This is a message to the young, to the lonely, to the invalidated and insignificant. This is to you...

This is a message to the young, to the lonely, to the invalidated and insignificant. This is to you. I know this will probably get lost in the flow of threads, but listen to me.

At 27, I have my life mostly together. I know what many of you have been through. I have done things many of you have dreamed of, and I have been to depths many of you only have nightmares about. If you hear me, I'll post more and we'll talk about life, relationships, loneliness, alcohol and drug abuse, being rejected, succeeding, overcoming, defeat, and victory, too.

There are many topics on life you have opinions on. Some of you believe you have life figured out, and maybe you do. Maybe you're successful at a younger age. Or maybe you've faced defeat and deal with depression. I understand both sides of the coin, and what you need to know is that there is more. Even now. There is more no matter which side you're on. This isn't a plug to some website or a call to arms. This is real talk about the state of your life as it is now.

Whether you are struggling with anxiety or depression, whether you have girl problems or you're lonely trying to figure out what the opposite sex wants, there is hope.

Look, you have spent however many years of your life playing games or studying hard, maybe you dropped out of school or didn't continue on to college in order to work. Maybe you feel trapped, or maybe you feel like this is life and you have no goals or plans. Maybe you're tired of being marginalized and you're tired of being told that you won't be more, whether by your loved ones or society.

There is more. Within each of us there is something more. Instinct and inspiration that pours out from the most unlikely places. We each have the ability to overcome and lay our demons to rest.

On women or even relationships in general, sometimes you find someone who you truly believe you cannot live without. Maybe you think that he or she is the only one who truly understands you. Out of seven billion people, I'm afraid that you have it twisted.

In the story of the yellow bird, coal miners back in the day did not have the advanced technology in order to determine whether or not the coal mine was filled with toxic gasses. So they would send a canary in to the mine in order to discover if the mine was able to be worked in. This mine, after all, was their livelihood. It was what allowed them to make money. After a few days, the canary would fly from the mine in search for food. It brought hope to the miners. They had the ability to work and put food on the table!

Don't let this thread die!

bump
you seem like a cool dude OP
i'm 25 and i think i'm slowly figuring out this whole "life" stuff
i guess this finally is the end of puberty

The point of this story is that every relationship is like that yellow bird. You can keep the person in a cage. You can keep the song bird quiet in the cage. Or you can let them go. Let go of your possessive nature. That person isn't yours. If that person stays when you let go of preconceived notions and of your need to be in a relationship, you'll discover in yourself that you are more. In a world full of seven billion, you are not tied to just one person. There are many people out there who have so much more to offer.

Let go of what you believe you need to be like. Or what they should be like. You have the ability to better yourself. To be confident in who you are. Calm in what you have achieved. Secure in the confines of your own mind. People gravitate to others who are calm, confident, who appear to have everything together.

You are more than what you let yourself believe. You are a hardworking motherfucker who always seeks to better himself or herself. Within you, there is a titanic strength. Everything you set your mind to, you can accomplish if you dig your heels in deep.

Which drugs have you abused/done and why?
My main one is ket, for depression, and the occassional microdose of LSD. Other than that, I've done weed, xanax, 2cb, MD, Tramadol, and a few whippets as well.

There is more, and within that more contains everlasting nothing.

If something is infinite, then it is everything. You think your anecdotes can combat this? A single insignificant life?

You are nothing too.

It doesn't come easy. Lord knows how many nights I have spent in tearful rage at the state of my life. Rage that I'm not doing more, that I haven't achieved everything I set out to at 17. And at 17 was when I began to discover my true potential. It was when I woke up for the first time.

Her name was Elise. It was when I learned this very lesson that I'm telling you now. She was rude and apathetic and she was the reason I began to come to terms that being "nice" or buying someone flowers and jewelry wasn't the way to another human's heart. You have to have something within you that makes you desirable. And that's what the successful have - it isn't money or wealth, nice cars or fancy accessories. It's the drive and calm, quiet confidence that drives that person.

