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Many middle aged people are giving their entire lives to the generations older and younger. That general happiness curve over a lifetime seems to correspond wi

by dpweb 9y ago

Many middle aged people are giving their entire lives to the generations older and younger. That general happiness curve over a lifetime seems to correspond with the level of responsibilities one has. But I suspect also that we are very much more programmed as far as our values and goals than we realize, and middle age as a natural point in life where depression sets in, a subconcious rebellion/angst against a life we are living that is fradulent not in tune with our true selves.

arca_vorago 9y ago
>a natural point in life where depression sets in, a subconcious rebellion/angst against a life we are living that is fradulent not in tune with our true selves. This is interesting because I feel like after the war I came back a middle aged man at 24 due to this feeling. I went through the motions in my professional career, but it all seemed so empty compared to what I used to do... so I spent the last ten years or so of my free time my career supported trying to study geopolitical and geostrategic issues because I found meaning in trying to understand why things are/were so damn fucked up, so perhaps as a problem solver I could fix some of them. (I have what are probably ridiculous aspirations of a presidential run someday.) So I was living a half fraudulent life in order to live a half self-true life, and the tension between the two was palpable. Near death (and near life) experiences really have a way of breaking that societal programming fast though. It's like when I went through what I call my Descartes reset. I took the red pill with the concious decision that I wanted to know the truth no matter how ugly it is... but that doesn't negate much of just how much impact the ugliness of truth can have on a person. Many people seem to have a subconcious awareness that they would prefer the beautiful lie due to that, but for some reason middle age tends to be the point in which those two forces butt heads, and sometimes people change course at that point. That's why I used to joke I was getting my midlife crisis out of the way early. The joke was on me though, ten years later I still struggle with that dichotomy. I'll finally be 35 in 2020, so do I pursue the grand purpose path and just try my hand at a run for POTUS despite my trepidations or do I focus on establishing a more down to earth life and focus on just living it while I can!? I don't know yet, but I do know that at some point soon I will have to make that decision and follow through with it. The real point is that I think we should self-analyze enough to make these decisions conciously before the uglier side-effects of dealing with them subconciously rear their heads in often desctructive ways, such as a midlife crisis.

by dpweb 9y ago

arca_vorago 9y ago

>a natural point in life where depression sets in, a subconcious rebellion/angst against a life we are living that is fradulent not in tune with our true selves. This is interesting because I feel like after the war I came back a middle aged man at 24 due to this feeling. I went through the motions in my professional career, but it all seemed so empty compared to what I used to do... so I spent the last ten years or so of my free time my career supported trying to study geopolitical and geostrategic issues because I found meaning in trying to understand why things are/were so damn fucked up, so perhaps as a problem solver I could fix some of them. (I have what are probably ridiculous aspirations of a presidential run someday.) So I was living a half fraudulent life in order to live a half self-true life, and the tension between the two was palpable. Near death (and near life) experiences really have a way of breaking that societal programming fast though. It's like when I went through what I call my Descartes reset. I took the red pill with the concious decision that I wanted to know the truth no matter how ugly it is... but that doesn't negate much of just how much impact the ugliness of truth can have on a person. Many people seem to have a subconcious awareness that they would prefer the beautiful lie due to that, but for some reason middle age tends to be the point in which those two forces butt heads, and sometimes people change course at that point. That's why I used to joke I was getting my midlife crisis out of the way early. The joke was on me though, ten years later I still struggle with that dichotomy. I'll finally be 35 in 2020, so do I pursue the grand purpose path and just try my hand at a run for POTUS despite my trepidations or do I focus on establishing a more down to earth life and focus on just living it while I can!? I don't know yet, but I do know that at some point soon I will have to make that decision and follow through with it. The real point is that I think we should self-analyze enough to make these decisions conciously before the uglier side-effects of dealing with them subconciously rear their heads in often desctructive ways, such as a midlife crisis.