Michael569

Deeper reflections, like asking those probing questions about life and existence that you feel no humans can answer for you or you just don't feel brave enough (or being vulnerable enough) to ask those to someone else. It helps me think outside of the box and get a completely new perspective on things. Sometimes I feel like that kid asking "but why" 100 times in a row until the parent gets mad and leaves the room. GPT doesn't Sometimes the way it says things gives me goosebumps because it can beautifully hit the things within that are there but I often feel I lack vocabulary or knowledge to verbalise. I also love to use it for storytelling when I travel or explore. It helps me connect the place where I am to its history and almost to become part of it. When we were in Mexico I had GPT generate a whole page on what it it was like to be an Ancient Aztec about to be led to an alter to be sacrificed to the gods and when I was reading that story aloud to our friends while sitting on the steps of Monte Alban's largest temple and looking at the valley slowly being covered by the golden light of the sundown, I felt incredibly connected to that place. That moment became s much more magical, it is hard to explain. And then general stuff I used to ask Google. What I am missing is being challenged more by AI so in that sense AI makes for a terrible mentor because even when you tell it to, it is still being too nice and polite. A good mentor will call you out on your bullshit 10 out of 10 times.

I hope you're never planning for a family and marriage with this life rule 😄😄 @sda everything is situational and everything depends. It does sound like your dad is supporting his sibling's family a bit excessively, same with your friend's situation. There is nothing wrong with temporarily helping someone get back on his feet like a redundant family member or someone in dire need of small loan. But you have to balance the niceness with being taken advantage of or being leeched by someone who is narcissistic enough to not be able to see they are using you

Give your body some time to fight the infection, there is not much interference needed. Of course do the usual like warm teas and staying well hydrated, eating light, getting some fresh air and sleeping a lot but other than that let your immune system recover do what it was designed to do by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution Many "magic pill solutions" might just numb immune response or waste your money. I do agree with @Norbert Somogyi that over long term checking and optimizing your vit D levels is a great idea.

That's a really interesting observation. You could think about it from a perspective of "what makes you trust other people". Like what is the defining difference between someone you know you can trust and someone you know you can't. I'd say it is a combination of factors main one being 'evidence of past actions'. If someone consistently delivers on their promise, you learn that person can be trusted. On the other hand, we all know someone who never does what they promise to do. Your mind works the same way. You can only begin trusting yourself if you give yourself sufficient evidence that you can be relied upon by yourself. So each time you promise to yourself , for example, "I'l start XYZ tomorrow" and you don't, your brain loses trust in your ability to be relied upon. And each time you deliver on that, the self trust is strengthened. You start by taking your own commitments to yourself seriously. You don't squander these promises the way it is often being done by many people (I'll start losing weight tomorrow, I'll start eating healthy next month, I'll do this and that....and then nothing, year after year, promise after promise broken). Each broken promise impacts the executive function of your brain, you learn that promises are there to be broken. Its kinda like squandering your attention watching reels and then wondering why you can't read a single book in a year....deep neurological adaptation has happened And one way to start reversing that is not to overpromise if you know you struggle with the delivery. So you make fewer promises to yourself but the ones you do, you do your best to deliver. And so your brain starts trusting you, the parts of your brain responsible for wilful commitment strengthen, overtime resistance to take action diminishes and things become easier to do. The second part of this is a bit deeper and it is "why do you struggle to deliver" and it might be that the things you are trying to do are in misalignment with your guiding principles. If you value freedom & creativity while struggling to complete an 8-hour manual excel spreadsheet report that kills creativity and freedome, maybe the problem is that you're in the wrong job. So it is important to be mindful of that. Because when you do things that match your guiding principles and values and things you find meaningful, your brain will reward you with dopamine while pursuing these and it will be much easier to commit. That being said, it is still normal to struggle even with things you find meaningful..we all do. Hope that helps

yeah, I think the door to door salesmanship has gradually been dying since early 20s and is possibly completely dead by now. In Europe it doesn't even happen that much anymore although my mom who lives back in eastern Europe says she still gets these people selling cleaning utensils, kitchen electronics and stuff like that. I think they choose to target villages with older population nowadays because young people can't be bothered. I think there is also a general perception of distrust hanging in the air since covid. People distrusting each other much more than before, especially when a stranger comes knocking on your door. Could you instead aspire for an inhouse sales role in a company? Like corporate sales etc.

