I'm a 21 year old shut in that has wasted several years of his youth. I'm getting back out there and going back to college next fall but I still feel like shit over all the time I've wasted. What are some books to give me perspective and make me feel better about my situation?

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Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:43:29 2022 No.20188432 [Reply] [Original]

I'm a 21 year old shut in that has wasted several years of his youth. I'm getting back out there and going back to college next fall but I still feel like shit over all the time I've wasted. What are some books to give me perspective and make me feel better about my situation?

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:47:47 2022 No.20188443 File: 1.09 MB, 2500x1536, 1648503255377.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:49:58 2022 No.20188449 Siddhartha

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:50:29 2022 No.20188451 >>20188449 by Hermann Hesse?

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:50:29 2022 No.20188450 >>20188432 READ STEVENSON'S VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE AND DORIAN GRAY. YOU STILL HAVE QUITE A FEW YEARS AHEAD OF YOU TO CHASE WHAT YOU DESIRE.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:50:47 2022 No.20188452 >>20188432 bro even people who don't waste time waste all of their free time, you can still outpace every other human being on earth if you find something to do and put even just 1-2 hours a day into it

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:55:56 2022 No.20188461 >>20188432 Read the first half of “man’s search for meaning”

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 20:56:35 2022 No.20188464 >21 >complaining about lost youth I don’t even have a sufficient reaction image for this.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:00:28 2022 No.20188472 >>20188443 No one who’s posted this image has ever completed any of these

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:03:03 2022 No.20188482 >>20188472 You got me

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:03:14 2022 No.20188484 >>20188472 kek That's irony

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:05:33 2022 No.20188491 >>20188432 Bump

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:09:03 2022 No.20188505 >>20188432 >21 >wasted several years You haven't even lived several years. The fuck are you talking about?

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:09:17 2022 No.20188506 File: 457 KB, 680x680, 1601763012798.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188464

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:16:54 2022 No.20188534 File: 33 KB, 400x400, 58558778.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188432 I might adopt you.. virtually jk

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:26:33 2022 No.20188574 >>20188451 Yes but also read the Upanishads

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:33:35 2022 No.20188596 >>20188464 >>20188505 Seriously, what the fuck OP. You’re not even a fully grown adult yet. You still have residual teenager sadbrains bullshit. You are still way before the point of no return, so get your shit together.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:34:53 2022 No.20188600 >>20188432 >I'm a 21 year old shut in that has wasted several years of his youth. literally me but 2 years older.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 21:59:39 2022 No.20188674 >>20188600 You guys didn't even reach your quarter-life crisis yet.

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 22:01:14 2022 No.20188683 File: 72 KB, 700x700, 1648725288973.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188472 same with every /lit/ chart ever made

>>	Anonymous Thu Apr 7 22:10:38 2022 No.20188716 >>20188432 >21 you're just a kid

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 01:59:34 2022 No.20189365

>>20188472
This is my first time seeing it but I've read both of the Newport books. I really think that more people should read Digital Minimalism.
It's not that you should give up technology, rather you should be conscious of how you use it and seek to maximize the benefit it provides while minimizing the deleterious effects.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:03:10 2022 No.20189373 >>20188432 Man, you need to read the Steppenwolf (yes, by Hermann Hesse) before it's too late for you.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:06:46 2022 No.20189380 >>20188432 rig veda. wanderer's havamal. the bible. the quran.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:16:05 2022 No.20189407 >>20188432 >wasted several years of his youth Going to parties and having casual sex isn't a better way to spend your youth than whatever you did. Why do people think that indulging in animalistic pleasure is "the good life"?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:20:18 2022 No.20189413 >>20188432 your best years are mid 20s to late 30s, you haven't missed much. look forward.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:26:38 2022 No.20189425 >>20188432 dude, I am literally the same (21 yo, time wasted youth) but I just didn't decided if I shoud go back to uni or not, I still feel like no

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:26:52 2022 No.20189427

>>20189407
>Why do people think that indulging in animalistic pleasure is "the good life"?
stop with the sour grapes cope. it objectively is at least when you're young and in college you can get away with that kind of stuff. it's socializing and networking. it's later on in life where you should be married with children and a house where that kind of hedonism is pathetic.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:31:00 2022 No.20189434 >>20189427 >it's socializing and networking I may be reading this wrong, so forgive me in advance in the event I did read it wrong. Now, I am going to call you a fucking retarded faggot troon and to go dilate, you monkey nigger. cope cope cope cope.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:36:59 2022 No.20189449 make sure you quit that shit while you're ahead, you dont want to suddenly find yourself at 28 realizing your 20s are gone and you have nothing to show for it but mental/physical health problems that weigh you down and make it more difficult to recover

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:43:23 2022 No.20189471 >>20188432 pretty much everyone's last two years sucked ass

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:43:38 2022 No.20189472 >>20189407 You are just excusing your lack of pussy

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:46:37 2022 No.20189482 >>20188432 >21 >wasted youth ???

