/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.3902035]

I know there's a lot of other college aged people on here so maybe someone can relate.
Do you ever feel like just going through college and doing the same thing everyone else has done is worse than death?
Do you ever feel like you HAVE to do something else, but have no idea what that is?
It's like extreme restless anxiety.
Is there a name for the kind of anxiety related to that feeling?

Are there any books where the protagonist deals with similar
feelings to this?
Pic unrelated I guess
Inb4: Catcher in the Rye

[Anonymous No.3902047]

bump

[Anonymous No.3902052]

>Muh feels

Yes, what is your major man?

[Anonymous No.3902053]

>>3902052
Genetics.
Only second year though.

[Anonymous No.3902057]

>>3902052
Genetics.
Only second year though.

[Anonymous No.3902059]

>>3902053
>>3902057
I don't know how that happened.
Sage for unfair bumps

[Anonymous No.3902060]

>>3902047
funny mods will ban u for calling al-jazeera shitty (a matter of opinion) but some dickhead flooding the place with shitty threads of whoever that fag is just keeps on without any problems

[Anonymous No.3902069]

>>3902035
Absolutely, OP.

Where is our lattice??

[Anonymous No.3902081]

>>3902035
I'm recommending an anime here, but watch Tatami Galaxy OP.

It's almost exactly about everything you're describing and it's brilliant.

[Anonymous No.3902083]

>>3902047
>ubuntu

[Anonymous No.3902085]

>>3902081
>anime
>brilliant

pardon my skepticism

[Anonymous No.3902088]

>>3902081
based fucking anon

akashi best waifu

[Anonymous No.3902089]

>>3902083
>windows

[Anonymous No.3902090]

>>3902085
It is, trust me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpctdMcHhUw

[Anonymous No.3902095]

>>3902089
unity is shit

[Anonymous No.3902097]

>>3902095

[Anonymous No.3902098]

>>3902095
Suits my needs and is free, that's all I can ask for.
Why pay money for an inferior product?

[Anonymous No.3902108]

>>3902060
I was stretching my opinion a bit, but to be fair op asked for an "objective" news source, and it's obviously not objective.
It was a three day ban too.

[Anonymous No.3902122]

>tfw overwhelmed by information
>tfw you never know what to do with yourself, and when you do do something it feels like you should be doing something else
>never enough time to do anything
>come to shitpost on 4chan as a result

[Anonymous No.3902128]

>>3902108
i got banned yesterday because i said i thought trayvon martin's gf was ugly, mod confirmed for bitter fat chick

[Anonymous No.3902138]

>>3902122
>Them feels anon
I go back and forth between extreme feels and total apathy with every week.
Basically means my life will go nowhere because I'll never do anything.
I don't know what the fuck to believe because everything is disputed and nothing seems to make sense any more.
On top of that I'm petrified of death for some fucking reason and that haunts me everywhere I go behind every thought I have.
This world is so fucking confusing. I feel like a kid lost in a theme park.

>>3902128
Not /pol/, I promise, but I wouldn't be surprised if some SRSers applied in the last round of janitor/mod applications.

[Anonymous No.3902148]

>>3902138
I'm up at 2 o'clock in the morning posting my stupid ass feels on 4chan and I know I'll sleep 'till 12 in the afternoon tomorrow and get nothing accomplished other than more blog like shitpostingthat no one wants to read or look at.
I want something so fucking bad but I don't know what it is.

[Anonymous No.3902152]

>>3902148
get a job

[Anonymous No.3902159]

>>3902138
>>3902148
This, so fucking much. I'm at a loss as to what it is that I want, but I know that I am longing for something. I spend time playing video games and trying to read books but nothing really fills the void.

[Anonymous No.3902164]

>>3902152
I have all the money I'll ever need.
Parents divorced when I was like 15 and dad died a couple of years later. I was an only child, so I'm set for years.
>>3902159
Do you trick yourself into thinking you'll become something too?
Like write like crazy one week then give up, or lift for a month then put it down and never pick up a weight again?
It's like a stupid fucking roller coaster between thinking there's a future and accepting that there's not one.
I just wish something made sense, and I wish I wasn't a 20 year old acting like he's fucking 16 and 2deep4u but I don't know anything else.
There's something off with the world, there's got to be I just can't put my finger on it.
Or maybe it's just me.

