Roy

It's tough for sure. Sometimes the pragmatic bullet of life has to be bitten though, like you said most artists statistically just won't make it doing it as a full time career. Ideally you would get a job that is creative and gives you a roughly similar sort of satisfaction that art does, related to the field of art or it's periphery. Something that would allow you a reasonable amount of time and resources to do your LP. The less related they are the more imbalanced your life will feel, you'll be getting torn both ways kinda thing. It would feel super incongruent and you might get resentful lets say, investing 5 years and all that money and time into a super secure tech job or something. You'll be slaving away on a computer wanting to be looking at a canvas. It's probably the opposite of what you want to hear, but I would focus on finding work or schooling that is towards the practical side, but something you would still be happy doing that gives you a stable income. Then use your spare time to slowly build your art skills and ramp up a small lower investment side business. You might never be able to go full time with it, but you will be spending a lot of time ideally enjoying yourself and making some money from it. Which is a great place to be.

Dave is just saying what we are all thinking, but won't (can't) say. That's the job of a comedian. I'm as progressive as they come but maybe, just maybe some of these groups need to show the slightest bit of humility and check their privilege if jokes can be made about literal military dictators, but not them. Nobody gets special protection from fucking comedians. It seems like an exaggeration, but the moment we start playing that game we lose something as a society. And if a comedian isn't tactful and says something distasteful? Nothing bad happens, you just don't laugh!

Guys telling other guys they can only go for hot girls, that is their metric and anything less is failing.

Think about how much of this is a limiting belief that holds you back. Why couldn't you find someone who is biologically younger but on the same wavelength? Really what is stopping that besides your own preconceptions? There are plenty of people of all ages who are at radically different levels of maturity than one another. You can find whatever you're looking for, it's out there. People might surprise you.

This is total bullshit. A low value guy can easily get a girl on his level. Human population has only gone up after all. The guys (or girls) that are so horrendous with the opposite sex they literally can't get with anyone have always been extreme outliers. The problem is; - Technology enabling more of those struggling men to teeter off the edge and not getting the socialization they need to interact with the opposite sex. - Toxic materialist culture that encourages people to be shallow and reach for higher than their "value" or "level", which causes them to have less results as they struggle. The phenomena of incels is caused by the above two things, exacerbating those extreme outliers and drawing in even more people so it's not such an extreme anymore. Inceldom is a literal social cancer tumor that has created it's own identity and spreads misinformation that infects people too close in proximity (ie those struggling males). Saying a low value guy can't get any girls at all and believing it is fake news propoganda lol. A guy that is horrible at attracting and has no experience can still get girls, he will just have to lower his standards and break out of the social programming that he is of a certain value or should only go for a certain value.

It depends on how crudely someone advertises it, but I don't think having certain attraction preferences for dating and sexuality is inherently racist. We are all victims to our cultural wiring to a degree, and probably even deeper biological wiring to mate within our own race (even though we are all human). For example for me I don't have an axe to grind with any race, I don't even think about it. Skin colour to me is like hair colour, it's simply information about appearance. Still, I have yet to personally encounter any native american women I'd consider being sexually attracted to, they just don't do it for me, while there are some women from every other race that I have been attracted to. Does this mean native american women are inherently less attractive? Of course not, maybe it just speaks to the wiring of the culture I grew up in, or maybe just random luck. This might sound offensive, but I think you might subtly actually be creating your own racism by giving credence to what people are saying about their dating/sexual preferences for race. Even if people are vocally disruptive about their preferences and don't have the tact they should have, the responsibility for their attraction runs a little more primal and out of their control than getting out of the toxic cultural matrix they grew up in. As Lemmy Kilmister said, "Eventually we'll all fuck each other until we're a nice coffee colour anyways. Then none of this rubbish will matter."

Seeing someone I admire say this just gave me a huge dose of relief and confirmation bias for being liberal on just about every single position, but adamant pro death penalty lol.

I also suffer from the same impulsiveness, that has made my future more difficult and costed me thousands of dollars as well. Taking out the judgement for you mistakes for a moment. Have you considered that it results from a lack of vision and purpose for your future? You are given a beautiful canvas for life, but for one reason or another you haven't figured out what is worth painting yet, but subconsciously you can't stand to see it blank so you just recklessly start slashing and splashing paint or it to fill it up so you don't have to look at something empty?