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:53:30 2022 No.20189497 >>20188432 >21 At least turn 30 before lamenting wasted youth

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 02:56:08 2022 No.20189506 >>20188596 What is the point of no return?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 03:42:53 2022 No.20189595 >>20189506 32 khv

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 03:44:10 2022 No.20189600 >21

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 03:44:22 2022 No.20189602 >>20188432 For follies past be ceased the fruitless tears: Let follies past to future care incite.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 05:07:52 2022 No.20189841 >>20189506 When you get terminal cancer

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 05:36:25 2022 No.20189901 >>20189449 yeah that would really suck ha ha

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 05:57:31 2022 No.20189933 >>20188432 come back and say this past 27

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 08:46:19 2022 No.20190464 >>20189933 Why 27 in particular?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 08:50:41 2022 No.20190484 >>20188432 I started medschool at 23 Talk about wasted time

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 08:56:30 2022 No.20190497 >>20189506 30

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 08:59:53 2022 No.20190508 >>20188432 >>20189407 >>20189427 wtf I spent my youth going to parties and having casual sex and I feel like I am the one who wasted it.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 09:02:38 2022 No.20190520 same except I'm 35 and wasted every year

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 09:12:53 2022 No.20190557

I see too many of these threads each week to not doubt your sincerity OP but listen here. I was working a little over minimum wage, no friends and living with my parents at 27. Now Im 33 and a scientific project manager and own a home and doing all the /lit/ things I always wanted. Dont ever beat yourself up for wasting your time, even time can be redeemed.
If I can tell you anything, just be deliberate about what you want and drill down more specofic, actionable tasks you can do to start the process toward what you want. Start small and relax, youll be fine.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 09:48:13 2022 No.20190683 >>20188432 >21 Shut the fuck up. Enjoy your life, you self-pitying faggot.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 09:50:47 2022 No.20190694 File: 58 KB, 750x749, 3b54ee5430e46dcdf9753f97c09e393b.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Quit being a desperate coomer. Start lifting weights, read Aristotles and/or Confucius.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 09:55:53 2022 No.20190717 >>20190557 how did you get that job

Deep&Edgy !pSkjEcB9sQ Fri Apr 8 10:03:10 2022 No.20190743
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>>20188464
>>20188505
>>20188674
>>20188716
>>20189407
>>20189413
>>20189425
>>20189482
>>20189497
>>20189600
>>20189933
>>20190484
>>20190683

>200 word essay due tomorrow on why reddit hugbox faggots tell other people they didn't waste their time to make themselves feel better

>still haven't written a single word

Bros wtf do I do???

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 10:10:21 2022 No.20190781 >>20188449 Great book

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 10:21:00 2022 No.20190815 >>20188432 24 year old that actually went out, there’s nothing outside for us

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 10:49:52 2022 No.20190930

>>20189407
In the time we live in, it is the good life, to an extent. You don't have to go full hedonism or something, but it's good for young men to spend time with women. If you spend your youth keeping to yourself, just reading books or playing video games or whatever, you'll probably regret it when you're older.

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:23:00 2022 No.20191049

>>20190717
I talked to my family about businesses they were in, interviewed companies on positions i wanted, found out that the track was a BS degree and undergrad research or internship. Got grants with my loan, did college in 3 years and moved states to a decent midsize company. Always seek advice and questions from people above you to understand what they did but be aware of survivorship bias
In general, faculty, coworkers etc will be far more valuable to your development than your peers who may have chips on their shoulders.
Concerning writing, you should read alot and write every day. Spend time learning the state of the trade, litetary techniques etc and again learn from people who get it. If you are serious you can make great progress after 3-5 years, just be diligent.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:26:23 2022 No.20191068 >>20188432 Jesus christ dude you're only 21

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:27:15 2022 No.20191071 >>20188452 based knower

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:27:37 2022 No.20191075 >>20190743 Ditch the trip

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:38:29 2022 No.20191139 >>20188443 I've finished 4

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:43:40 2022 No.20191166 >>20188432 You're 21...your youth just started dummy

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:46:56 2022 No.20191177 >>20188432 oh dear you are 21 and think your life is wasted? Grow the fuck up.