[Anonymous No.3902178]

>>3902164
Exactly. I get this sudden motivation to do shit, and I tell myself that I plan to change myself for the better, and it works for maybe a few weeks, but then I suddenly give up on it without any real reason why. It feels like I am trying to figure out my place in the world but I don't seem to be fitting in anywhere, no matter how hard I try to look for it.

[Anonymous No.3902179]

>>3902122
>>3902138
>>3902148
>>3902152
>>3902164
Every generation has it's feels.
These are just ours, I think.

[Anonymous No.3902184]

>>3902178
I wish I could hug you bro, in a totally platonic way.

[Anonymous No.3902196]

>>3902178
>>3902184
I totally understand how kids from all different generations get sucked into things like cults, revolutions and star worship.
There's a really strong desire to just belong somewhere, to something no matter what it is. It easily clouds judgement.

Sage for continuously bumping with personal blog shitposting

[Anonymous No.3902206]

>>3902148
Are you me?
>>3902164
>>3902178
I know this feeling all too well. I suspect it is simply a part of being young, but being myself young, I have no standard of comparison. However, life has a way of taking funny turns, so who can say how things will be? The world is just a confusing and difficult place sometimes. On the other hand, why should things be easy. I'm just going to do my best, and when I can't do that, I'll just have to 'do my best' for right now. Good luck people.

[Anonymous No.3902214]

go to /out/ and /fit/ and you'll be fine. Had the excxcxcact same problem.

[Anonymous No.3902216]

It's funny how different the 3o'clock AM /lit/ crowd is from the daytime crowd.
Good to know I'm not the only self consciously angsty 20 something here.

[Anonymous No.3902221]

Oh hai. May I join the party?
That get a job thing doesn't really work.

I got myself a job. In fact, I just got home from it (4:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. shift). It makes me feel a lot more worthless and a lot more like I'm dumping my life into a bottomless abyss. :/

[Anonymous No.3902228]

I feel like if I was on the move I wouldn't feel this way. If I just kept moving and moving until I had outgrown this shit.
But what is there past this? Do you just pick a worldview and stick with it, ignoring all counterpoints and arguments? Is that what growing up is?
I'm glad I have 3 am /lit/ to talk to

[Anonymous No.3902234]

What I did in that situation is dropped out, being unable to stand it.

Now I'm at university again, but in a different part of the country, doing a course I'm actually passionate about.

[Anonymous No.3902235]

>>3902234
How'd you get the balls to do that?
How long did you stay out, and what did you do?

[Anonymous No.3902237]

So this my first post, feel the same as others in this thread. Lets form a group or something to hold each other accountable to start going somewhere and talk about our existential feels. I'll leave my email but I'm just a lurker so if anyone has ideas on how to organize this speak up.

[Feels Incorported No.3902240]

>>3902237
What would we do?

[Anonymous No.3902244]

>>3902237
irc at freenode?
irc at freenode
#3AM_/lit/

[Anonymous No.3902245]

>>3902228
While I agree with your sentiments about being on the move, such things are also heavily romanticised. You can feel lost anywhere. I don't think growing up just means picking a world-view and sticking to it -- maybe some people do, but they end up as shitty adults. You don't need a comprehensive world-view to do things in the world. Systematizing isn't necessarily understanding, and more importantly, not always useful. If you understand what I mean by the former two sentences, you probably also understand what I mean by the following: most philosophy (that pertains to how to live) is really just retroactive justification of things the author already has accepted as the case.

[Feels Incorported No.3902247]

>>3902244
get in here feel bros

[Anonymous No.3902250]

>>3902240
idk. Make a forum or group or something where each lay our plans and update and discuss. Push each other and keep each other motivated, first steps and follow throughs.