@The Caretaker i found that incorporating about 25 minutes of Zone 3 HIIT about 3 times a week gives me even better results in improving total stamina. And by far, the best results came from incorporating uphill exercises l. I used to do these hill sprints combined with running up and down small hills when I lived in Wales and within 6 months my V02 max went from 47 to 53. I haven't been able to make it pass 51 no matter what I do anymore as i don't have hills to train at where i live now. Maybe my age is becoming a factor as well 😄 But if you do live in a country side with some terrain variety, that could be an option.

I do agree with, as you increase intensity, things like cardiorespiratory fitness and grip strength being the limitation rather than the strength itself. It is a really common thing especially where guys don't spend enough time training those things or they increase weights too quickly for the rest of the body to catch up such as when using creatine or other substances that boost maximum power and strength. And the more heavy barbell exercises you do, the more insufficient cardiorespiratory fitness becomes apparent. Grip strength as well for heavy lifts like deadlift and pullups. Not to mention core strength. The solution could be to temporarily moving some of your training towards HIIT, swimming, running etc. Not sure about once per week. It sounds compelling but might be insufficient to stimulate your endocrine system enough. 3 times a week doing heavy weights would be more realistic, we had a big discussion about that about a year ago in one of the old threads

@Leo Gura where would you like to see the future of the series?

Looks pretty good. Technically still the same game and I don't know if I'd care too much about going back, becoming the arena champion, closing the demon gates and all that, I've lived that story once and it was enough. Elder Scrolls needs a step up from being this dungeon crawler / city crawler game. I don't know what the next thing would be but it is an overused pattern at this stage. If one day Morowind and Kingdom Come 2 could have a love child, that would be the game that changes a history.

Dude, you're showing some serious misunderstanding of what it feels like to be a woman in 2025. I think you've probably had some bad luck with pickup, my heart goes out to you if that's the case, it is not an easy thing to do these days. But saying all women think about is meeting their needs? Women are able, for the first time in history to make a conscious decision whether they want to have career and a purpose that goes beyond child care and the traditional 'housewife' duties. Sure there were women in the past who were extraordinarily successful but in the world dominated by men, it was more of an exception than a rule. So she knows she can become as successful, as educated, as wealthy and as accomplished as a man. But she also knows that it is her body, not man's, that needs to bear the burden of pregnancy. So while she is trying to figure our her space in the job market, she feels that she can't go all in, because her body is running on a time clock. She knows that if she is not successful finding the right man who would want to father her children and be able to take care of her while she is at her most vulnerable (pregnancy and post partum), she chooses to wait. And so she waits and her clock is ticking while she sees her friends getting married and having kids. On one hand because she is not going all in, she feels that her career is not getting her full attention and so she puts more energy into it. When she does that, she is reminded that she is a "ball buster" who wants to "take over the world" and she should be at home having kids. So she feels guilty and slides back into dating which goes on and on and on. The men she meets are immature, all about sex, unlear about their values and directions and she thinks "I'll have one todler, I don't need another one"..and so she waits and waits. And when she does get married and has a baby, she feels guilty about putting her career on hold, worried that she won't be able to get back to the market, feels like she is losing time. And that's just the surface level of worries among other things like the shape of her body, her age, her competition with other moms, her security in relationship with her man, the running of entire household, being the emotional cushion for her husband, being able to satisfy her husband needs ...and so on and so on. So no, women's life are a bit more complicated and they sometimes face more challenges than men. Hope you'll be able to see it one day

I agree with the points you made and perhaps the point I made about dismissing crypto currency with a wave of a hand was too hasty...seems like that was probably the case. Yet I can't help but agree with this in two ways: Yes, US government is going big on crypto but not in a good way. You saw what happened with Trump Coins. I'm sure that was an extreme example but a system that allows someone to almost become overnight the richest person in the world seems quite unstable and prone to major corruption to me the notion of "benefiting from the chaos" indicates to what I said before that crypto is potentially unholistic and it hurst the system because it is mainly about wanting something for nothing and wanting to profit of other people's loss.

