#jj-wasted-love

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Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
4 hours ago

There's a specific kind of tiredness that has nothing to do with sleep. It comes from years of translating yourself into a version that other people could handle, and the exhaustion lives in the gap between who you are and who you've been performing so consistently that even you forgot there was a difference. - Silicon Canals

Workplace burnout often stems from the exhaustion of pretending to be someone you're not, rather than from overwork itself.
#loneliness
fromSilicon Canals
1 day ago
Writing

I'm 66 and the loneliest I've ever felt wasn't after my children left or my friends moved away - it was the morning I woke up and realized I had nothing that needed me, nothing that depended on my showing up, and the whole day stretched ahead like a road with no destination - Silicon Canals

Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Quote by Robin Williams: "I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone" - Silicon Canals

Loneliness can occur even in relationships where one feels invisible despite being surrounded by others.
Writing
fromSilicon Canals
1 day ago

I'm 66 and the loneliest I've ever felt wasn't after my children left or my friends moved away - it was the morning I woke up and realized I had nothing that needed me, nothing that depended on my showing up, and the whole day stretched ahead like a road with no destination - Silicon Canals

Loneliness can stem from feeling unnecessary, not just from being alone.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Quote by Robin Williams: "I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone" - Silicon Canals

Loneliness can occur even in relationships where one feels invisible despite being surrounded by others.
#friendship
fromSilicon Canals
2 days ago
Psychology

The friendships that survive months of silence and pick up exactly where they left off aren't casual. They're evidence that someone once knew you beneath the performance, and the connection lives at a layer that doesn't require maintenance because it was never built on the surface in the first place. - Silicon Canals

Low-maintenance friendships can be deep connections that endure silence and distance, indicating a strong underlying bond.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
4 days ago

I'm 37 and I realized last month that I haven't had a real conversation with anyone other than my spouse in over a year - not because I'm antisocial but because every friendship I had required me to perform a version of myself I don't have the energy for anymore - Silicon Canals

Friendships can fade as personal identities evolve, leading to a disconnect between past selves and current realities.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 days ago

The friendships that survive months of silence and pick up exactly where they left off aren't casual. They're evidence that someone once knew you beneath the performance, and the connection lives at a layer that doesn't require maintenance because it was never built on the surface in the first place. - Silicon Canals

Low-maintenance friendships can be deep connections that endure silence and distance, indicating a strong underlying bond.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
4 days ago

I'm 37 and I realized last month that I haven't had a real conversation with anyone other than my spouse in over a year - not because I'm antisocial but because every friendship I had required me to perform a version of myself I don't have the energy for anymore - Silicon Canals

Friendships can fade as personal identities evolve, leading to a disconnect between past selves and current realities.
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 day ago

My husband doesn't want to give up his mistress. Should I settle for half his heart? | Leading questions

Navigating infidelity involves complex emotions and difficult choices about love, loyalty, and self-worth.
Music production
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 days ago

It was an exorcism': how heartbreak, queer rebirth and finding love over Only Connect shaped Wendy Eisenberg's stunning new album

Wendy Eisenberg's new album reflects a journey of self-reinvention through music, blending 70s folk-rock influences with their unique style.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 hours ago

There is a version of grief that only people in their forties understand. It's not for someone who died. It's for the life you were quietly building in your head for twenty years that you now realize was never going to happen, and the mourning has no name because the thing you lost never existed outside your own planning. - Silicon Canals

Midlife reckoning involves mourning an imagined life that never existed, rather than regret for choices made.
Parenting
fromSlate Magazine
6 days ago

I've Discovered Who My Husband Really Is as a Parent. This Feels Very Bad.

Judgment in parenting can stem from personal rivalry rather than actual differences in child-rearing practices.
London music
fromPitchfork
1 week ago

Joshua Idehen: I know you're hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try

Joshua Idehen transformed from a toxic troll to a reflective artist, using his experiences to create impactful poetry and music.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

I asked my mother what she thinks about when she looks at old photographs of herself and she said "I think about how worried I was and how little of it mattered" - and the simplicity of that sentence from a woman who spent decades carrying everything has been sitting in my chest for three weeks because it contains a permission I'm not sure I'm brave enough to take yet - Silicon Canals

Worry often consumes energy without yielding significant outcomes, highlighting the importance of action over inaction.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

I'm 37 and I realized last year that I've been measuring my worth by how useful I am to people - and I genuinely don't know who I am when no one needs me - Silicon Canals

