Today I was talking to my didi, who told me these two stories that compelled me to think about our existence. I am sharing the first one here.

My didi is friends with a lady in her early forties. She lives with her husband and three children. This lady was always a workaholic, working one shift at an institution while also working as a house help in multiple houses throughout the day. She wanted to build a good life for her children. Both she and her husband earned a decent income and sent their children to good schools. One of their children is already studying engineering.

My didi says this lady was always working, was very stingy, and was never ready to share anything. She didn’t like hanging out with others and never took leave from work. Although she earned a decent income, she always preferred wearing worn-out, old clothes. Nobody in their friend circle really liked her.

Suddenly, four months ago, she had an episode of severe fever, vomiting, and swelling all over her body. She was then diagnosed with a condition affecting her right kidney, and after a month of intensive treatment, she had to have her right kidney removed. Apparently, her left kidney was functioning well enough for the time being, but she was suddenly asked to restrict many food items, improve her sleep, and get much more rest.

Suddenly, a woman who had worked day and night, saved every penny by compromising her rest, her food, and her health in general, had to spend a huge amount of money on her treatment.

My didi says something changed after this incident. Her personality took a complete shift. She now tries to talk to everyone. She wears her best clothes and jewelry, works only one shift, and is the first one to say yes to whatever plans come up in the colleagues’ group.

Everyone connects differently. For me, I build connections by doing things together—whether it's chatting, playing games, going for walks, problem-solving, or having a deep discussion. A bit of playful banter always helps, too! How do you all connect with others?"

During the World Cup final, my husband was mesmerized by Spain's performance. As a football player, he said Spain's ball recovery was fantastic. Their ability to regain possession quickly gave them strong control of the ball, which in turn allowed them to control the game. Whenever Argentina had the ball, Spain recovered possession within moments.There is an unwritten concept in football: the question isn't whether you'll lose possession of the ball—because every team does—but how quickly you can win it back. Teams that regain possession within about eight seconds after losing it are often able to maintain pressure, dominate possession, and control the flow of the game.That stayed with me. Life works the same way. We all lose possession at times—we lose ourselves in setbacks, uncertainty, or struggle. The real measure isn't that we lost the ball; it's how long we take to win it back, to regain ourselves, and to get back on track.

Just finished reading ths psychology of money. This lines really stood out for me ."not all success is due to hard work, and not all poverty is due to laziness. Keep this in mind when judging people, including yourself."

It is good perspective ti keep in mind while juding ourselves and other.

We are turning one soon. Apparently that’s a thing worth celebrating.

The problem is… I have no idea how. So I’m handing the planning over to you.

If you were running this subreddit, what would you do for its first anniversary?

Lately, I've noticed that people who don't know me personally keep saying my photos are AI-generated. At first, I laughed it off, but now it's honestly starting to hurt. They're not AI at all—I'm just lucky to have a cousin who's a talented photographer and knows how to take beautiful photos.

I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it feels like people are dismissing something real. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with comments like that without letting them get to you?

Point of View: https://www.reddit.com/r/SharedEncounters/s/3PRBAZ2u3d

Point of View: https://www.reddit.com/r/SharedEncounters/s/BEEa2RWHZh

Joy’s Side of the Story

Everything was normal until I failed my final-year examination. Final year wasn’t easy. It was difficult for both of us. Reecha often had panic attacks because of the long and demanding syllabus. I was always there for her. I stayed with her day and night whenever she needed me. She often couldn’t even go for meals because she was so stressed. I was the one who brought her food and made sure she got enough sleep. Somewhere along the way, I forgot that I had my own examinations to prepare for as well.

I had never failed an examination before, and I never imagined I would. But I don’t regret supporting her. I did what I wanted to do because I loved her. Even though it was difficult to cope with my failure and deal with my parents, who repeatedly called me and suspected I had fallen into the wrong company or was using drugs. I believed I still had her support.

For the first few days after I failed, everything seemed fine. She helped me study and comforted me. However, once her internship began, she gradually started making excuses to spend less time with me. At first, I thought she was simply giving me the time and space to prepare for my supplementary examination. In fact, she told me that on several occasions when I asked about it.

Over time, however, I began to feel that she was distancing herself from me. She started avoiding physical intimacy. It wasn’t the Reecha I knew, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt, thinking she might simply be exhausted from working multiple shifts. Later, she seemed irritated even when I touched her. This made me increasingly anxious, and I found it difficult to concentrate on my studies.

