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I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

elliot.my

21–30 of 116 posts

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#21

> If you're a man, one of your hardest battle may be not giving in to sexual urges that cause harm to others. History is littered with otherwise entirely brilliant men who succeeded at everything but this. It really seems quite difficult for straight men to succeed at this.

History is much more littered with people who aren't getting any - for reasons - who try to solve that problem by criticizing those who are (without harm).

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#22
post #10

> Eating meat is quite clearly immoral. Unless it will be detrimental to your health, eat as little as possible. Carnivorous animals, are they immoral?

Can any animal be immoral to our standards?

Rape culture among ducks?

Or crows that attack a member of the flock that misbehaved to a minor of the flock? (this is one of the animals that seem to have their own morals).

Anyway: humans should not project our sense of moral to animals.

And humans are no carnivores. Most likely we're omnivores (like our close animal relatives the primates: and they prefer fruit over meat any day, just like human babies).

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#24
post #8

> One day – probably somewhere between 28 and 38 – you'll wake up and just feel 'off'. A bit sore. A bit tired. That feeling will never leave you. Be grateful for your youth while you have it. This happened when I was 20. I don't know what else to say other than, it fucking sucks.

This represents a fork in the road that becomes apparent by your mid-40s.

Those who ignore it will be overweight, unfit, and on daily meds. Those who change their lifestyle will not.

The fix is:

> Leading a healthy life is simple: sleep well, exercise three times a week, have an active social life, eat a variety of vegetables and whole foods, avoid sugar, processed foods, alcohol and drugs. That's 90%. Everything else is optimisation.

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#25
post #10

> Eating meat is quite clearly immoral. Unless it will be detrimental to your health, eat as little as possible. Carnivorous animals, are they immoral?

One might argue the difference is that they are ignorant of the suffering caused by their behavior, and that the knowing and doing anyways is the moral problem, not just the doing. Alternately, one might argue the difference is that they have no alternative to inflicting suffering, and that having the option to reduce suffering and choosing to inflict it anyways is the moral problem, not just inflicting it.

That does track with those who are most stridently Good and Moral and Kind and Right having some glaring blind spots when it comes to understanding the consequences of their actions.

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#26

> If you're a man, one of your hardest battle may be not giving in to sexual urges that cause harm to others. History is littered with otherwise entirely brilliant men who succeeded at everything but this. You must succeed. I'm not sure I like the framing of this

Uh, yeah. I've been a man my entire life and I've never ever had a problem with wanting to let my sexual urges cause harm to others. I have a very high libido even. Not once has this been a problem.

The fuck is this about?

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#27
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transportation and traffic injuries intersect and interweave.

Mating is where humans are still closest to nature. Traffic has rules. Love has none.

And men wonder why women choose the bear...

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#28
This is well done. I can't say I agree with all of them, but I agree with the fact that you sat down and thought about them, and that you wrote them down. Good job.

> Adults make a lot more sense when you realise they're just children in big bodies.

That one, I absolutely agree with.

I'm 55. I would have a hard time limiting myself to 55 things I wish I knew when I was 34. When I'm 105, I still will have too many for now. :)

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#29
post #8

> One day – probably somewhere between 28 and 38 – you'll wake up and just feel 'off'. A bit sore. A bit tired. That feeling will never leave you. Be grateful for your youth while you have it. This happened when I was 20. I don't know what else to say other than, it fucking sucks.

I can honestly say that this happened to me, but the feeling did leave me. It required a massive change of lifestyle and the habits that went with it.

Re: I'm 34. Here's 34 things I wish I knew at 21

#30
> Don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from.

The funny thing I find about criticism is that you actually don’t have a choice about whether or not it affects your future actions. Criticism that I have dismissed has persistently come back to haunt me, perhaps via my subconscious.

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