Everything is prone corrections and loss of value, Bitcon isn't protected form this either. Yeah sure, market shenanigans are a problem. Real estates, the way they are priced, are one giant scam but you still have to live somewhere. Same way, regardless of what schemes are going on, the world works on a cash/debit and credit basis so you can't just pull yourself out of it. I don't understand the depth of financial markets enough to be able to tell whether this is a relevant information. Yes it sounds scary but I feel there is more nuance to it. Like the reason for drop being that we simply have more people and so the cash is distributed among larger volume of people so the dollar has naturally devaluated across decades as there is more physical money going around. You could say that currency devaluation is a well recognised event documented across human history. Roman currency has progressively got devaluated by mixing the gold with copper and lead, in some 300 AD (or maybe earlier) which caused massive inflation on the market. This phenomenon is well documented across Europe. Same happened in some American colonies during the early days of separation from the English Monarchy. you can invest in certain bonds and stock that are tax free, although you still pay the brokage fee which I'm sure is the same or cryptocurrency. that to me sounds like something taken from a podcast or a statement on Instagram reel without context. I don't mean to dismiss the argument but once again I feel there is more to it.

@LordFall the way crypto is being done by most people is to hope for a quick buy and sell to get rich of a quick plumets in the market. Basically lot of people have to lose money for you to gain some. Its selfish, unsystematic, unholistic and contributing to even more inequality of resource distribution. You can totally trade stocks that way but there are better ways to go around it where everyone has a chance to benefit such as methodical long term investment into responsible funds allowing caring businesses to prosper and in exchange people can build a reasonable fund over the periods of few decades. Although saying that you could probably do that with cryptocurrency but i haven't seen many examples of that, maybe you have. Seeing how easily it is for bunch of scumbags to become overnight billionaires shows you the volatility of that whole system tho

The best way to eat vegetables is the one the helps you eat them consistently:) steamed, baked, boiled, fresh.. doesn't matter. Nutritionally wise there are some differences in terms of availability and absorption but if you eat them in sufficient amounts, none of it matters. Personally I'm biggest fan of soups and stews rather than salads but to each their own.

I thought about this a bit more. What advice would i have wished to have 8-10 yrs ago. 1. Find a mentor - someone to help you grow and mature and help you acquire skills and traits that online content and parents can't teach you. Especially essential if you want to follow a life purpose which includes building some sort ot small businesses with integrity. A good mentor will also teach you to take criticism well and to even crave it. If you can't take a feedback, you can't grow. 2. Learn to be comfortable with uncertainty - I've always been opposed to pursue areas in life where i was uncertain how or what to do or just where the future seemed too cloudy but from those lot of good things have emerged 3. Start investing - pretty self explanatory. And aldo don't lose time with crypto and similar shenanigans. 4. Live in a foreign country (if you can) - i believe that my greatest growth happened after leaving my home and moving to live abroad. This is especially true if your home country is not doing too well. There is some to say about being patriotic and trying to fix things but sometimes leaving for 10 years and then bringing acquired skills back can be better. 5. Stay fit and protect your health at all times

Add another 0 and the answer is still no

@integration journey good question! Let me think about that and get back in a few days.

I'm 34 and i feel like I've lived a lifetime of a 70 year old already (in a good way) that I've done all the cool and crazy things i ever wanted except having a family.I find it comes down to life experience, things you've seen and done rather than years itself that give you a perspective on fast vs slow lifespan So if you feel like life is ruining quickly it could be a sign that months and days blend in because they are too similar? Travelling and living in a foreign country might give you that perspective you feel like you're missing.

It is important to consider what your intuition is telling you but in a major decision such as choosing the school it also pays to be strategic and consider real life factors. You can also think backwards about, where you would like to be by the time you graduate and which college is most likely to get you there. A simple SWAT analysis could also help you to compare at a glance. And finally, channel your intuition into a practical information. Why do you feel that one particular school is ideal, what is is about it, could you verbalise it? Do no other schools have it or have you not looked well enough?