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@Hardkill because you need to appreciate that "Left" and "Democrat" in the United States is still more Right leaning then a lot of Right wing parties in other developed countries. The USA is powerful and a leader in many ways, but not in everything. They had a unique opportunity in history to fill a power vacuum in the world after WW2 and become a global juggernaut because of luck, resources, and some strategic prowess, not because of being visionary leadership that was pushing the limits of humanity through societal innovation and how to run civilization more effectively. Don't mistake power for consciousness or progress. It's an errand of the foolish ego.

Open your heart and the mind will follow.

Progressivism is just another word for inevitability, so who do you think is lying?

lol this is why I will always choose to live in smaller cities, towns, and villages away from everything, preferably surrounded by trees, desert, or ocean. It seems the closer you are in proximity to the concrete jungles - you run more frequently into dense, selfish, corrupt, awful people that don't even feel human. Almost like it's completely unnatural, while ironically being a "natural" evolution of civilization. We are out of balance that's for sure. That isn't to say you can't find great people in metropolis'. Of course you can, but why look for diamonds in piles of shit? Even just having access to the internet and seeing this stuff when I'm not even physically present makes me want to burn my computer and go camping permanently...............

No you were not. Just a simple communication and experience issue. Perhaps you could have said jokingly in the moment to communicate to her that you weren't just using her for the experience, "Hey babe I'm having an amazing time, but I'm exhausted and need to listen to my body and have a nap. Then I'll get back to being present with you, make yourself at home." Or you could have asked her to nap/sleep with you if she wasn't busy, to show that you appreciate her presence. It could also just be the luck of that never having happened to her. Maybe she was never with a guy who was quite as introverted as you who authentically wanted to rest while together, and instead has only been with guys who bullshit and push to be interactive all the time because they don't want to seem disengaging or boring. It's all just communication, subtle and explicit. All issues in relationships come from some kind of misstep in that department, it's a minefield so don't beat yourself up when you step on one now and then, just do your best and communicate to them that you are trying and that sometimes you do fuck up and misstep. I had a girlfriend earlier in the year that travelled to visit for a long weekend and I brought up that I was exhausted from the work week and needed to rest somewhat early in the day (2pmish) on the Saturday. Most girls would be kinda pissed about that because they expect that's when you're spending the most time being busy together, but I was straightforward and open about it and she appreciated it. Also threw a wildcard in being playful and told her, "If you let me nap for 2 hours now, I promise I'll fuck your brains out when I wake up." If I just went to sleep and didn't put effort into expressing my intentions it's likely things wouldn't have gone so nicely.

Pretty bad advice in this thread that's not going to serve you well or turn out like you think. Look dude the ship has sailed and you need to move on. It just didn't work out, whatever. Her loss not yours, and you said you had plenty of options right? Don't waste your time once that magic has passed and the spark is gone. Respect it and don't keep pushing after her like a dog with a bruised ego. You didn't get what you want, so your gonna listen to these guys and act like a spoiled child that's entitled to something simply because you are working for it? What do you think is going to happen. You've now said you want to be friends and maybe you hang out again. She is already either confused or her mind is actually made up and she's hoping for a genuine friend. But NOW you've got this malicious subconscious attitude that you're just going hang out with her and use the opportunity to strike like a snake in the grass to "force" her to make up her mind, or in the hopes that her feelings have changed and that you've got lucky. Let's assume on the off chance it works > you've now communicated you are a manipulator. What is more likely to happen though is you'll be turned down and she'll be pissed or feel really uncomfortable and you'll probably hurt her. Which is just a shitty thing to do. Consider would an actual friend do that? I hate to be that guy but this kind of maneuvers are exactly the kind of thing that are teetering close to rape culture. Don't play fucking games with people like this and rationalize it because women can be "flaky" and "elusive". You might think a "real" man should try to take what he wants and conquers. If you want to be a real man, you suck up the reality that was presented to you and move onwards.