Identity can be heavily tied to being useful to others, leading to a crisis when that role is absent.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Nobody warns you that grief and loneliness are two different animals that hunt together. Grief takes the person. Loneliness takes every small moment you used to share with them and leaves you standing in the kitchen holding two coffee cups out of habit, morning after morning, until you teach yourself to reach for one. - Silicon Canals

Grief and loneliness are distinct experiences that affect individuals differently, with grief being a communal event and loneliness a persistent absence.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

I didn't realize I'd been holding my breath in every relationship until I met someone who didn't require me to perform calm. The exhale was so unfamiliar my body didn't trust it for months. - Silicon Canals

Emotional stability in relationships often involves suppressing true feelings, leading to a disconnect between genuine emotions and the performance of love.
Berlin music
fromFuncheap
3 weeks ago

Love and Loss

The San Francisco Philharmonic performs Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture and Brahms's Symphony No. 4, exploring themes of forbidden love, tragedy, and symphonic power on the first day of spring.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

The hardest conversation in a long marriage isn't about betrayal or money. It's the one where you finally say 'I've been performing happiness for so long I don't remember when it stopped being real' and you both have to sit in the silence of wondering how many years that covers. - Silicon Canals

Emotional performance in relationships can lead to long-term issues that are difficult to identify and address.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

Suffering: A Portal to Love

Suffering is universal and inevitable; what matters is how we interpret and relate to it, distinguishing between necessary suffering that accompanies growth and unnecessary suffering from resistance and mental patterns.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

How Can You Share Your Peak Experiences?

Maslow emphasized the importance of peak experiences for mental health and creativity, highlighting the challenges in articulating such profound feelings.
fromIndependent
4 weeks ago

Sonique: 'I didn't want to write a song about rejection. I wanted to write about how powerful love feels, even when it's one-sided'

I'm resilient. I've been through lots of highs and lows including a health battle with cancer and I'm still here, still standing, still singing.
Cancer
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

Behavioral scientists say the reason people cry when they see someone else reunited with a loved one - at airports, in films, in real life - isn't sentimentality. The brain's mirror neuron system fires a complete emotional simulation of the experience, and the tears aren't about the strangers, they're about every reunion your own body has stored and every one it's still waiting for. - Silicon Canals

Observing emotional reunions activates mirror neurons, creating an embodied response that connects us to the feelings of others.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

Research suggests the most exhausting kind of love isn't unrequited - it's the kind where you love someone completely and they love you completely and neither of you knows how to receive what the other is offering because both of your systems were calibrated in homes where love was either conditional, inconsistent, or delivered in a language the other person's body doesn't recognise - Silicon Canals

Understanding attachment styles can reveal why some loving relationships still feel unfulfilling.
Berlin
fromLos Angeles Times
17 years ago

Heartbreak hotel

Historic preservation efforts often fail despite compelling arguments about economic reuse, cultural significance, and architectural value when institutional priorities diverge.
London music
fromwww.theguardian.com
4 weeks ago

Waterbaby: Memory Be a Blade review stellar singer-songwriter pieces post-breakup life back together

Waterbaby's debut album explores romantic heartbreak and self-discovery through intimate instrumentation and introspective lyrics that capture the emotional complexity of moving beyond a past relationship.
Relationships
fromSlate Magazine
2 weeks ago

I've Fallen in Love. But This Is the One Sort of Person I'm Not "Supposed" to Be With.

Sexual orientation and romantic attraction can be fluid and evolve throughout life; mutual love and attraction are valuable regardless of how they fit previous self-definitions.
Women in technology
fromTODAY.com
1 month ago

Woman's Mom Dies. What She Finds in Her Closet Brings Her to Tears

Lisa Jones discovered her late mother had secretly purchased a baby girl dress, revealing her mother's hope for a granddaughter before her death in 2023.
#grief-and-loss
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago
Relationships

The only time I ever saw my grandfather cry was when he thought he was alone in the kitchen-and the thing that made him cry was so small and so ordinary that it rewired everything I thought I knew about what breaks a strong man - Silicon Canals

fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago
Relationships

The only time I ever saw my grandfather cry was when he thought he was alone in the kitchen-and the thing that made him cry was so small and so ordinary that it rewired everything I thought I knew about what breaks a strong man - Silicon Canals

Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

There's a particular kind of loneliness that only people in long-term relationships know. It's the loneliness of lying next to someone every night and realizing the person who knows you best has gradually stopped being curious about what's changed. - Silicon Canals

Long-term relationships deteriorate when partners stop being curious about each other and cease updating their understanding of who their partner has become.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

The friends you made before you learned to perform are the ones who feel like home. Not because they're better people, but because they met you before you built the version of yourself that everyone else knows. - Silicon Canals

Childhood friendships feel uniquely comfortable because those friends remember your authentic self before you learned to manage impressions and curate your identity.
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

Love. Crash. Rebuild.