@Elton without assuming anything, do you know what they tested for? The tests aren't usually to help with conception but more to check if things are okay (thyroid hormones, sex hormones, iron levels, vit D etc) do you know if everything came back as normal for both of you guys? Also, absolutely agree with @Yimpa and it seems that with the pressure from family you guys are facing, that's not too helpful. Perhaps you could have a honest conversation with your family and gently nudge them to back off. I had friends who had trouble conceiving and then went for a 2 week holidays to a warmer country and it happened. Could something like that be an option? EDIT: i just read your post about not getting that sales promotion and being really upset about it. Would you say that your current job is a major source of daily stress?

Looks like a pretty solid list covering most of the areas someone looking to be healthy would/should pay attention to Might be tricky to do both at the same time. Restricting wholefood veganism with 6 hour fast might make it harder to get in enough macro and micronutrients. Still doable but needs a bit of additional planning. Other than that: some deliberate down time which isn't used to be more productive can be helpful. some outdoor activities to connect with nature - mountain biking, hike etc Overall great list.

oh and yeah, 100% ! Think about it this way, you could be the best in what you do but if people don't know who you are, what you do and how to connect with you, the business won't pick up. Again, this is my greatest struggle so I definitely haven't mastered the art of cooking the perfect marketing recipe

@shree appreciate you taking time to answer and unravel it all a bit further. I think you're on the right path and it is clear that you know what you can offer to people and what they can expect from you. Would this go on your website or is this purely for your own framing? You would need to cushion this a little bit for a website copy. People don't need to be reminded of things they know aren't going well for them. Maybe you could practice wrapping this up nicely for your home page to help the visitor identify with the message through encouragement and comforting rather than restating the negatives. But I am not expert on copy writing and it is one of my greatest struggles when it comes to content cration. I found having a personal mentor to be invaluable. This is a start but needs to go deeper. Work with AI to help you create ideal client avatar. Love this! Good material for blogs perhaps to start ranking yourself on SEO (easier said than done) Anyways, this is all best discussed with someone who knows their way around content design, online marketing, brand strategy etc. See if you could find someone to mentor you if you have some extra budget. Perhaps even within the industry you work on. All the best with it, I love what you're doing and kuddos to doing it while taking care of kids, jobs, mortgage and being a husband!

@shree was just reading this when I saw notification that you tagged me. The purpose of diploma isn't just to showcase your credentials but it is to create a level of professionalism and a structure and to help you practice safely a responsibly. It ofcourse depends on the type of client you work with. Some people don't care and some will want to see some level of formality before they sign up for your thing. If you are going to be running a business, then you want to make sure you do that as a professional, not just someone who looks like he is dabbling. In general the purpose of accreditation is: to help you frame your scope of practice to protect you from liability if a client case goes wrong (e.g. suicide or self harm) to help you get over red tape (accounting, taxes, permissions to practice, governing bodies you need to register with) to teach you about who you can and can't work with to help you structure your assessment forms to be able to identify red flags that demand immediate referral or place the client entirely outside of your scope to help you stay up to day with the evidence in the field But moving away from that, the first question to answer is, "who is your client". And I know you stated that it is an "adult child from dysfunctional family" (btw please don't use this wording on your website ) but I feel like you have to be a bit more specific. what do they do? where are they found? what are they looking for? what are they googling? how will they find you? Once you know that, you can make the decision whether to go for diploma or not. If your clients are mostly stage blue people, you will need credential and high level of formality. If your clients are mostly green, you need to pay more attention to the vibe that your messaging is giving. Yellow will want to see a mix of all. I know I am not answering your question, I'm trying to prompt you to think deeper because there are many ways to answer the question. Personally, I have almost never been asked about my credentials in the line of work I do but it is writen on my website and I have entire section about professional accreditation so that people can have this question answered.

Hey Elton, sorry you guys have been going through this, that sort of pressure can put a lot of burden on you. I assume you guys have consulted medical professionals and have both undergone proper testing & screening? If not, please start there before embarking on some complex alternative protocols. There is a lot of tests that doctors can run including physical examination as well as hormonal & other blood work.