How to deal with life?

[own8ge]

What do? What do man...

 

[Proletar]

Just get some medication for your anxiety or whatever and start focusing on stuff you find interesting/funny instead of what you are doing now. Being trapped in the wheels of society and/or fear and loathing is horrible, but it's easy to get away from once you try.

 

[Etheri]

Breathe in, breathe out, go about your day. What you do doesn't truly matter, just do whatever you feel like doing at any given time.

 

[Architect]

When I've gone through stressful times I found a bit of Buddhism & mediation helped enormously. Pull the Ego out from the Grip.

 

[RadicalDreamer31]

Life, what do? Just wait. It will be over soon. Find some things to do while your waiting.

Spaceship Earth will spin and evolve with or without you. So live your life, do what you can with what you have. Talk to the people in your life, find happiness in your day or your projects.

The less you focus on the question of, "what should I be doing?" the more you be doing it. Because there really is no answer. Living is like learning to walk. Nobody can tell you how to do it, you have to figure it out, and just do it.

But you will in time. Just wait, and live while you wait; you'll be on your feet before you know it.

 

[Nick]

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
-Henry David Thoreau

Here have this, may it slightly humble you to enjoy what you have in front of you.

 

[Milo]

Get a job you are active in. Play sports. Ride your bike. Play Halo 4 with me on Xbox Live. Watch Fullmetal Alchemist.

Just remember you're not wasting your time unless you think you are.

 

[BigApplePi]

What do? What do man...

Be prepared for anything. To do that ...

1. Live moderation; be ready for extremes.

2. Keep moving; allow something to move you.

3.. Obtain these three ingredients: a modest social life, some love, some work you like.

 

[Kuu]

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

Spoiler

Ouch.

@ op

Eh, I just sort of hung on to living (mostly due to the unsatisfyingly painful/risky ways of killing myself available) and the feeling sort of just passed. I just don't care that nothing matters anymore and I don't care that I don't care. To help it all I have also found some things that I'm somewhat passionate about which serve to distract me from that mess. Maybe you could try to remember something that you were very very interested in at some point (it had to really excite you), something you really wanted to do but never really tried. Look at it again and see if it brings back any of that original enthusiasm you first had about it and see if you can use that enthusiasm to spur yourself to action.

Spoiler

Results may vary.

 

[Hadoblado]

1 - Identify something about yourself that you would consider both a weakness and a hindrance to your satisfaction.

2 - Mitigate that weakness with effort and/or experience.

3 - Profit.

4 - If still dissatisfied, rinse and repeat.

I have done this with my outlook, social ability, academic ability, self-image, and health. Don't pursue weakness mitigation to the exclusion of things you enjoy, however. While I may still be mildly depressed, I derive much more satisfaction from life as a result of these changes.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

What do? What do man...

Nothing. Let life deal with you.

 

[Minimalist]

What do? What do man...

Solve problems. If you cannot solve the ones you have, find others to solve. If you put your mind to work on a task, then it will not be free to contemplate life. You must find an interest, a curiosity, a whim. If you cannot do this because of your current state of mind then alter that state of mind. You may turn to shaking things up a bit. Lose your sense of self for these feelings originate from the self.

 

[RadicalDreamer31]

I don't know what Ownage is experiencing in life because I don't lurk here, nor I am privy to anyone elses methods. So my bad if I make assumptions.

Ownage asks an important question. How does one deal with being aware, and being alive? It's very human to wonder this, and if you haven't asked this question to yourself...

The answers given so far (including my previous) have being passive and stupid, because they do not acknowledge and deal with the issue.

"Medication", "Meditation","find something to do, and ignore it". Wrong.

Dealing with the reality of ones being, is a difficult sensation to define. Is it an Identity crisis, it is an ontological crisis? Regardless....

Embrace it, understand it. Deal with your feeling, with your being. If you are experiencing this issue, delve into yourself wholehearted and honest.

I would argue this is growth, this is character development.



