Reddit stories to fall asleep to exploring floating islands

What this episode is about

The narrative explores the complexities of an open relationship between a couple who initially seek to rejuvenate their marriage but face unexpected emotional challenges as their dynamics evolve. As they each begin to date other people, the wife's growing feelings for her partner and the husband's deeper involvement with another woman introduce tensions that complicate their agreement and test their bond.

Key takeaways

• Open relationships: thrilling or a recipe for emotional gridlock? Choose wisely or risk a love traffic jam.
• Wanting to close the relationship after tasting freedom? That’s like ordering a crowded bar's last call—good luck!
• Kinky surprises in a marriage can lead to unexpected unwrapping—watch for the gifts you didn’t sign up for!
• In monogamy's getaway car, the driver’s seat is set for two; no backseat riders allowed—unless it’s a detour gone wrong.
• Be careful what you wish for in love; sometimes the door opens just to reveal a drama-worthy plot twist!

Who speaks in this episode?

• Marvin (Guest) · 11 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Ava Max
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Ava Max
3. 9:00 – 12:00: HR
4. 12:00 – 15:00: HR
5. 15:00 – 15:50: Lost Skies Island

Notable quotes from "Reddit stories to fall asleep to exploring floating islands"

• For about a year, this went on and my husband had only had hookups. He then told me he started seeing someone called Max. I was excited for him and asked some questions, basically asking where he met them and if she was cute, saying.

  about Ava Max · at 1:12

• Filed my notes away and moved on with the other work. Month later, after planning that meeting, I was pulled into HR and written up for failing to issue the training handout…

  about HR · at 13:34

• Game developers themselves. If you're curious about them, I'll have a listed name for which islands they are. they're of course from the Lost Skies Island creator as well, but…

  about Lost Skies Island · at 15:02

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Ava Max — Person · Referenced person in narrated Reddit story (husband's partner) · 5 mentions · first at 1:16
  Central third party in the open-relationship story; the husband's refusal to close the relationship is tied to continuing to see Max.

Companies & orgs

• HR — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 11:44
  Mentioned in the context of a story about workplace manipulation and unfair treatment by HR and the CEO.
• Lost Skies Island — Company · Creator of content · 1 mention · first at 15:09
  Mentioned as the creator of islands with crazy stories built by real people, not game developers.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 I uh came across this lost city by Marvin and I just wanted to take a little minute here to kind of explore around and kind of check out all the different assets and stuff inside the island and kind of go through some of these crazy Reddit stories. The first one starts with I, 28 female wanted an open relationship. I now regret it and my husband 26 male doesn't want to close it. So, basically, our relationship was good and we still loved each other very much, but things had started to feel a bit stale. I'd read online that opening a relationship can help bring more life into it. At first, he was hesitant, but agreed after we had set down some rules.

0:40 The rules were that we didn't want each other seeing other people that we both knew as mutual friends. We didn't need to tell each other about random hookups, but we did need to tell each other if we started seeing someone beyond just those hookups. Nothing really happened after the first month, but then I started hooking up with guys on dating apps. And a few weeks later, my husband started having a few hookups every now and then. After 2 months, I met this guy at work and we hit it off. And I told him I was in an open married relationship and that he didn't mind when we started dating.

1:12 For about a year, this went on and my husband had only had hookups. He then told me he started seeing someone called Max. I was excited for him and asked some questions, basically asking where he met them and if she was cute, saying that he had met them at a club and he found them very cute. This again went on for about 2 years. My husband had met with my partner, Jake, and got on very well. I still had never met Max and had seen very few pictures of her, but my husband seemed happy. I can already kind of see where this is going, but it doesn't seem like there should be a problem given the fact that they both agreed to be in this relationship. I mean, I understand that seems so far he didn't really explain that he had been with this person, Max, but she's already introducing him to basically her additional partner. So, I'm kind of surprised that she would eventually be coming to regret this situation, but

2:06 let's continue on. One of the things that first pushed me to consider the open relationship is that I'm pretty kinky and my husband was strictly vanilla. He's willing to do some things for me, but not much, which I respected, which is why it surprised me when I found a box of kinky things such as outfits and toys that were not mine. I brought it up with him and he seemed embarrassed and told me that he had gotten them for Max. I asked if we could do something more together in the bedroom and he said sure, but when we did it, he didn't really seem into it.

