Ninja_pig

Pick up a guitar. God I love these things. I started playing a year ago and practicing always feels interesting and fun. You're never to old to pick it up. When you start just go look up guitar tabs to some songs you would like to learn and star playing. Gaining skill with the thing is so fulfilling. You can do it for your entire life. It's really good for your brain in general. To me it is a healthy means of escape and an effortless way to invest in myself. It's something I can do completely for me.

Leo's book list has 6 good books on systems thinking. I would write them here but I might get banned. Besides, Leo's book list is a very good purchase.

Sounds pretty close to my own goals. How are you doing with them?

The following is a trip report somewhat relevant to my question. Skip to the end if you don't feel like reading. A few weeks ago I took ~4.5mg of mushrooms. This was my first ever psychedelic experience and I am still unpacking all of the things that happened. Many things about the trip were unexpected, but what stood out to me the most was how the intensity of my emotions was turned up %10000. I spent a large portion of the trip laughing myself to tears as if someone had found a very ticklish spot on my body and wouldn't stop for mercy. Every moment in between the laughing was accompanied by some exclamation of my sheer amazement of what was going on. I felt like a 2 year old in that I had lost all control of my emotions. Any time someone even looked at me it resulted in an explosion that sent me into a fit of laughing, crying and swearing. During the trip, I was watching the movie "Speed Racer" from 2009. If you've never seen it, it's about the most eye-candy over the top mix of drama and lights you will ever see. Suffice it to say, I was completely overwhelmed by this move. There is nothing that could have prepared me for the onslaught of emotions that came with every camera change, facial expression, action relay, and family drama. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the whole thing, though, was how I felt like I could feel everything that the characters were feeling. Each gentle caress of a lover, each victory celebrated, each fit of rage. I felt like the emotions were being telepathically transmitted to me so I could feel exactly what each person was feeling. This not only went for the people in the movie. During the trip I thought a lot about my friends, and every thought of a friend came with a deep love and appreciation. I felt like after so long I finally understood how some other people think, how they feel. For so long I felt like many of the people in my life did not show their true emotions and instead showed an emotion that would elicit a certain perception from others. During the trip I realized that people's emotions are real and for the most part they are not acting. It was a groundbreaking insight for me. It felt so good to finally be able to cry. At the end of the trip I felt very emotionally drained and kind of glad that it was over. I also felt like I had aged a few years because I felt completely okay with myself. This is probably due to psilocybin deactivating my ability for self reflection, but it felt good nonetheless. -end of trip report- This was a revelation to me because for a large part of my life I have been a pretty emotionally flat person. I am just not affected by things very much. Family member dies, my partner leaves me, my parents get divorced. "Oh well" I say. I have a hard time being affectionate and receiving affection. I can get along with people just fine but when things get emotional I mostly just react with confusion. I almost never cry during movies. I don't like watching horror movies because I don't get a kick out of the things that are supposed to be causing me fear. I feel as though I could lose everything in my life and feel nothing more than a vague sense of pain. Grieving for anything seems like an impossible task to me. It wasn't always like this. When I was a child I was extremely sensitive. I would cry about just about everything. Sometimes nothing at all. When I went through puberty I think something changed in my brain and suddenly I was all flat. At first I was grateful for this because my uncontrollable outbursts of emotion were actually pretty embarrassing for me. Now though, I think I would rather be embarrassed than unable to feel. I used to think of other's emotions with condescension and contempt, now I treat them with curiosity because I really really really want to know how people feel. I feel like I just don't have that ability though. I listen with utter curiosity to others with as much compassion as I can muster and 0 judgement. The fact of the matter though is just I don't get what they're feeling. I want so badly to be able to share the experiences of others, but I feel like I just can't do it. Lately (in the past year or two) I have been highly introspective and have been trying to figure myself out in order to try to become more emotionally intelligent, but this too seems like an insurmountable task that I am not completely capable of. I can't even feel my own emotions. There are so many times in my life I want to cry but I can't. It just won't come out. What the heck is going on? How do I fix this? How do I develop my EQ and make myself more able to feel my own and other's emotions? If you read the whole thing I very much appreciate you.

