Personal Growth/Development

[imitationleather]

I believe that for about three-quarters of the time humans have been around, we just kept making the same stone axe over and over again, with little Innovation beyond that.

The glory days.

[The Ombudsman]

Here's an idea;

Why not rather than spend lots of time reading about how shit things are; how about finding a job that actively improves the world around you.  That might sound like I'm being glib but there is a serious amount of personal growth and happiness in helping others.   It's fantastically hard work and dominates your life but you find purpose and motivation in knowing you are actually contributing to something good rather than just being passenger to it.

Also yes; wanking and dibdabs

This is very true, and Trents comments about stepping away from social and other media also. Helping others in any capacity is healing, I've found.

[thenoise]

I believe that for about three-quarters of the time humans have been around, we just kept making the same stone axe over and over again, with little Innovation beyond that.

Now we've 'advanced' to the point that 99% of us couldn't even do that.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I can hammer some long nails into a mass-produced bat if the need calls for it.

[Noodle Lizard]

If you forget about the more complex context of a lot of these, the often very simple, "isn't that obvious?" wisdom of the Stoics (Aurelius, Seneca etc.) and Transcendentalists (Emerson, Thoreau) can be quite impactful. The modern ideas of self-help or -growth that you see on social media do tend to seem borne out of the idea that everyone is supposed to be "better" than they are, often through a rather materialistic prism of success. The Stoics provide a good framework for being at peace with what you have, and the Transcendentalists suggest you may not even need that. I know it's all  kind of "basic bitch" philosophy, but I think sometimes simplicity is often a good antidote to an impossibly complicated world.

Did me the world of good, anyway.

[Paul Calf]

[Kankurette]

Carrie Brownstein nailed it.

In terms of making things or being creative, I think early on, I felt this sense of failure. Remember there were all these articles about how Shakespeare wrote during a pandemic? We were all supposed to be making amazing art. I'm not comparing myself to Shakespeare. It just felt like, "Well, let's just sit back and wait. All this great literature and film will come out of this." I thought, But I can't get out of bed right now. I don't know what I'll be making. I started worrying that I no longer had a sense of what was happening in the world. I came out on the other side with some lightness, but it definitely felt dark for a while.

I hate this idea that the pandemic is a learning opportunity and that everyone should spend it bettering themselves, getting a side hustle and so on. I did do a load of courses on Duolingo, but that's because I love languages and I wanted to do a French/German refresher because of my job, just to go over the basics. And I've been cooking a lot, but sometimes i feel I should be doing more and it annoys me. I think a lot of my mental capacity is given over to work and there's not much left for creativity. My cat is probably glad I haven't done a lot of tuba practice of late though.

Here's an idea;

Why not rather than spend lots of time reading about how shit things are; how about finding a job that actively improves the world around you.  That might sound like I'm being glib but there is a serious amount of personal growth and happiness in helping others.   It's fantastically hard work and dominates your life but you find purpose and motivation in knowing you are actually contributing to something good rather than just being passenger to it.

Also yes; wanking and dibdabs

My brother did that and he's a lot happier these days. I don't know if working as a translator helps others, though a lot of stuff I do involves medical research and clinical trials, so maybe I am. I know quitting Facebook really, really helped my mental health, though the downside is that I have no social life and barely talk to anyone outside my family and a couple of friends who know about the cancer.