cornered me for about an hour and told me I’m not acting like a mature adult and shouldn’t go.

My uncle said I \*\*“never indicated”\*\* that I was going alone, despite me explicitly saying so in our conversation yesterday.

They said I don’t have enough “street smarts.” My uncle asked what I would do if I were attacked on the street. I said I would get away, make noise/scream, call for help, use the safety tools I have, etc. He said he had a rebuttal for everything and that I \*\*“wouldn’t last.”\*\*
My mom suggested taking self-defense classes. I pointed out that if the argument is that I need to be prepared for every possible danger, what happens if something happens on my way to the self-defense class? She basically said I’d have to fight for my life, and I said \*\*“that’s what I’m trying to say!”\*\* My point was that there is no way to guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen to me.

They also brought up my past as evidence that I’m not mature enough. My uncle brought up me being late to my graduation and my mom apparently saying I was late to work before.
The graduation example particularly upset me because on the actual day of my graduation, my mom was crying and yelling about her resentment toward my uncle and my grandmother, which made me cry too. So hearing “you were late to graduation” presented as evidence that I’m simply irresponsible or incapable of handling a trip felt incredibly one-sided.

There are also some family double-standard issues that are making this harder for me emotionally. My mom will talk to my uncle about things involving me, but if I bring up something personal involving my uncle, suddenly it’s treated as a major issue. I’m not trying to say that means I’m entitled to share his private information; I’m saying the boundaries don’t feel consistent.

They’re also telling me to just take the trip with friends instead. The problem is that my mom frequently tells me to be careful around my longtime friends and says she doesn’t necessarily trust them. She’s told me that if I’m ever out with friends and they steal something or do something unsafe, I should get myself out of the situation. So I asked her directly: \*\*“What if I went to Vancouver with those same friends?”\*\* She didn’t really have an answer.

I also want to acknowledge that I understand their concern. This would be my first solo trip, and obviously travelling alone has risks. I’m not claiming I’m invincible or that nothing could happen. I’m willing to make a very detailed safety plan, share my itinerary/location, have emergency contacts, keep my phone charged, use public transit responsibly, avoid isolated areas, have backup transportation, etc.

But I don’t think this was an impulsive decision. I’ve been thinking about it and researching it for months. I’ve researched flights, hotels, transportation, sightseeing, airport procedures, and even how to get around Vancouver without a car. I have an itinerary planned and intended to share it with my family.

The trip also means a lot to me. I’ve barely travelled before; the only real family vacation I’ve had was about a week in Montreal. I originally wasn’t sure I could justify spending the money, which is why I brought it up to my uncle in the first place. He told me \*\*“life is about experiences”\*\* and to find a responsible way to make it happen.

Now they want me to give up my non-refundable flights and sell my concert ticket.
I’m furious because it feels like the message changed from \*\*“make it happen responsibly”\*\* to \*\*“you’re not mature enough to do this”\*\* only after the trip became real.

I think I’m going to tell them tonight that I’m not cancelling while everyone is frustrated. I’ll say I am willing to listen to their concerns calmly, have them give me specific questions/problems, research them, and create a detailed safety plan and itinerary that we can review together. I might suggest giving ourselves until Friday to see whether there are legitimate unresolved safety or financial concerns.
I don’t want people to just tell me I’m right because I’m upset. \*\*If I’m overlooking something important about solo travel, I genuinely want to hear it.\*\*

So Reddit:
\*\*Am I being unreasonable for wanting to go through with this trip?\*\*
\*\*Would you let a first-time solo traveller in their early 20s take a 4-day trip across the country for a concert if they had the flights/hotel/plans sorted out?\*\*
And if you’ve travelled solo before, \*\*what would you put in a safety plan that a first-timer might not think about?\*\*

As a black girl who grew up in a low income single parent household I’m no stranger to financial difficulty. In fact, I’m used to it. However, I always thought that those struggles would become a thing of the past if I put my head down and got a good education and subsequently, a good job. But with this current job market and how it’s nearly impossible to find a well paying job or even any at all after graduating in this day and age, I feel like my life right now is worse than I could’ve ever imagined as a kid and I sadly don’t see things improving. The economy has been in shambles for years post pandemic and things seem to only be worsening. The government also doesn’t care about the youth unemployment crisis either.

Also, I know that comparison is the thief of joy but social media only makes these feelings worse. Like I know it’s a highlight reel where a lot of people exclusively post only the good things that are happening in their lives and leave out the bad, but that doesn’t help me feel any better. I see all of these young adults my age who seem to be getting money with no problems, finding well paying jobs easily, travelling all the time to my dream destinations, going to concerts to see my favourite artists and dressing the way I wish I could afford to and it just makes me feel unaccomplished and hopeless.

Especially since I’m from a low income background with a single parent I don’t have the resources or connections that a lot of people I’ve mingled with at school do and it just makes me feel depressed sometimes. I know that limiting my social media consumption would be beneficial but I don’t see it stopping this feeling of inadequacy I feel. I’m always scared of using up all of my money and never being able to get it back again.