2:34 Well, about a month ago, Jake told me he had to move country as our company was transferring him. He said he didn't think he could handle a long-distance relationship and that while he loved me, he wanted to break up for now. I was in pieces and my husband comforted me through it. Jake left the country yesterday. So, she was in a relationship with this guy named Jake. Even introduced her husband to the guy and they hit it off, but now the guy that she was with for the open relationship is now gone. Continuing on though, she says, "Today I sat my husband down and told him I wanted to close our relationship, that I hadn't seen anyone since I started dating Jake and that now he's gone, I only want him. He got quiet and told me he doesn't want to." This shocked me really. He explained that he really liked being with Max and doesn't want to end things. I didn't really understand because he doesn't talk about

3:23 her much or bring her around, so I didn't think it was that serious. I told him again that I want it to just be us and if he continues to see anyone else after this point, I would now consider it cheating. Oh boy. I understand, you know, if you're in an open relationship, but you set those kind of boundaries, I don't really understand. I mean, this kind of just looks more like a jealousy thing. I mean, sure, right? He should have established that he was in this situation with this girl named Max, right? Um, and there's a mutual understanding there, but at the same time, the way this is phrased so far, it kind of just seems like she had her her side hus, so to speak, and basically is just fed up with the fact that he's gone now and she only wants him. But, I mean, like, even saying those very words, I only want you now, uh, it's it's kind of just it's kind of ridiculous at that point. I mean, once you open up a

4:22 relationship like that, it's not really only wanting him anymore. It's more of just you don't feel secure in yourself cuz you don't have someone on the side and he does is what I'm kind of gathering from this. But of course, if he didn't, you know, explain that he was basically in a relationship with this Max girl, that's also partly his fault as well. I think not that I personally am into the kind of polygamy type relationship. I I personally feel like it generally tends not to end well, but um yeah, so let's let's continue on.

4:57 Anyway, she said uh this shocked me really. He explained that he really liked being with Max and doesn't want to end things. I didn't understand because he doesn't talk about her much or bring her around, so I didn't think it was that serious. I told him again that I wanted it to just be us and that if he continues to see anyone else after this point, I would now consider it cheating. He told me that I'm being unfair, but I didn't want to listen anymore. And I told him to get out. He grabbed some clothes and left. I thought he would stay at a friend's house, but I have found out after calling him that he's probably with Max at the moment. And I'm just so upset. I don't know what to do.

5:31 How do I convince him this is best for us? I I don't know what to tell you. Um I don't know if that is best for you guys. It sounds to me like he found someone better and at some point you became jealous of him and finding someone that he cares about. I mean sure he should have communicated that he found that person and he was in a relationship is you know those were the boundaries that you guys established but I mean partly the way this is phrased I mean it doesn't really it she says it shocked her. I mean I don't know how how it shocks you. I mean it's a open relationship. I mean that wasn't that shouldn't be shocking. I don't think it's kind of like exactly what that is, you know, whether or not you're feeling serious about the person or not. Some of the comments below that are kind of funny as well. Oh, wait. Here's one. Uh, if Jake was still around, you'd still want the open relationship. Now he's

6:23 gone. Things look good for your hubby, but not for you. Uh, yeah, seems like it's pretty unanimous on this uh this topic for for the commenters. Um, let's see here. Plot twist. Max is a guy. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it just doesn't make sense if you were the one who wanted to open it up. I don't know. I feel like you have to be willing to take the hits if you're the one trying to open it up to start. These kinds of things are inevitable. I'm sure to some degree he probably didn't feel comfortable sharing the seriousness of that relationship. And that's partly why, you know, personally I I can't really get behind those kinds of things.

