This is a tough week. Having serious pet homesickness & guilt. I have 2 birds, my oldest one is 18 yo & really starting to show her age.

How do you deal with your boyfriend still being friends with someone he slept with before? Kind of bothers me but not sure if it’s normal....

This is a question about friendships. Two friends got into a really bad fight this past weekend. They have each asked me to hang out this weekend. What do I do? I don’t want to have to choose sides. One is a friend I’ve known a little longer and has been a good friend and so she would feel betrayed and angry if she knew I were still friends with her now-enemy. The other I’ve known less longer, but we seem more compatible. Advice??

My mom’s friend was supposed to come to my wedding in a week and just cancelled. I’ve never met her but my mom insisted she be invited. This person already sent us a check which we deposited already; we already sent a thank you card. This person left me a VM saying they were sorry they couldn’t come; they have leukemia and their Dr. didn’t approve. Do I need to call them back? I would like to avoid an awkward phone call about personal matterwith a stranger but also don’t want to be insensitive.

Any book recommendations to gift my cousin sister? She studied (masters) psychology and is a trained classical dancer.

How do I start the divorce process? Do I have to get a lawyer? Help...!

I feel old and tired with all the family responsibilities since I was a teenager. Often I feel exhausted emotionally and mentally and then I pick myself up to move forward as I don’t have an option to quit. Who can I blame? None. 😢

What would you do if you didn’t need money? I have a fair amount coming one day and don’t actually need to work to live a good life (middle / upper-middle class). I work because of this vague notion of “ambition” and because everyone I grew up around is highly competitive and hard driving. I just feel unhappy so often and am wondering what this is all leading to. Scared I’m wasting my life being unhappy / in turmoil cause it’s what my culture wants me to do.

SIL and BIL told us excitedly last weekend that she was pregnant (had literally just found out, so barely four weeks). This week she tells us she’s not pregnant anymore :(. They did not seem super torn up about it and were very practical about it. We said how sorry we were, etc etc. should I do anything else? Should I not mention it again unless they do?

How to deal with parents that want to know everything but you don’t want to tell them everything because you want to loose your job?

I dated my ex for about 4 years and before we broke up we had moved in together. We lived together for about 6 months before breaking up. I kept the apartment and she moved out. Is this something I should tell my current girlfriend without it coming up naturally? She has told me she doesn’t care about what happened in my past relationships and that she is happy to talk about them but that we don’t need to. I’m just not sure if I should tell her about it, or wait for it to come up in conversation

I have no idea where to post this, but is a anyone else super weirded out by LinkedIn lately? All these pictures of people using their kids as props for parental leave, or how their kid has a disorder and how proud they are? I just came across a post that was a woman lying next to her mom who had *literally* just died. I feel a little cold hearted saying it, but it is so over the top on what is supposed to be a professional network. Am I just totally out of touch?

I spent an hour today sitting with one of my patients getting a chemo infusion. Lonely and weird time to not have his wife in there with him

Question: Girl friends parents finally came over for a ristha. Everything went great or so I thought but now she wants to time to think about moving forward. The pain point she brought up is that we are in different states and she is feeling pressed. Although in that time she has started communicating less and I literally had to beg her to get on face time. My gut says she wants to end it but unsure. Any advice ? It's been 2 weeks since this event

So my brother doesn't talk to me for 6 months.   (I had offered my lake house guest space to my cousin who said yes instead of my brother who didn't know if he could come nor when he might know if he could come, how unfair of me).

On Thanksgiving day mom arrives and tells me that brother might come by in an hour.  He had ignored my invite weeks ago.  (Uh ok, sure).

Continued...

Girlfriend has very obvious high functioning anxiety and body image issues that she admits but thinks she doesn’t need therapy or medication and that reading self-help books will help her. It’s not changing in the last several years and it’s impacting our relationship. Anyone have experience with their SO dealing with untreated anxiety? I know I can’t control her but would like to express my feelings without sending her into a spiral. For context, I’ve been in therapy for 12 months and medicated

How have you combated your fear of rejection? I fixate on such small things as when my friends, for example, reject plans I have made. This definitely makes me more averse to putting myself out there and makes me ruminate on past perceived failures, which are clearly not good for personal growth

Not able to clear Independence Training for new joiners can anyone help how I can clear this?

