I had a buddy in this exact same position, hes 29. He just started back to school last fall and is happier than he has been since he was a kid. Battled anxiety and depression and made the step. Sometimes getting out of the funk and the rut that you are in, no matter what direction you go, will open doors and teach you about yourself and what you want out of life. He had worked at the same retail job for 10 years, while his group of friends (not me) were becoming doctors and lawyers.

I went back to school at 24, and it was the best decision I've made. It got me out of warehousing and factory work, and into management, consulting and running a very successful business. It doesn't have to be school, it could be anything, but you just have to take the first shaky step.

Thanks man. Most days I'm optimistic, but every once in a while I get a little down about it.

I DO have a possible career coming in air traffic control. I've passed all the testing and am waiting to get a tentative offer letter. The problem is I have no idea when that will be because the government hiring process is so slow and ambiguous. It could be 1.5 years before I hear anything, and it's possible that I also never hear anything, so for now I have to pretend that opportunity doesn't exist and live life as if it never happened.

Yeah see this is just pure delusion. I can't get behind this.

They do, but you're obviously implying that both cars are equal only for their ability to get you from point A to point B. You refuse to acknowledge that they both do it in a different fashion and there are other factors (comfort of driving experience for one) involved. One is clearly better than the other.

Starting to sense I might be getting trolled. This is just so far out of the realm of reality I can't even debate with you anymore.

Whatever spiritual foundation you have for this is created by your mind. Maybe you can believe in it, but pretty much nobody else does. This was made in your head and deep down you have no idea if it's correct or not. You just want to believe it is.

Agreed OP

Always enjoy your posts and feel as if you and I see eye to eye on numerous topics.

Repped

I agree with those things, though. What I don't agree with is you seeing everything as equal. I can't take you seriously when you say two cars are equal only for their ability to get your from point A to point B and that nothing else matters. For instance, the dependability of a car matters. If time is the most valuable resource, you'd hate to spend your time with a broken down car in the middle of points A and B, wouldn't you?

lol

the moral is that one cant rise above the rest WITHOUT casting a shadow on others. but it is good because that causes the rest to either ldar or rise above as wellidky why but i died laughing at this. this needs to be a meme

you see life is like a advanced open world role-playing game except it isnt a game its real so theres extra restrictions and to have the luxuries you have to have a subscription and signup for a vip membership. you can make it what you want it to be, if you want it to be about competing your mindstate will be at a certain level and other things that are valuable may fall and may or may never even be hindsight. ive seen people playin these games and just randomly give all their stuff away to some n00bs brahs. you wonder how long it took them to get that stuff and they act like they don't give a ****.. well maybe that was but now never be cuz that niga rose to another place of consciousness and shiet. world may never know, that niga probably drivin in a ferrari down in malibu snortin coke off some latina chicks buttcheeks.

Agreed, life is being better than others by your own standards, whether that means being Tom Brady, being the top ranked kid in WoW, or being the highest repped miscer, do it and love it. At the end of the day, if I love me, who can tell me that I'm not great?

enlighten me how that skinny non lifting ****get is even apart of gym shark she definitely isn't with him for his body just lol she chasing that there pot of gold

well i was gonna post something like this, i hope you get mod repped

Op too bad you'll never be better than anyone in the facial aesthetics department. Aww

He's right you know. Live your life with a baseline of contentment.It's not even spiritual. It's a concept that comes from a bedrock of confidence and contentment.

Lol are you serious? Your entire perception of reality is a spiritual foundation created by your own mind. You're born as an empty slate with some genetic dispositions towards things. A kid has no idea about consumerism, capitalism, etc. Plenty of people, and plenty of successful people, believe in an enlightened mindstate with minimal possessions. You think the "normal" definition of happiness of raising a family, having a decent career, etc. is some objectively superior reality and that Podunk is just making up some nebulous Buddhist garbage? Look at how many people are dissatisfied in their careers, the divorce rate, people toiling away at 9-5 jobs, the obvious insecurities of "10/10s" posting sloot photos on instagram and staring at their phones all day seeing the instant gratification of likes. How many people do you know that are truly happy? And how many of them are truly happy because they are what society calls better than others, and not because they've discovered what they truly value---like a fulfilling career, or a loyal wife, or happy kids?