Relevant quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates

 

[Hayyel]

I'm going to go ahead and say that I don't understand the question. Is it "what is the meaning of life in general"? "what is the meaning of MY life?" "What should I do with myself now?" "What do I want for my future?" "How do people generally deal with problems?" "How should I deal with problems?" "Who am I?"

Which is it? Or is it something different?

 

[own8ge]

I don't know what Ownage is experiencing in life because I don't lurk here, nor I am privy to anyone elses methods. So my bad if I make assumptions.

Ownage asks an important question. How does one deal with being aware, and being alive? It's very human to wonder this, and if you haven't asked this question to yourself...

The answers given so far (including my previous) have being passive and stupid, because they do not acknowledge and deal with the issue.

"Medication", "Meditation","find something to do, and ignore it". Wrong.

Dealing with the reality of ones being, is a difficult sensation to define. Is it an Identity crisis, it is an ontological crisis? Regardless....

Embrace it, understand it. Deal with your feeling, with your being. If you are experiencing this issue, delve into yourself wholehearted and honest.

I would argue this is growth, this is character development.



Relevant quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates

I couldn't agree more. Thanks.

 

[own8ge]

I'm going to go ahead and say that I don't understand the question. Is it "what is the meaning of life in general"? "what is the meaning of MY life?" "What should I do with myself now?" "What do I want for my future?" "How do people generally deal with problems?" "How should I deal with problems?" "Who am I?"

Which is it? Or is it something different?

I think it is... How do I turn myself out to be more rewarding? I'm inactive and everything. I don't search meaning, for meaning is that what I've been exploring my whole life. I can't think into the future, the present is bothersome enough. I don't think you can generalize problems. Who am I is sort of a good question, but the answer is something I have already. I think the main question and problem that I have is, Who do I want to be?

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become." C.G. Jung

The problem is that I do not know what to become.

I am very existential too...

 

[TimeAsylums]

Don't medicate...drudge through it and reap what you have yielded, what is rightfully yours. Your psyche is not of this world therefore can not be touched by it...you can control it.

 

[own8ge]

Don't medicate...drudge through it and reap what you have yielded, what is rightfully yours. Your psyche is not of this world therefore can not be touched by it...you can control it.

But maybe that's the problem. I don't know what to do with my psyche.

 

[Duxwing]

Don't medicate...

Or, instead of dealing in categorical imperatives, see a professional.

drudge through it and reap what you have yielded, what is rightfully yours. Your psyche is not of this world therefore can not be touched by it...you can control it.

The evidence points to our psyches being epiphenomena of our brains, which we know are responsive to medication for all sorts of disorders. And many mental disorders are simply beyond controlling through willpower alone: depression, for instance, can simply be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. No deep-seated trauma, no bad life habits, just axon heads that re-uptake the serotonin that they release before it can reach the other side of the synapse.

As rule of thumb: if the guy in the lab coat and the guy in the mystic get-up disagree, go with the guy in the lab coat.

-Duxwing

 

[SpaceYeti]

Or, instead of dealing in categorical imperatives, see a professional.



The evidence points to our psyches being epiphenomena of our brains, which we know are responsive to medication for all sorts of disorders. And many mental disorders are simply beyond controlling through willpower alone: depression, for instance, can simply be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. No deep-seated trauma, no bad life habits, just axon heads that re-uptake the serotonin that they release before it can reach the other side of the synapse.

As rule of thumb: if the guy in the lab coat and the guy in the mystic get-up disagree, go with the guy in the lab coat.

-Duxwing

Also, my favorite example of physicality of the mind; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain

 

[TimeAsylums]

weak

 

[SpaceYeti]

weak

... Weak what? Weak how? Weak why?

 

[TimeAsylums]

I don't know what Ownage is experiencing in life because I don't lurk here, nor I am privy to anyone elses methods. So my bad if I make assumptions.

Ownage asks an important question. How does one deal with being aware, and being alive? It's very human to wonder this, and if you haven't asked this question to yourself...

