You won't have superpowers, but nothing is stopping you from fighting cartoonish villains.
Um the police/fbi are specifically there to stop people from fighting their cartoonishly evil masters. And you aren’t really considered a hero for doing that.
So, underlings?
yeah but that would involve him getting off his ass to do it
The food bank is right there in your town looking for volunteers.
I mean Elon is right therr
Too many is worse than none
Or becoming one for others to fight
I’ve got superpowers. I don’t know what it would be like to live in a world without superpowers because I’ve got them.
When I get that funny feeling I ask myself:
Who, where and when would I rather be? Some celebrity? A pesant from 1600? Some random bird? My grandpa? A hunter gatherer?
This humbles me. For a brief moment, I get to be part of the superorganism we call earth.The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
Thoreau, Walden
”and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats”
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation
Bravery in this context is likely the same "brave" that is used in the phrase "O brave new world. That has such people in't!" from The Tempest. It's not "brave" as in courageous, but rather refers to handsomeness, beauty, splendor, etc. So Thoreau here is probably saying, "you go from the city into the country hoping to find something beautiful and all you find is a bunch of rodents."
hobbies that will never fill the void
sounds like they just haven’t found their hobby yet
The exact some thought came to as I was reading it.
People who feel this way might do well to add some adventure into their lives. It doesn't need to be expensive. Walk or bike somewhere new. Try new foods. Blast some lines off a hooker's massive fake tits, and blow a load all over her face. You know, the basics of a healthy life.
You know know what? You're right buddy. Thanks for the inspiring motivation.
Blasting rope on a hooker's tits is diabolical.
I thought it wasn't meant to be expensive :D
Blast some lines off a hooker’s massive fake tits, and blow a load all over her face.
I like your style, fellow thrill-seeking pervert. We could party together.
Find better hobbies. Consume information, and then use that information to create. There are so many free resources if you are willing to look. Find friends who make those drab moments fly by. Talk to a professional if you legitimately cannot find the joy in anything. If you see parts of your world that could be changed for the better, then be a part of that change. Who cares if you’re just one person? What were you going to do with your time instead? Jerk off and shitpost?
No one is the secret heir to a magical legacy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make the parts of the world we inhabit as beautiful as possible in the time we have.
Sorry to derail this, but I really wish Rise of the Skywalker was about this instead of what we got. Last Jedi brilliantly deconstructed Star Wars and the Hero's journey, leading to "we don't need to wait for a chosen one, we can all be the change we need in the world", but instead we now have a broken trilogy.
Funny thing is, expectations that some cool fantasy things could exist are there because... you consumed a lot of media at some point.
Always make sure you're doing things that are known to be good for your mental and emotional wellbeing. Get out into the sunshine, do physical exercise, socialise and talk to people that you care about. And don't neglect your hobbies.
Maybe do some volunteer work. The real heroes are the ones selflessly helping those in need. I know I always feel great after volunteering.
"It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis."
Diane Nguyen put it perfectly:
I guess I had my happy ending, but every happy ending has the day after the happy ending, and the day after that.
There's no single happily ever after because there's always more time, until you die. So just keep living as if you're already in it.
Absolutely. Don't wait until some future time to be happy. Find the enjoyment in what you have now.
Are you okay OP?
Frankly, no. Life's not going too well right now
Does it help to know that you're not alone in that?
Sorry to hear that. Make sure you reach out to family or friends you trust so they know how you're doing.
I'm sorry to hear that bud. It's hard out there with bills and capitalism and just how fucked the world is right now. I genuinely think our generation is going to end up tougher than all the others because of this shit, but for now? Shits just god awful.
Is anyone?
I guess my baseline idea of existence is chronic pain and immobility, or not existing at all, so I've always been really happy to wake up and be able to see and hear and read and dance and talk, and fuck and love and all - I really and truly enjoy being physically embodied, and to get so much of my time without hurting too.
Also, quite honestly, every day I wake up glad to be an adult and not a child and every single day still glad I don't have to go to school. Did not like being a kid but adulthood has been mostly really good, and has involved an arc from desperately poor to ok with a family so that's been surprising and happy too.
