u/FkUp_Panic_Repeat

I have a husband who loves me. I try to be grateful for him, and not get so bogged down in how friendless I am. But I’m not really close with my family, and I lost all my childhood friends in my 20’s after a falling out (I’m 35 now). My childhood friends weren’t all that great of friends, so aside from one person I don’t really miss any of them. The one friend I do kind of miss has at least two kids now and we wouldn’t have much in common these days anyway, since I’m childfree.

I don’t have any interests, nor any interesting traits that would afford me any interest from potential friends. I’m a high masking neurodivergent individual with CPTSD and a high fawning response. I can’t unmask around anyone besides my husband. He’s my best and, at this point, only friend. But again, one good friend is a lot more than a lot of us have. So I hate to sound ungrateful.

It’s just hard because I feel so isolated sometimes. Not nearly as bad as when I was single, but I still feel kind of empty sometimes. Work is the only place I interact regularly with people outside of my family and I get so tired of them. I’d like to have a friend, but feel like my standards aren’t realistic. Plus, I have a hard time not being attracted to the friends I enjoy most, regardless of their gender. I’m a monogomous person, so I’d never want to entertain that type of relationship with anyone outside of my husband.

I’m not sure what to do. I want to find even just one friend that I can unmask around and enjoy time with outside of my husband. But I can’t unmask enough around anyone to find someone who’s compatible with the “real me.” I also don’t want to develop feelings for someone who’s meant to be a platonic friend…

This might be a very specific-to-me problem to have. But if you’ve ever experienced this conundrum, or similar, how did you deal with it?

We had math, science, social studies, and language arts. Each class was divided into verbal learners and nonverbal learners. Anyone else? Can anyone explain why they’d have done it this way? Like, how would a nonverbal learner learn language arts, for example?

I screwed up pretty bad, twice this week. Like, could have been really bad and I still don’t know how bad it might be until I get to work tomorrow. Might not have a job by the end of the day, and might not even be hirable in the future for this position kinda bad.

What’s been your biggest screw up, and how bad did it turn out for you/the patient?

We’re a couple in our mid 30’s (35 F, 33 M) coming from Arizona. I’m getting my masters degree in the mental health field, but currently work as a caregiver/medication technician in senior living communities. My husband does repair service and warehouse type jobs.

I’m black, he’s white. No kids, non-religious, and liberal/left leaning (though we try to be respectful of other people’s beliefs). We’re mostly homebodies, but enjoy going for walks outside/in nature/downtown, to farmers markets, out for drinks/food on occasion, etc.

We visited Staunton and Charlottesville last year and really liked it there, but we haven’t found many apartments in our budget. Blacksburg and Roanoke seem to have more affordable costs of living, and my google search said racism isn’t a huge problem out there (big concern for me). I know it exists everywhere, but I’ve read some towns are pretty bad out there.

So what do you think about these two cities? Pros/cons? Crime rates? Cost of living? Recommended neighborhoods? Neighborhoods/towns we should avoid? How to respect the local “culture?” Any advice is welcome.

My artists tried to talk me out of a finger tattoo.

It’s my body. If I’m aware of the risks, why can’t I have it done? I’ll sign a form acknowledging this. Just take my money.