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/lit/ - Literature

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14099682 No.14099682 [Reply] [Original]

What motivates people to study for extended periods of time? How do they deal with painful emotions/anxiety/stress/depression but aren't deterred by it? How have they convinced themselves of the value of what they are doing?

>> No.14099695

Something to busy oneself with.

>> No.14099766

>>14099682
They'd enjoy doing their degree even without the motivation of having a degree at the end of it and the possibilites that come with it.
This is apparently ddd for STEMs and most other degrees (as economics, business, law, etc.) to grasp even being possible.

>> No.14100065

usually, there is some hope of climbing out of your own personal hole through those activities

>> No.14100082

first half: damn I really need to get my shit together
second half: If I fuck this up now it has all been for nothing,

>> No.14100113
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14100113

>>14099682
The Will.

>> No.14100145

>>14099766
Exactly this. Every successful intellectual has been driven by one thing: obsession. One can become addicted to knowledge, and it is the one addiction that liberates rather than enslaves.

This means is that if you want to become a true intellectual one needs only to do one thing: cultivate their passion. You want to find something that so inspires you that you can't get away from it: you're captured, in love with exploration, creation, and discovery, it is your life, and so you simply become.

There is no higher level of the will to power than the will to know!

>> No.14100222
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14100222

Studying is for automata; learning is for persons.

>> No.14100847

>>14100145

"For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow."

>> No.14100885

>>14100065
That's what keeps me going. Articulated perfectly. Depression hounds me every day, fears about dying alone, shame regarding the past, anxiety about not being good enough, being an impostor,etc. Yet somehow I work a sales job and also earn a very good amount of money on the side, all of this takes intense effort and focus that I am very surpised to be able to muster, given the daily contents of my thoughts. I am a high functioning type I suppose. I keep saying: one day this will stop, and I will have made it, but it is easy to lose track of your original intentions and just get into the grind for the sake of it. I guess the key is to just ignore your thoughts and do what needs to be done deapite of yourself, with no guaranteed success

>> No.14100934

I would also say that momentum is key. Small victories snowball into bigger ones. No matter the depth of the hole you are in or the severity of the problem: divide your goals into the smallest possible units and start to conquer them one by one. You will suprise yourself with how far you can take this. Some say this is Peterson-esque meme advice, but it works. You just need a degree of self-awareness. Worried that you wasted too much time before? Well it's only gonna get worse the more you sit around doing fuck all (been reading LondonFrog posts today)

>> No.14101321

>>14100885
Same situation. Technical work, isolated for years now. I want to be around others, but can't find compatibility and common ground anymore. Drifted away from everything and now I feel like I drifted far out, with nothing visible on the horizon in every direction. I'm buried in work and books when I am awake and sober.
I thought money would do something, but there is nothing I want to spend it on. The food all tastes the same. The material items in my life make no difference. The same items I remember desiring and valuing when I was younger. I want to travel but I'm afraid that all places and people look the same too. If sadness is still a general emotion, you should be grateful. It's the emptiness that you have to worry about. The sadness washes away, erodes, after a while leaving nothing

>> No.14101949

>>14101321
That's interesting. My work is very social and I wouldn't have the patience for technical stuff, so I am happy to have daily company yet I keep my distance and will still feel pretty lonely, isolated even, in the everyday crowd. I don't drink though, not even on my own, although I sometimes use drugs, on occasion. To me it comes down to having faith that I am suffering now, but doing so deliberately, all my frustation is channeled into work and this brings money that will buy me freedom. Material things have lost importance for me as well. I apartment is baren, only stacks of books in it, I don't even have an internet connection, I just use my phone. Sometimes I am a bit self conscious to invite people here, although not many come. I think a girl would be weirded out, but who knows. I also used to live in another country so I know that it is a) good to travel but b) your demons follow you everywhere

>> No.14102066

>>14099766
I’m doing a STEM degree and I enjoy it very much, I’m certain that I’d be reading about similar topics if I wasn’t doing my degree

>> No.14102226

>>14101949
>ney that will buy me freedom
I hope you find whatever it is you are looking for.

I was thinking the same way when I started work. Years into it, I have all the material aspects I associated with abstract concepts like freedom, pleasure, success etc. yet I seem further away than ever from grasping what these actually mean. The material and superficial elements of life, once attained, lose the majority of their value. I want to link it to desensitisation but I believe it's deeper than that. The more I read and reflect, the more I build a complex instance of a mental utopia incompatible with reality and anyone else around me. I am coming to understand the meaning of "ignorance is bliss" and the gravity of that concept.

>> No.14102545

>>14100847
>For in much wisdom is much vexation
Only if you're dumb LMAO

>> No.14103715

>>14099682
I don't have money, I need a job. I don't think what I'm studying has that much value. I'd much rather be learning something else, what I'm learning at this moment is pure sophistry. And yet I need that job.


>How do they deal with painful emotions/anxiety/stress/depression but aren't deterred by it?
But I am deterred by it, sometimes.
I spend days and days without acomplishing nothing then after a time I manage to reunite my strenghts again and keep on studying.

>> No.14103658

It's just escapism, like everything else.

>> No.14103914

>>14102226
I do think that money will only buy you out of stress, but then you will be faced with freedom, which is a whole ordeal in and of itself. People can go insane without limitations to their life (lottery winners) Looks like you're out of the financial woods. None of the usual things like starting a family doing for you as a plan? How old are you?

>> No.14103954

By being genuinely interested in what you study