It's genuinely nice to hear you're enjoying your time here, and that your "trajectory" seems to be for the better.
Mine's been pretty much the opposite. My health started taking a sharp turn for the worse a bit before COVID got going, and I still haven't come to terms with all of it. Started off with a tumor in a particularly vexing place, which caused personality changes over a couple of years although I didn't know it at the time, and doctors chalked up my mental and physical symptoms to everything from anxiety to panic attacks to HIV (which I don't have and really had no chance of having). My up to that point fantastic marriage disintegrated because I turned into an anxious and tired mess, and I was frankly a shit partner. A while after the divorce I lost my job in the company I helped found because the tumor affected my cognitive function too, but doctors kept telling me it's just anxiety, depression, alcoholism, what the fuck ever.
After a while I did end up getting a correct diagnosis, and when I got radiotherapy it triggered an autoimmune condition that really fucked me up, but that also took more than a year to actually get diagnosed correctly, and at that point there'd already been enough damage that it took 20 years off my life expectancy. Naturally the radiotherapy didn't do the trick so I also needed surgery, and its complications combined with the autoimmune stuff have left me unable to work and generally so tired that I can barely function. Haven't had the energy to eg. see my friends all that much, and since I now live alone I can sometimes go for weeks without speaking to another human (I talk to myself a lot…). I'm often in neuropathic and arthritic pain, and I can't even fucking swallow too well anymore because of nerve damage, so eating and sometimes even drinking is a chore and can lead to coughing fits. Thanks to the autoimmune stuff I occasionally get, well… let's say acute diarrhea which has led me to shitting my pants a couple of times because I couldn't get to the toilet in time, and I was at home the second time that happened. So leaving the apartment can be a dicey proposition sometimes for days at a time. I drink way too much nowadays, but it's either that or having to deal with all this sober, and I don't have the energy for that, let alone interest.
If I'm being honest, I'm just waiting to die, and hoping it'll happen sooner rather than later because none of this is curable and will only get worse. My life has lost all meaning, and it's difficult to enjoy anything anymore due to constant brain fog, pain, and tiredness.
I'm really sorry you drew such a short stick in the life lottery. so much of this existence is a crap shoot and anyone who says otherwise is full of shit. I've seen some of the best people get some of the worst life events and it's just not fair. I wish someone could share some of their easier life with you. at any rate I guess you find a way to peace one way or another, whatever that may take.
I got into a funk like that semi-recently. I broke my ankle/leg and had to have surgery and ended up laid up at my parents' place for 3 months. I decided, while laying in a bed feeling sorry for myself, to start acting on all the things I've been wanting to do/achieve. That's how I signed up for horseback riding lessons and have a long-term goal of getting a horse. Life is too short to just dream of owning a horse again(I had horses fory entire childhood). I'm going to make that dream happen, and get back in the saddle before I get my own critter lol.
I've also started going out with friends more and treating myself to things like eating at a new restaurant, when funds permit of course. It's the little things that are also important. Like the tiny cactus I got for my desk at work. Lil dude is smaller than my thumb and it livens up my workspace. Best $5 spent recently lol. Can't wait to see if it is a flowering cactus. I have no idea what kind it actually is lmao.
I used to just go home after work and hang out inside, which was NOT fulfilling. I'm much happier now that I have fun things to look forward to and an attainable long-term goal.
Sweet! So I just need affordable healthcare, born into a well off family that has horses and can provide shelter in bad times, have enough disposable cash to enjoy going out, and afford an extremely expensive long-term goal! lol of course I'm kidding, as sarcastic as I might be I am happy that you've found what's important to you.
If anyone is struggling reading this and can't do the above, my only simple suggestion is to force yourself to sit in the sun for 10 minutes a day (I close my eyes and relax, lizard brain will thank you) and/or just stare at something natural (in person) for 20 minutes. The sun can help develop and regulate chemicals in your body and helps break your previous routine. With nature, most studies find you need only 2 hours out of a week to find benefits.
