I mean, both can be true.
Yeah, shit does suck and having financial security is better therapy than therapy.
Success is the best antidepressant. Weight loss does wonders.
But if that was true Elon would be the happiest person on earth.
Offer valid only up to $150k, turns out. After that, it starts going downhill.
*different cities may experience slightly higher or lower values, terms and conditions apply
After that, it starts going downhill.
No study suggests this. It keeps going up - you’re just hitting diminishing returns.
There’s a trillionaire that is desperate to get into pedophile parties, and between him and the common person, there’s a lot of millionaires and billionaires in those pedophile parties, so there’s clearly a downward trending curve.
Yeah but that’s because he’s a shit excuse for a human, and is fundamentally broken. Whereas a normie would self-actualize with the resources to do so.
Feel like that used to be true, now you need that and stability.
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” J. Krishnamurty
I recently thought my depression was getting way worse but actually it was just intestinal parasites giving me anemia.
So now I get to experience this shitty world with slightly more energy.
When I was a tween my family moved from Connecticut to Florida.
For a long time I was really depressed to the point where they thought I had Mononucleosis or I might need antidepressants.
Turns out I was just hot. It’s fucking hot in Florida. I was hot. I just didn’t understand why I felt so shitty, because I had never really experienced oppressive Florida heat and humidity.
Sometimes there are actual reasons and feeling depressed isn’t coming from inside you.
Ain’t that something, When you open your car door and it’s as if you were baking something, except they smell like steamy mildew, but that sweet hot heat blasts you in the face and it makes you think of the terminator movie.
“I thought i had mono for a year, but i was just bored.” - Wayne
came here lookin for this comment lol
If your environment is totally things that sucketh bigly, your noggin becomes Yugely scrambled and the mind therein disturb-ed. A disturb-ed mind is a depress-ed mind. Hie thee to one who may prescribe and partake of their services. It shall be a balm to a disturb-ed noggin.
There’s a few studies that link low self esteem and depression with accurate understanding of the world and oneself. Lookup depressive realism. It’s actually mildly depressing!
Incidentally, using high self esteem may also lead to looking down on others, defensiveness, inability to critically analyze oneself, among other things. That’s just kinda how it goes when you think highly of yourself…
Sounds like a very mild case of “billionaire syndrome”
I am sorry, but this is nonsense. Even if the world sucks, the logical, smart response would not be dispair and depression, because that fixes nothing.
Also things like looking down on other or defensiveness are symptoms of low self esteem, not a high one. If you really are confident in yourself, you don’t need to feel better than others, because you feel good about yourself.
You can understand the world and still try to enjoy your life. The world always sucked and people found ways to cope with it. But that is a skill, that doesn’t always come naturally, but you should always strife towards that.
I am sorry, you are going through this, but don’t try to rationalize it. It is nearly rational, nor is it an inevitable outcome of high intelligence (this is not a judgement of you personally by the way).
Even if the world sucks, the logical, smart response would not be despair and depression, because that fixes nothing.
How logically do most people act, in your estimation? How logically would they act, if an unbearable depression descended upon them through looking at the shape of the world today? How many active genocides are taking place? How quickly will climate change destroy our way of life, and is there anything you, as an individual, can do to stop it? What about food and water insecurity being faced by millions of people? Millions of Americans, even? Lack of healthcare, the widening income gap between the 1% and everyone else? What can you logically do to address these global, ever worsening issues?
Perhaps the fact that you can’t do anything about these very real issues can also be a source of depression? Especially when you’re struggling just to keep your head above the metaphorical water?
One of the last vestiges of hope is a belief in karma. That the evil people perpetuating these evil things will one day face justice. But that’s not true, is it? kissinger never faced consequences. Somehow I doubt trump or netenyahoo will either.
I imagine your answer is probably something along the lines of “focus on your immediate needs and community.” Which boils down to, ignore these problems, because there’s nothing you can do. Kinda like telling an employee aboard a star ship to tidy their working area as the main computer counts down the self-destruction sequence.
I, for one, cannot imagine that Sisyphus is happy.
Ok here’s a counterpoint, sure the world sucks in that all the things you mentioned are happening, but also - compared to the conditions we were genetically programmed to endure, modern life is amazing. For the vast majority of people, our base biological needs are met effortlessly. The majority of human existence has historically been a struggle for calories. Like, thats it. That’s 99% of your life: either hunting, foraging, farming, or directly supporting the people in your family who do. Also, the strong dominating the weak wasn’t even questioned it was just a fact of life.
Transport one of those people from the hunter-gatherer/bronze age/iron age/midevial era and they would be ecstatic in the modern day. Try to tell them about Netanyahu or Trump and they would probably say “wow they sound like an asshole but not as bad as the guys I had to deal with”.
There are no objectively good or bad human conditions. Things can always be better or worse. People’s emotions and perception of human conditions, therefore, are all about whether they perceive things are getting better or worse. The good part about that is it gives you agency. All most people have to do to be happy is improve their quality of life, or adjust how they perceive the world in order to give themselves a more positive outlook.
Tldr get tf off of Lemmy and the rest of social media
All most people have to do to be happy is improve their quality of life, or adjust how they perceive the world in order to give themselves a more positive outlook.
Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and imagine yourself happy!
Not trying to be flippant but… not good advice.
Also I think trump has probably raped more children than most mean midevial guys.
It IS good advice I swear to god. Its not even controversial its what any therapist would tell you. Make lifestyle changes and improve your mindset.
Yeah Trump is a bad dude but tell me with a straight face hes worse then Genghis Kahn or Vlad the Impaler.
wasn’t Genghis Kahn like, famously benevolent to his men and tolerant of other beliefs and customs?
