Hi! I’m an electrical engineering student close to finishing my MsC. These days I feel really, really tired and disenchanted with my work, in spite of it leading to one of my childhood dreams of working on green energies and/or electric transportation.
The same happened when I went to see a couple of museums involving Norway’s naval history, Amudsen’s arctic expeditions, and the epic journies of the Kon Tiki and the Ra. Despite all the pain and hardship those stories portrayed, I left full of energy and determination.
Over the most recent years, most of my media consumption, both fiction and non-fiction, involved delving deep into the complexities and flaws of human nature, both on an individual and societal level. While that has helped me become somewhat more socially functional, it has also sapped my optimism and energy to the point that I’m not sure why I get away in the morning, or why bother making any kind of effort beyond ensuring survival when everything is absurd and pointless, and everyone, myself included, is irredeemably stupid and evil in ways that cannot be fixed, only mitigated.
I want to feel hopeful, optimistic, interested, engaged, and growing. I want to learn shit that makes me want to strive and thrive.
sapped my optimism and energy to the point that I’m not sure why I get away in the morning, or why bother making any kind of effort beyond ensuring survival when everything is absurd and pointless.
That’s called depression. Unfortunately, it’s not rare.
I like to think it’s not some chemical imbalance, but a philosophical, existentialist despair. Think Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Rick & Morty, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett’s work… “THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS JUST US.”
I don’t feel any despair from reading Terry Pratchett’s work. I rather feel pleasure by reading it and laughing about various jokes.
I don’t think the solution you are seeking is found in fiction. If professional mental health services aren’t easily available for you how about CBT workbooks like David Burn’s The Feeling Good Handbook?
TP’s work used to be a delight, but there’s a very strange disconnect between the cynicism of the characters and setting, and the optimism of the stories themselves, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So TP is a bit like eating a lot of cake: sooner or later your tongue starts feeling weird.
Right, but there’s a difference between being depressed by the realization, or finding it depressing because there’s something wrong with your meatsack chemistry.
I wish to believe that which is true, but getting tested and diagnosed for depression is expensive, and so are the chemicals often prescribed to treat them, in money and in secondary effects.
Forgive me if I seem a little impatient, but I’d rather focus on the stated purpose of this thread: media that will help me feel better about myself and the world and foster in me a sense of curiosity, hope, and discipline.
there’s a difference between being depressed by the realization, or finding it depressing because there’s something wrong with your meatsack chemistry.
I don’t think you’re getting this. You are a meat sack of chemicals. “Being depressed by the realization” means that your meatsack chemistry shifted.
do you know media
How many IQ points are you willing to pay? X-D
But if you want a real answer, clinical depression isn’t cured by happy movies. The problem isn’t that the outside world provides too little happiness for you, the problem is that your ability to consume and digest that happiness is impaired.
I don’t think you’re getting this. You are a meat sack of chemicals. “Being depressed by the realization” means that your meatsack chemistry shifted.
Well, assuming that said shift was long lasting, I want to shift it back into something more conductive to a productive and enjoyable life. Being miserable feels miserable, and, worst of all, it’s boring.
the problem is that your ability to consume and digest that happiness is impaired.
On the contrary, I consume and digest the happiness way too fast. It helps me for a short while, and I feel gladness and joy and merriment and flow… and then I’m hungry again. I’m like an insatiable happiness sinkhole.
Hi! I’m an electrical engineering student close to finishing my MsC. These days I feel really, really tired and disenchanted with my work, in spite of it leading to one of my childhood dreams of working on green energies and/or electric transportation.
The same happened when I went to see a couple of museums involving Norway’s naval history, Amudsen’s arctic expeditions, and the epic journies of the Kon Tiki and the Ra. Despite all the pain and hardship those stories portrayed, I left full of energy and determination.
Over the most recent years, most of my media consumption, both fiction and non-fiction, involved delving deep into the complexities and flaws of human nature, both on an individual and societal level. While that has helped me become somewhat more socially functional, it has also sapped my optimism and energy to the point that I’m not sure why I get away in the morning, or why bother making any kind of effort beyond ensuring survival when everything is absurd and pointless, and everyone, myself included, is irredeemably stupid and evil in ways that cannot be fixed, only mitigated.
I want to feel hopeful, optimistic, interested, engaged, and growing. I want to learn shit that makes me want to strive and thrive.
That’s called depression. Unfortunately, it’s not rare.
I like to think it’s not some chemical imbalance, but a philosophical, existentialist despair. Think Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Rick & Morty, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett’s work… “THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS JUST US.”
I don’t feel any despair from reading Terry Pratchett’s work. I rather feel pleasure by reading it and laughing about various jokes.
I don’t think the solution you are seeking is found in fiction. If professional mental health services aren’t easily available for you how about CBT workbooks like David Burn’s The Feeling Good Handbook?
TP’s work used to be a delight, but there’s a very strange disconnect between the cynicism of the characters and setting, and the optimism of the stories themselves, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So TP is a bit like eating a lot of cake: sooner or later your tongue starts feeling weird.
Realizing you are a meat sack full of chemicals is philosophical, existentialist despair. Almost at the Rick & Morty level.
Right, but there’s a difference between being depressed by the realization, or finding it depressing because there’s something wrong with your meatsack chemistry.
I wish to believe that which is true, but getting tested and diagnosed for depression is expensive, and so are the chemicals often prescribed to treat them, in money and in secondary effects.
Forgive me if I seem a little impatient, but I’d rather focus on the stated purpose of this thread: media that will help me feel better about myself and the world and foster in me a sense of curiosity, hope, and discipline.
I don’t think you’re getting this. You are a meat sack of chemicals. “Being depressed by the realization” means that your meatsack chemistry shifted.
How many IQ points are you willing to pay? X-D
But if you want a real answer, clinical depression isn’t cured by happy movies. The problem isn’t that the outside world provides too little happiness for you, the problem is that your ability to consume and digest that happiness is impaired.
Well, assuming that said shift was long lasting, I want to shift it back into something more conductive to a productive and enjoyable life. Being miserable feels miserable, and, worst of all, it’s boring.
On the contrary, I consume and digest the happiness way too fast. It helps me for a short while, and I feel gladness and joy and merriment and flow… and then I’m hungry again. I’m like an insatiable happiness sinkhole.
tl;dr Talk to professionals, don’t take advice on mental health from a internet forum.