Like when you don't want to do anything and a friend hits you up and you reluctantly go but it turns out ok

IDK. bite into Absurdism together. Part of my "20 something" problem are better talked to anon so less regret with people you know

[Feels Incorported No.3902254]

>>3902250
go
>>3902244
2 feel bro's already in there

[Anonymous No.3902264]

>>3902235
It wasn't easy. I was the sort of person who went along with things for the sake of pleasing others. And it took me some time to decide. Although I was a coward then, I consider it now to be one of the bravest things I've ever managed to do.

As for the year that followed, it was shit. I did voluntary work, got a job, got fired from a job for being shit, got into trouble with my job centre applications, got by on spare change and good fortune most of the time...it did allow me to realise what I wanted to do, however.

And I'm a lot less of a cowardly shit (still a bit of one) now - off to live in China for a year come September, even. It's amazing how much losing the comfort of academia can help you decide whether that comfort is worth it or not.

[Anonymous No.3902278]

>>3902035
Whenever I start to feel like this, I exercise. I run, cycle, swim or lift weights, and suddenly that becomes the hardest part of my day. Everything else becomes easy. I have the strength to conquer anything that I set my mind to doing, whether it be reading or studying. It suddenly becomes a whole lot easier when you force yourself into self-discipline.

And thanks for the motivator to get off 4chan.

[Anonymous No.3902308]

>>3902264
>I was the sort of person who went along with things for the sake of pleasing others.

The worse mistakes of my life were all, because I lacked the individuality to make my own decisions. For too long I succumbed to my kinfolk's will. There's nothing better than a stern footing, when it comes to life changing decisions.

[Anonymous No.3902320]

>that feel when everyone gets apathy and becomes NEET during college
>that feel when you did it during high school

so ronery

[Anonymous No.3902323]

>>3902138
It's probably better to be blinded by the light then just blind.
Honestly, just go with your heart, or your gut, or your soul. Or whatever you want to go with.

[Anonymous No.3902386]

I am pretty much the same as everyone else in this thread. Maybe a little older than you guys, but I definitely know what you are talking about.

I went to university getting into IT stuff, but dropped out after a long while (probably wouldn't have taken me that long to finish), but I just couldn't go on with it anymore. I realized that I don't like what I am doing and that I don't want to work in this field. I knew it for a long while, before I actually pushed through with my desicion to drop out. There were lots of things to consider and of course there are people who have expectations for you and you don't want to be looked at as a failure.

After that I moved to a new town and got some support by good friends, got an apartement and was on welfare for about three month, before I started an aprenticeship. I was actually quiet good at it and got even praised by the boss and he told me stuff like 'Well once you are finished I need someone to take over the calculation departement, if it is something for you, you can do this.'
I left this job after 4 month. I don't know, it was boring and unfulfilling...
In the meantime I had gotten some inheritance money, that will last me for about 2 years. I am about to start a different major at university in something I am passionate about.

I don't know what I can say, but at times life simply seems boring. One of my best friends is the kind of person who works 5 days a week, maybe meets up with me and others once or twice on weekdays and gets drunk on the weekend. Then he goes back to working on monday. Most of the time he kinda drags me along on the weekends hanging out with people, getting drunk, going to clubs and stuff, but it all seems so damn boring. I don't know, I get the feeling that I would hate a life of routine like that.

[Anonymous No.3902390]

ITT too many betas even for Dave Eggers.

[Anonymous No.3902397]

>>3902085
You are on a Japanese site.

[Anonymous No.3902435]

OP get some real problems and you'll feel better.

[Anonymous No.3902541]

>>3902108
>>3902128
Wow.

[Anonymous No.3902571]

>>3902397
>japanese

It may have originally been created to discuss anime but it has vastly expanded since then.

[Anonymous No.3902588]

>>3902390
>Implying Eggers didn't get his shit together big time after AHWOSG

[Anonymous No.3902645]

>>3902138
>I go back and forth between extreme feels and total apathy with every week.

Faggots here think that their "extreme feels" are profound. They don't mean shit. It's very easy to be a extraordinarily sensitive to art, and to be filled with beautiful thoughts and sentiments, and be totally apathetic at the same time. These "feels" are just hedonism, no more profound than the hedonism of a promiscuous man.