Even for the people that do access it, won't it be so radical and overwhelming that most wouldn't even be able to handle it or interpret it healthily? As in it wouldn't even help but actually be counter-productive? It's like suddenly giving the average person 1 billion dollars. Most will just squander it, use it for their own selfish addictions, or become unrecognizable because of it.

Why is there not an option for red? I'm pissed.

You would best serve yourself by dropping any preconceived notions of men and women do or don't do. Things may have been more simple 70 years ago, but now our culture is so open sexually and people have access to so many things through the internet that almost nothing should surprise you. One of my ex girlfriends said she had entire month stretches when she was single where she would flick her bean to porn every single day. She was one of those very feminine/family oriented girls by the way. You wouldn't expect it, I certainly didn't. Made me reconsider my view of women completely and it was a great thing.

It's become quite clear that this section has become of overall lower quality than the rest of the forum. I've had numerous people reach out to me privately over the past while complaining of this issue - Either that they have been harassed to some degree, called names or stereotyped, or just felt generally uncomfortable enough to want to leave the forum. This is NOT the kind of community we want to foster. That kind of toxicity doesn't belong anywhere, let alone on a self help forum where we are striving (hopefully) to be productive and improve our lives. Remember! - While YOU may be fine, a lot of people are coming here seeking advice from a vulnerable state, with sensitive personal information. What you say may have a larger impact than surface value, so take time to consider what you're posting and how you want to come off. This might be one of the only places someone feels they can come to for help, do you want to be responsible for scaring them off? I know it can be hard because this topic can cut deep for a lot of people, I know it certainly does for me. But we've just gotta take a step back, chill out, and help each other. Not everyone is at the same level of understanding, life experience, or they may have a dysfunction of some sort. Try to imagine where they are at even if you haven't been there yourself. Don't quickly react to a post that seems radical or confusing, that might make more sense once you take a moment to do that imagining. That said, let's all collectively do better. This isn't about this group or that group, or to start a dramatic game of "whataboutisms". I know that everyone here is above that. Just don't call each other names. Don't perpetuate childish stereotypes. Don't attempt to bait people by making gross generalizations. Don't try to trigger reactions with inflammatory statements. And importantly, try to exercise nuance so others don't get caught up wasting time arguing binary talking points, instead of learning or getting help. This is mostly straightforward stuff, but just know if you are going to be continually stubborn, offensive, or dogmatically post Red Pill talking points or other toxic ideology your posts will be delete and bans of some level will be handed out. Is clashing ok sometimes? Absolutely! But swallow your pride and take responsibility for when you misstep and apologize, it goes a long way. I know the Men v Women thing can be a tempting fight to get involved in, but after all we kind of need each other to continue the species, so let's do that please That's all I have to say on the matter, and I hope it makes a difference. Thanks - Roy

It seems you have quite a bit of emotional awareness for a mosquito to know if you were being genuinely offensive or off putting. When you know you've done nothing wrong, it's not rational to pick at yourself. Someone probably saw that you were being confident and socializing outside the normal matrix of things, and it made them insecure and took away from the fun "they" should have been having. So they went and cried about it. Or maybe the bartender was just on a power trip.

Sorry, that's just bad luck. Unless you are painting the picture extra pretty here about yourself (which I don't think you are), I don't think anything is really your fault. You were having a great time with people and someone got bitter. Sometimes shit just happens. Don't overthink and blame yourself for it. Just go find another bar or place to socialize. I'm sure there are plenty.

Please don't harm yourself. It doesn't solve anything.

I've been in the exact same scenario that went both ways. Love her and do your best to be supportive, but ultimately it will be up to her to help herself. Nobody, not even a therapist or psychologist will get her out of that, but her.

Avoid falling into this common trap @Striving for more. Spend your time focusing exclusively on yourself and your own aspects. Don't worry about others or if they are being hypocrites or not, all irrelevant. What matters is the information and if it's useful or not to you, the messenger is a distraction.

Perfect example of relativity, nice post @Fleetinglife! There are hundreds of millions of Indian Hindus who see what most of the world does to cows and would have the same sorts of emotional reactions. It's all just programming, beliefs, perspective.