Roy

@Leo Gura I am having a hard time seeing that. Why not just bury some hatchets and be more friendly towards the West/NATO so they can benefit from trade deals and stability? The people that lived through the Cold War are starting to die, and the rivalry is more of a memory. Hell it's not even the Soviet Union anymore, the countries that broke off don't even like Russia either. It makes me think of this meme. Putin - "I wanted to restore mother Russia to former glory and much power.... by starting a war that will impose crippling economic sanctions and make all your lives worse." Russian Pleb - "Good job."

It's completely rational, because Russia is going to win and make territorial gains in this war. The rest of the world doesn't want to step in and escalate things, and he has Europe by the balls cutting off their gas supply for the winter. He will sacrifice whatever he thinks is necessary. He doesn't give shit how many Russians have to die lol. We can slice it however we want and count the losses, but if Putin comes out of this personally more wealthy, secure, popular, and can solidify his political control even tighter for the rest of his life before he goes senile, then that's a win in his book. Everything is expendable when you are uncontrollably selfish and power hungry. He will cast Russia's future and prosperity for the next 100 years into a bottomless pit if it means 15 more years of superyachts, women, mansions, and dominance within the country for him.

@Carl-Richard At least you remember most of your night, so the brain damage couldn't have been THAT bad I blacked out during my 18th birthday party, the last thing I remember was standing with my friend smoking a cigar on his deck. I woke up the next day in my friends spare bedroom. Zero recollection of how I got there. Apparently I was functioning and fine the entire night, I never puked or passed out and we walked home together up the hill. I was hoping to hook up with a girl I liked there and get some nookie since it was my birthday, I asked him if we ever did anything and he said nothing happened. Disappointing LOL. Also the fact I missed like 70% of my 18th birthday because my brain stopped having a functioning memory. The only other experience I've had like that was when I had knee surgery and they knocked me out. One second I am on the table getting put to sleep, the next moment I wake up in the bed feeling like shit. 14 hours passed and it felt like 10 seconds for me, shattered concept of time.

Smoking cigarettes/vape, don't do that. Absolutely terrible for you. If you want to smoke weed or get drunk once in a while go for it. It will loosen you up and you'll have a lot of fun. Alcohol is one of the best social lubricants there is, there is a reason they call it "liquid courage" I was quite shy when I was younger and alcohol gave me the guts to get a lot more kisses than I would have gotten otherwise. Some of my best memories as a teen were getting messed up with my friends, exploring the neighborhood at night and trying to hook each other up with girls. Those kinds of social experiences are special and crucial. If you are a hermit during those years it will fuck you in the ass later on, you could turn into one of those incels. You just have to be wise to know your own limits and pace yourself properly. Do it only every couple weekends or on special occasions, not chronically abusing substances every single friday/saturday night like a lot of people do. Despite your brain still developing at a young age, it's actually quite resilient. It would take a LOT of repeated use to stunt your growth. I know plenty of people that used pot nearly every single day as teenagers and still turned out successful competent people. Permit yourself to have fun but follow your intuition.

No lol.... and yes. The thing I don't like about "pick-up" is we know the topic is a separate deliberate thing that men do, compared to the more natural unconscious interactions that happen. Would you say the average guys that get in relationships and ask women out with no knowledge of the study or culture of pick-up, are practicing it? If we don't differentiate or have a colloquial word then the whole concept seems kind of meaningless. It's just interacting with women with extra steps.

Perhaps, but I think a lot of it can be harmful. Getting stuck in mental masturbation and worrying about doing the "right things". All the while that time and energy has passed when you could have been taking action. People usually only go to college once in their life. When the environment is perfect you don't really need to optimize any strategies. Strategies are for when your environment sucks and you need to somehow extract results.

You shouldn't even have to "practice" or "strategize" at college. You are literally surrounded by thousands of ovulating horny girls who are away from home for the first time in their lives. You should not be thinking or planning anything, or talking about it on this forum ffs! Start talking to as many girls as you can or as often as you have the energy for it. Some will probably end up in your bed accidently. I pulled a girl in college simply from looking at her, and I'm just average looking. If I can do it, you can do it too.