[Anonymous No.3902649]

>>3902138
>This world is so fucking confusing. I feel like a kid lost in a theme park.

A man enters upon his life, hoping that all will go well for him and with good wishes for others. He steps out into the world’s multiplicity, like one that comes from the country into the great noisy city, into the multiplicity where men engrossed in affairs hurry past one another, where each looks out for what belongs to him in the vast "back and forth," where everything is in passing, where it is as though at each instant one saw what he had learned borne out in practice, and in the same instant saw it refuted, without any cessation in the unrest of work, in multiplicity -- that all too vast a school of experience. For here one can experience everything possible, or that everything is possible, even what the inexperienced man would least believe, that the Good sits highest at the dinner table and crime next highest, or crime highest and the Good next highest -- in good company with each other. So this man stands there. He has in himself a susceptibility for the disease of double-mindedness. His feeling is purely immediate, his knowledge only strengthened through contemplation, his will not mature. Swiftly, alas, swiftly he is infected -- one more victim. This is nothing new, but an old story. As it has happened to him, so it has happened with the double-minded ones who have gone before him -- this in passing he now gives as his own excuse, for he has received the consecration of excuses.

[Anonymous No.3902655]

>>3902164
>Do you trick yourself into thinking you'll become something too?
>Like write like crazy one week then give up, or lift for a month then put it down and never pick up a weight again?

Only too soon personal experience and the experience of others teaches how far most men’s lives are from being what a man’s life ought to be. All have great moments. They see themselves in the magic mirror of possibility which hope holds before them while the wish flatters them. But they swiftly forget this sight in the daily round of things. Or perhaps they talk enthusiastic words, "for the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things."(James 3:5.) But talk takes the name of enthusiasm in vain by proclaiming loudly from the housetop what it should work out in silence. And in the midst of the trivial details of life these enthusiastic words are quickly forgotten. It is forgotten that such a thing was said of this man. It is forgotten that it was he himself who said it. Now and then, perhaps, memory wakens with horror, and remorse seems to promise new strength. But, alas, this, too, lasts only for a good-sized moment. All of them have intentions, plans, resolutions for life, yes, for eternity. But the intention soon loses its youthful strength and fades away.

[Anonymous No.3902656]

>>3902184
Why feed his impotent vanity? It's already too fat to move.

[Anonymous No.3902669]

What the hell are we supposed to do?

It's summer now and I have so much free time. I have books to read, I've been teaching myself programming, I've been getting /fit/, I've been watching films, drawing, doing whatever I can to improve myself. I feel no change though. What the hell is there to do if you find socializing with people boring? What's wrong with me?

[Anonymous No.3902673]

>>3902386
>There were lots of things to consider and of course there are people who have expectations for you and you don't want to be looked at as a failure.

Even if honor were unanimous it would still be meaningless, and the more so, the more thousands that create the unanimity. And the greater the multitude that created unanimity, the sooner will it show itself to be meaningless. And indeed it was this unanimity of the thousands that he desired. It was not the approbation of the good men. They are soon counted. No, it was rather the approbation of the thousands. Is, then, this desire for counting, is this to will one thing? To count and count until it suffices, to count and count until a mistake is made; is this to will one thing? Whoever, therefore, wills this honor or fears this contempt, whether or not he is said to will one thing in his innermost being, is not merely double-minded but thousand-minded, and at variance with himself. So is his life when he must grovel -- in order to attain honor; when he must flatter his enemies -- in order to attain honor; when he must woo the favor of those he despises -- in order to attain honor; when he must betray the one whom he respects -- in order to attain honor. For to attain honor means to despise oneself after one has attained the pinnacle of honor -- and yet to tremble before any change.

[Anonymous No.3902694]

>>3902669
Think about this.