7:00 Like, plugami is cool. You know, anyone's free to do whatever they want. You know, they're adults. they can make decisions on their own. But that thing is it's it's hard it's hard to handle that kind of situation. I don't really personally know anyone who's kind of in polygamous relationship and has you know found success or you know really long-term balance I would say because I feel like the very nature of it is just it's so difficult you know to find people that aren't going to be jealous or whatever the case is right you know however you go about it but it's it's really interesting to hear about that's for sure. This next one I have here is titled 99% sure ex faked pregnancy and miscarriage.

7:44 Okay, so this one starts with from July till October I had been dating this girl that I met on the dating app. Things were fine in the beginning but we had a million problems in the relationship because she was constantly lying and trying to manipulate me. Okay, this guy definitely has it out for her right now. Uh, she would even lie about things that didn't need to be lied about, which made me realize she was too crazy for me. Interesting. Yeah. I tried to break up with her twice during the 2.5 months that we were together. Both times, she threatened to kill herself, so I stuck around a little longer. Wow, this is already starting off very terribly. Like 2 weeks ago, I finally add in things for good and had no contact. After going no contact and not responding to her messages/calls for one day, she told me she was pregnant. Okay, this already had me a little suspicious because it seemed

8:37 too convenient to discover this one day after I left the relationship and there were a lot of holes in her story. For example, she said the doctors told her she was 6 weeks pregnant even though her last period had been 4 weeks ago. They also told her that this info without having done an ultrasound. She also didn't have any discharge papers from this experience. And even though I had bought her pregnancy tests for her to take at home, she said that they didn't work. This is already just red flags after red flags to end up with this kind of situation. Jesus. Okay. Anyway, I was still terrified because of all these things that don't add up, right? As anyone naturally would be. Uh I was still worried about the 5% chance that she wasn't lying and that I would have to be tied down to her for the rest of my life. I I can imagine I I would probably be thinking the same thing. We basically had been getting into a lot of

9:28 arguments this past 2 weeks because I had told her that she was trying to trap me and that I wouldn't respond to her messages anymore until she brings me to the doctor with her, which she was saying I wouldn't be allowed to come. I told her I would need to be at the doctor and at least see some actual proof of the pregnancy test, which she never showed me, as anyone would logically want to want to do. I blocked her after that because she was rejecting all of my efforts to actually make sense of this whole situation. And then last night, I get a text from a different number that she was using to text me from saying, "I just had a miscarriage.

10:02 Congratulations." Honestly, I don't believe she was ever pregnant and basically had to use this as a last resort to try and force me back into the relationship. I just can't believe the levels that manipulative people would stoop to just to try and keep somebody tied down to them. I can't either. That is crazy. Yeah, that the whole shell of that just sounds like complete bull crap. Absolutely. Anyway, it's tied down to them. I had uh she was faking this these past 2 weeks and have truly been hell for my mental health. It just feels nice to finally feel like I can breathe again. Yeah, that is terrifying. Jesus, man. If this is true, I mean that I cannot imagine trying to live through that. Um even the trying to curl yourself apart.

10:47 That one's horrible. I don't even know how you would recover from this. I mean, it's just it's terrible to go through that kind of thing. I mean, there's some bad relationships. Sure, there's cheaters. There's partners that do all kinds of scummy stuff, you know, and I I myself would know that, but this is kind of a whole new level of uh of crazy, that's for sure. Okay, this one is a story about dealing with terrible bosses or at least HR heads of the company that this guy was working at. Uh and so the story starts basically a few years ago I was promoted to a management position with a software company that I worked for. Was told that I was handpicked for the job and that though it was a big promotion I would not receive a pay increase until I had the team performing at a minimum performance standard. 2 years in I had the team running the best numbers it had ever seen far exceeding the minimum standards for every quarter.

