Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 112 posts

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#81

Post by archagon »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #59

Don’t believe your thoughts. The voice in your head sounds like your voice but that doesn’t make it yours. Trust your inquisitive nature and question things., people and choices, especially if they feel off. Most people fake it, most of the time. Remember what your inner compass feels like. Use that feeling. Remember that you exist. Anyone who tries to sell you your own divinity is a scammer. Anyone who tries to defi…

I don't usually find anything I haven't heard before in this genre of thread, but these are some profound ideas. Thank you!

> There are many, many awesome people living in integrity, creating with open hearts and rich imagination. You can be one of them; the easiest way is to join their communities and friendships.

This is what I struggle with the most. (As do many others in my generation, I think.) How does one discover such communities?

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#82

Post by BlackLotus89 »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #59

Don’t believe your thoughts. The voice in your head sounds like your voice but that doesn’t make it yours. Trust your inquisitive nature and question things., people and choices, especially if they feel off. Most people fake it, most of the time. Remember what your inner compass feels like. Use that feeling. Remember that you exist. Anyone who tries to sell you your own divinity is a scammer. Anyone who tries to defi…

Remwmber that you exist should be first on the list.

You tend to forget this simple fact and just live your life which is always a problem.

The last two points are also valuable and you tend to forget it even if you are aware of it. This should be a poster, so thank you

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#83

Post by verylittlemeat »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #59

Don’t believe your thoughts. The voice in your head sounds like your voice but that doesn’t make it yours. Trust your inquisitive nature and question things., people and choices, especially if they feel off. Most people fake it, most of the time. Remember what your inner compass feels like. Use that feeling. Remember that you exist. Anyone who tries to sell you your own divinity is a scammer. Anyone who tries to defi…

This is why I'm a big believer in generic talk therapy. A good therapist will often do nothing more than prompt a conversation and then let you speak your mind freely for 30-60 minutes. In this time they will poke and prod at your thoughts, not to try and change them necessarily, but to give your thought process feedback it doesn't get in its mostly closed mental loop.

I have come to a handful of important conclusions in my life that resulted from nothing more than hearing myself say out loud the things I believed in silence. Some might argue this is the role of family and friends but I think you're very lucky if you can rely on those people to be a mostly neutral sounding board for your more embarrassing or guarded beliefs.

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#84

Post by verylittlemeat »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #39
strictnein wrote: post #30

You aren't busy. You just feel busy. Find time to do interesting things, because once you have kids you'll find out what being busy actually means.

Parents don’t own being busy or stretched for time. Regardless of what commitments you have you can be busy or not and you are in control of that - yes even parents are in control of how busy they are.

Being a parent doesn't mean you're an unequivocal martyr to humanity (such is the caricature) but there are unique demands to being a parent re:time.

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#85

Post by Sukotto »

You will feel pressure to go to get married, have kids, buy a house, etc. Think long and hard about what you actually WANT before doing any of those things. Decide if the opportunity cost is worth it for you.

You're locking into that decision effectively permanently. Don't just jump in blindly and hope your good luck will give you a good outcome.

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#88

Post by kamaal »

asdsa5325 wrote: post #57
jonbarker wrote: post #8

There are diminishing returns to preparation: focus less on preparation (to include going to prestigious institutions and working for prestigious companies) and more on launching, learning, and iterating. This is true in business and a variety of other fields. As an add on: learn one programming language really well, and resist the urge to spend time learning new ones!

I disagree. Jobs want multiple languages nowadays.

Good jobs want you to know at-least one language well.

Re: Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

#90

Post by andrei_says_ »

BlackLotus89 wrote: post #82
andrei_says_ wrote: post #59

Don’t believe your thoughts. The voice in your head sounds like your voice but that doesn’t make it yours. Trust your inquisitive nature and question things., people and choices, especially if they feel off. Most people fake it, most of the time. Remember what your inner compass feels like. Use that feeling. Remember that you exist. Anyone who tries to sell you your own divinity is a scammer. Anyone who tries to defi…

Remwmber that you exist should be first on the list. You tend to forget this simple fact and just live your life which is always a problem. The last two points are also valuable and you tend to forget it even if you are aware of it. This should be a poster, so thank you

If you are able to remember it in your body, too, everything changes. Your sense of presence intensifies, colors become brighter, silence compresses. It’s like a drop into another dimension, always available on the edge of the habitual daydreaming state.

Focusing on the sense of I-amness, of exist-ing, is an old practice. I did not invent it. I am here to remind you that it works.

Post reply on HN