Growth. Discovering who I am. Trying to figure out what life is all about. It's more about pursuing the question than getting and answer.

Seeker

Maybe think about why you desire fame? What do you think you will gain form it? Love? Respect? Validation? Chances are you want fame for a deeper reason. Also in my mind there's nothing particularly wrong with perusing fame. Sometimes you have to "burn through karma" as Leo puts it.

Intuition is where you know something without really knowing how you know it. Example: "Do you know why my car sounds weird?" "Let me hear you turn it on" ... "One of your spark plugs is shot" "How do you know?" "IDK I just know" Another example: "Should we go with service A or service B?" "Service A" "Why" "Because service B will cause us problems later on" "How do you know" "I don't know" If this is not getting the point across, Leo has a decent video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1yA9KbPzQ0 As far as how to develop your intuition, I would just say don't be overly logical or rational, get a lot of exposure to art and music, and trust your gut.

No. IMO

I think at some level you actually do care about high school. There is no downside to getting good grades really. Besides maybe time commitment. You not only get more opportunities for college, but you also LEARN MORE. Which is important. Yes even your dumb whatever class that your school is forcing you to take. It's all worth doing, and not just for the sake of a good GPA. So basically, let go, do the best you can. Let go. Do the best you can. You will not regret it.

I was just about to make a post like this. I hope you find an answer. I feel as though my life situation is actually pretty good right now. I can't complain. However, I feel as though I have no direction, nothing to care about. I want to care deeply about something, but I haven't found something I think is worth caring about. I want to work hard to get somewhere, but I don't know where that place is. That being said, I think I might know some things that might help you. One thing that I think you could do is read books! Sci-Fi books in particular. Reading books will help alleviate that problem of lack of experience. I mean, it's not exactly real world experience, but they will make you feel less dull and will give you something for your mind to think about. Reading books and watching (a select few high-quality) movies, these things connect you to who you really are and make you want to be a better person. Elon Musk (probably one of the most purpose-driven people in the world), when asked what he would recommend young people do who want to make the world better, is to read broadly. He says that skimming through the condensed version of the Encyclopædia Britannica is something that helped him gain a wide breadth of knowledge, and is something he recommends to other people. His other book recommendations include: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien The "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov My personal recommendations are: Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson Red Rising by Pierce Brown The Fifth Science by Exurb1a Dune by Frank Herbert Some movie recommendations: Dune (the new one) The Shawshank Redemption The Godfather (my favorite) The Godfather part II Schindler's List Inception Leo has lots of good books on his book list too. I would recommend buying it and reading anything rated 5 stars. Of course, read anything that interests you. Anything. Fiction or non-fiction. It's worth your time. Reading any one of these recommendations will help you become more who you are and more purposeful. They will help you gain what it is that you are missing. They will inspire you. They highlight the hero's journey. If reading is work for you, listen to the books. Another thing I would recommend is to care about your job. Do your best. I assure you that any job no matter what it is can be fulfilling if you put your heart into it. Be the best god damn SEO guy you can possibly be. Think of new ways you can get costumers rolling in. Dive deep into the core principals of marketing and stick to those. Find ways you can lead, help others, and take initiative. Be an inspiration to others in the field. Show your dad that you care. This doesn't have to be THE purpose of your life, but it can be A purpose, at least for a while. Another thing you could do is to take shrooms. It won't solve any of your problems, but it will remind you of what being a child is like and teach you how to love yourself again. Take like 4 grams, or however much you can take without throwing up. Make sure you have someone you TRUST COMPLETELY there when you do it. You can buy these things on the dark web for like 40 bucks, or just grow them from spores you can buy on amazon. There are extensive guides for this on the internet. Look. You don't have to know exactly the right thing to do all the time to have a purposeful life. Just do your best with what you have. I this may be a controversial opinion on this forum, but I don't think you have a life purpose. It is your choice whether or not you care about something. If you peruse something for 5 years and then decide that you don't want to do it anymore, that is not life wasted. That is life LIVED. That is how it is supposed to be. Go towards SOMETHING that feels right AT THE TIME. You don't have to grow up all at once. One day, you may find something by accident that just grabs you, and because you will not be worried about whether or not it is your actual purpose, you will peruse it; And unexpectedly, it will turn out that this is indeed your purpose. Maybe your first step forward could be living alone. This will take resourcefulness, hard work, and will throw you from your nest. This will all make you feel ALIVE. Maybe join a martial arts studio? Start playing guitar? These things helped me. IDK if they will help you. Last thing. Ditch your phone. Seriously. Get a flip phone. Your mind will say "but the utility and what if I miss out on this or that blah blah blah". Tell that voice to go find the biggest, juiciest, vainest big black cock and swallow it down to its stomach because you know it is just not worth it. You can function just fine with out it. Trust me. These things are cancer. By writing all this it has helped me answer my own question quite well. Thank you for posting this! Tell me what you think about what I said!

