this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2025
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 21 hours ago

It sucks even when you don't have any inherent issues; but imagine trying to find a relationship with BPD and you constently self-sabotage yourself because your stupid broken brain says that you're a fool for believing anyone gives a single shit about you.

[–] RunJun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 149 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Anyone who is going through this, you have to try. You have to put effort into yourself and get used to rejection. It’s not fun but if it’s important to you then it’s important to show up.

I didn’t have my first kiss until 26. I have a wife and two kids. Just so you don’t think it was easy for me.

[–] PlasticLove@lemmy.today 41 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (8 children)

Can’t.

I spent my whole life being told to not be a creep, don’t just go up to women they don’t want random men approaching them, they’re at the club for a good time with friends, etc.

So that only leaves online dating and I’m not a 10/10 so never get a match.

[–] trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 70 points 1 week ago (5 children)

So that only leaves online dating and I’m not a 10/10 so never get a match.

Bullshit. That's just toxic internet culture talking. You may have to put some effort in your profile, but it worked for me and I'm a 6 at best.

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

From my experience online dating (as a man) is a complete waste of time. In about one year I got like 10 matches at Max and half of those didnt even had any form of somewhat decent communication.

I did put quite some effort into my profile but it didnt help anything.

Now since I switched sides I have gotten more likes in a single week than I got in a whole year just because I switched from male to female. I Am pre everything, so I dont even look remotely feminine and most of my pictures are kinda ass, but I dont really bother to make some good ones.

From my experience online dating as a man is either hit or miss. A friend of mine had luck with it several times, but at least for me online dating was the biggest waste of time of my life.

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Been doing it for a few months now and no matches. Rejected 4 times in real life. Also, because of other preconditions my capacity for social interaction is very limited.

I hate when people say "just put in some effort". I'm doing it, I'm giving it all I have but I did so for about 10 years now and I got nothing. I don't hate the people that rejected me but this can't be normal, and I'm not the only one.

I'm happy for people where it works out but I feel immense pain knowing I'm back to square one for the 4th time. And let's not kid ourselves, 10 years going by doesn't exactly make me more attractive.

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[–] FridaySteve@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

You've reduced your options to online dating or hooking up with club girls. I'd start by expanding those options.

[–] exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago

don’t just go up to women they don’t want random men approaching them,

I think many people can benefit from understanding how to strike up conversations with strangers generally. If you're already comfortable making small talk in a line, with your seat neighbor at a bar or communal table at a restaurant, talking to fellow dog owners at the dog park,v or getting to know people during a meet and greet at a conference or happy hour, swinging by a new colleague's desk just to say hi and get to know them, you'll get a sense of what types of interactions are comfortable and flow naturally.

If you're not comfortable approaching men, women who are with their significant others, people clearly outside your dating age range with small talk or simple conversations, it's hard to build the skill and experience of approaching women you'd like to date if you don't already have the foundation of approaching people you don't want to date.

It's also a great way to address the actual core premise of this post, that there are a lot of lonely people who could use friend making skills too.

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[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I find it hard to find people though. I do my regular activity and hobbies and go about my life, I make friends but they're mostly guys. I'm also not the type to ask every cute girl out. Idk, I still got one more year at school so maybe something will happen

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

School is a great place to meet people organically. Talk to your class mates. Even if they’re not a girl you want to talk to maybe they know someone.

Outside of school sadly dating apps are the only way to meet people. And they’re not good.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That’s just not true. Get a hobby. There are tons of people doing activities all the time in groups all over the world. Climbing, painting, sewing, there’s hundreds of thousands of activities you can do and people in every one of those groups.

[–] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Can confirm. I met both of my girlfriends (sequential, not parallel) at meetups for a certain online community. And I wasn't even looking; it happened organically.

Turns out that if you go where people are basically guaranteed to share at least some of your interests, it becomes much easier to find someone you gel with.

Protip: Don't go looking to find a partner, try to make friends. If one of those friends ends up dating you, so much the better. If none do, you still made friends and that goes a long way already.

