5 ms·

Great, so my brain isn't a doomed potato after all. Just need to sleep, exercise, eat well, socialize, reduce stress, stop doomscrolling, learn a language, play

Great, so my brain isn't a doomed potato after all. Just need to sleep, exercise, eat well, socialize, reduce stress, stop doomscrolling, learn a language, play chess, meditate, avoid sugar, limit screen time, and reverse the entropy of the universe. Easy.

nemomarx 1y ago
pick one intervention and work on just that one to start. less anxious decision paralysis I say sleep is the best one to open with
- moravak1984 1y ago
  Yep. Good sleep makes many other decisions easy. Anecdata, but while I normally have a healthy Mediterranean diet (after many years of binge eating), if I don't sleep properly, hell unleashes. If I eat well and I am well rested, I feel energized and positive, so I can go for exercise and then, why not, a meditative walk. If not, I die on my couch binge eating and watching nonsense. Do whatever it takes to get your sleep done.
  - Anonyneko 1y ago
    If only I could actually do something about my awful sleep, even sleep medicine has no effect other than completely ruining my next day.
2OEH8eoCRo0 1y ago
Don't forget to journal
boguscoder 1y ago
I could have told you that for a lot less than 50 mil!
mvieira38 1y ago
If you stop using your phone for anything other than communicating (yes, not just the loose "stop doomscrolling" advice) a lot of these will come naturally. It will lead you to using a real alarm clock and not using your phone after going to bed, which will make your sleep schedule that much more consistent, and also improve quality of sleep. These will probably give you more motivation, which you'll need because the time you used to waste on the phone now needs to be occupied by a real hobby, and here comes language learning, chess, music, etc. (not saying you specifically are a phone addict)
- SketchySeaBeast 1y ago
  > These will probably give you more motivation, which you'll need because the time you used to waste on the phone now needs to be occupied by a real hobby, and here comes language learning, chess, music, etc. Man, that "probably" is doing a ton of heavy lifting.
  - doright 1y ago
    And the causality is the opposite in my experience. I view my smartphone as a maladaptive way of self-soothing. Locking away my phone just means I'm left with unchecked anxiety I can't think myself out of, and I've only deprived myself of one more method of addressing it (nonoptimally). People without constant stress have less temptation. In times where my anxiety is the lowest due to sheer circumstance, any reason I have to doomscroll vanishes and I can then occupy my time with a hobby. But it's not because I chose to do away with my phone that I'm able to do so, it's because I didn't have to spend all my time and effort fighting stress. The less stress, the closer the "choice" gets to being a no-brainer, entirely automatic.
    - mvieira38 1y ago
      In econometrical terms it would be "double causality", as it forms a vicious cycle. Using your phone to self-soothe leads to not developing real hobbies, which leads to more isolation, which leads to more phone usage. Say you decide you're now a chess person. Instead of doomscrolling before bed you find relaxation in the meditative study of chess games for an hour a day before going to bed and now you use your phone only as an alarm. You join your local chess club to play IRL during weekends and attend some classes too. What were the effects? Well, there are the proven long-term cognitive benefits of learning and practicing chess, there's the immediate cognitive and emotional benefit of a larger social circle and a community, and medium term you'll feel good about yourself for achieving milestones (getting to 1000 ELO, winning the weekly tournament, etc.) None of that would have happened if you had stayed on your phone. You probably already invest just as much time on it as you would in chess in this scenario, but it has no ROI, it is designed to suck you in.
cultofmetatron 1y ago
>Just need to sleep, exercise, eat well, socialize, reduce stress, stop doomscrolling, learn a language, play chess, meditate, avoid sugar, limit screen time these are mainly issues in america, canada and parts of europe. I'm currnetly down in colombia. I walked 30 min just to get to a cafe. am activly learning spanish with locals which also checks of socializing. I drink black coffee and you won't have much time for screens if you meet someone to keep you focused on them. > and reverse the entropy of the universe. if only...
apsurd 1y ago
The point of life is to struggle. I don't even mean that to be deep. And I don't wish misery on anyone. I'm saying entropy is a mess. That's what it is.
Tade0 1y ago
Don't forget to have a diet low in histamine. Figuring out how to do it is a fun exercise - some of the stuff that's rich in it is otherwise genuinely healthy, like spinach.
throwforfeds 1y ago
Honestly, these all start to happen naturally when you start dedicating yourself to doing something first thing in the morning. I spent my 20s smoking cigarettes, drinking as much as I wanted, eating whatever. Then after a pretty intense LSD trip I decided to re-dedicate myself to a daily meditation practice. No excuses, just every morning wake up and sit for 20 minutes. The first thing you realize is that your sessions are a lot more fruitful when you don't show up to your morning practice hung over, or on 5 hours of sleep, or after a night of chain smoking. After that practice was established for a year, I started working out. And then you realize your training is better when you're feeding your body correctly, so your diet changes. Etc. They all flow into and out of each other, as they're all essentially the same practice. The important thing I've found is when you want to begin a new habit, put it first thing in the morning. No excuses. Actually, this reminds me of something I read in an interview with David Bowie years ago -- when asked what he learned to appreciate as he got older his answer was just "mornings".
antonvs 1y ago
> reverse the entropy of the universe. INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER
jimbokun 1y ago
Excluding the last one, those are all things that will probably make you happier day to day, too.
thefz 1y ago
All these have always been part of the default human design / experience, and you are just failing to live as intended.