Locked as per creator request.

Culturally men get a pass for spending time alone, or not having a lot of friends. People assume they are spending time with a hobby, building a skill, or doing work. While Women are scorned and shamed for spending time alone, or not having a lot of friends. Especially by other women. They are naturally more social creatures and their environment encourages it. I can't speak for other places in the world, but growing up in North America in Canada, it's so painfully obvious women get more social experience and calibration.

Don't worry. It's all posturing and bluffing. Putin isn't stupid, he knows if Russia used a nuclear weapon the rest of the developed world would isolate them politically and economically to such an insane degree that his regime wouldn't be able to stop the torrent of citizens revolting, as well as betrayal from within his own camp. He may have a tight grip on power, but even the most loyal egos will question following their leader off a cliff. This whole war is him dick swinging one last time before he kicks the bucket, which is hopefully as soon as possible.

It's gone too far when the acronym is longer than the 140 character limit on Twitter.

There are nearly 4 billion women on this planet. There are at least 25 million of those that you would be compatible with to an extreme degree that you would call them "soul mates". Then 100 millions more that would be average to great partners for you. Don't make the search seem so stark by thinking there is only 1 person out there you gotta find. That special person is probably closer than you think

@at_anchor sorry I meant to say you do NOT know the future. Can't believe I did a typo that bad.

I'm sure it's frustrating. Those men have to learn somehow though, women don't just fall in your lap. If you don't do anything as a guy you will go your entire life a virgin. Rather those guys end up trying and coming off as idiots sometimes, then letting resentment fester for years before they shoot up a school or something else awful.

Yes karma, consequences, and other negative things will serve as useful reasons to push you away from suicide. However you will need to also stoke a vision for the future and something to move towards. Accept that you do not know the future, that's your ticket to true imagination. You even admitted it yourself with what you talked about in your last few paragraphs

It's disappointing there has to be so much violence to acquire such a basic freedom like being able to choose how you express yourself. I hope the hearts of the Iranian people swiftly wins over the hand trying to keep them down. Hijabs, Burkas and all the like are an oppression and disparagement of the female species.

The idea of a deep passion and patriotism for his nation is just a story he had to live through and play out to position himself where he can benefit most from exploitation. If he really wanted Russia to prosper he would have worked to steer the nation in a direction that is less aggressively independent and is far more economically and politically cooperative with the West, which would have worked out much better for the people as they wouldn't have to live in a corrupt frozen shithole. The people would start to care less and forget about historical rivalries once their lives became more comfortable. It's not a farfetched scenario either, NATO wouldn't have much of an incentive to take advantage of a more friendly Russia. The whole reason it was created in the first place was to safeguard against aggressive nations. How people end up spending their lives gives you an obvious hint to where their values truly lie.

I am not going to validate any ideas of suicide being good. Challenge yourself to accept the possibility you could be wrong. It could be the best decision you've ever made.

Life is infinite potential. So if you end it you're also ending all the ways things can change and go in a better direction.