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:50:19 2022 No.20191192

>>20189427
You are the coper in this scenario. You wasted your youth on parties and casual sex instead of pursuing a serious relationship that would last you a lifetime. Who do you think has more sex in the long run? The guy who fucks one new chick a week or the guy who fucks the same chick every day for the rest of his life? The answer if obvious and don't give me the "variety is the spice of life" bullshit. You are just an immature child that still clings to the belief that casual sex is any good. I have never in my life met anyone who has said that casual sex was good and that they did not feel empty afterwards.

christcuck !BRtcYR7eHM Fri Apr 8 11:52:12 2022 No.20191200

>>20188432
All time is wasted in a sense. True orientation of time comes from reorienting your will to be in line with the One simple ordering of all things in universal charity. If you are connected to the absolute, you are part of order - the difference between ambition of morality is ambition relates to order as something that happens to you but morality is something which you become. Hope you're feeling alright.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 11:54:41 2022 No.20191210 >>20188452 facts.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 12:24:20 2022 No.20191322 >>20191049 What kind of stuff do you write anon?

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:12:46 2022 No.20191566
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>>20188432
I'm 22 and I used to feel the same way. I don't think college will make you happy. Schools are designed to make unhappy after all. You should take vitamins and work out if you're not already fit. Also abstain from masturbating to build up your vril. And work towards your dreams. If college helps you with that then I guess you should go.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:15:56 2022 No.20191586 >>20188432 My dude I just got back into college at 23 after essentially wasting all the time since I left high school. At this point it's become pretty normal to waste some time after school unless you were already very set on a career path.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:15:59 2022 No.20191587 >>20189365 Are Cal's books worth it? I read a lot of his blog posts and I think he has a lot of insight but I've heard his books can be quite repetitive and don't add much more information than what you can get from his essays.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:20:55 2022 No.20191607 >>20191322 Novels right now, nothing published. I am trying to be on the literary side but its like speculative scifi at times and historic fiction/gothic at other times. I am in 2nd draft of one at the moment, I should move to next in a few months.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:21:48 2022 No.20191613 >>20191607 I'd love to read some new speculative scifi. Hopefully you get published one day, anon.

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:49:38 2022 No.20191756

I'm also 21. nearly finished with college, business management (lol) major, minors in econ, history, and french
have no clue what to do after I graduate
I don't want to stay in my hideous midwestern city
I don't actually want to do anything related to business
considering maybe trying to go to a european uni for archeology
thoughts?
I am currently studying abroad in frogland

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:51:07 2022 No.20191766 File: 153 KB, 759x1192, 71h4Is1grUL.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188432 Unironically

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 13:56:31 2022 No.20191795 >>20188452 This is who you want to listen to, OP.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 14:59:20 2022 No.20192089 File: 23 KB, 500x320, 9ce4505d62e6d137f231a3006d4d73d8.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188443

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 15:33:53 2022 No.20192238 >>20190464 Its the threshold between early and mid life. A point for many to kill themselves over fear of having to conform in adulthood. (source; my ass)

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 15:45:01 2022 No.20192304 >>20190464 26-27 in the US you are legally considered independent even if you live with your parents and are old enough to rent a car or apply for low income grants if you work and want to go to school. Basically a reminder to pull yourself together.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 15:46:18 2022 No.20192310 >>20191766 How will this help?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 15:49:08 2022 No.20192326 >>20189506 22

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 15:53:17 2022 No.20192350 >>20191192 >t. first week married

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 16:06:50 2022 No.20192431 >>20192310 Life is all an act.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 17:04:51 2022 No.20192682 File: 53 KB, 410x382, anomrecon.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188432 Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 18:39:58 2022 No.20193061 >>20188432 Start doing what you want to do. I know 30 year old guys who complain that they wish they has done more stuff in their 20s. Its not too late. Do it now and you went regret it when you're 30

Anonymous Fri Apr 8 18:45:53 2022 No.20193086

>>20193061
Yeah, even just 15 minutes a day over the course of 10 years is over 900 hours of practice. If you practice with intention you can become quite good and then you have that skill for the rest of your life.
After realizing that recently I'm hoping to buy a piano soon and learn to play.

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 19:36:41 2022 No.20193301 >>20191139 Did any help you?

>>	Anonymous Fri Apr 8 23:40:54 2022 No.20194434 >>20189506 the day you start to get your shit together

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 03:07:42 2022 No.20195226 >>20191587 Yes. You are better off reading his blog posts. His book is a composite of useful information and boring irrelevant information that you won't use.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 03:08:52 2022 No.20195232 >>20189506 Death

Anonymous Sat Apr 9 05:52:58 2022 No.20195688
File: 26 KB, 438x243, bolano smile.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>20188432
Anon if you are only 21 you still have a good fifteen years of youth you can enjoy in the best possible way. You have not wasted anything. Youth is an erratic time, where you try things, and they mostly don't work out - including being lonely. The important thing is to keep moving, and you seem to be willing to do this now. You have not wasted anything, trust me.
That said, my suggestion is to read some Bolano. Savage Detectives made miracles in giving me courage to live my life better, and it's a great starting point in his work - it's about two vagrant poets in Mexicon, living the kind of "unwasted" life we sometime romanticize. A lot of bad stuff happens to both, but the book gives you such a wide sense of freedom that it makes you think that, no matter how bad it may get for you, as long as you are alive things can get better, and you can always search for other horizons.
Good luck anon.