So in those nights I spend alone, I take the time to readjust. To recalibrate myself and say "yeah, I have explored this path. Where can I go now? Plan A-X has failed. Let's try Plan Y."

Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. You fail only when you give up.

Embrace the void

My friend, you may lost in a battle where you feel worthless. You may have spent late nights struggling so fucking hard overcoming the demons that will do everything they can to consume you.

In the face of death, and I have been there, for a living I was Airborne Infantry, in its face I sat calm. I was not always composed. When someone died three parachutes behind me and I damaged my cervical spine, I picked myself up. It took months. That is when I fell into drinking to overcome.

After realizing that dealing with sadness and loss through drinking, I realized that life is still beautiful and I still had my goal to work overseas in a medical sense to help others. This drive to serve has been my version of success. And it looks different for everyone.

Maybe your success is just to be happy. To live a good life. Remember that all mankind is equal. From the king to the homeless on the corner. No one is better than anyone else. It is our decisions that separate us.

I have abused percocets and DXM, amongst weed and others in conjunction. But those were low points through college when my parents divorced. My father molested my sister growing up, and it hurt knowing I couldn't do anything because I was so young.

Now, I have two cars, a wife I'm paying her way through nursing school, I have my life together. I have let go of pain. I have seen the most depraved part of humanity. In Guatemala I worked with the locals who couldn't even afford medication for their diabetes or hypertension. There are always others who struggle more than us with life.

Knowing that others need a hand and are hurting even more is what should drive us to be better. If not for them, for ourselves. When I urge you to seek friends or family who care, I do this knowing that within you, even right now, there lies immeasurable strength and a vastness of character that needs to walk a path in light, not in adjusting with life's problems through numbing them.

You did not understand what I wrote. You naively believe the narrative you've written can account for all hardship, that you've touched enough of the walls of human experience that you can imagine the ones you haven't.

The world you know only exists inside your head. You cannot experience any other, whether there is one or not. When you die, that world ends, and everything you care about dies with it. A blind man does not see "black", he simply does not see, and like that blindness, you won't stop experiencing in death, you will no longer be.

Every moment of thought, every insight and intuition you value, all that it means to be you is going to vanish. Your book will be tossed into the furnace and burnt into oblivion without ever having been read.

A page with every possible surface doused in the ink of your life and a page as empty as your supposed advice will burn the same.

Listen, this isn't me admonitioning you telling you that I am the one who has everything figured out. But the beauty of humanity is when we pool our knowledge together, we have the ability to overcome even the most difficult problems.

Necessity is the mother of invention. And right now I look around and see hopeless people who are lost and expect the media or politicians or anyone else to heal them. To make them whole. We consume everything given to us because that is the environment that has been bred for us.

The truth is that true strength starts in reassuring ourselves that we aren't as lost as we believe. That if we tuck our chins in, we dig our heels deep, we are willing to get into the dirt and shit and mud and tackle these issues that plague us, we can work hard on ourselves. We can become the measure of success we hold ourselves to. But it doesn't happen by degrading or deprecating yourself. It happens through gradual, daily processing of our abilities and never giving up when we come to the end of one path.

Within us, there is infinite sadness, but there is endless joy too. We have the ability to be better than we were yesterday. How is that not beautiful? How can you not laugh and be happy just to have the chance to work another day on making yourself better?

I do understand that I do not understand everything. I am not pretending to. What I am saying is that I have seen sadness and I have seen fear. I have been hurt, and I have overcome. I understand that the human experience cannot be distilled into one life. Nor would I be so cocky or backwards to try and do so.

I cannot imagine what it is like to fight every day for life, clinging to scraps for food. What I am saying is that no matter your situation, there is hope.

The message I'm trying to get across is that hope exists no matter where you sit. Much of it relies on understanding that you do not understand everything. Will I have different outlooks at 30? 35? 45? Most definitely. What I am saying is that I have been to the depths and I have come back.

