Greetings and salutations! First post here, been lurking a few months.

About a year ago I left my long time boyfriend (7 years.....) and realized how much my life had stopped moving. Everything was always about him and his needs and I kept facing moving goalposts as to when it'll be "my turn". Intense pickmeisha with begging and all of that lovely behavior that comes with it. Dated a NVM shortly and then my first narc since childhood. It was around that time that I found FDS and quickly put that narc in the trash where he belongs.

I've taken myself off the dating market until I'm at where I want to be, this is earliest in maybe two years. I've literally never been single for more than like three months, it feels awesome! Holy shit what a big difference FDS has done to my life. Not just with men, but the way my pickme behavior seeped through my entire life since childhood in a way I never noticed. I used to watch a lot of porn and do bdsm but I'm done with that now. I've just realized so many things that are brand new to me. It's like I finally have the strong female role model I never had growing up.

I 've quit the job that sucked the life out of me and got accepted into a school that will lead me to the life I want. I'm finally figuring out what I want my life to look like and FDS has given me both that insight and the courage to go for it. I'm standing up for myself more now, drawing and enforcing boundaries and putting myself first. I'm closing in on my thirties and I've never had a period in my life like this. I'm so fucking proud of myself. I was suicidal less than a year ago and now I'm just hungry for life and feel genuine joy and gratitude over all the little blessings in my life. I've also been spreading FDS to my girlfriends of course. It warms my heart to see them level up too!

Thank you for helping me build a backbone, making me see my pickmeisha ways, giving comfort and support I had never had before, showing me what independence looks like, how to vet scrotes and keep myself safe. Seeing that putting myself first and wanting better things/life for myself doesn't make me a horrible, selfish person. This community has seriously turned my life around, that's coming from a woman who has battled depression since childhood. Thank you FDS! <3