EternalForest

Best of luck. Keep in mind that outside of giving you knowledge on a subject, college degrees are mainly useful for securing a guaranteed or high paying job. If you want to be a businessman, artist, entrepreneur, etc. it's far more important to develop your drive, vision and grit/work ethic from this point forward. And if you change your mind, you can always go back, but if you're serious, you should give this a real shot for a year or two and see what you can accomplish.

Nowadays most social media platforms, even YouTube, show new content to a small "test audience" and if it does well, they'll promote the content themselves through the algorithm. So if you're not getting followers, either your content isn't resonating with the audience the platform is showing it to, or it's showing it to the wrong audience and you need to adjust your tags and keywords a bit better. Either way, my best advice is to stay consistent. If you love what you're doing, there's definitely an audience out there who'll love it too.

Don't watch football outside of my home team but I watched it because there were a lot of new trailers dropping during the commercials and Kendrick Lamar (probably the best rapper right now) did the halftime show. Btw, HE FUCKING KILLED IT!! What a performer.

This part really hit home, especially this part: "You feel unlikable and the people who you want to associated do not want to be associated with you. There might be good reasons for that, both individualistic and social." Because honestly, a lot of times I think...if only they truly knew me, on a deeper level, then maybe they would actually like me? Maybe I'm just not showing them the sides of myself that they would like? And the trouble is, every interaction goes differently, so it's impossible to know exactly what was missing in any given interaction with someone unless you ask directly. And most likely, if they didn't resonate with you, you won't have further contact with them. So you'll never really know. Pickup feels fake and mechanical to me. It's hard to be authentically romantic with someone when they're just one of a dozen girls you're hitting on. Now, regarding the 3 solutions you suggested: #1. I absolutely agree with this, and it's where most of my energy and attention is channeled! #2. Once again, I completely agree. The fulfilment you can get from spirituality alone is profound. #3. I see what you're saying, and your intention here is good but it's hard to be proud of not having everything you want, as you've mentioned throughout the post. Jim Carrey said it best: “I think everybody should get rich and famous and everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that that’s not the answer." So yes, you can embrace where you are, and accept celibacy, because when you finally do have sex one day, you must keep in mind that won't change a thing about your life in the grand scheme of things. Our virginity doesn't define us. Satisfaction doesn't come from out there, it comes from inside (the heart) ❤️

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. Now for me personally, I'd never want casual sex, because sex without love is meaningless to me. However, if both parties are okay with it being casual, and it's completely consensual? I don't see the issue. For some, they don't have to deeply love everyone they have sex with; it can be an experience of pure sensory pleasure.

@ZenSwift Nothing wrong with watching Breaking Bad haha. As I've said before on here, you can learn more from that show than 90% of self help books out there. Just keep it to one episode a day and focus the rest of your time on working hard. What's hurting you is the "shoulds" and anxiety around how much you should be doing, and what you're not doing that you should be. When in reality, if you make just a little progress every day, reaching your goals will become inevitable. Come at it from a place of self-assurance. You WILL get there eventually, because you're doing the work. You're doing great.

This is actually brilliant, thank you sir.

I'd focus on career because it's something you can control and advance within. If women come, then they come, it's whatever. Ultimately it's better to focus on something you can control rather than something you can't (if some random woman likes you).

My baseline measure of if someone likes me is if they'd be willing to do something simple with me outside of a forced social setting (ie. meet me for a cup of coffee). No woman I've met has even been willing to do that. So is it delusional to say that every woman doesn't like me if that's actually been the case in practice? It feels irrelevant to say "One million women somewhere in the world like you" if you don't have access to 99% of them. If every woman in your vicinity doesn't want you, it's gonna sting no matter what.

I choose to believe in Cthulu...and kick his ass if he tries to destroy me! If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting.

I'm sorry to hear that... My friend actually got diagnosed with cancer in his 20s too, and he beat it. I'm rooting for you, man. Stay strong and keep us posted.

Good luck with your search, however, also be careful getting too attached to online friends... Are there some people I met online in the 2010s that I'm still talking to on a weekly basis? Yes, absolutely! But are there also some people I grew a deep connection to, only for them to abandon or delete their account without notice, completely crushing me? Sadly yes, it happens all the time. So if you start getting attached, take it slow and remind yourself you don't really know someone until you've actually met them. Most of these people you talk to online you will never meet, and while that's okay, you also need to protect your emotions and be open to the possibility that they could leave at any time for any reason, and due to the nature of the internet you may never know who they really were. These aren't the same as in person friends who you have a tangible connection to, and visit their houses, and meet their mutual friends and family. You've gotta remember, as good of friends as you think you may be with these people, you've most likely never been to their house and never will. It's a hard reality to face, but if you face it now, you'll save yourself a lot of heartbreak, trust me. Have as much fun with them as you can, with proper emotional safeguards in place, prepared for any day with them to be your last.

The Understanding Solitude post was one of your best, Leo. Great work.

Well first off, Einstein obviously. For both his scientific and creative insights. Next, Alan Watts is way up there in terms of spiritual wisdom and consciousness! Mother Teresa's philosophies were invaluable and enlightening. For someone still alive, Neale Donald Walsch is brilliant as well and changed my life with his messages from God. Finally, I think George Washington had a lot of political wisdom we can still learn from today.

Certain internet posts I've made got a bunch of backlash but in real life I've never been "cancelled" because I don't hang around people who believe in that. My friends hold authenticity and being uncensored as our top values. The people that would "cancel" us were probably repelled by us in the first place haha

It's sort of an unwritten rule to not comment on extremely old posts that haven't been active in months. However, if you genuinely have something valuable to add to the thread, I don't see why you can't revive it. So no, there's no strict expiration on threads here.

I wouldn't use the term "fault". The situation is: expectations of men are unfairly higher, and their critiques of women aren't welcome. All of society (both men and women), perpetuate this.

Men who don't do "empathizing, emotional labor, and communication-related stuff" don't tend to last in relationships nowadays or even get into one. What you're saying might've been true in the 20th century but not in the 21st century.

And you have every right to do that. However, before you do, make sure you aren't prematurely/misjudging someone because they give off the "vibe" of a misogynist but aren't actually a misogynist, that's all.

I disagree with the idea that both genders are blameless, when society doesn't treat it that way.

If I was a woman I would not necessarily be the same. Plenty of women can see things from a male perspective.

Lack of discipline comes from lack of desire. If you wanted to do something enough, you'd do it. It really is that simple.

Type #2, and it's not even a question. Constant sex without intimacy would be torture.

In my experience, I disagree. It's treated like it very much is the job of men to perfectly sympathize with female pain or they're "not a good friend" or even boyfriend.

This would be all be fine if it was a two way street and you could sympathize with Incels who avoid women out of discomfort and claim avoiding women makes their life better. You just don't seem to view men and women on equal playing field and then expect men not be upset about it or react in a certain way. We will.