Relationship ruptures stem from unexamined sensitivities and differing decision-making styles rather than incompatibility, and subtle defensiveness often masks deeper issues about autonomy and inclusion.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

I asked 20 people over 70 what they miss most about their parents and not one of them said advice, wisdom, or guidance - every single one described a physical sensation: the weight of a hand on their shoulder, the sound of a specific laugh, the smell of a coat, a kitchen, a car - and most of them hadn't felt it in thirty years but could describe it in four seconds - Silicon Canals

Physical sensations and sensory memories—touch, smell, sound—outlast wisdom and advice as the most enduring and meaningful memories of deceased loved ones.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

There's a specific kind of loneliness reserved for people who are always the one listening. They know every detail of everyone else's inner life, and no one has ever once turned the conversation around and said, 'Now tell me what's actually going on with you.' - Silicon Canals

Highly empathetic listeners often experience profound loneliness despite appearing deeply connected because emotional support flows only one direction, leaving them unseen and unheard.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

There's a particular kind of exhaustion that belongs to people who are everyone's second choice. Not disliked. Not excluded. Just perpetually almost enough to be someone's first call, and aware of the gap every single time. - Silicon Canals

Being consistently chosen second creates deeper psychological harm than outright rejection because the threat detection system never fully activates or resolves.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

Nobody talks about the specific loneliness of being the person who always remembers-who calls on birthdays, sends the card, checks in after the hospital visit-and then realizing in your 60s that you've built an entire social life around being thoughtful and not a single person in it has ever returned the favor without being reminded - Silicon Canals

Being the person who always remembers and initiates contact creates one-sided relationships where reciprocal effort rarely develops, leading to isolation despite decades of connection maintenance.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

There's a particular kind of loneliness that belongs to people who are everyone's safe place but have never once been asked where they go when they're the one who isn't okay - Silicon Canals

Emotional anchors in relationships experience loneliness and identity erosion when support flows persistently in one direction, threatening their sense of self and requiring reciprocal emotional exchange for psychological health.
fromAllen Pike
1 month ago

A Broken Heart

in a modern web app there are many potential causes of a performance problem: third-party JavaScript, overburdened servers, bloated assets, missing database indexes - a list as long as your arm. But decades of building for the web told me that this was a frontend problem. I could just smell it. The page looked janky while loading. And despite being the least-bad approach for web frontends today, the React ecosystem is lousy with ways for a codebase to get tangled, slow, and fishy.
Software development
Books
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Why "Heart the Lover" Resonates With So Many People

Heart the Lover captures the innocence and complexity of youthful exploration and the tender, fragile nature of young love.
fromTiny Buddha
4 weeks ago

I Stopped Trying to Be Chosen and Finally Found Love - Tiny Buddha

You can't perform your way into being loved. You can only reveal yourself and trust that the right person will love what they find. This fundamental truth about human connection emphasizes that authentic relationships cannot be built through technique or performance, no matter how skillfully executed. Instead, genuine love emerges when people present their true selves vulnerably.
Relationships
National Football League
fromDefector
2 months ago

Heartwarming: Miserable Man Frustrated In Ultimately Insignificant Way | Defector

Bill Belichick failed election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first ballot year despite six Super Bowl victories and controversy.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

There is a specific kind of grief that comes from outgrowing people you still love, and most of us were never taught that growth could feel like loss - Silicon Canals

Outgrowing someone you care about creates ambiguous loss—a grief without cultural language or framework—where the person remains present but the relationship fundamentally changes.
Food & drink
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

My Authenticity: Caring Is Not Always Sharing; the Bigger the Better

I am generous in many areas but prefer not to share food, contrasting personal food stinginess with family members' open sharing.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

My wife sleeps two feet from me every night and has no idea I'm lonely - and that sentence is the hardest one I've ever admitted because it means the loneliness isn't about proximity or people, it's about something broken in the way I connect that I can't fix by filling the room - Silicon Canals

Loneliness persists even within loving relationships and successful lives when authentic presence and vulnerability are absent.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Stabbed in the Face soundtracked an incredibly joyous time': the weirdest songs we find romantic

A magazine sent me to the ATP festival at Pontins in Camber Sands to interview the Beastie Boys of noise, Wolf Eyes. The interview fell to pieces when the band, in a state of great psychic refreshment, all wearing Manowar T-shirts, refused to stop watching a Manowar DVD and signalled they would only answer questions if they related to Manowar. The rest of the day was exemplary one of the best ever walking on the beach, visiting record shops.
Music
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