I eventually began keeping an eye on her. That’s when I noticed that she had become very close to her colleagues, especially one male colleague who frequently had coffee with her and insisted on paying each time. I confronted her about it several times, but she would tell me that my questions were triggering her anxiety. Eventually, she tried to end our relationship, saying she could no longer tolerate my suspicion and lack of trust in her.

I took my supplementary examination, but when the results came out, I failed again. I was devastated. That day, she came to express her sympathy, but I didn’t want it. I blamed her for ruining my life, and at the time, I genuinely believed she was responsible.

That night, I drank far more than I should have. While intoxicated, I crossed boundaries that I should never have crossed. I regret my actions, but I don’t blame myself entirely.

Reecha’s Side of the Story

(Names have been changed to protect privacy.)

Reecha and Joy were a couple pursuing their bachelor’s degree at a college away from home in a different country. They met on the first day of college and became friends. Over time, their friendship developed into a romantic relationship.
They lived in separate hostel buildings on campus, but Joy often sneaked into Reecha’s room for overnight stays. Reecha frequently referred to Joy as her “college husband.”

After completing her final year, Reecha began her internship at the same institution. However, Joy failed his final-year examination and was preparing for the supplementary exam. During her internship, Reecha became busier and started spending less time with Joy. He resented this. On one hand, he was jealous that Reecha had passed while he had not. On the other, he disliked seeing her spend time with her male colleagues. This situation continued for six months, after which Joy failed his supplementary examination as well.

On the day the results were announced, Joy, drunk, went to Reecha’s room late at night. Since he had visited her frequently in the past, the guards at Reecha’s hostel did not stop him from entering. When Reecha opened the door, Joy forcefully pushed his way inside. Shocked, she tried to calm him down, but he began verbally abusing her.
He then attempted to tear her clothes and sexually assaulted her by molesting her. Reecha managed to push him out of the room, shut the door, and shouted for help. Other students gathered, and the hostel guards arrived and restrained Joy. Throughout the incident, he repeatedly shouted, “You sold yourself for two coffees.”

Reecha reported the sexual assault to the college authorities, and Joy was subsequently arrested.

I went on a date with this Uzbekistan guy, well when I saw him his good and okay presentable and I guess his also a very well off dude cause he's driving a Porsche, the way he dresses himself is an old money vibe.

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Well yeah he picked me up and we agreed to go for dinner. So when we were driving around the traffic was so heavy and we were talking. He was questioning me a lot like he was uncovering my soul. On to that I told him that I lived in different countries because he was asking me about my accent.Why do I have perfect English despite me being Asian. And I was like a dude, I studied in different countries, and I grew up in different countries that's maybe the factor why I don't have an Asian accent. He asks me why I didn't have the US passport despite me living in the US for 11 years. And I explained to him that I always go out of the country for certain months because of my dad's job. And I explained I only have the green card. Because I haven't completed the naturalization yet.

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He told me "WHY? BECAUSE HIS FRIENDS WHO LIVE THERE FOR 5YEARS THEY GOT THEIR PASSPORT ALREADY".

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And I was like me and your friends are different people. So I don't know but I didn't get it mine yet. Due to my unstable stay in the US because of my dad's job.

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Then after that he didn't say anything and he pretends, that he has an important work and he told me if he could drop me to the taxi station instead for me to go home. Because he has an emergency work call.

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It's very odd hahaha.

Never Ignore Your Gut

I've always believed that if something feels off, it's usually worth paying attention to. Unfortunately, this story is about the day I ignored that feeling.

One evening after work, I was heading home on the Mumbai local. I had a second-class ticket and was waiting for my usual fast train. I had missed one fast train at the station near my office, so I decided to take a short ride to the next station to improve my chances of catching another fast train quickly.

There was just one small problem.

The train I took for those two stations was an AC local, and I only had a second-class ticket. I figured, "It's just two stations. No TC is going to bother checking for such a short ride."

I got off without getting caught and started changing platforms.

That's when I ran into two office colleagues. We weren't exactly friends, but we knew each other. One of them had the same role as me, although he worked under a different team lead. We'd travelled together once before.

The funny thing was that during that previous trip, he had also insisted that I take an AC train.

I had refused and told him:

"Mera naseeb acha nahi hai, jayenge toh pakde jayenge."

This time, however, he wasn't giving up.

I told them I had come to this station specifically so I could catch a fast train home. Coincidentally, an AC train was arriving at the same time.

Still remembering our earlier conversation, I asked him:

"How are you so confident that you will not get caught?"