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 23 points 1 week ago

And I wasn't even looking; it happened organically.

This is the key.

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[–] baines@lemmy.cafe 19 points 1 week ago

yea but have you done the sex?

[–] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 99 points 1 week ago (10 children)

This is a huge deal. Truly. Male loneliness in particular is a swollen lithium battery ready to be poked. I doubt it will be addressed correctly. I have no idea how to fix it and infinite empathy for anyone, male or female, going through this.

I also wonder what a correct approach would be. When I was young, I was very lonely. It took a long time for me to realize that I was the problem. Actually, now that I think about it, what would probably help a lot is therapy being broadly available to anyone. Talking to other people, especially trained professionals, and listening to their opinions is so incredibly helpful. Only spending time inside your own head or online is super toxic and nothing good ever comes from that.

[–] taygaloocat@leminal.space 23 points 1 week ago (8 children)

I know he's a right-wing nut job now but I found Jordan Peterson really helpful in my youth. "Clean up your room", "dress like the person you went to be", "happiness is fleeting, and suffering requires constant meaning".

His old stuff was simple and straight forward, good lessons for a lost young man

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[–] apotheosical@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago

This isn't a complete solution, but joining groups for interaction is a start. Book clubs, game clubs, sports, movie clubs, whatever it is as long as it's social and in person. Put up a flyer on community noticeboards for an activity you like, alternatively.

Volunteering can also help. Being part of a community, being seen and contributing can make all the difference to starting the process.

This isn't a solution to depression or any mental health issue. It's a possible way to begin creating connection though.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's messy AF

Guys are afraid of rejection, but also not great at making themselves more appealing candidates. That whole woman chooses the bear thing is real, even if, in general, we're not worse than the bear.

From the woman's standpoint, if they let the guy in and get knocked up, they might end up having to raise the kid and maybe deal with some asshole for 20 years. Statistically, they have more to lose.

It's even harder when you're young because you don't want someone with kids, or issues, or baggage, but then being uncharismatic and mediocre is seriously underrated baggage.

We need male boot camps for loneliness with counselors and coaches. Help people work on their empathy, see what the other side sees and figure out how to work toward improvement to the point where they can find what they're looking for.

[–] Soapbox@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The new season of King of the Hill, S14E9 "No Hank Left Behind" nailed that boot camp thing. Starts off as an Andrew Tate parody, ends with Hank teaching a bunch of near incels the error of their ways.

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[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

oh it is not getting addresses correctly.

there're many grifters out there taking advantage of lonely men - they promise turning into a chad and getting laid... if you just buy this course of mine and oh btw its a subscription model website.

then there's 4chan and the infinite sea of incels with their various pills pushing people further into feeling like victims oppressed by women (a nifty distraction from the real problem of society's constant push towards individuality and capitalism's constant battle to destroy public spaces) and giving up on even trying to get out of their homes. once you see yourself as an incel being pathetic becomes a personality trait, and internalising that can make getting out of that hole incredibly difficult.

women obviously are also affected but their bonds between each other seem stronger, maybe because they are allowed to hug each other without being called slurs.

so yeah, the problem is being address in all the wrong ways. even the talk of man specific societal issues is incredibly rare outside of the grifter spun narratives to get you to buy their courses or reinforce your feelings of being pathetic.

most people are focused on women's rights - which yeah, they should - but i don't think those two issues are disconnected. after all, the more lonely the men, the more it's the "women's fault", the more hateful they are towards them, the worse both problems get.

now how do we get out of this pit?

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[–] FridaySteve@lemmy.world 79 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Someone who is hardworking and disciplined enough to keep the same shitty job for ten years could easily make a partner happy and get satisfaction from a relationship. Too many people look at what other people have and let it make them feel hopeless when they should be looking at what they have themselves and let it make them feel empowered.

[–] Draegur@lemmy.zip 41 points 1 week ago

Comparison is the thief of joy.