A romance fraudster ruined my life how I survived two years with a psychopath

Tamsin met Mike in the summer of 2022. He was a mechanic in a garage that she walked past twice each day between home and work. After a while, he'd call out good morning or good evening and she'd wave and smile back. Then the exchanges got a little longer. (Hard day? Looking forward to dinner?) Six months later, Mike and Tamsin exchanged numbers. Within two years, her life was wrecked.
Law
Women
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Being Honest in Your Relationship Can Feel Risky and Scary

A person can know they are unhappy yet remain silent from fear and self-criticism, choosing safety and familiarity over truth and change.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

What "Acts of Desperation" Reveals About Toxic Love

In contemporary publishing, female characters are often portrayed as hyper-independent: self-possessed, boundary-savvy, and well-contained. Emotional unavailability, especially in men, is still packaged as independence, mystery, even depth. Meanwhile, real-world romance is dominated by swipe culture, avoidance, and chronic ambiguity. "Keeping it casual" is a default stance, and ghosting is treated as a communication style. Meg Nolan's novel Acts of Desperation offers an unflinching portrait of attachment wounds, longing, and self-betrayal, without rescue fantasies and without a tidy resolution.
Books
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

A moment that changed me: my girlfriend criticised my kisses and it led to the best decision of my life

A young smoker quit a two-pack-a-day habit after his girlfriend refused to kiss him, finding her disapproval more motivating than health concerns.
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

There is a specific kind of loneliness that comes from being surrounded by people who only know the version of you that keeps everything together - Silicon Canals

The better you are at managing your emotions, the less emotional support people offer you. It's not cruelty. It's perceptual bias. People take your composure at face value because it's efficient for them to do so. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people consistently underestimate the emotional needs of those they perceive as high copers.
Psychology
fromKALTBLUT Magazine
2 months ago

Peter Manning Robinson's new track is "Pure Heartbreak" - KALTBLUT Magazine

Peter Manning Robinson unveils "Pure Heartbreak," a new release that continues his ongoing exploration of subtle emotion and refined piano work. Staying true to the qualities that have long defined his sound, the track is built around soft undertones while remaining powerful at its core. Robinson reflects the emotional weight of separation, capturing the moment when something once comforting ends abruptly, leaving behind a sense of loss and quiet desolation.
Music
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

I married my rebound and it turned out to be the healthiest relationship I've ever had - Silicon Canals

Well, I'm here to tell you that sometimes conventional wisdom is dead wrong. Three years ago, fresh off a painful breakup, I met someone who was supposed to be a temporary distraction. A way to forget. A classic rebound. Today, she's my wife, the mother of my daughter, and the person who taught me what a truly healthy relationship looks like.
Mindfulness
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Nobody tells you that the friendship that hurt the most to lose wasn't the dramatic one - it was the one that faded so slowly you can't point to the day it ended, just the day you noticed it was gone - Silicon Canals

Most friendships have natural expiration dates; slow fades hurt more than dramatic endings because they lack closure and acknowledgment.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

I got divorced at 38 and the hardest part wasn't losing the relationship-it was sitting in a quiet flat on a Saturday morning and realizing that the silence wasn't temporary, it was the new architecture of my life, and I had to learn to live in it instead of filling it - Silicon Canals

Divorce brings unexpected emotional challenges beyond logistics, including confronting silence, solitude, and the need to rediscover identity after years of shared life.
Mental health
fromHuffPost
1 month ago

I Had An Ominous Fear About My Husband That I Kept Secret For Years. Then It Came True.

Childhood trauma and past parental loss drive persistent, irrational fear of losing a loved partner despite deep current happiness.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Quote of the day by Willie Nelson: "The older I get, the more I realize it's never too early to start appreciating the people in your life. If you love your family, it's essential that you tell them." - Silicon Canals

Say 'I love you' and appreciate people now; waiting for the perfect moment risks losing the chance and causes lasting regret.
#attachment
#unrequited-love
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The moment I knew: as soon we parted I realised Hitomi was the one. I waited years to see her again

A chance ferry meeting with Hitomi led to months of shared travel, simple rural life in Miyazaki, and growing affection born from her kindness and cheerfulness.
Relationships
fromSlate Magazine
2 months ago

I've Been Harboring a Secret, Messy Crush. The Consequences Could Be Devastating.