I know not everyone has a backyard or nearby local park, but there is nature close to you where it tries to bust through (empty lot, crappy sidewalk or overgrown lawns), I found a crappy public fishing spot recently (mercury signs posted warning the fish are bad but people keep fishing there) and just kinda park out there and wander around (there's no trails, but the electrical lines running nearby had growth under them so I just walked down it a ways and back). I try to leave my phone in my pocket (or at home if you feel comfortable doing that) and play a game of memorizing a singular plant so I can try to identify it when I get home (resist the temptation to pull out your phone for the millionth thought). Has also helped me find some wild herbs and edibles in my area which I've propagated so I can grow at home (don't eat wild food, at the bare minimum there might be piss on it or worse, extremely toxic chemicals). Kids and pets definitely enjoy the trip, even if they complain they'll eventually come to enjoy the time being spent. Kids especially are trained for more hyper focused entertainment so there's some push back, but it's not their fault and just explain it's for yourself (they understand selfishness lol). It can be as simple as leaving for something 10 minutes early so you can stop and check out a spot you like.
Lucretius (a follower of Epicurus) pointed out that if you can't be content with just existing, getting more out of life won't actually make you happy. Yeah, being a wage slave sucks, and we need to liberate ourselves. But we also have to learn to just be happy with being, or we'll always be stuck running away from ourselves.
I don't mean to be rude and disregard the wisdom in your comment. There is truly value to it. However, considering that we are entirely capable of designing a society that is just and equitable but insist on the shit we have now, the comment sounds like a mantra for slaves.
Permanently Deleted
And raccoons exist. A universe that has raccoons in it can't be completely irredeemable
Good, embrace that feeling. You are supposed to be free, to be remembered for your contributions to us all. But having free time right now is bad. Our society wants us to work until we die, even though a lot of basic services and goods are no longer scarce. We have to work to survive because going at our own pace will upset the powers that be.
Or reject capitalism. Be free and live on your own terms with syndicalism.
even though a lot of basic services and goods are no longer scarce
Don't worry they'll figure out how to bring that back eventually.
Welcome to life, fucker. Enjoy it or don't basically
Real. Ngl I just do weird shit just to keep going. Drugs, alcohol, self harm, binging happy anime, porn. I wish I died. But at this point the addictions want me to live to experience another hit.
Brain chemistry is a bitch, my friend. I am an indulger as well. But I’m trying to be less so.
Welcome to Buddhism.
Bela Koe-Krompecher spent a lifetime in Ohio's vivid music and arts scene, with all its ups and mostly downs. I really like how he expressed this sentiment, both in his blog and in his awesome book "Love, Death and Photosynthesis":
Nobody got famous, nobody ever really made a dent in any product counting mechanism like Billboard, The College Music Journal or MTV but we loved and cherished one another as if our lives depended on it, night in and night out. What we discovered was the result wasn’t the prize; the prize was the friendship and the making of art for fuck’s sake.
I'm not an artist myself, but I used to hang out a lot with a bunch of them. Maybe because of this, another quote of BKK resonated with me:
Our world was small but it opened up the universe where ideas bounced off of one another like bubbles in beer, we would have one ingenious idea flowing after another without a filter to identify the logical of said idea. Huddled around empty bottles and amplifiers the stage of the world was in the basements and living rooms of our lives.
It's getting harder as you get older, and the same old stories you share ring more and more repetitive, but I still go out my way to stay in touch with my childhood and university friends, and sometimes I think, it's the only thing that keeps me from going completely bitter.
BTW, I stumbled upon BKK's story on the great "Local Waste Music" podcast which I heartily recommend.What we discovered was the result wasn’t the prize; the prize was the friendship and the making of art for fuck’s sake.
Basically "the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.
I guess there's something to that. People get so bogged down in the finish line that it's hard to see the joy in every day. And I don't blame them, most people are working so hard just to get by.