nemomarx 1y ago

pick one intervention and work on just that one to start. less anxious decision paralysis I say sleep is the best one to open with

moravak1984 1y ago
Yep. Good sleep makes many other decisions easy. Anecdata, but while I normally have a healthy Mediterranean diet (after many years of binge eating), if I don't sleep properly, hell unleashes. If I eat well and I am well rested, I feel energized and positive, so I can go for exercise and then, why not, a meditative walk. If not, I die on my couch binge eating and watching nonsense. Do whatever it takes to get your sleep done.
- Anonyneko 1y ago
  If only I could actually do something about my awful sleep, even sleep medicine has no effect other than completely ruining my next day.

2OEH8eoCRo0 1y ago

Don't forget to journal

boguscoder 1y ago

I could have told you that for a lot less than 50 mil!

mvieira38 1y ago

If you stop using your phone for anything other than communicating (yes, not just the loose "stop doomscrolling" advice) a lot of these will come naturally. It will lead you to using a real alarm clock and not using your phone after going to bed, which will make your sleep schedule that much more consistent, and also improve quality of sleep. These will probably give you more motivation, which you'll need because the time you used to waste on the phone now needs to be occupied by a real hobby, and here comes language learning, chess, music, etc. (not saying you specifically are a phone addict)

SketchySeaBeast 1y ago
> These will probably give you more motivation, which you'll need because the time you used to waste on the phone now needs to be occupied by a real hobby, and here comes language learning, chess, music, etc. Man, that "probably" is doing a ton of heavy lifting.
- doright 1y ago
  And the causality is the opposite in my experience. I view my smartphone as a maladaptive way of self-soothing. Locking away my phone just means I'm left with unchecked anxiety I can't think myself out of, and I've only deprived myself of one more method of addressing it (nonoptimally). People without constant stress have less temptation. In times where my anxiety is the lowest due to sheer circumstance, any reason I have to doomscroll vanishes and I can then occupy my time with a hobby. But it's not because I chose to do away with my phone that I'm able to do so, it's because I didn't have to spend all my time and effort fighting stress. The less stress, the closer the "choice" gets to being a no-brainer, entirely automatic.
  - mvieira38 1y ago
    In econometrical terms it would be "double causality", as it forms a vicious cycle. Using your phone to self-soothe leads to not developing real hobbies, which leads to more isolation, which leads to more phone usage. Say you decide you're now a chess person. Instead of doomscrolling before bed you find relaxation in the meditative study of chess games for an hour a day before going to bed and now you use your phone only as an alarm. You join your local chess club to play IRL during weekends and attend some classes too. What were the effects? Well, there are the proven long-term cognitive benefits of learning and practicing chess, there's the immediate cognitive and emotional benefit of a larger social circle and a community, and medium term you'll feel good about yourself for achieving milestones (getting to 1000 ELO, winning the weekly tournament, etc.) None of that would have happened if you had stayed on your phone. You probably already invest just as much time on it as you would in chess in this scenario, but it has no ROI, it is designed to suck you in.

cultofmetatron 1y ago

>Just need to sleep, exercise, eat well, socialize, reduce stress, stop doomscrolling, learn a language, play chess, meditate, avoid sugar, limit screen time these are mainly issues in america, canada and parts of europe. I'm currnetly down in colombia. I walked 30 min just to get to a cafe. am activly learning spanish with locals which also checks of socializing. I drink black coffee and you won't have much time for screens if you meet someone to keep you focused on them. > and reverse the entropy of the universe. if only...

apsurd 1y ago

The point of life is to struggle. I don't even mean that to be deep. And I don't wish misery on anyone. I'm saying entropy is a mess. That's what it is.

Tade0 1y ago

Don't forget to have a diet low in histamine. Figuring out how to do it is a fun exercise - some of the stuff that's rich in it is otherwise genuinely healthy, like spinach.

throwforfeds 1y ago

Honestly, these all start to happen naturally when you start dedicating yourself to doing something first thing in the morning. I spent my 20s smoking cigarettes, drinking as much as I wanted, eating whatever. Then after a pretty intense LSD trip I decided to re-dedicate myself to a daily meditation practice. No excuses, just every morning wake up and sit for 20 minutes. The first thing you realize is that your sessions are a lot more fruitful when you don't show up to your morning practice hung over, or on 5 hours of sleep, or after a night of chain smoking. After that practice was established for a year, I started working out. And then you realize your training is better when you're feeding your body correctly, so your diet changes. Etc. They all flow into and out of each other, as they're all essentially the same practice. The important thing I've found is when you want to begin a new habit, put it first thing in the morning. No excuses. Actually, this reminds me of something I read in an interview with David Bowie years ago -- when asked what he learned to appreciate as he got older his answer was just "mornings".

antonvs 1y ago

> reverse the entropy of the universe. INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER

jimbokun 1y ago

Excluding the last one, those are all things that will probably make you happier day to day, too.

thefz 1y ago

All these have always been part of the default human design / experience, and you are just failing to live as intended.