The answers given so far (including my previous) have being passive and stupid, because they do not acknowledge and deal with the issue.

"Medication", "Meditation","find something to do, and ignore it". Wrong.

Dealing with the reality of ones being, is a difficult sensation to define. Is it an Identity crisis, it is an ontological crisis? Regardless....

Embrace it, understand it. Deal with your feeling, with your being. If you are experiencing this issue, delve into yourself wholehearted and honest.

I would argue this is growth, this is character development.



Relevant quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates

Agreeing. hard. So many 'medicate!'s. Yes, that solves everything.

Since we are sharing quotes...

A dissociated personality is a deformed personality. Jung's work as a psychoanalyst was to help patients recover their lost wholeness, and to strengthen the psyche so it could resist future dismemberment. Thus, for jung, the ultimate goal of psychoanalysis is psychosynthesis.

I'm not a friggin' medicine man or holistic medicine person, by all means see a doctor for any illnesses/anything <- that would be stupid to ignore, but the fact is you have to dig hard and please ignore any religious over/undertones, but become complete.

feel free to ignore parts on yoga, just noting article for some info for those who are interested:

http://two.not2.org/psychosynthesis/articles/pd1-1.htm
and
wiki of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosynthesis

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

I don't know what Ownage is experiencing in life because I don't lurk here, nor I am privy to anyone elses methods. So my bad if I make assumptions.

Ownage asks an important question. How does one deal with being aware, and being alive? It's very human to wonder this, and if you haven't asked this question to yourself...

The answers given so far (including my previous) have being passive and stupid, because they do not acknowledge and deal with the issue.

"Medication", "Meditation","find something to do, and ignore it". Wrong.

Dealing with the reality of ones being, is a difficult sensation to define. Is it an Identity crisis, it is an ontological crisis? Regardless....

Embrace it, understand it. Deal with your feeling, with your being. If you are experiencing this issue, delve into yourself wholehearted and honest.

I would argue this is growth, this is character development.



Relevant quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates

What can you really discover? I assume that it would go something like this: "I exist and my emotions exist. I do not like these emotions that make me feel bad and so I will find a way to not experience them so often." It isn't exactly complicated. What else can you do but find pleasant distractions? Life for us humans is all about emotions, we need to find some way to experience positive ones so that life won't feel so unbearable.

 

[Hayyel]

I think it is... How do I turn myself out to be more rewarding? I'm inactive and everything. I don't search meaning, for meaning is that what I've been exploring my whole life. I can't think into the future, the present is bothersome enough. I don't think you can generalize problems. Who am I is sort of a good question, but the answer is something I have already. I think the main question and problem that I have is, Who do I want to be?

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become." C.G. Jung

The problem is that I do not know what to become.

I am very existential too...

I love you for this, since I had the same problem since I finished High School. I rarely had a job, and when I got one, it only lasted max a month. I got even more of a loner, and I rarely go out of the house, spending most of my time in front of my computer. I'm freaking lazy and of course when I'm called out on it I'm enraged.

Thus, I found something to actually do that I more or less like. I started writing a blog, and for a year now I'm making my family slowly realize that as soon as I'm finished with my Mastery I'll be going to the UK to find a job and I will live there for as long as I can.

I think moving out will absolutely help me find myself. Especially because it's so far away from home. I will be able to stick to my own rules while experiencing another (or seeing how many different nationalities are in the UK a bunch of others) culture. I think it will suit me fine, even if I end up working as a dishwasher.

Anyway, I'm not saying you should move away from your home, but to try to identify what is the main problem and see if it can be helped somehow. What do you like to do? I have not been around for a long time but it seems to me that you have a lot of information on a lot of different things - why not try writing them down? Or if you don't like writing, you could also try going to different clubs that discuss things, or actually making a group like that.