Girls find things creepy when your actions do not match your intentions. I.E. Looking at a girl without trying to get her number or get her on a date. Don't be paying lots of attention to a girl unless you are actually going to talk to her. When you talk to her, try to get her to a place more private, away from the rest of the people at the gym to make her feel more comfortable. Girls don't want to be seen as slutty.

Insoles will give you an advantage, obviously. Taller = better looking. Don't discount the value of looks. Although the most important thing is how you act, other things help too. Go out a couple nights with and without insoles and see what happens with each. I'm sure you'll easily come to a conclusion.

The thing about being funny is you don't have to make good jokes in order to be funny. I recommend just writing a whole bunch of jokes, it doesn't matter if they are good or not, just make a ton of them. When you are around other people, say whatever comes to your mind. It doesn't matter if it is the stupidest brain-dead joke ever conceived. People forget jokes almost immediately, but they remember the feeling. Say stupid stuff and it will get people to laugh. They will tell you "that was a terrible joke", but they will be smiling.

People here are saying it's upbringing and environment. I think that's true, but it should also be said that when you want success, you have the ability to change and do things to attain that success. As far as attitude goes, I think it's important but you can't explain everything with attitude. Attitude is determined a lot by your situation and your previous successes/failures. I would say the most important thing to do if you want success and you don't have it is to trust that life will reward you if you put in an honest effort, even if it has wronged you in the past.

I've personally found working out to be the magic pill in this respect. Sure there are muscular men who are pussies, but it's WAY easier to be strong and confident when you are in shape. I also think that martial arts is a great way to build up inner confidence. I personally did muay-thai kickboxing. Make sure that whatever marital arts you are doing, you are doing lots of sparing and make sure there is at least a potential to get hurt. This is why I like boxing. This will also help you find some good mentors. As stated in "The way of the superior man", she wants the killer in you. Don't be afraid to act on what you think is right. Don't be afraid to feel emotion deeply. The concepts of honor and integrity are what I personally think makes a true man. Do what is right no matter what. Live your life like it matters.

I personally like to play guitar and read books with my free time. They are each cheap and rewarding and you can spend lifetimes on each of them. If you're having trouble focusing, on those I recommend running, or alternatively, doing nothing. Doing nothing is often better than scrolling through social media or playing league of legends. It will make you feel weird but also happy.

I think Leo's video on Gödel's incompleteness theorem does a good job at considering the implications of this theorem, but it doesn't explain the theorem itself very well. Watch this if you are confused by that video like I was.

Happiness does not come from worldly possessions. It's less about how much you have and more about how grateful you are for what you have. If a person feels they do not have enough money even after they have enough to get by, there is no amount of money that will make them feel fulfilled. Maybe some of the very impoverished will be more stressed by the constant necessity of work and the uncertainty that comes with poverty. Even for those people though, no amount of money will make them happier at the deepest level. Wealth can be a sign that someone may be happy, as wealth usually follows more developed and educated individuals. But people are not happy because they are wealthy.