6 ms·

Have enough stability (money, housing, relationships) that you have mental juice left over for things higher up Maslow's pyramid. I'm not being glib. That's r

Have enough stability (money, housing, relationships) that you have mental juice left over for things higher up Maslow's pyramid. I'm not being glib. That's really the answer. Sometimes, it just isn't possible to achieve, and that is both frightening and demoralizing. Doesn't make it any less true.

mlindner 4y ago
In my experience it's not a matter of stability but a matter of motivation. The motivation to do this kind of thing feels a lot less now than when I was younger.
- lazide 4y ago
  Motivation is often just another word for ‘free enough from stress, exhaustion, and distraction to find joy in it’. Really. If you’re lacking in motivation, there is almost always something broken somewhere. If you think not, it’s probably because you’ve trained yourself to ignore it, or refuse to believe it.
  - shnock 4y ago
    This really resounds with me, could you expand? How do you find what is "broken somewhere"?
    - aliqot 4y ago
      de-stimulate yourself
    - imchillyb 4y ago
      True evaluation and introspection of one’s daily, weekly, and monthly obligations and the cost of said obligations. One or more of these obligations is broken if there is no motivation for enjoyable personal activities. Broken may not be immediately fixable or remedied. There may be stress inducing obligations that are simply unavoidable. Sometimes the fix is simply recognizing the emotional and mental cost some activities and obligations impart.
  - grayfaced 4y ago
    It could also just be your expectations that are broken. Maybe you want to pursue more hobbies then can be reasonably be done. Then it's a matter of prioritizing the ones you get joy and fulfillment from and letting go on the ones you don't have time to do.
    - lazide 4y ago
      IMO, that is another word for something being broken. Having more hobbies to do than can be reasonably done, but not feeling like you can or should stop is a sign of something wrong elsewhere. Why feel compelled to do them then, after all? The root cause, in my experience, almost always boils down to not enough understanding, awareness, and acceptance of what actually is vs what someone feels should be, could be, or wants to be. Sometimes for good reasons, that matter. Sometimes for bad reasons. Sometimes for no apparent reason at all. The most common factor I see all the time is emotional/mental overwhelm, as in my experience that is the root cause of almost all other causes, as it stops someone from seeing and reacting to the other problems when they occur (like lack of knowledge and bad information, misleading or manipulative other actors that don’t get properly handled, signing up for things that are not realistic due to lack of proper self awareness, lack of healthy coping mechanisms, or over reliance on healthy ones, etc). If you want to read a overly analytical 312 page manual from the Army on exactly this topic, here is the link [https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN34875-TC_3-22.69-000-WEB-1.pdf https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN34875-TC_3-2...]. A lot of key Army doctrine involves how to get inside and lengthen the awareness/decide/action loop of the opponent, while shortening theirs, as it is a key tactical advantage. It’s a large part of why the Ukraine war is going as well for the Ukrainians as it is. The lessons apply to us all however. The sooner you can become aware of what is really happening, decide on/synthesize it into a course of appropriate and effective action (or inaction), and then follow through on it effectively, the healthier, happier, and more successful we tend to be. With our bodies, rational analysis is almost always too slow, and can easily lead to self delusion. Mindfulness, breathing techniques, etc. are generally better. However, as Buddha was well aware of and cautioned against repeatedly, delusion is an ever present threat and can easily happen during meditation as well. Both are often needed, IMO, for different parts of the problems we all face.
- xxs 4y ago
  One of the reasons is: at some point you (will) have done enough of rather different projects/experiments... twice, so new ones are not so exciting. Finding hobbies in different (even related) fields is a lot easier.
intelVISA 4y ago
It's hard to hack on projects when the rent's due, after all. It is demoralizing to think of all the lost works (not just software) our society loses due to the 9-5 grind for most.
matheusmoreira 4y ago
Yeah. Life just keeps piling on responsibility after responsibility until we can no longer afford to care about stuff. Even simply starting something is hard.

mlindner 4y ago

In my experience it's not a matter of stability but a matter of motivation. The motivation to do this kind of thing feels a lot less now than when I was younger.

lazide 4y ago
Motivation is often just another word for ‘free enough from stress, exhaustion, and distraction to find joy in it’. Really. If you’re lacking in motivation, there is almost always something broken somewhere. If you think not, it’s probably because you’ve trained yourself to ignore it, or refuse to believe it.
- shnock 4y ago
  This really resounds with me, could you expand? How do you find what is "broken somewhere"?
  - aliqot 4y ago
    de-stimulate yourself
  - imchillyb 4y ago
    True evaluation and introspection of one’s daily, weekly, and monthly obligations and the cost of said obligations. One or more of these obligations is broken if there is no motivation for enjoyable personal activities. Broken may not be immediately fixable or remedied. There may be stress inducing obligations that are simply unavoidable. Sometimes the fix is simply recognizing the emotional and mental cost some activities and obligations impart.
- grayfaced 4y ago
  It could also just be your expectations that are broken. Maybe you want to pursue more hobbies then can be reasonably be done. Then it's a matter of prioritizing the ones you get joy and fulfillment from and letting go on the ones you don't have time to do.
  - lazide 4y ago
    IMO, that is another word for something being broken. Having more hobbies to do than can be reasonably done, but not feeling like you can or should stop is a sign of something wrong elsewhere. Why feel compelled to do them then, after all? The root cause, in my experience, almost always boils down to not enough understanding, awareness, and acceptance of what actually is vs what someone feels should be, could be, or wants to be. Sometimes for good reasons, that matter. Sometimes for bad reasons. Sometimes for no apparent reason at all. The most common factor I see all the time is emotional/mental overwhelm, as in my experience that is the root cause of almost all other causes, as it stops someone from seeing and reacting to the other problems when they occur (like lack of knowledge and bad information, misleading or manipulative other actors that don’t get properly handled, signing up for things that are not realistic due to lack of proper self awareness, lack of healthy coping mechanisms, or over reliance on healthy ones, etc). If you want to read a overly analytical 312 page manual from the Army on exactly this topic, here is the link [https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN34875-TC_3-22.69-000-WEB-1.pdf https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN34875-TC_3-2...]. A lot of key Army doctrine involves how to get inside and lengthen the awareness/decide/action loop of the opponent, while shortening theirs, as it is a key tactical advantage. It’s a large part of why the Ukraine war is going as well for the Ukrainians as it is. The lessons apply to us all however. The sooner you can become aware of what is really happening, decide on/synthesize it into a course of appropriate and effective action (or inaction), and then follow through on it effectively, the healthier, happier, and more successful we tend to be. With our bodies, rational analysis is almost always too slow, and can easily lead to self delusion. Mindfulness, breathing techniques, etc. are generally better. However, as Buddha was well aware of and cautioned against repeatedly, delusion is an ever present threat and can easily happen during meditation as well. Both are often needed, IMO, for different parts of the problems we all face.
xxs 4y ago
One of the reasons is: at some point you (will) have done enough of rather different projects/experiments... twice, so new ones are not so exciting. Finding hobbies in different (even related) fields is a lot easier.

intelVISA 4y ago

It's hard to hack on projects when the rent's due, after all. It is demoralizing to think of all the lost works (not just software) our society loses due to the 9-5 grind for most.

matheusmoreira 4y ago

Yeah. Life just keeps piling on responsibility after responsibility until we can no longer afford to care about stuff. Even simply starting something is hard.