11:39 I asked to be reviewed for arrays and every quarter a reason was found to skip the review. Finally, I brought HR into the mix because f you. I'm nailing this and busting my own ass over here. Miraculously, a date was set for the end of the month. Funny how that works. Alas, a week before my review date, where I would surely be granted my rate increase, my direct supervisor, a micromanaging weasel of a man and the CEO of the company, rewrote the minimum requirements to just barely exceed my team's current projected stats. When I came to him, my fist clenched, he explained that this move is an unrelated adjustment to compensate for the improved average performance. Totally legit. Clearly, this guy is already has it out for you. Of course, with this change in place, a week later, he took the opportunity with the HR director in attendance to express his deep and profound disappointment with my

12:32 performance to warn me that he had expected me to go the extra mile in quotes. next quarter or faced disciplinary action since my team had failed to make the new grade. I was angry. So angry. I wanted to complain, but hey, it's the CEO. Who am I going to complain to? He knew that, too, and sneered any time that he could. That's why I worked even harder, neglecting my family and personal health and worked to drive my team to their limits. We effing made it. And we were going to show that next stain that we couldn't win unless he cheated. When it became apparent that he was going to be forced to eat the pile of crap that he shoveled to me in the previous meeting with the HR in attendance, he called me into a meeting to design a training handout for the team. We bounced ideas back and forth, but something was weird. Every time I had tried to assign a task to someone or set a due date on the handout, the CEO

13:24 dodged it. By the end of the meeting, we had accomplished nothing solid and he tabled the assignment for a later date. because it was tabled and I assumed we would be rescheduling a follow-up. I filed my notes away and moved on with the other work. Month later, after planning that meeting, I was pulled into HR and written up for failing to issue the training handout that we had TD. The CEO was in attendance and brought his personally type message notes clearly outlining that I was assigned the task that day. I had no recourse. He was lying. I said as much and he treated me like a combative child. He acted insulted and incredulous. Wow, that is insane level of manipulation. Jesus, this guy hated him. Oh my god, I feel so bad. By the end, I was sent home for the day with demotion off of the team I had built and worked so hard for. I still don't know why the CEO had it out for me. He hired his most ass lickingest

14:19 assistant manager to replace me and told everyone how bad I did in that position. I'll never be chosen for something like that again because this this MF decided he didn't like me. That's it. No revenge, no justice. The bad guy wins and maybe one day he'll die in a fiery car crash. One can only hope. TLDDR. Sometimes the people on top make it a life goal to pull the wings off flies. And that's unfortunately so true. Yeah. So, hope you guys found some of these Reddit stories kind of interesting to listen to. At least uh I have to say some of these islands have been kind of walking around are kind of crazy. It's insane that like all of these were built by like real people. Uh not even the game developers themselves. If you're curious about them, I'll have a listed name for which islands they are. Um they're of course from the Lost Skies Island creator as well, but they're pretty dang cool. So if you guys found

15:14 yourself enjoying these, let me know if you want to hear more of these. I think they're pretty interesting to listen to. I have to say I can't really understand some of the people in these stories at least doing the kinds of things that they did but you know there are so many kinds of people in the world. So maybe you guys can take a lesson to know not what to do and uh just hear all these terrible things that people have been doing and choose to do the opposite. So thank you very much for listening. Peace out.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Reddit stories to fall asleep to exploring floating islands"?

Marvin (Guest).

What is "Reddit stories to fall asleep to exploring floating islands" about?

The narrative explores the complexities of an open relationship between a couple who initially seek to rejuvenate their marriage but face unexpected emotional challenges as their dynamics evolve. As they each begin to date other people, the wife's growing feelings for her partner and the husband's deeper involvement with another woman introduce tensions that complicate their agreement and test…

What is mentioned in this Adrift episode?

3 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ava Max, HR, Lost Skies Island. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Reddit stories to fall asleep to exploring floating islands"?

The episode runs 16 min; the transcript is about 3,146 words in 21 timestamped sections.

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