I feel so much better when rather than looking at what others have and wishing i had it too, instead looking at what others lack and seeing if there's anything I can do to help them attain it.

It helps me appreciate what I do have. There are people I love who want me around. It took so long to recognize, internalize, actually feel and experience that fact instead of just ... knowing it in a distant academic sense like 'sure yeah it stands to reason that this is true i guess but i have no proof'...

Until recently, i 'knew' that people cared about me and wanted me around the same way a person born blind can KNOW that the wavelength and frequency of the color Blue are 450 nanometers and about 666 terahertz (heh 🤘) respectively but not have an intrinsic experience of what it's like to see it.

it's nice actually being able to FEEL what i only previously just numbly heard about. and now all i truly want in the world, on the deepest level, beyond petty hedonic desires, is for more other people to know what it's like to feel loved.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Yes, I think being able to be satisfied is a life skill. If this guy can hold a job and be satisfied with it, I agree so very much that indicates he can be happy in a relationship, and can make someone else happy.

I have a sister-in-law with an objectively good life, quit work after her kid was born, my brother makes enough she doesn't really have to, when she was in Florida she complained it was too hot, they moved to Massachusetts, but then she complained it was too cold, they moved back, in the city complained the house was too small, they moved to a big house in the suburbs well now she complains they are in the suburbs it doesn't matter what her objective situation is, she cannot be satisfied, it's just not in her nature.

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[–] TipsyMcGee@lemmy.dbzer0.com 70 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That’s amazing job stability for a waiter in a sushi place, if that’s real.

The cynic in me says that OP being lonely despite being so empathetic and easy to sympathize with is a rhetorical device.

But on face value, on the off chance that it’s real, it’s clear OP was a constant in the couple’s life, and no doubt a positive one since they kept coming back. It’s not just a sad story, because at least OP gets to be someone to someone else, and that’s something.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

i mean, the japanese steakhouse my dad loved, they had most of the same staff from when they opened til when they closed 20 years later. we got to know the sushi chefs and everything, he was that regular.

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[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 52 points 1 week ago

actual emotionally mature 4chan take, no way!

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago (5 children)

We’ve lost our “village”, those third spaces that provided extended family and friends networks. American “self-reliance” has generated a separated society that has stripped a lot of the support and social network we used to have in favor of a job, a home separate from extended family, and a standalone family unit on their own against the world. Too hard to meet new people, too few clubs, too little money to get into a lot of hobbies, too little free time to spend it on anything other than rest and trying to stay sane.

[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 14 points 1 week ago (7 children)

We are slowly turning into Japan

I think I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so...

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Idk what OP is doing wrong, but in my experience bartenders and service workers are always hooking up - with each other, with patrons, at after work social engagements...

The job sort of requires you to be social, to be friendly, to engage with strangers, and to empathize with other people.

That's not to say the relationships last. Plenty of drama in the service industry, too. Lots of substance abuse. Lots of cheating. Lots of traveling, boom and bust with the economic tides, and risk taking for better or worse.

But the idea that you're just a bartender for ten years and nothing is happening in your life is crazy.

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 38 points 1 week ago (4 children)

You are missing one crucial aspect.

90%of greentext is completely fabricated.

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[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I know a lot of people like that. Likeable, but something just keeps them from forming those kind of relationships even just for a hook up.

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[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (6 children)

If countries' leaders weren't dumb as shit they would offer public dating apps that don't try to exploit people.

These apps work great when the goal is to match people who would get along, capitalism enshittified them.

It's obviously how most people want to meet, why not offer people a dating site that isn't shit to fix isolation?

I honestly think countries don't want to fix their birthrates at all, none of them do anything significant to help them.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I feel like if countries' leaders weren't dumb as shit, they'd work to fix healthcare, education, and the economy, as that would have a much larger positive impact than a dating app.

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[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 17 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Fake: No way hes working for such a long time as a server in a sushi restaurant

Gay: Anon is probably gay in denial and therefore still single.

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