Anonymous Sat Apr 9 06:45:39 2022 No.20195844

>>20188432
Dude. You’re 21, Im 22 and in a similar situation. I didn’t exactly waste my time I just refused to enter college until I figured out what I wanted in life. Turned out to be good because I switched from History to multiple STEM disciplines until I realized I dont hare math at all school is just stupid so Im between Physics and Math. My math is that good because of school and not caring so what I do now is study my algebra everyday and keep going until I reach calc and can start self learning physics. Im still going back to school but you have to realize you’re probably fine, I do the same nonsense all the time and people tell me all the time young or old that I still have plenty of time. Just make sure you know what you want to do and work hard at it and dont stop. You not doing anything massively committal like college was likely a good thing in the long run because you can return with a more sober take on life and what you want in your future, and work like hell for it

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 07:30:09 2022 No.20195960 20 year old in same situation Good thread Love you guys

Anonymous Sat Apr 9 13:20:17 2022 No.20197256

same boat OP

flunked out at 19, have been bullshitting helping my dad out with his shop in a shit midwest town ever since.

I decided to not give a shit about how tired i am all the time and useless my life has been at this point and go do things ive always thought about, but never managed to cultivate the discipline required to complete.

Ive been boxing, taking online courses (planning on majoring in physics), and im planning on joining my volunteer fire department.

i just want to be a strong person for myself and others around me. wish me luck boyos.

Anonymous Sat Apr 9 14:03:55 2022 No.20197444

Is this the blogpost thread?

I'm 19 year old academically apathetic richkid with a life ruining involuntary aversion to social situations, having friends, completing work, etc. Everything good in life that came to me I pushed away because I felt I didn't deserve it, probably because my incapable-of-empathy older brother emotionally torturing me in my formative years to the point where I was unable to develop any semblance of a healthy, young ego that was supposed to grow and grow as I got older.
It was to the point where my verbal skills to this day are clearly stunted.

I've spent most of my youth in front of a computer. There's nothing more that I want than to just experience the outside world and what life has to offer. I want the courage to replicate Tropic of Cancer and just leave everything behind.

>>20197256
>i just want to be a strong person for myself and others around me.
I wish you more than luck anon.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 14:14:50 2022 No.20197481 i made an accountability server for anyone whos tired of being weak .gg/vtDtkH2y

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 14:21:39 2022 No.20197504 >>20189901 like could you imagine that hahahaha

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 15:04:01 2022 No.20197681 >>20197444 Literally this but I'm not rich and never had any siblings.. Nor do I have trips. Fuck you.

Anonymous Sat Apr 9 17:44:07 2022 No.20198316

>>20197444
>in my formative years
You are not even half through your formative years you stupid idiot, you're 19. Just fucking start going out. Here are my three advices on how to stop being shy and autistic when you are around others:
>when you talk, be sure to ask questions to other people
>try to be interested in the answers
>alcohol in moderate quantities helps

Asking questions is the most important part. I swear to god I as autistic until 27 and I am now an absolute socialite just after having mastered this part of the socialization. I started drinking and going to parties in my 30s, and can assure you asking questions still does most of the job in socializing. It's not about your look, your confidence, your verbal abilities or others - it's about you showing genuine interest in other people. Being shy or mentally ill is only a problem insofar as it makes you focus on yourself instead of others. Asking questions and being genuinely interested in others is the literal practical trick that switches you off from being an introverted schizo to an extroverted schizo. I can assure you that 70% of people you meet in any social situations have some sort of mental problems - they all learn to function by relying on others. Anon the only thing that's good about this shitty life is that you're not alone in it, and for as much as people suck, they are all very much like you. Ask about them, be interested in discovering who they are.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 18:01:03 2022 No.20198397 >>20195844 >I dont hare math at all school is just stupid >barely comprehensible sentences I think you're just stupid man

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 18:14:28 2022 No.20198473 >>20188432 >I'm a 21 year old shut in that has wasted several years of his youth. Nice bait.

>>	Anonymous Sat Apr 9 19:05:48 2022 No.20198715 File: 52 KB, 822x960, gigachadLookingup.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>20188432 I wasted a few hours >t. almost 30

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/lit/ - Literature