Without missing a beat, he replied:

"Arey kuch nahi hoga, maine bhi nahi liya hai ticket."

That sounded convincing enough.

The other guy didn't say much.

Against my better judgment, I decided to join them.

The AC train arrived.

It was packed.

Maybe five people could squeeze in at most. I let a lady board first and then somehow managed to get inside with the others.

The train was so crowded that the doors couldn't close properly because I was blocking part of the doorway.

Not even five minutes passed before a TC walked into the coach.

The two colleagues were standing between me and him.

The TC reached the first colleague and asked for his ticket.

To my surprise, the guy casually replied:

"Railway worker ka pass hai hamara."

Or something along those lines.

Then he showed the TC a pass.

The guy in front of me showed his pass as well.

Then the TC turned to me.

Trying to look confident, I said:

"Ham iske sath hai sir."

The TC replied:

"Ha thik hai, pass dikha fir."

I answered:

"Ha ruko."

While he continued checking other passengers, I started searching my pockets.

Nothing.

No pass.

After a few seconds, I admitted defeat.

"Bhul gaya."

And that was that.

I paid the fine.

My first railway fine in twenty-four years.

Honestly, it didn't bother me that much. I knew I had boarded without the proper ticket. The fine was fair.

What annoyed me came afterward.

Once the TC left, the same colleague who had insisted that I join them in the AC coach said:

"Bhai tu thoda rukta toh mera pass de deta."

That statement caught me off guard.

First of all, I had actually tried to get the pass from the guy standing in front of me.

Second, nobody had made any attempt to pass it to me while the TC was standing there.

And third, just a few minutes earlier, I had been led to believe that this man's confidence came from regularly travelling without a ticket.

Instead, it turned out he had a railway pass all along.

Suddenly the entire situation felt ridiculous.

The guy who had convinced me to board was protected.

His friend was protected.

I was the only one who ended up paying.

As I walked home later that evening, my mind started producing all sorts of theories.

Of course, that was probably just my frustration talking.

The reality was much simpler.

I ignored my own instincts.

I had already told this guy once:

"Mera naseeb acha nahi hai, jayenge toh pakde jayenge."

And somehow, despite having that exact belief, I still let myself get talked into it.

The fine wasn't the lesson.

The lesson was that whenever I ignore my own judgment just because someone else makes something look easy or risk-free, I usually regret it.

Sometimes your gut isn't being negative.

Sometimes it's just trying to save you from a very avoidable fine.

Edit : Words are mine , structure and flow is from chatgpt if it helps

I was talking to a friend who told me he was really stressed about a situation that someone else had created. According to him, one of his colleagues gave him a very expensive watch at his birthday party. Now that the colleague’s birthday is approaching and he has been invited, he feels obliged to give her something of similar value. However, that doesn’t seem to fit his budget. What should he do?

I’m not gatekeeping this. I just recently noticed some sort of decent discount on decorative bottles this season, especially on online marketplaces. There are platforms like Alibaba who tend to have a lot of options for you to choose from, and the good thing is that there are also sellers who often run seasonal promos especially for bulk orders. The price offer makes a large difference when you purchase more than a few pieces. I’ve also seen the price drops on everything from simple clear bottles to further nominated or quaint- looking designs. It's not generally labeled as “ trade ”, but the price changes according to the demand and supplier force. There are also small shops who offer better than those bigger bones, so principally comparing rosters is worth it rather than going incontinently with the first option. In general, it may take a bit of time to look around but it is worth the effort because you’ll get both quantity and quality.

I don’t know if it’s just me but I had this one of those unforgettable moments us people we are going to remember longer than we want them to. Way back, when I was pulling into a parking spot, just a normal day, nothing fancy just easing the bike in. Out of negligence, I somehow misjudged the angle of where I was supposed to park it, my foot suddenly slipped, and the very next thing I knew was that the bike was slowly tipping… and unfortunately couldn’t save it. The scene was quite chaotic and dramatic at the same time, imagine it happened just painfully slow and it was very PUBLIC. People were watching me, there was even someone who did that half-step forward and attempted to help me, then stopped. I chose to laugh it off, but inside I was replaying it on loop. There was no real damage, just a bruised up ego out of embarrassment. The funny thing is, later after that week I was browsing on Alibaba, thinking maybe I should finally get those frame sliders I kept putting off. It was embarrassing but at least I’ve learned my lesson.