This isn't a proud monkey thinking he's on a higher branch. This is a sharing of my experience. Take it as wisdom or as foolishness. However, there is something to be gleaned from every human experience. And in mine, I seek to spread hope.

If you are without it or you believe that there is nothing to be had in the life you live now, I understand. You believe that life is not valuable. But I do not agree. I think everyone brings something invaluable and impossibly beautiful to the table. I want everyone to do the same. I want to eat with the hurt, with the lost and lonely, and with the successful and joyous. I want everyone at this table. Even you who believes it's pointless.

What if the last breath you take is also the first of a new life?
Time tends to go faster when we grow old, it's because our logarithmic perception
so going back in time, the moment of our birth becomes infinity and the moment of our death becomes the shortest possible time unit
time rips apart, ceases to exist, the universe, you created by your consciousness, your perception has lost it's sole observer, time shoots forward to infinity and until the atoms rearrange for a new observer to be born, which is also you, because you are the only soul existing
you are the universe experiencing itself

I want to post more of these, talk about different ideas and more diverse topics. However, today, I want to gauge feedback. I want to hear your opinions, Sup Forums, and I want to understand your experiences.

My job now places me working directly with people who have no hope. Who are hurt and need to just get shit off their chest. Here I want to discuss the better parts of humanity. The better parts of you and I.

In each of us lies power and the ability to let go of pain. To discover what makes us whole and potent catalysts for change in the hopelessness of 21st century living.

What a unique view. Yes, life continues to cycle faster. Maybe it's why I feel the need to begin to understand others who also struggle. But don't fall under the illusion that we are the most important creatures to exist.

Because humanity is equal. Neither you nor I are better than each other. We are all born into the world in the same way, and we will all die alone. No one can come with us. However, it is in each moment we have the ability to plant seeds of goodness, build a legacy that is immortal and immovable.

By leading the way for those around us, by finding our calm, centered focus - the best version of ourselves, we can show that there is hope and a better way. We can so easily be side-tracked by the shit and perceived evil in the world. Remaining confident in who you are and what you bring to the table is the way to stave off a constant barrage of doubt and insecurity as we get older.

Meaning does not exist. It is a side-effect of the reward system gaining the ability of introspection. You can sidestep this reality if you like, distract yourself with duties that satisfy your various biological drives, but it is the only truth we have equal access to.

Words stolen from some Reddit pseud who thinks he has the answer to nihilism because he read the wiki article on solipsism. Move along little parrot, in the vast meaningless of the combined human experience, yours is especially without value.

Though I do not know each of you who have showed up here, I do know that we share similar pains and similar experiences. I understand that the human experience is vast and different. It is difficult and yet it is still beautiful.

I can't say that I love you all, but I can say that our consciousness resonates. Call it our souls or just our human existence. I know that there is sadness, but I know there is joy.

Night time only lasts 12 hours (unless you're on the poles, in that case it lasts much longer, smartasses). The day always returns. We might each go through hell, but through each valley and over each mountain, we find that there is a strength that allows us to endure. So endure. Endure the wind and rain and cold and night. You were not the mere accident of thousands, even millions of years of progress and evolution. You are here in this short time to show others that you carry something that is worth emulating. You have so much to offer.

When you feel like you cannot continue, remember that you are bold, remember the goodness within you, remember the joy and power you felt when you knew you were really good at something. You have something that no one else can offer - yourself. Overcome, and don't lose hope.

what if you know who you are, and you know that you might be apart of the evil in the world? In my opinion most evil is done by man, though some animals do torture and maim others, maybe evil is just apart of life.
I'm someone like you who has lived and struggled and am doing better than I ever have, though not up to the standards of myself yet. But I am confident in who I am, and I have a partner who is a mirror to myself in her decisions, state of intelligence, and standards. Though emotion still fuels her, and she is a passionate woman, we both share a common evil that binds us to each other and if anything, maybe exacerbates it because of the clarity achieved having someone you can so wholly trust who understands because they are the same.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that life can not be illuminated because of hope, and darkness is something that given enough opportunity, it will win over. It is the plait of man. Humanity, I do not believe is equal, because there are certain things certain men are just born with that in the eyes of morality and light is evil.
I have morals and high standards but I'm not sure how I'd react given the opportunity to do what I desire.

