Posts by Jesse Barnes59

Jessica Cook11 said:Maybe being alone is actually a blessing... I’ve just embraced it, and honestly, I feel better for it. Though, deep down, I never really wanted to be totally solo... I think I might just scare people off. Right now, I'm stuck in this relationship that goes nowhere and has zero understanding—it's basically just something to have so I'm not single. It sucks. The worst part is waking up to a gorgeous day and thinking about heading downtown to walk around and laugh with someone, only to realize I'll be doing it by myself.
Maybe I’m the one to blame here. I can be pretty hard on people. I absolutely loathe superficiality—I just can't stand it—even though, at my core, I'm a total optimist.
To be real with you, most people in my life have just used me. If they needed a favor, they knew exactly who to call. And look, it didn't bother me at the time—I genuinely love helping out. But the second *I* actually needed something? Everyone vanished. I think that was the moment I completely lost my faith in humanity. Now, I just have a few acquaintances, and that’s it.
When I go out on a Friday or Saturday night, I feel like an intruder in everyone else's world. And it’s the same feeling when someone tries to push their way into my own little bubble of poetry, music, and books.
I love my solitude, but man, sometimes it's tough.
So, yeah. There are more of us out there... we aren't alone in our loneliness.

It feels like I just read my own autobiography🙂... I've walked down these exact same paths myself...

Zachary Davis5 said:Yes, there’s an argument to be made that some things are better left unknown. However, I personally find that impossible to follow. I refuse to live in a state of manufactured ignorance just to avoid an awkward confrontation, because the truth always has a way of surfacing eventually. And once it does, what then? You're stuck dealing with the fallout of your own silence, which usually makes the situation even more disastrous. My philosophy is simple: if it concerns someone I actually care about, I tell them. I don't hide things from the people who matter to me; in fact, I don't even try to. I speak up when I believe someone genuinely needs to know. That said, obviously, I'm not going around blabbing trivial nonsense to complete strangers on the street.

I know exactly what you mean. Personally, I would never dream of hiding something this serious. Everyone deserves the agency to decide for themselves whether a certain reality is something they can handle or not. On the flip side, I wouldn't go out of my way to confess something to just anyone. I could give you a hypothetical answer, but that feels hollow; we all like to think we’re rational and virtuous when judging others, but once our own lives and emotions are on the line, our perspective shifts entirely. If you're asking me how I'd feel on the receiving end, I honestly don't think I'd ever want to know. These kinds of situations are incredibly heavy and emotionally draining, where any choice you make—to know or not to know—feels like it could be the wrong one.

I honestly believe someone needs to actually experience being in that situation before they can pass judgment on it. Most people will reflexively say "no way," and plenty of folks are just too closed-minded to even consider it. But what if you fall in love first, and then find out—both of you—that one person is dealing with a chronic illness? Would the other person truly walk away from someone who is sick? It’s a heavy question... though, then again, maybe some things are better left unknown...