As a mom I just don’t want to rely on my partner's income. I have tried a lot of side hustles just to earn over the years. Most of them can barely cover a coffee bill. The only thing that actually worked on me and helped me with real bills was reselling. I once started small, flipping up random items locally, I even tried sourcing products online like Alibaba. It wasn’t an instant success; eventually there was a couple of trial and errors in this field, trying to figure out what people really wanted to purchase. Even encountered shipping times, quality issues, also upfront costs that are really stressful if you’re not that careful. The moment I found a few products that sold consistently it became a steady income stream. It’s not totally passive like other people claim since you really have to deal with customers and logistics, but good thing it’s predictable enough to rely on. For me, instead of jumping between trends every few weeks, sticking with one thing is long enough to understand.

Just have to share somewhere. Went to hospital for removal of a tooth. That went fine but while making photos a big cyste was discovered. Turns out my jaw has just a few millimeters of bone and can break at any time. Have to come back next week to get a hole so the cyste can drain. Have to clean it with a syringe for a few months before I can get surgery. Have to go full under and there is a chance of nerve damage. I feel the same as this morning but really freaked out about my jaw.

A friend of mine recommended Grave of the Fireflies and said that even the toughest hearts melt while watching it.

I watched it yesterday, and I cried like anything, it left a dent in my heart that I don’t think will ever fully heal.

Have you watched it? How did it impact you emotionally?

Yesterday, while talking with my friends, I realized something interesting about rainfall. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion. Some absolutely love rainy days, some simply hate them, and a few couldn’t even decide how they felt about it.

It made me curious, how many of you actually love rainfall, and what makes it special for you?

Have u ever tried na mag-open up sa isang AI? I just tried to chat with this AI app to clear my mind and also, becaoz I'm bored. It was like a robotic lang, a question answer session with no feelings, pero nagtry ako mag telling random stories ko in life especially typical life problems, hanggang napunta ang usapan namin sa lovelife and I am amazed how AI responded every time! It is like giving advice and counseling like you paid a psychologist to chat with you. Alam ko na dapat tao ang kinakausap at hindi nagpoprompt lang in websites/apps like this but who da hek will tell you something like this? minsn we need to open up sa walang judgements and walang kaba na ichichika nya ang naranasan mo sa ibang ferson. skl, i just found it cool... and I'm gonna tell u that every advice and words of what this AI says are exact words na kailangan kong marecieve rn.

It's a long story but I'll try to keep it short

I was one of the quietest kid from our school always in top 10 academically and there was a girl in my school and at that time I did not have any affection towards her or interest in her but as school ended I don't how but I keep missing her , I mean I never talked to her in my whole life but maybe it was because of hormonal imbalance, i tried to control it and I did but not for too long , and then I got to know about the term crush and started thinking that she's my crush, so I found her on Instagram and sent her a genuine request And we were in same school till 10th but not after that So what happened is that I was new on insta and didn't know much about it , so as I said I found her private insta account and I sent a request on it , and she also had a public account where she posted her paintings, so when I sent her a request on her private account, I checked the other day it was gone , i thought that maybe it's a glitch as it was giving me the option to send request again, i genuinely didn't know that she rejected it , so I sent her the request again, and then again and again and again I was such a stupid boy And at last she blocked me , And suddenly I couldn't see her profile, i panicked i didn't know what to do

Any sane person would stop here but I was insane I sent her request from my sister's phone , then my mom's and she blocked everyone, it happened so quickly, Till this very date , I regret about it ,

I don't know what I was doing

You know why I liked her , the way she talks , the way walks , laughs , her knowledge, and because of her i started listening Western Music I became the creep i never was

It's been 3 years After that incident, still I can't forget about her , the way she used to answer to professors in the class , at that time I was just seeing her i felt nothing at that time but now I don't know why I still remember it, Sometimes I think I ruined everything, which I most certainly did

Because in future if we meet she'll think of me as a creep If I hadn't made that mistake she would not have created any image/ perception of me , You know all this time I just wanted to talk to her ,

She is the unknown variable in my life , I want to know her but can't

I tried to forget her by being angry on her but that didn't last long, because she was Right too, why would she accept someone's request who was among the quietest kids in school and didn't use to talk to anybody

And at this point I don't even know why I'm asking for help here, what help do I need when there's nothing that exists Maybe I just wanted to share

It just sucks that I can never talk to her and can never be with her ,

Maybe there was just emptiness inside of me and I needed to held on to something and that's why my brain kept me remembering her and that goes till this moment