Your optimism is sickening. You're either a little girl on the inside or lying to yourself and using us as a soapbox for the deception.

We all wish, deeply, that the world could be as wonderful as your myopia implies, and for some of us it may yet turn out to be, but there will never be a time where suffering sees its end so long as there are those capable of experiencing it. Sadly for our ridiculous human minds there is no satisfaction that withstands scrutiny.

With each passing sunrise another day is spent on the tireless march towards oblivion. Oh what goodies will I acquire on this day's path? Which will I carry with me into the nothing that awaits?

Another day is spent on the tireless march towards oblivion.

And you can believe that that nothing has meaning. But in the end, you need to know that even now, you are still a beautiful person. I don't care if you know all of Nietzsche and you can tell me all about nihilism. In the end, this isn't shallow modulation made to keep myself distracted in order to live through simply existing and occupying myself in the meantime.

If you need to, you can even tell yourself that you need to respond to a biological drive to be better. You and I are still slaves to the confines of our body and mind. I understand you want to debate existence itself. But if you presuppose that we do exist, and that in existence there is pain and there is victory over ourselves, you will begin to understand that for all your predisposed notions, life truly can be what you make it.

It does not have to be meaningless existence built on simply getting by. It can be a journey where you discover your limits and overcome what you thought they were. I understand you have a thoughtful mind, but you cannot deny that even you want to succeed and leave a legacy of some kind. You deserve to. And you should strive to leave a good one. One that makes a positive ripple in this vast timeline we fill.

Jesus Christ user, are you fucking 14? I hope so, as that is the only excuse for such a juvenile understanding.

>evil in the world
What is evil? Define that for me.

You need to lurk more in the story of your own life. These thoughts of yours are not mature enough to be shared with a straight face.

I'm not a super intellectual redditor but meaning and motivation are subjective matters as far as i know

I understand that you fancy yourself an intellectual. That doesn't put us at odds. However, neither you nor I speak for everyone.

Even in your hopelessness, you are here talking to me, debating. You are furiously fighting me, spreading your ideology that there is only pain and misery. And I fucking get it. I get how much it fucking hurts. I have lost best friends. I have seen my brothers die. I have tasted the sweet, sugary goodness of self-loathing and self-pity. But I refuse to drink from that well.

You have within yourself the ability to speak to others who also believe themselves to be intellectuals. You are obviously intelligent and you possess the locution to resonate with others who don't represent the everyman. You have honed your knowledge and your experiences center around being able to win arguments. But I'm not arguing with you.

I'm telling you that even now, you want so badly to believe there is more. And you should be proud of your journey to seek that out. That is a worthy venture. Just don't get yourself assbackwards and believe that you or anyone else speaks for everyone. You have the power to become someone who is positive and passionate about philosophy.

Hone that. But understand that there are others who seek to help ail the sick hearts and minds and bodies of the denizens of the 21st century.

I'm often suicidally depressed, ask me something.

Every human life is bound to that nothingness. The nature of existence is impermanence.

Why would I go to the trouble? Where is the purpose in expending so much effort, gathering so much misery, joy, happiness, and hate when it all amounts to the same nothing that I would be rewarded with had I kept my feet still and my hands empty? Is there a satisfaction in gathering a lifetime of things that you value? Is it still satisfying when you acknowledge that you must part with what you value, worse, that it must be destroyed alongside you?

I didn't say the word motivation, and meaning as a concept is in reference to the fundamental nature of the existence of knowledge and the purpose we all feel is necessary for our continued being. Dragging us into the semantics of these words will not err in your favor. Nihilism is inherently deconstructive.