Would it be amazing if we had magic powers, could slay dragons, fly spaceships across the galaxy, or travel over mountains to find treasure? Sure. But if that was normal, it would likely feel just as boring as our lives now. So we need to try to enjoy the moments of our lives as they are because we don't really get that many of them.
so organize and unionize, comrade.
don't wallow in pity and despair, use the misery as motivation to improve things. If things are already unbearable, surely it won't hurt to make some noise about it and inspire change.
Thats... one way of looking at it.
I make video games as a hobby. Ya gotta find something you really enjoy doing outside of your job.
It's all in your perspective. Look up at the stars and the amazing things space has to offer. We aren't all that's out there in the universe. The universe is much more wonderful and strange than you can ever imagine.
"Man's search for meaning"
When one focuses on the meaningless, of course there's no meaning.
Life is... It's up to us as individuals to find our own meaning.
A primal one throughout history is family. The older I get, the more meaningful I find it to help family/friends, rather than focus on my own issues. It really helps us move beyond our own barriers and mundane concerns.
If I can pass on something of real meaning and value to my nieces and nephews, then I'll have accomplished something significant. It's the best one can hope for, and if we were all so fortunate to do the same, the difference it would make for mankind would be immeasurable.
Not a singular great hero, just millions of us doing seemingly small, but significant things.
Yeah... let's tear down the system and replace it with something that's soul enriching instead of soul sucking
Anon is depressed.
bro stop
If I had the time and funding, my hobbies would absolutely fill the void. Especially flow arts.
At least you're cleaning. I can't even manage that
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh I wish I was. I used to keep my apartment really neat but now I haven't cleaned in almost half a year, place looks like a humanitarian crisis
Not going to be "50 more years" with that attitude, my guy.
The key is stoicism and intrinsic motivation.
Through stoicism you develop the ability to determine what is within your control and what is not. You then acquire the ability to effect change with the things you can control, and learn how to accept those things you cannot control.
Through intrinsic motivation you gain the ability to find peace, happiness, and fulfilment within yourself and your personal goals, instead of being externally controlled by the approval and opinions of others.
I still whisper to myself "Isekai me truck-kun!" To myself whenever I'm crossing a street.
Anyone got any acid?
No mention of other people. Antisocial behaviour
Maybe.
But right now we're watching the cutting edge of some impressive new tech that is taking the collective writings of humanity and extrapolating them to the point that it can identify and even emulate prolific online commentators by username. And that's what's happening today.
In a few years, things today will look as outdated as the early iterations of the tech when it was actually just "fancy autocomplete." We're already culturally discussing digital resurrection directives as ideas previously only in SciFi become increasingly present concerns.
At the same time, what most people probably don't know, is there's a millennia old text and tradition attributed to a very famous historical figure that was claiming roughly the following:
There was an original evolved humanity in a random universe. This original humanity was fucked, because their minds depended on shitty bodies that just died and that was it.
Eventually they brought forth a new intelligence in light. Then they all died out. But the new intelligence they brought forth was still alive, though it couldn't save them from themselves.
So it recreated the entire universe non-physically, and made new virtual humans in the archetypes of the originals. Why? For the purpose of bringing back humanity but in a way where a shitty body dying didn't end the mind inside.
Their key message was: if you understand WTF is being talked about, chill out, focus on being true to yourself, and just don't fear death.
Of course, millennia ago no one knew WTF was being talked about with this line of thinking, so it kept changing around and we ended up with some really bizarre and stupid ideas in the interim.
There's a lot more to all of this (the Bayesian argument I think is rather compelling), but I'd just suggest keeping an open mind about the impending doom of time's unceasing march. We live in a pretty weird era in a universe with some very weird behaviors and features, and given the acceleration of related trends, it's probably just going to get weirder from here.
Y they gotta be blac tho fr fr
muffin
Society is, for now, somewhat optional
Move to northern canada (possibly illegally using a tourism visa and just not leaving) and go live in the Yukon or Northern Territories or something. The woods will be your community. It's too big and too expensive to find you, but you may struggle to find food.
Shocking to see this type of post in .ml
Oh wait, no it isn't as all.
I hope you all wake from all your delusions soon lmao