The principal source of steppe wealth was post-battle plunder, of which a leader would normally claim a large share; Genghis eschewed this custom, choosing instead to divide booty equally between himself and all his men.[209] Disliking any form of luxury, he extolled the simple life of the nomad in a letter to Changchun, and objected to being addressed with obsequious flattery. He encouraged his companions to address him informally, give him advice, and criticise his mistakes.[210] Genghis’s openness to criticism and willingness to learn saw him seeking the knowledge of family members, companions, neighbouring states, and enemies.[211] He sought and gained knowledge of sophisticated weaponry from China and the Muslim world, appropriated the Uyghur alphabet with the help of the captured scribe Tata-tonga, and employed numerous specialists across legal, commercial, and administrative fields
He also fathered over a thousand children. If you think all of that was consensual, well… idk what to tell you. And I can’t give him very much credit for invading peaceful nations, plundering them, enslaving their scribes and then using their language. Even if he did divide the booty equally among his men.
Trump is also famously pretty generous with for example tipping people a hundred dollars for carrying his golf clubs. And enriching his own inner circle.
What you gotta ask yourself though: If it is really, that everything just sucks so bad, then why isn’t everybody depressed.
I mean, I don’t even disagree. Everything indeed does suck so bad. But there’s a surprising number of people, that seem to cope with that fact way better than I do.
Turns out, I actually do have depression. If you suspect, that you do too: seek help. It won’t change that everything sucks so bad. But I already learned to cope a little better, and I hope you can, too.
why isn’t everybody depressed
It’s because they’re stupid and self centered.
That explanation falls a bit short. While it surely explains a lot of people, it doesn’t apply to everybody. There are definitely also people (some of whom I know personally) who are neither stupid & self-centered nor depressed.
Then they aren’t paying attention which makes them either stupid or self-centered.
I guess there’s no point arguing against a closed worldview.
I think, at least for Americans, they are absolutely brainwashed. They can’t imagine a different world and think this is the Pinnacle of human existence. Then it turns out they are so EVIL they don’t really care and ignore school children getting killed by guns and systematically raped by elites.
There is a surprising number of people too dumb to see just how profoundly everything sucks and hence is going to suck even more
Then there is a number of people who have the capability to see but actively prevent themselves from it lest it breaks them
Two things can be true. And your depression can be because everything actually sucks. Instead of being because you simply believe it sucks.
Like I said, I don’t disagree with things sucking in general.
Perception is very important, though.
It would be possible to be perfectly depressed, even if things did not, in fact, suck.
But of course, it’s a lot easier to be depressed and to believe, that everything sucks, if that is actually reflected in reality.A big part of combatting depression, is to focus your perception on things, that don’t suck and changing the ones that can be changed, to suck less; instead of making yourself sick by fussing about the things you cannot change anyway.
I struggle with that every day.
Seeking help for depression is what lead me to a therapist. She helped me make the changes in my life circumstances that I needed to make my life suck significantly less. I am no longer chronically depressed.
Do you mind sharing, what kind of changes those were and how they were important for you to feel better?
I was letting some people take advantage of my strong work ethic and was therefore overextending myself. I needed encouragement to escape a bad living situation and move out to another city nearby. I was confused with about my sexual orientation following a series of advances from a gay person that didn’t seem entirely unwanted at the time. I also needed encouragement to speak to my doctor about some embarrassing health issues which turned out to be easily treatable.
I’m still being actively treated for anxiety and a panic disorder ancillary to PTSD following my volunteer work in the aftermath of hurricane Helene.
That really sounds like you worked out some important things. I can totally understand how those issues can wear you down, especially if you can’t bring yourself to resolve them. Glad you found someone who could help you deal with them. And I hope you can make progress on the rest of your issues as well.
Honestly, you sound like a good person, who deserves to be happier, just from that glimpse, I’ve read. All the best!
Thanks for the kind words! I hope this encourages you or someone else to pursue a better life! Have a wonderful day
lemmy will have you thinking everything sucks though. this is one of the most intense doomer spaces i’ve ever seen…
Not even close to as bad as Reddit. Have you opened that recently…? I can’t scroll more than 4 or 5 posts before I have to nope out of there because I can feel the ragebait radiating from my phone.
Lemmy is filled with terminally online shut-ins that barely interact with the real world, yet talk like they’ve travelled the world and are an expert in anything.
As someone who’s an active union member; everything sucks. You gotta have your head reeeaaaal deep in that sand not to notice. Or live a really priviliged life.
Said the Internet shut-in terminally online tough guy
“I sure told them.” He said smarmily.
“Don’t they know I’m the expert?” He quietly reflected, repressing his self doubt before posting some other inane and trifling bullshit.
Aw dude
Getting on the eightfold path has changed my worldview and mood for the better. True story.
Edit to add: But even before that, just going anti-consumerist gave my mood a healthy boost. When I stopped buying shit, I stopped wanting shit. Felt good.
This is both my biggest love of, and gripe with, Slavs.
“Why smile? Everything is shit? Look around!”
But also, the world is amazing AF if you look around. There’s joy and love in anything and everything of you choose to look for joy and love.
But also, everything is fucked, so let’s drink rakja until we don’t feel feelings.
But also, flowers and sunsets.
My wife would tell me I’m depressed, and I’d agree about that.
However, she thought I should get meds, and I thought I should only get medicated for depression if the depression was chemical.
If you’re depressed because life sucks, then you should be motivated to fix what sucks. Unfortunately, that’s not how depression works.
Luckily, life started to suck slightly less.
I mean…. I still got antidepressants a year ago thinking it was just dopamine burn out. I feel like I have the motivation of my mid 20’s. It’s amazing. I’ve met so many of my neighbors and been to all the bars/breweries/restaurants with them.
