find something to be passionate about.
whether it invloves religion, volunteer work, or just a hobby.
find some passion.
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I wrote a moderately lengthy post above about what I’d specifically want to do in the military to maximize my chances, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth it.
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I didn’t mean that they had to “put me in touch” with it - but rather, allow me to live it out.
It’s sort of a hard question to answer without going into things about my situation and psychology that I’d rather not go into on a public message board.
I realize my request makes me sound like a spoiled rich kid needing to try to feel ‘worldly’ by doing something exotic. That’s not what the motive is, even though there is probably a lot of overlap in as far as the suggestions go.
I need to get away from most aspects of civilized society, where everyone is several steps away from feeling anything real. I can’t stand it - the pointless jobs that are far away from anything that actually matter outside of their specific economic function, worrying about debt to pay off your SUV, sitcoms, starbucks, the whole deal. It’s so far detached from anything primal about reality, and only relates to the continuation of such an artificial construct. Yeah, I know, standard angsty teenager stuff.
Anyway, I won’t survive it for much longer at all. I’m through with it, barring some epiphany in which I realize the value of 9-5 life. So, I figured I’d see if getting the hell out of here or at least doing something more primal and related to the basics of life might be more tolerable. Chances are that might not do anything for me, but I’m not going to survive here as it is, so it’s worth a shot.
“Survive” - I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything stupid. If you are, I urge you to contact someone to whom you can talk to about this.
Why not try a short life-changing experience first? Go to Nepal for a few weeks and climb the Himalayan foothills. After that, think again.
I have worked in the clercial/IT field and at times i found it completely pointless… like you said, sure you manage to help others get their work done when you fix their puter - but what does it really mean…how does it really HELP someone. I found a lot more satisfaction in my job when i was working in a hospital laundry. the work wasn’t exciting or fun, but i could see how it really helped people… people who were suffering in hosptial because of being sick, or experiencing the adventuer of having a baby…these people benefited from the clean linen i helped provide.
Maybe that sounds stupid, but that’s how i felt about things.
I would recommend volunteer work - that ALWAYS does good things to help a person “find themselves” - it doesn’t have to be humanitarian type stuff…there are always a wide variety of places looking for volunteers. I think spendign some time with people in need (and I dont’ necessarily mean financial need here) can have a huge impact on your life and definately make you a better person in the long run
SenorBeef: The military would not be for you. If you walked into a recruting office talking about warrior spirit and requesting to join units that would guarantee combat, chances are they’d escort you off the premises.
How about joining the SCA or a Living History society? You’d get away from ‘Modern’ life for a while and, in the case of the SCA, have loads of fun beating people up with swords.
You could also see if there are any courses you could take on primitive technology.
Or maybe you should just move to Montana and join a militia.
Well sir, I don’t honestly think we can truly be of much help.
You’re right, you come off sounding like a spoiled kid who suddenly realized that the real world is too much for you. That may not be the case, I know, but that’s how it sounds.
Lots of folks have made some great recommendations for what you can do. But you keep finding reasons to avoid those ideas. No Peace Corps or Red Cross, because it doens’t fit with what you want to do. The Military is not what you want, period. Apparently a vacation or hike is not long term enough.
It sounds like you want to move to Vietnam and become a rice farmer or something.
If you’re not happy doing IT work, don’t do it. Change your major. Go into health care, or art. Don’t buy an SUV if you don’t want to, there are plenty of other options.
One of my friends was an business guy. Worked really hard, made 2 internet businesses that took off fairly well, and retired at 26. Currently, he’s homeless, travelling up and down the West Coast, sampling different places and slowly working his way through some courses in school that make him happy.
The truth is, if modern society is unbearable for you, it’s not societies fault, it’s yours. If you can’t come up with a way to cope, seek therapy.
Keep us posted.
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Well, I posted this to have suggestions into routes I could look into, hoping someone would suggest something I hadn’t considered. I didn’t think it would be necesary to give an intimate and drawn out explanation as to my psychology to prove the “validity” of my desires. It was uncalled for, earlier, I think, for the poster to start barking at me.
I’m curious as to how you came to the conclusion that I thought the world was too much for me. If that were the case, wouldn’t I be striving to maintain my current comfortable living, rather than do something unpleasant?
And it certainly hasn’t been sudden. I’ve been discontent with the whole deal for a long time now - it’s just reaching a critical point at which I’ll be completely unwilling to deal with it any longer. As I’m not quite so dissolutioned that I’d just allow myself to passively die, I’m seeking what seems to be the only viable option left: drastic change, in the hopes that I find something worth doing.
I’m slightly irritated over the whole imagine I’m projecting, but I guess I don’t really care. I came here for suggestions, not group therapy.
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You make it sound as if I’m being self defeating on purpose. If I’m trying to avoid changes to my life because I’m lazy, or whatever, why’d I go out of my way to ask on here?
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Actually, it is, but probably wouldn’t be practical, for reasons I detailed above.
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That isn’t especially appealing, because it would become a set pattern in which I’d work all day long just to maintain an unhappy existance.
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I’ve given tons of thought to this sort of thing, of course, because it’d have a huge effect on my life. Unless I undergo some drastic change, chances are that nothing I can learn in school is going to be something worthwhile enough to make it a viable option for me.
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I’m not assigning fault to anyone or any entity, and I think it’s sort of weird to. To say it’s my fault is to suggest I’ve done something wrong, and I haven’t. I have a different set of preference to most people, and this society doesn’t appeal to me in the same way it does to others. It’s a preference thing, not an “at fault” thing.
It’s not really a matter of coping or not. To be basically worth it, something needs to give you as much pleasure/reason to survive/whatever to be worth doing it. It’s almost mathematical, if you break it up. Costs and benefits and all that. I’m not sure how I can learn to “cope” with whatever you’re suggesting I should learn to cope with.