Midnight Pub

Next Comes Life

~zampano

Dear Reader,

The problem with being unhappy most of the time isn't actually the unhappiness. Sure, it burns you out, leads some people to commit suicide, whatever, but on some level you get used to it. Just like with drugs or alcohol, it's what to do when it's gone that's the problem.

I've often thought of depression as an addiction to feeling miserable, maybe to a certain chemical or biological configuration in my brain. Some of the more behavioralist- or CBT-focused schools of psychology also discuss thought habits, which is about as clear a definition of "addiction" that I can think of. But of course, getting rid of this **massive** part of your day-by-day thought processes leaves a hell of a gap.

It's the replacement of the thing that is, in my opinion, the true difficulty. Feeling sad and frustrated was something to do, and now that I don't, I am stuck with this vague restlessness but with the priors of my previous experience. In other words, I've spent as long as I can remember in a state where I didn't feel like anything I did mattered because, in a sense, it didn't. If something doesn't make you happy, why do it? But what if that something is *everything*?

So now I'm trying to find something else. I was afraid at first that I would have to totally give up on what I thought I was into, what I thought I wanted to do with myself. I haven't ruled this out, but in the meantime, I'm noticing more control over myself and what I choose. But this still doesn't really address the question of what I like and what I don't. Granted some things are facially uninteresting, yet there's plenty of things that aren't but still don't offer any kind of meaningful accomplishment or whatever.

I actually expected that the biggest issue would be the vulnerability: when you feel like you have nothing to lose, that can bring with it an immense sense of security. There's something about our brains where we're *far* more sensitive to changes than the actual states we're changing between. And so feeling at the bottom doesn't actually feel as bad as the fall to get there. (And I must recognize that I was fortunate to not have to do that downward spiral all at once.) If it wasn't clear, this has not been my struggle.

Instead, I'm faced with a vast plain ahead of me. Dante describes Purgatory as a mountain slope, but that's far too interesting. Even C.S. Lewis's version (in *The Great Divorce*) of a drab and infinite suburban sprawl still has more going on than what I see ahead of me. It's just a flatness without variation.

Like the song says, "all outward motion connects to nothing." If I ask myself "why should I do x?" I have no answer beyond it being a way to avoid boredom while it's in progress. There's simply no connection to anything beyond that. This means looking for my strengths or talents is unproductive; I could be the greatest writer since Shakespeare, for example, but if it doesn't change anything, what does it ultimately matter? I don't mean this in the sense of becoming rich and famous. But if I get nothing out of writing, none of that can make up for it.

You may then ask why I'm writing here. It's one part balm--it helps relieve some internal pressure these thoughts bring up--and one part desperate hope that some new aspect of this will come to me as I write. Really that's the main reason I ever write, the latter. Sometimes the former too. It works as a pressure valve, but I've never had any new insights beyond realizing something I thought was an interesting dichotomy actually isn't one or both of those things.

I need to forge some kind of outside connection with the outside world, but I haven't the faintest idea how.


robin

If I get you right you don't see any sense in most things you do (Correct me if I'm wrong). I often think the same. There is one thing that carries me through at the moment. It's the fact that there's a God that loves me and didn't let me die yet. That means he still has a plan for me even if I don't know the plan and I don't.

John 3,16

Psalm 139, 16

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zampano

That belief works for me some of the time, just not as consistently as I'd like. I'm not sure if it's a case of having to rely on it and only it one too many times or what.

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5th-position

@zampano

Why the big focus on wanting to feel happy? Why is happiness so important? Happy, happy, happy ... sounds rather childish.

Paraphrasing: "I could be the greatest writer ..." and you then enquire about "if I get nothing out of writing ..." leads to the question: what is your rationale for expecting anything? The world does not owe anyone anything.

"Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear themselves out." (Buddha)

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zampano

Eh, the Buddhist approach has always been a tad too nihilistic for my taste.

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5th-position

Hi zampano!

Sorry if I came off as unfriendly the other night. I had been out walking the (internet) streets and only chanced upon the Midnight Pub. Not in the best mood because of the general pandemonium I have been finding for all these years, I didn't realize that I had actually found what I had been missing.

Yes, the Buddhist approach can seem rather desolate for some. However, I find that I can take solace in it -- especially after visiting so many frivolous hangouts that serve overly complex drinks that, in the end, have no content worth consuming.

But your insights are very interesting. The vast plain ahead of you and its simple flatness without variation. I think that you can actually use this to your advantage (as you seem to be doing already). Continue your writing and what you reap will eventually not only help to give that plain contours but also be the origin of some kind of contact with the outside world. Don't worry about the "how" -- that's actually inconsequential. Think rather in terms of Newton's third law of motion, where for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.

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zampano

No worries at all, and I appreciate your following up. I know how difficult things can be just in general, especially these days.

And I do resonate with some Buddhist thought, it just tends to be Zen rather than Mahayana =)

I like the Newton's law metaphor. One thing I was thinking as I was reading your message is that a vast pla(i)n(e) can potentially be fertile ground to be turned into something else. Now I just need to figure out how not to be dependent on either (prescription) stimulants or caffeine in order to see the world that way.

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