I went through menopause just a few years ago. It threw everything into an upheaval. Thank goodness I didn’t have a partner to be like this to, but therapy definitely helped. She is absolutely going through a lot, physically and mentally, and will be for years. I still have hot flash episodes for weeks at a time and it’s always different.

Your feelings are valid. You have every right to them. Just because someone is going through chemical changes in their body doesn’t mean they can abuse you like this. Telling you that you have no right to your feelings is emotional abuse and she has no right to do that to you. You both need help to get through this, whether separate or together, but this is all new and for you to be told to sit down and shut up is just heartbreaking. Everything happening to her is also happening to you because it seems to me that she’s taking it all out on you and yeah, that affects you.

You are not dumb or stupid. You are caring and sympathetic to what she’s going through, and she reacts to this with hostility and arrogance. I can’t imagine anyone is obligated to put up with that from anyone, for any reason. It might change in time, but not if she never acknowledges the validity of your feelings and your right to have them.

I’m so sorry this is happening to you.

I heard it called that back around 1985.

Birkin bags, not Birkenstocks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkin_bag

I’ve been hearing that phrase my entire life :)

I could fit that and more into my Accord coupe's trunk, and have done so several times. This definitely is not the flex he thinks it is.

Working to rid yourself of those biases is absolutely good and worth it. I commend you.

They’re turning down the free steak because the [insert ethnicity/whatever difference here] person might get one too.

Birds can’t taste it like we do. You can get bird feed covered in red pepper to keep other animals from eating it. I’m not sure a bird would eat a pepper, anyway, but 🤷🏼‍♀️

For me it’s communication, honesty, openness, willingness to listen, and acceptance of where the person is coming from in their reactions and emotions. This is a result of childhood trauma and any long-term traumatic experience. CPTSD (complex PTSD), if you’d like to read about it. This kind of thing is learned below a conscious level so you can’t just logic yourself out of the reaction, it’s almost hard coded. Working together helps both of you figure out how to handle it, unfortunately there is no trick. It takes time and work and patience and love.

👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

Yep.

And THREE no step on snek plates

I worked at McDonald's in high school in 1983. Neither of those happened where I was, I made $3.35/hr and was given a uniform (polyester, bleh!) that I had to return in good condition when I left.

Of course my experience doesn't mean it never happened, it just wasn't overall what you described.

Life before death

I see way too many people in my area cheering this shit on. I'm on the edge of red country tho but it's still devastating.

I was at work in Crystal City VA, less than a mile from the Pentagon, on 9/11.

👋🏻 lurker here

There’s a fantastic book series based on exactly this: The Change Series. This is a double storyline with the Emberverse series in which the present time beginning in March 1998 loses electricity and “most forms of high-energy-density technology” due to "The Change", which occurs at 6:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, March 17, 1998.

The companion series, which was written first, is the Nantucket Series, in which the island of Nantucket is transported back in time to 1250 BC due to something called "The Event", the same Event that caused The Change. But— they got to keep all their physics intact.

No. Different instances having similar communities is a good thing. Otherwise we get back to Reddit, which we don't want.

How does an elephant hide in a cherry tree?

They paint their nails red