Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK number one thing to understand first and foremost: you are not a ‘broken person’ if you take medication. It’s a tired trope, but only because there’s some truth to it: a person with kidney, heart, or other organ issues isn’t a broken person because they take medication for their condition, right? Same applies to any of your conditions.
Instead of going through this and fixing my life, i'm outsourcing it on pills
Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
71–80 of 121 posts
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#72Earnestly I offer this suggestion: Wake up earlier than you currently do, every day. Walk somewhere a little farther than usual, if even for a cup of coffee. Repeat daily. You’ll know when.
This is honestly a good idea and it sucks to admit that my sleep cycles are a complete chaos
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#73Do you know if you are actually depressed? I ask because it sounds more like you've stumbled upon a common problem of being conventionally successful. Though trite, the saying that money doesn't bring happiness is mostly true, and it doesn't make up for a lack of spiritual fulfillment, which you seem to be facing. You see, there's this thing called being sad that you all might have heard of. It's what happens when so…
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is honestly a good idea and it sucks to admit that my sleep cycles are a complete chaos
Interesting. How about these: - your sleep (how deep) and meal quality (how healthy) - your sleep and meal patterns (what hours, how consistent) - your personal hygiene (haircut, shaving, cutting of nails) - your presence (punctuality, quality of clothing, how you dress) - frequency of physical activity (sports, exercise, do you still get sunlight) - frequency of you spending time with your family, friends, lovers, a…
If nobody likes me because of that, then let them, i'm not a product that needs to match all the checkboxes
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#75Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know, but have you considered taking some of your time to contribute somewhere helping others, either humans, animals, or nature around you? There are even things like the Rewilding movement where you don't really need to interact with anyone in person, and you can make a very tangible meaningful change, at your own pace.
I am, but i don't know anyone who could use my help and why would they want me to help them and not somebody else?
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#77PART 1: _"Im not achieving anything, no matter how hard i try"_ _"I’m regretting that i didn’t use the time to achieve something meaningful"_ _"All i dream of to make a contribution and somehow make an impact"_ Could it be that your sense of achievement is attached to an outcome/impact (not the process), and the sense of meaning is closely attached to the success of that outcome? _"I have money, but i’m miserable and…
From your responses to posts by others, you clearly have read books, and tried things out. You also are open to realising areas where you can make changes to yourself & your routines (Ex: sleeping better, waking up early etc).
The trick now is: how do you translate your knowledge into actions that ultimately form habits. This is definitely more difficult, so you should focus your will and energy on this. As with Dr.Peterson's 12-rules, small incremental steps to help yourself be better than you were yesterday go a long way.
--- Long term: It appears that you might have an outcome/impact and timeline in mind (Ex: you felt you didn't achieve much in 6 months). Instead you could set paths for yourself where you just make 5% improvements on your life, often. Small continuous improvements should be easier to achieve. Also, you should seek to enjoy the process than depending on the outcome.
With helping others: 5% improvements that you can unlock in somebody else's life is a massive help to others. This will come from observation, communication etc and targeted specific nuanced help (of course). The feeling of "Yet i struggle to find anyone who needs my help" will change when the scope of "my help" changes to ~5% improvement. It'll broaden the number of ways you can help people around you (even those who aren't seeking any help). So, the struggle in finding will also seem less. You may also find satisfaction in having helped more people, by a small margin, than the converse.
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#78This is the zeitgeist so what you're feeling is reasonable. We live in material abundance but spiritual destitution. So unfortunately I don't think there is anything you can do individually that will help other than maybe look into folks like Neil Postman, Alan Watts, Carl Sagan, etc. and read what they wrote to see if it can be applied in your individual circumstances. It's hard to do anything about an individual pr…
I've read Alan Watts, the Stoics and Buddhism stuff I tried going to Church, to seek community, but i can't pretend i'm religious when i'm not
As a Buddhist myself, have you read / learned about the four noble truths? That teaching is so OP to me.
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#79Of course you're going to feel this way -- You don't deserve that, and emotions are going to ensue. That is the human in us, and that is the human in you.
> Can’t make myself do anything anymore
Your motivation is tapped out from carrying these weights you never asked for. It's not your fault you feel this way.
> Im not achieving anything, no matter how hard i try
And you never will in the land of unreasonable expectations. Your work ethic isn't the issue, it's the impossible bar set before you.
> On my 6th month of doing barely anything and it’s already December
You're burnt out. It's okay to sit with that feeling for awhile. It takes time to realize it.
> I’m regretting that i didn’t use the time to achieve something meaningful
Regret comes from a decision. This wasn't a decision, you simply were not able to use the time as you imagined.
Mental health can be just as serious of an obstacle as broken bones. When your legs are sprained, you can't regret the run you couldn't take. When your brain is clouded by emotion, you can't regret the work you couldn't make.
> I have money, but i’m miserable and unhappy
There is an expectation placed upon you that money should make you happy.
It sure does not! And you are the living proof. There's nothing wrong with you. The expectation is wrong.
Shelter, security, and fulfillment make us happy. Money cannot help you acquire all these things.
> I feel ashamed of being that guy who is always depressed, angry and sad
You deserve to exist as you are. There is no shame in feeling this sadness and this anger. Emotions are part of the human experience. They do not ruin our value.
It's also natural for some people to have trouble with emotional company. Frequently people are taught to suppress emotions and that is projected onto others, perhaps this is happening to you.
I'm happy you're here today. I feel no shame or disappointment for you.
> All i dream of to make a contribution and somehow make an impact
You are on a quest for glory! If this quest is your own, and not from an expectation set before you, you will find your way.
You must take care of these feelings first however. It's all part of the quest or, if you prefer to see it this way, a prerequisite. You cannot conquer your dreams with this fog.
> Yet i struggle to find anyone who needs my help
I know one person who needs your help. It is the person who said this:
> I’m trying all my best to be a good person, yet i’m still not good enough for myself
You have to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others. Your wellbeing matters!
> I’m thinking my (dead) grandparents would be embarrassed of me being such a looser
To be embarrassed of you means they had expectations of you. This is the shadow.
You are not a loser. This life is yours. You may do as you please with it.
Re: Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice
#80> On my 6th month of doing barely anything and it’s already December
> I’m regretting that i didn’t use the time to achieve something meaningful
> All i dream of to make a contribution and make an impact
> Yet i struggle to find anyone who needs my help
That's rather a bad mindset. You don't need to be a president or Shakespeare or Einstein or Bill Gates, etc to be impactful or achieve something.
Become impactful can be done in smaller scale, starting from family or relative (skip if they're jerks), friends (again, skip if they're jerks), local community, even local animal shelter and wild bees.
Well I'm not joking. Many people, especially orphans may need helps. Wild sheltered animals and wild bees too. They need helps, though from anyone, not especially yours.
On the contrary, you may already made impacts, for example when you buy from local grocers or vendors, you may helps them fulfill their financial needs that day / week.
Always view the small scope, nearby. The world may not need 2nd Einstein to survive, but local entity may need your interference to survive.