And btw humans are not juat biologically motivated we are "biopsycosocial beings" we have biological , social and psycological triggers/drives

you say our perceived evil in the world is what I"m assuming you're referring to. Some things can be a grey area, but there are certain evil actions that are always black. A few examples would of course be murder, rape, and even infidelity or an outright knowingly betrayal. My argument, sorry if I rabble incoherently I'm far from sober, is that there are certain things and certain people that are just evil, whether they know it or not. Hope should exist solely for the purpose of giving you a reason for tomorrow, but too much hope and not enough skepticism leaves you blind to the things you perceive as a grey area. And not everyone can be saved, no matter how focused or calm or centered we try to be.

I get it. Maybe there is pain or dark thoughts lurking inside of you. You are no less because of it. But you DO have to understand that humanity is equal. All life is valuable. You do not have the right to cause harm or discomfort to those around you. You have the ability to bring light and joy. You also have the ability to cause harm and loss to others.

It is in this paradox that you need empathy. What makes you better than the everyman? Are you a perfect human? No. Then place yourself in their shoes. You need to understand that everyone is out here struggling. Work together. Bring your talents to light. Help heal. You can let go of pain and darkness and move from there.

You want to leave a lasting legacy. Not be an infamous shitstain on the pages of history. Face your demons and conquer them. You will always have them on your back. But the struggle and beauty of humankind is that we can become more and better.

Let go of what will hurt others and yourself and place yourself into the shoes of your brothers and sisters. Enhance your life by enhancing the world around you.

Good job user. You're making it easy for me to spot the people that let others do the thinking for them. Allow me to clarify what you think your pedantry is invalidating.

>distract yourself with duties that satisfy your various biological drives

Tell me user, what part of your existence is not biologically based? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Horny? Do you really want to talk about that girl you fawn over? Is it hard accepting your parents don't love you like you think they should? Was math invented or discovered? You are a product of your biology, which is a product of your chemistry, which is a product of your physics.

Were we in an academic setting and attempting to reduce things down to simpler terms and categories so that we could better understand and study human psychology you would be right. But this is Sup Forums and we're in a thread where someone is trying to inseminate the huddled mass of stupidity gathered here with literally first order philosophy peppered with hearkening and disgustingly saccharine positivity.

Dude, this is Sup Forums, the cesspool of the internet where the loneliest of basement dwellers lurk. Trying to give life advice / cheer people up is like trying to drain the ocean whit a thimble.

You know what, it's better that you keep thinking like you do. Don't ask yourself too many questions user. Someone with your constitution would fare poorly when the answers ran thin.

Yeah that's fine, and I get the goodness of it, but mankind is not like this. And because I understand that desire in myself I understand the need lesser men than me deal with. Your actions determine who is better or worse, everyone is not equal. And for some, they were born less. Maybe they were a defect, as most you could put into this category of man would be chemically imbalanced. But regardless of those who are evil and don't know how to change, there are those that have faced their demons, and it turns out that adressing your problems and dealing with the sources of it all, doesn't get rid of the demons. And when enough opportunity presents itself, that evil will take over.

What makes you believe that you would be better off no longer existing?

Don't collect things then. Spread moments and spread goodness. You can be a positive on society. Your legacy could and should be lasting. Not just focused inwards on how much you can get. Focus with your intelligence on how you can help society. How you can make a positive change. You will leave a legacy that transcends your life.

That is why empathy must be your guide. You could be an evil person in your mind, or perceive there are evil people out there, but more often than not, it is because they lack care for their fellow human and instead do only what is right in their eyes.

Empathy and reason aren't at odds. They go hand-in-hand in order to establish society. Remember that.

you call it running thin but for me it's just simple. You can think and poke fun at the simplicity in general, but the way life works isn't as complicated as people make it out to be. And mankind isn't as complicated as we like to think we are either. There are inherently evil things in this world, not all of life is grey.

I'm not trying to cheer anyone up. I'm going to take time every so often to come to my old stomping grounds and make a difference. It's been a decade I've been with Sup Forums. I've seen the best and worst of you all. I just want to stop by every once in a while and kick it with you guys. Bring my experiences and joy to you all. Bring my pain and defeat. Share my thoughts and share my victories. Hopefully help someone in the crowd realize that there is more.