Those are just a few suggestions, tho

 

[TimeAsylums]

What can you really discover? I assume that it would go something like this: "I exist and my emotions exist. I do not like these emotions that make me feel bad and so I will find a way to not experience them so often." It isn't exactly complicated. What else can you do but find pleasant distractions? Life for us humans is all about emotions, we need to find some way to experience positive ones so that life won't feel so unbearable.

It is not merely about "discovery." Yes, objectively we already know all of these things exist, but can you successfully incorporate them into your self? But then you might say "why would I want to?" Because they are a part of us all, like it or not.(or medicate...) <-lol

like RadicalDreamer said, (lol, his ideas aren't radical! there like the simplest but most helpful! <- not insulting, just pointing some 'irony' out): the goal is character/personality/self growth.

Many of you have read much of the information on INTPs/MBTI I can assume, and much of the goal is to become "self-actualized." Why not work towards that...

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

It is not merely about "discovery." Yes, objectively we already know all of these things exist, but can you successfully incorporate them into your self? But then you might say "why would I want to?" Because they are a part of us all, like it or not.(or medicate...) <-lol

like RadicalDreamer said, (lol, his ideas aren't radical! there like the simplest but most helpful! <- not insulting, just pointing some 'irony' out): the goal is character/personality/self growth.

Many of you have read much of the information on INTPs/MBTI I can assume, and much of the goal is to become "self-actualized." Why not work towards that...

Yes, Actually. I generally do things that make me happy and avoid things that make me unhappy. I don't even really have to work at it because it's fairly natural.

@ op
Now that I think of it, I did overlook something. Better health and less stress can make you happier. Exercise can accomplish both of those things; you should exercise.

 

[TimeAsylums]

Yes, Actually. I generally do things that make me happy and avoid things that make me unhappy. I don't even really have to work at it because it's fairly natural.

@ op
Now that I think of it, I did overlook something. Better health and less stress can make you happier. Exercise can accomplish both of those things; you should exercise.

Perhaps you misunderstood my point. You highlighted a part of my quote that makes me think you were taking it personally. I apologize for my use of "you," it is rather confusing and frowned upon. I meant the "general you" or "one" I was not specifically interrogating you reminiscence. And I would think for most people it is fairly natural to avoid what they dislike and do what they like. But yes better health indeed.

 

[Proletar]

Or, instead of dealing in categorical imperatives, see a professional.



The evidence points to our psyches being epiphenomena of our brains, which we know are responsive to medication for all sorts of disorders. And many mental disorders are simply beyond controlling through willpower alone: depression, for instance, can simply be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. No deep-seated trauma, no bad life habits, just axon heads that re-uptake the serotonin that they release before it can reach the other side of the synapse.

As rule of thumb: if the guy in the lab coat and the guy in the mystic get-up disagree, go with the guy in the lab coat.

-Duxwing

And Duxwing gets it right, as usual. After statements like these, my brain just wants to cuddle up in your lap and purr like a kitten.


You people are putting mental, psychological, philosophical and neural problems in the same basket. In the world of anxiety-disorders, there is usually somatizations. That is, you have anxiety and you are trying to find somwhere to place it. This time, philosophical problems. That's very normal for an INTP.

It's not about the problem itself, so going deep into it wont do you any good. Quite the contrary, in fact. If you really, really want to figure it out, you should do that in a balanced state of mind. Hence, medication. And exercise. And healty living.

 

[SpaceYeti]

Resilience

 

[kvothe27]

Valium seems to allow me to enjoy life. Without it, I excessively ruminate and have numerous existential crises.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Sounds like you're dealing with those bouts of severe nihilism. Truly, what is the point of it all? A conclusion can be gathered by examining the tendencies of ENFPs & ENFJs... If it is a sound enough conclusion, then seriously just carry on and be as you were more or less.
They tend to "live in the moment and make sure every second can be maximized as much as possible".
I think most people, and it could be sub-conscious, do that shit, are all smiles n giggles, because they want to help each other forget about all the nihilism. That's why "people are attracted to positive people", because they lighten up the mood and take our mind off the body's inevitable decomposition. "Thinkers", thus have their own strengths... They may not necessarily be as in demand in a capitalistic society, though. Customer service and whatnot... It could be done, but managers and shit would probably prefer to employ someone less inherently awkward.
So basically exploit whatever you're privy to as much as possible. You should obviously enjoy it. Shake it up too, I guess. All I tried to do was understand why people are so jolly and openly enthusiastic all the time. I'm sure there are fluctuations. I'm probably just lonely and miserable...