Attraction to someone outside a monogamous relationship requires setting boundaries, protecting existing commitments, and carefully balancing honesty, support, and others' emotional safety.
Relationships
fromwww.mercurynews.com
1 month ago

Asking Eric: This man came back into my life and upset my emotions

Unresolved past relationships can trigger old trauma; set clear boundaries, forgive the younger self, and avoid re-engagement to protect present well-being.
Relationships
fromBuzzFeed
2 months ago

People Are Sharing The "Last Straw" They Had With Their Partner That Made Them Finally End Things

Recurring violations of intimacy, personal boundaries, and self-respect often become the decisive final straw that ends many relationships.
#love
Relationships
fromTiny Buddha
1 month ago

When Love Feels Like Pain: Lessons I Learned the Hard Way - Tiny Buddha

Staying in a toxic relationship erodes identity, voice, and emotional safety, trapping people in cycles of charm, criticism, and apologies.
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

My favourite family photo: I bucketed 30 years of tears that day then smiled my smiliest smile'

A long-term couple chose a civil partnership after 30 years together, valuing romance and legal protection, celebrated in a joyful ceremony just before COVID disrupted plans.
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The moment I knew: He put down the camera and asked permission to kiss me'

An online game friendship blossomed into a real-life romance when two players met in Melbourne and shared a memorable day exploring the city.
Relationships
fromSlate Magazine
1 month ago

My Wife Suggested I Try Out a New Sexual Experience. Where It Needs to Happen, Though, Is a Whole New World to Me.

Follow posted rules, bring cash, be polite, tip well, avoid touching performers, confirm extra charges, and consider visiting during slow hours.
fromIndependent
2 months ago

Asking for a friend: I thought my boyfriend was going to propose over Christmas but instead he told me he needed space and moved out. I feel blindsided and at rock bottom...

I'm devastated and don't know where to turn. I was expecting a proposal from my boyfriend over Christmas, but instead he told me he wasn't sure if he wanted to still be together. He's moved back to his parents' house, and we have barely spoken since. I'm so angry, but I also know I would take him back in a heartbeat. I don't know what to do.
Relationships
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

I spent years meeting strangers for masochistic hook-ups. Was I a sex addict?

Suppressing sexual needs and kinks can lead to escalating compulsive behavior and eventual pursuit of compatible partners through online kink communities.
fromSlate Magazine
2 months ago

I'm Having the Most Intense Sex of My Life. There's Just One Catch.

My husband and I have a great sex life that I love. He gets me off consistently with his fingers on my clit, and my orgasms are body-shattering and euphoric. However, ever since I first had sex, I've always been a little surprised and disappointed by how little sensation I feel in my vaginal canal. I can feel a penis, fingers, and toys go in, but once they're in, it's sort of a vague sensation of fullness, and nice, but not much.
Relationships
Relationships
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

An Enduring Assumption About Love

Stated preferences rarely determine romantic outcomes; chemistry, timing, shared experiences, and gradual emotional development predict lasting relationships more than declared "types."
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

How often do people fall passionately in love? The answer may be less than you think

On average, single adults in the U.S. report they have fallen in passionate love twice in their life so far, according to a new survey. And 14 percent of the 10,036 respondents said they had never fallen in passionate love at all. The results highlight the diversity of people's experiences with love, says the study's lead author Amanda Gesselman, a psychologist at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute. There's a lot more variation than we really know about, she says.
Relationships
fromSlate Magazine
1 month ago

My Girlfriend Dumped Me. My Reaction Is Freaking Me Out.

My college girlfriend and I (both women) were together for four years, through a pandemic, graduation, and almost a year of post-graduation long distance. It was a very good relationship; we basically never fought, treated each other very well, genuinely liked each other, etc. She broke up with me a few months ago after realizing she wanted kids-I definitely do not.
Relationships
Relationships
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The moment I knew: He told me my mum would have wanted him to help, so he would'

Childhood friends who drifted apart are sought again after decades of personal loss and renewal, with reconnection sought amid healing during COVID lockdowns.
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Why Repair Attempts Fail (Even When You Mean Them)

Repair requires readiness, genuine listening, and timing; premature or self-serving apologies can silence and widen relational ruptures.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

After high school, a friend I was very close to drifted away. Should I seek closure from her? | Leading questions

Should I try to seek closure with a person I used to love but drifted apart from, or is it best to leave them be? There's a person I used to be really close to who doesn't talk to me any more. We didn't have a fight. We just drifted, but I still think about them all the time. We were really close from year 7 to year 12. The truth is I had a devastating crush on her. I told her about it one day; she let me down very sweetly and our friendship continued. She was the first (and so far only) person I've ever felt I loved. She's the reason I identify as bi. And I believed for a few years she loved me too, if in a different way to how I hoped.
Relationships
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