I would like some advice on what path to take after graduating as an electrical engineer, like what job titles are good to have as a stepping stone to advance my career, Please feel free to advise based on your experiences. Also any future certification recommendations will be really helpful.

Any good course on Udemy for Learning AWS Services for a Developer.

I saw some good courses for getting an AWS Developer Associate certificate certificate.
Do these courses explain concepts or explain the question to answer?

I mainly focused on learning AWS Services for working on AWS Services.

Anyone have experience breaking a lease in Arlington?

Has anyone travelled to NYC recently via train/bus/plane?

Anyone familiar with Steampunk? They are based out of McLean and doing human centered innovation work for gov clients. Any insight into their culture and how they work would be much appreciated!@Steampunk

A partner just walked from his office. By passed 4 or 5 people who are generally more knowledgeable on our banking logistics straight to the only black support staff employee to@ask if today is a bank holiday.

Hello, have the case study coming up soon. Any guidance/clues the group can provide?

Is the CPA designation worth it? For me it would take me 1 year of PREP courses and 2 years of PEP until i can write the CFE. And I am 27 years old right now. Also wondering if it would be crazy to pursue the CPA while learning how to code to be a developer as well?

What games, toys, or science kits would you recommend for a kid who’s showing an interest in the sciences?

Anyone know what the current atmosphere is like in McCann New York after they lost one of their biggest clients, U.S. Army? Does losing such a client deteriorate an agency’s culture/career prospects?

Any fishies in MPLS and willing to share AE salary expectations?

I’ve heard it’s important to include metrics on your resume. Being in Account Management do you see value and include campaign performance for projects you managed that were successful that your proud of on your resume?

Recently received 30k and wondering what to do with it. Not yet a homeowner but also not sure if we’re ready to buy anyways. Have a young baby. Any advice on how to figure out best use?

This partner I like and work for often gave me the most lukewarm review, very bummed

What is a material billable hours difference from your peers at the same group? If I bill 150 less a year than another associate should I be worried?

What is the best way to look at historical PE investments? I am hoping to discover new PE firms for networking / sales purposes. Potentially a website specifically that tracks announced PE deals. Thank you!

I’m an ambivert starting out in consulting. I hate small talk and find happy hours typically less than engaging. I become enervated with too much loudness. Any tips for navigating consulting?

Best headphones for air travel?

My Bose QuietControl 30’s fell apart this week. In the market for a replacement. What do my fellow introverts recommend for blocking noise on airplanes?

Hello fellow introverts! How is 2022 treating you all so far? I am eagerly seeking for an exit out of consulting :)

It takes me time to warm up & connect to new people, esp. in casual settings. Anyone any strategies how to deal with that? I see I am missing out on good and deeper connections.

Any tips for how to make internal networking feel more natural? I know face time without a specific client need is important, but I can't find a way to make it feel authentic.

What do you do to be aware what peers and others outside your circle are up to?

Wondering what other high paying (6 figure) jobs might be out there that have the same level of intellectual stimulation as consulting without all of the schmoozing and social obligations. Any ideas?

I got feedback from my manager telling me that I should always have an opinion, which is very hard in group settings, esp. when people are talking about a topic unrelated to my module. Any thoughts ?

When I get mild anxiety during a conversation I press my thumb agains one of my other fingers and it helps me relax a bit. Does anybody else do this? 😭

How do you make small talk with people you don’t really have much in common with? Working with a few people in the team and feel like there’s a wall between us I can’t break 😞

Have you ever felt like teammates can tell you’re introverted and overstimulated by something and purposefully set those circumstances up so they can appear to shine socially in comparison to you?

I hate giving presentations. Any tips for feeling (or at least looking) comfortable and confident?

Does anyone else have “email social anxiety”? Not with writing emails that have to do with content/work I did, but when I’m “just checking in” and doing vaguely unsaid social things I’ve never understood well.
I feel super awkward and read too into things, it takes me 30+ min for a simple friendly email to a manager or above and I get worked up about it.

Is it a bad to tell new case team members you’re a little more introverted? We do these team normings in the beginning of projects and I’ve mentioned that I’m more introverted to help them understand how to collaborate better with me. I feel like it helps especially during remote work. However, I’m debating if I should stop because people might judge me negatively. Thoughts?