 

[Magus]

"Thinkers", thus have their own strengths... They may not necessarily be as in demand in a capitalistic society, though. Customer service and whatnot... It could be done, but managers and shit would probably prefer to employ someone less inherently awkward.

This defiantly isn't true. There has never been a better time to be a 'thinker' in society as now. Knowledge is so readily available and intellect has never been so highly sought after. People and companies pay big money for smarts. 'Outward success' is defiantly possible for INTPs the question is whether we find it satisfying.

 

[Nezaros]

Eat more ice cream.

 

[own8ge]

I still don't know

 

[Milo]

Perhaps find a job or hobby you wish to excel in. Nowadays, I am always looking for something to keep me busy. The more I accomplish, the better I feel, and the better I feel the more confident I am to take on larger projects.

ADD: And based on a central theme I see in your posts about your views on life. I'd analyze Plato's Allegory of the Cave and try to fully understand the Forms in order to realize you know nothing of reality which will stop your overanalyzation of how you want your future to play out and dreading all the things you have to do in order to get there.

If you fully understand it, you won't create a concrete ideal of what you want reality to be in the future--instead you'll strive for success and progress in general and become a workaholic like me who enjoys his work. Right now you are looking at the sky and trying to figure out how to get to the moon while I just continue to climb--only dealing with actual obstacles I know either have a really high probability of being an obstacle or actual obstacles that I see. You're dealing with obstacles that only could be and preparing for them mentally all the time because there's always an infinity of obstacles that could be. You became discouraged and no longer wish to try. My way is through faith. Your way is speculated possibilities and too much extra preparation.

NOW CLIMB!

 

[own8ge]

@Milo
I suppose that you are missing the point. I'm sorry.

[HAHAHAHA ]

 

[pjoa09]

If you don't like it then pull out and spray it all over their ass.

It's really tough but once you do that, somewhere in the orgasm you'll have an idea what to do. Just free yourself from the situation. At least for a brief moment.

 

[Nezaros]

Just get some medication for your anxiety or whatever and start focusing on stuff you find interesting/funny instead of what you are doing now. Being trapped in the wheels of society and/or fear and loathing is horrible, but it's easy to get away from once you try.

I think it's a bad sign when the first answer to this question is "Get some drugs."

 

[Milo]

@Milo
I suppose that you are missing the point. I'm sorry.

[HAHAHAHA ]

Define "the point."

And I shall destroy it. Muahahahah

 

[tokoum]

I deal with life by trying to forget about society and social norms, and just acting like a human is built to act as much as I can. Eat real food, be in nature, exercise body and mind, only take drugs that are of the earth, have fun, be decent to others. It's kind of like constructive nihilism, I guess.

 

[own8ge]

Define "the point."

And I shall destroy it. Muahahahah

Unless with "that you know nothing of reality", would mean that I should care less about my knowledge, it wouldn't make sense. But if I wouldn't care about my knowledge, It is irrefutable that I focus myself on something else. Like you said, have a job etc. Things to excel in. However, then by focusing myself on that, will also mean that I care about that. You can't care about nothing, the only solution for that is death. But if I would focus about a job etc, then I would too, my knowledge will bother me. So the real indecision, and the real crisis, is in the fact that I do not know what to think. Not that I care to much about what I think. I just need to know about what. And I have next to 0 options, as I simply know too much. Once you know something, you cant unknow it and be ignorant instead. Ignorance is bliss after all. But the sinful vice versa struck me.