The misc itself is a perfect example. A bunch of 20-somethings feeding into this forum's idea of what is it to be happy---oh I should be a doctor, so prestigious, maybe then hot women will pay attention to me; if my bench is a little higher maybe I'll get respect. 90% of the people here are delusional and fundamentally unhappy with themselves. There are millions of people out there that don't meet the misc's definitions of success and are infinitely happier than the depressed kids on here.

I make enough money to buy whatever I want within reason. Bigger TV, nicer apartment, better car, etc. None of that brings me an inkling of happiness. In the end my apartment is somewhere to sleep, occasionally I'll host guests and they'll say my apartment is nice but that's about the extent of it. Meanwhile I could be paying $500/month less for something else and cut down on hours at work. I can read books instead of having a 70inch TV over a 55. Anyone in my life who judges me for the things I own and not the content of my character is a leech. If those are you people you want to surround yourself with, have fun.


If you think any idea of how you should live your life isn't something made in your head, and most people blindly follow what society calls a norm, you're in for a nice little existential crisis when you learn what reality is.

EDIT: I will say I've always been a fairly emotionless person and tried to find what people call happiness. Roided when I was younger and got tons of respect from dudes and attention from women, still wasn't happy. You always pursue a higher deadlift or 1% lower bodyfat. When you hit that goal it's on to the next one until you plateau. I've done a ton of drugs, maybe molly is happiness but whatever. Slept with a good number of sloots, slept with 4 girls in one day once. None of it filled the "void". I've come to realize the truth of Buddhism that unhappiness comes from desire, and that true happiness is basically contentment with existence. There is no happiness unless maybe holding your newborn baby in your arms. Eckhart Tolle says "enlightenment is the space between thoughts." We frame that "void" in us as a lack of happiness, and thinking of it that way is what makes us unhappy. In reality that is who we truly are when we lose our ego.


in b4 no one reads this essay

Life is about doing whatever the fuk you want.

Others are irrelevant, I legit wouldn't care if 99% of the world's population would drop dead right now. No1 cares about you OP, no1 gives a single fuk.

Competition is what actually moves humanity forward though. We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for competition.

Read it all and really liked it. Inspires me to learn more about Buddhism. Any recommendations on where to start?

Why don't you do those things bolded? Just curious.

lol that's not just a story it actually happens in woodland ecosystems the taller ones out compete the ones below for light.

It was easy for me to think that way until ~24-25 when I got to where that thinking put me: working 70 hours a week and living in suburbia wanting to kill myself. Sweet job, in shape, ****ty life. Superficially great, inside felt terrible.

At 22, I just saw the flashy nice things that high-status people have and not the lives they live to get them.

What do you do now/what is your daily life like now, and are you happy?

Competition is great except when one realises that in lots of areas, very hard work is not enough. In fact, some areas you can't control, especially as a male.

Here is my own hypocrisy. I did effortlessly well in academics and ace my CS classes and will work at quant firm as developer. I did not get there only through
working hard, it's because I am simply born smarter than 98% of population, maybe more. At school and uni, I saw people with envy, anger etc. and I thought these
people simply are not working hard, or otherwise they could catch up with me.

Meh. It's just not correct. They simply don't have capacities to be at the same level. It is me, who thought they were not working hard. Bunch of them most certainly did,
but they could not compare anyways. In fact, they probably worked a lot harder than I did.

And now, back to me. I am not good looking guy. Majority of girls find me repulsive, my female friends gave some honest feedback on my unattractive features that only
surgeries might fix. So...me working harder is not going to work here. I am born this way and there is little I can do. So, I came to misc once to moan and complain about
how people treat me like ****. Except this is how all animals treat outcasts, bad-looking males etc. So, I now boil with frustration and envy same people who envied me for
having normal lives, being married, starting careers as teachers, chemists. Having kids and families. In the meantime, I am rotting away without even a chance to develop
something with a girl. In fact, I was even called not good-looking by me male friends. I can't imagine how disgusting females find me.

Hence, if world would be fair, I would put in humongous effort into this stuff and I will do my best. But it does not mean I will succeed. Just like bunch of people worked hard
and could not get into places like Two Sigma. Life is not fair. And we all want what we can't have.