My boys (ages 10 and 12) bring me more joy than anything else in my life ever has. At least so far anyway.
Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
41–50 of 91 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#42By switching from "Life owes me..." to "Life is the gift".
How about this thought that is outside that false dichotomy.
Life is a curse, but maybe I can make something from it.
We were all happier before we existed. Non-existence had no upside but no downside either (practical or existential), we are burdened with existence and the knowledge and uncertainty it brings. But... how can a curious person not want to see how far they can go? The herculean attempt to transcend ones station will probably end in failure, but... maybe it won't, how interesting would that be?
And after all, let's be intellectually humble, as much as we know/think that this is all meaningless, what if we are wrong? What if everything IS meaningful? What if we ARE the meaning? Who can truly say for certain one way or the other? Only the arrogant would claim to know 100%.
Get weird with it, see what silly shit you can do, maybe your consciousness will drive our von neumann probes, maybe fundemental truths will be discovered in our life time (we are in the middle of an unprecedented technology hockey stick after all. )
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#43By switching from "Life owes me..." to "Life is the gift".
I agree, but that's not exactly actionable advice. Any tips on how to get there?
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#44Embrace hedonism, try smoking weed.
This may seem like a joke reply but the “at least there’s hedonism to fall back on” is not a bad default strategy while searching for greater joy in life.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#45Just possibly, your low engagement and low interest are symptoms of depression or similar.
What cures are there for depression other than 1. anti-depressants 2. therapy / exercise / diet changes 3. a perspective change 4. ignoring it
I read an article about gardening being a great source of anti depression. Not only the activity, but also the bacterias in the soil, which we are deprived of in our modern society with it's hygiene and antibiotics. These bacterias lived with us for a very long time (thousands of years) and just recently we started to kill them in us. Additionally there are connections between the gut microbiome and the brain which are not fully explored yet.
I was sitting on a small hill in the grass and was feeling depressed like the weeks and months before that. I figured, a little bit of dirt couldn't hurt. I licked my finger, stuck it in the sand, and ate it.
This is of course anecdotally, but I'm certain it helped me.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s a short term band aid and possibly damaging long term.
Do you have data/studies for either side? Genuinely interested in this, because intuitively it makes sense - sleep deprivation amplifies emotions - but I also have experienced first hand that long term sleep deprivation slowly deteriorates my emotional state.
There’s probably way more going on, but the glymphatic system impairment caused by (proper) sleep deprivation could be one of the big factors. Basically the trash can’t be taken out. Here’s a paper that explores neurological disease as a result of that: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6261373/
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#47Volunteer somewhere where giving even once moment of compassion means the world to someone else. Foster kittens, birds that strike buildings. Talk to the elderly in homes. Give your time to tutor children from rough households. Feed the homeless.
There is no greater impact, no clearer sense of impact, than starting from ones own neighborhood.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s a short term band aid and possibly damaging long term.
Do you have data/studies for either side? Genuinely interested in this, because intuitively it makes sense - sleep deprivation amplifies emotions - but I also have experienced first hand that long term sleep deprivation slowly deteriorates my emotional state.
[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#49Just possibly, your low engagement and low interest are symptoms of depression or similar.
What cures are there for depression other than 1. anti-depressants 2. therapy / exercise / diet changes 3. a perspective change 4. ignoring it
Do you have access to cold water. sea lake, bath with ice? Get in on a regular basis (with necessary precautions)! Access to a sauna? Get in on a regular basis. Engage in regular exercise, cardio is great. Don't feel like it? Do it anyway, treat it like it's meds because in a very real sense it is. Get your diet in order. Sugar is the devil! Get your sleep in order. Try and get to sleep before midnight and when you wake up in the morning go outside (before 9am) and get some morning light in your eyes. It improved my sleeping pattern immensely.
It may not be a dead cert cure for depression but all of the above has accumulative effects over time and it is more difficult to feel bad mentally when you are feeling really good physically.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find joy in life?
#50For me, service to others keeps me fulfilled: Volunteering, mentoring, and teaching. Doing those things also means I interact with people, and meet new people with interesting viewpoints.