Because there is more, user.

In my opinions, not everyone is worthy of my empathy, and I do not believe that I'm worthy of empathy from others. I give help to those that help themselves, and I feel no empathy for evilness. To be completely honest, I only have about three people in my life that I'm currently willing to show empathy for, protect, and be civil with. Everyone else is guilty until proven innocent.

I like you user, you should visit more often.

It's not rational to want to die. The pain of being alive is bearable at times, nominal at times, and overwhelming at times. It's when it's overwhelming that I rationalize reasons I'd be "better off" dead. My suicidality comes exclusively from an emotional place and the toxic false logic follows.

I'm glad you're working in a field where you help others. Mental health services definitely helped me. It's still hard but I'm through the worst of it.

Maybe you believe that. Maybe you think that it's you against the world. But the world doesn't care about you or I. The world is just a river. There are bigger fish that will eat the weak. But navigating around those traps and still helping those who suffer is a worthy goal, no?

To make life even just a little better for your fellow man, it's good. You don't have to donate or give time to anyone. But bring what you have to others who don't deserve it in your mind and give them parts of you through your work, through your art, through your goodness.

You understand that everyone is struggling. In that regard, you feel that empathy because you feel it yourself. Let that connect you with your fellow man. And seek to understand why someone is the way they are. Don't judge them then write them off. Everyone has a story, and some people are just shitty. But you don't have to take an eye for an eye. You can be better.

I'm in a more unique field that fancies activity modification over just choking down pills. Call it therapy, or call it conversations with someone who legitimately cares about you, the field I'm in works on long term treatment. Not just giving medicine and shoving someone out the door.

There are difficulties in life. My sister has had two attempted suicides. She struggles with depression daily. So I get that pain. When I was 15 I stuck my paintball gun barrel down my throat and fired two rounds. I was a stupid kid. From that point, however, I realized I really, really wanted to live.

Finding something to work on, something that is a worthy cause to dedicate yourself to, something that is noble and good - seek that. You possess strength, obviously, to continue on. To seek the betterment of yourself. Don't lose hope. You are so fucking strong and within you, within your life, your continued victory every day, you pave the way for those around you.

I have seen guys get out of the military then commit suicide because they feel like there's nothing left. They lost hope. Don't look down on the fallen. Look forward to what you need to. Which is not just live, but thrive. For your brothers and sisters who struggle too. You have a testimony to offer. Don't let sadness consume you. Let your life burn for those around you - the people who need you.

I suffered from a few concussions in high school and my grades dropped. I lost the ability to care for things I once had interest in. When I was failing 10-11 grade, all my friends the same age were in college.

And now I'm at the point where I did so shitty that I'm afraid there's no way I'll have a meaningful life. I look at others around me and I constantly see how happy and well they are doing, and I envy them. They're better educated, have better jobs, have social lives... I just don't know what to do.

I suppose this is a wrap for this thread. I'll be back again with another topic to discuss rather than life and relationships. However, I want to thank each of you for coming here and discussing your issues and thoughts.

Just remember that empathy and reason do coexist and that strength through hardship is one of the best virtues you can possess for navigating this hectic and difficult life.

I'll talk to you all soon. /anonymous_fox/

tl;dr

Before I go. You have a disability. There are blockades in your way. But that doesn't make you less or impotent.

You still have a purpose. You have something to offer the world. Whether you feel insignificant or sad, you have the ability to bring your own perspective to the world. Seek what you are really good at. Hone that skill. Look for other like minded individuals.

Take your time. Seek a way to get your GED. Study. Look for a community college that will work with you. Move forward, user. Don't ever give up.

*Le trollface*

It's alright. I knew you guys would always be a bunch of savages. Hopefully for those who needed it, they were able to hear a different opinion in the onslaught of shitposts and trap threads.

It is good of you to give advice.