Hi Nicholas Mihaila. Welcome!The pain in my life far outweighs any joy and I'm not sure how to change this. — Nicholas Mihaila
I have also said in my posts in the past that happiness shouldn't be the goal -- but equilibrium. Don't expect profound enlightenment, uncontained joy and excitement, euphoria, nirvana, or on-top-of-the-world experience. Just live in the now and maintain self-equilibrium.My problem is that I see almost everything as completely pointless and this has profoundly affected my happiness. — Nicholas Mihaila
I see almost everything as completely pointless — Nicholas Mihaila
I make good money and can afford to do what I like, but there’s nothing I want. — Nicholas Mihaila
there’s nothing I want. — Nicholas Mihaila
I’m hoping to get input — Nicholas Mihaila
Live in the now, I suppose. Don't be concerned about the future. — Caldwell
If everything is pointless and there is nothing you want, then why on earth are you working? Is working not pointless? — Bitter Crank
It has always been our human task to provide meaning; the universe doesn't provide it. Since you are working and making good money, you must be a fully functional person. Coming up with some positive thought is well within your operational capabilities. Step One is to stop staring into the abyss. There is nothing to get from it. Step Two is to wean yourself off the cycle of meaningless thinking.
The goal isn't some syrupy, candy-flavored fantasy. Rather, dry solid rock. A positive philosophy may not make you happy, but it will get you a lot farther than nihilism. — Bitter Crank
Do you want some input, or is there nothing you want? — unenlightened
Au contraire, it is the ephemerality that makes them precious — unenlightened
But probably you cannot understand this, because you are too focussed on yourself and your own happiness and eternal fame and so on. — unenlightened
I make good money and can afford to do what I like, but there’s nothing I want. Anyway, I’m posting here because I’m hoping to get input from people who have been in a similar position and found some resolution. — Nicholas Mihaila
I make good money and can afford to do what I like, but there’s nothing I want. Anyway, I’m posting here because I’m hoping to get input from people who have been in a similar position and found some resolution. — Nicholas Mihaila
. My problem is that I see almost everything as completely pointless and this has profoundly affected my happiness. I used to study endlessly, but now I don’t see any purpose to it. You could work your entire life only to make a scratch on the edifice, but you’ll surely be forgotten afterwards. Even if you weren’t, the universe itself has a lifespan, so everything in it will eventually be undone. I used to play the piano too, but somehow I’ve lost motivation to play when I view it through this lens of hopelessness. — Nicholas Mihaila
Think on what you need and do that.A quote from Emil Cioran sums up my feelings nicely:
“Lucidity does not extirpate the desire to live—far from it, lucidity merely makes us unsuited to life.”
I make good money and can afford to do what I like, but there’s nothing I want. — Nicholas Mihaila
Still unmotivated, Nicholas? Well, Cioran might say you are graced with sloth. Take solace in boredom; after all, life is short.If everything you could ever achieve will be undone, it seems to me like the only solution is to enjoy the process. It's difficult for me though. — Nicholas Mihaila
I work as a pediatric nurse and helping people is one of the only things that I still find worthwhile. — Nicholas Mihaila
What? Must I ever be on the way? Whirled by every wind, unsettled, driven about? O earth, you have become too round for me!
Too much has become clear to me: now it does not concern me anymore. Nothing lives any longer that I love, - how should I still love myself?
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
A good wind? Ah, he only who knows where he sails, knows what wind is good, and a fair wind for him.
Und da sitz’ ich in der grossen Runde,
In der stillen kühlen Feierstunde,
Und der Meister sagt zu Allen:
„Euer Werk hat mir gefallen;“
Und das liebe Mädchen sagt
Allen eine gute Nacht.
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
Usually the solution to this type nihilism involves seeing yourself more as part of a greater whole, that consequentially has a function or purpose in that larger whole.... Problem is we don't especially live in a culture right now that is conductive to this kind of solution, because any type of communitarian feeling be it religious or non-religious has essentially been hollowed out by individualism/capitalism/consumerism. — ChatteringMonkey
I wrote sometime ago: "There is X and there is Y, and the simple fact that neither one matters itself does not matter, so they proceed apace as if they did, and that is all that matters." — James Riley
I think you would benefit from reading Spinoza. He's very similar to Nietzsche in some ways, but in other ways closer to the Stoics or even Taoists. Even he came to the conclusion that all things that were impermanent were going to be unsatisfying. Spinoza's solution? Find happiness in something that is eternal, which is your power of understanding. These are some good posts that go into this sort of thing from a Spinozist angle: — Albero
Also, you should read up on Schopenhauer. — schopenhauer1
True meaning is what gives YOUR life meaning. It doesn't matter if your life won't extend to tomorrow, you're alive today right? You want to do something at the end of the day, fulfills you. To feel like you enjoyed existing that day. To feel like you could enjoy existing tomorrow if it comes. — Philosophim
What works for me is that instead of striving for a happy life, I live for a proper death. After all, Were all gonna kick the can someday. — john27
I'm no Buddhist but I found these ideas helpful decades ago when I first grappled with meaninglessness. — Tom Storm
The most effective way to deal with the absurdity of reality, that I have found, is to shrug my shoulders, and make sure I get enough sleep. Stay calm and lucid. — _db
Happiness, however, comes at a price. We have to, well, work for it. One can't just lie in bed and decide to be happy and be happy. — TheMadFool
The meaning of life is to regularly overcome resistance. — the affirmation of strife
Do the hardest thing you think you can do. — the affirmation of strife
Regarding the list that I mentioned earlier, the list of things that contributed to my unhappiness, some of the items have been more difficult to cross off than others. The most difficult probably would have to be one of the more recent items: correcting my short stature. I worked 80-hour weeks and had 4 surgeries to correct my proportions and increase my height. This was, as you could imagine, agonizing. Anyway, my only point is that I am putting in the work. — Nicholas Mihaila
Thank you! And to you too! I already completed the surgeries. I'm currently in the recovery process. I'm still in pain but it's manageable and my mobility is improving. — Nicholas Mihaila
I certainly am depressed, but I believe it's an effect and not a cause. I'm currently taking medication and that's been the only way I've been able to function. Without it I would be jobless and in a far worse position. I've tried therapy, but it hasn't helped. I'll likely try again in the future though. — Nicholas Mihaila
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