On the Ukraine thing - Putin isn't stupid, and he isn't insane. He is cunning and intelligent and knows exactly what he is doing. His motives are to benefit himself and his closest compatriots/regime. The most selfish ego functions in a way that will strategize and execute decisions that maximize benefit to itself, at the expense of whatever necessary. The logistics and politics may be complicated, but the dynamics and motivations aren't. Leo made videos on the topic years ago. This is relatively basic personal development concepts. Russian people and the development of the nation, devastation in Ukraine, energy and economic crisis, chaotic global politics, disrupted food supply chains and the people that starve from that; all these things are deemed expendable and worthy of sacrifice from his point of view. It's all par for the course if it lets him maintain an iron grip on power and control for the remainder of his life. He will navigate and play whatever games he has to, and rationalize every decision he has to make. That's how selfishness and corruption works. On the climate change thing - You don't even need to be that scientifically literate and read 100 studies or documentaries to appreciate the problem. You just need to look at atmospheric CO2 emissions from the last 500,000+ years to notice a massive problem. We have spiked atmospheric CO2 and other gases out of their normal cycle that usually takes tens of thousands of years and done it in just about 250 years. That much of a radical change in such a tiny amount of time isn't going to come without consequences. We are literally terraforming the planet on accident, without that clear of an idea of what the impact will be. In fact I guarantee and would bet my left nut that NASA and other agencies are deliberately downplaying the data and models they have because the projections are too stark and they don't want to cause a panic. The changes might be so rapid that our modern civilization can't adapt in time and even if there isn't a total collapse we'll still experience some major "downsizing" AKA a LOT of people are going to die (that probably includes you and me). If that's how it's gotta be though, that's how it's gotta be.

Man I hate how I sound saying this but honestly these people weren't hit nearly enough growing up. They behave like children because that's what they essentially are. Not all of them of course, but the "worst" ones of the bunch that are the loudest and lead the pack. They have largely never had to face any adversity, work and earn things for themselves, experience resistance, or generally been told "NO" in their lives. When parents can't parent properly as they are too busy working since the economy rapes the middle class, well this is what you get. A bunch of young people who have never done anything in their lives thinking they know exactly how to solve all the worlds problems. It's a shame because there are a lot of good ideas in the left, certainly more than the right which is just rehashing the status quo. It's just that the general culture and population doesn't take progressive ideas seriously because they are marketed poorly or pushed in their face too fast to digest. Groups and socialization make you stupid though, so it's not worth the effort to play the game. Just do your own thing and try to radiate impact as an individual. The green haired idiots screaming at the top of their lungs or the MAGA hat wearing mouth breathers waving stupid signs around are just white noise, ignore it.

This stuck out to me. I've found that's been quite true in my life. Repeating stupid patterns I know aren't going to work, convincing myself it will somehow be different each attempt. The whole time fear looming and casting a shadow I know is there but don't want to look. It's only when I've done radical things or made big changes do I feel the light burn that shadow away, if just for a moment.

There are a few ways to deal with this; - You can become stronger and intimidating so it happens less to you (guys typically don't physically challenge other men they think they would lose to). - You can become more charismatic and witty to disarm the tension and navigate awkward social situations. - You can act stoic and/or straight up ignore when guys are going this to you. Every situation might require a different response. Sometimes the girl will not be worth the effort, especially getting in a fist fight over. If she is attracted to the idiot who is willing to act overly confrontational and insecure, then it means she is not mature enough to know what's good for her. Typically those girls aren't great for long term relationships, focus your energy on the ones that are more developed. Remember that a girl with a pretty face is nice to look at, but if you can't stand hanging out with her or you're unable to have good conversation then you're going to regret the emotional and time investment. I've always preferred more solo/intimate ways of connecting with women. You can show more of your authentic self and avoid all the noise and drama of groups.

You look like someone hired to intimidate and pressure foreign customers on the street if they don't buy Adidas track pants from a vendor

This will sound vulgar - but dude you are in college. This is the perfect time to get massive experience. Stop asking questions and thinking with your brain. Open your skull and throw your brain out. What you need to be doing is blindly going to parties, going to clubs, getting drunk and fucking as many girls as you can. If not a lot, at least around 3. Enough to connect with different personalities and temperaments. The answers to all of your questions are to be found on the other side of the "door". Relationships and love will spawn from the clubs, parties, studying, class, and all other gatherings that people will be in. This is the time to be saying YES to everything when people ask you to do stuff, not questioning or worrying it to death. You will find what you like and don't like as you go along. Right now you are in front of the door, and it seems huge and scary and you don't know what's on the other side. It's counter-intuitive and backwards. You need to be doing stuff before you have the answers. Not having the answers before doing stuff. So put your shoulder down, lean forward, and bust that fuckin door down.