A man really desires to be flattered by others, he really wants to be held in high regard by the world and by the worldly folk, and is deathly afraid to be held in contempt by others. He then sets about "improving himself" - which means, in his eyes, doing the things that would increase his image in the eyes of others. He makes his body more beautiful through exercise, and makes his mind more beautiful through study. And then, in his lonelier moments, away from the approving eyes of others, he looks at himself and feels as empty and as unfulfilled as he did before he had set about improving himself. "Why do I feel the same, when I become so different? Why do I not FEEL better, when it is clear that I have BECOME better?"

The answer to the riddle is that he hasn't improved himself at all. He's still the exact same man as he was before --- the exact same man who inwardly pines and lusts after the approval of others, and who trembles at the thought of being seen as a failure in life. He's still that exact same man, all that he managed to do was change his appearance. And why should a man feel better on the INSIDE when all he has changed was on the OUTSIDE?

If he had really desired bodily beauty then he would have felt better though exercise. And if he had really desired beautiful mind he would have felt better through study. But he really desired neither.

[Anonymous No.3902725]

>>3902694
I guess you're right but what can I do? In what way can I improve myself? By reading philosophical texts?

[Anonymous No.3902750]

This thread made me realize I'm not as alienated as I think. Life sucks.

[Anonymous No.3902796]

>>3902673
That is interesting. I might have a look into Kierkegaard. But I chose to do what I want to do and disregard the expectations of others and my desicion was mostly taken positivly.

>>3902694
Not the guy you answered too.
I am studying and reading a lot. And I enjoy it immensly. Reading about ancient cultures and their history, reading about philosophy or classical literature. It is great to get to know new things and to 'brighten my horizon'.
On the other hand, there are still tons of things that bother me in this life. And most important thing is, that I don't know what I want to do in this life. I mean I have ideas, but and I am working towards them, but they are so far out of reach, they I am not sure if I even should follow them, or just have a regular life (which I don't want to be honest).

I am also not the type of person who looks for approval by others. I gave up on caring (mostly) what others think about me and wanting their approval. I am my own person and have my own goals and who doesn't like me for who I am isn't worth spending energy on. That might sound harsh, but it works.

I also have a circle of very good friends. But I still have to say, that most of the time, I kinda get dragged along to hang out with them. Watching a movie on friday while having a few beer, going to the club on saturday, partying and drinking beer again. Hanging out and chilling in the sun on sunday etc.
The problem is, that all of this is boring and repetetive as hell. On the other hand do I not do awesome things when I not hang out with them. I sit at home and read, study something or write or simply chill out by myself.
I simply have the feeling that hanging out with the same people every weekend doing the same things is just boring to me.

Seriously, is there something wrong with me? I can just say, that everything right now is really boring. Don't get my wrong I am not saying life sucks, but it just feels that I am stuck in repetition and boredom right now and I think if I get a job and work every weekday (again), I will never escape this feelings and might end up hating my life.

[Anonymous No.3902876]

>>3902796

If you enjoy what you do, why are you bored?

[Anonymous No.3902893]

>>3902796
>Seriously, is there something wrong with me? I can just say, that everything right now is really boring. Don't get my wrong I am not saying life sucks, but it just feels that I am stuck in repetition and boredom right now and I think if I get a job and work every weekday (again), I will never escape this feelings and might end up hating my life.

from the same Kierkegaard text

[Anonymous No.3902975]

>>3902876
Like I said I enjoy reading, studying and writing. But the rest of my life is boring.
Every weekend it is hanging out with the same people doing the same things. I think I am just bored with social interactions. I am more happy spending the evening at home reading a book or simply chilling infront of the computer doing nothing at all and not getting drunk with people or watching stupid movies or going to clubs. But for some reason everyone I know doesn't seem to accept that. Saying it is strange to not go out and want to hang out, spend time outside and getting drunk together.
I mean it is ok in moderation, but right now it often seems like time wasted. I guess I am just introverted and most of my friends are extroverted and don't get, that social interaction can be boring and tiresome for others.

>>3902893
I just read it and what I got from it is, that I basically need change and new things to want. I am currently prepareing to get back to university to major in something I am intersted in. But I still don't know if that is the 'right' change for me. Maybe after doing this for a few month, I will feel like I feel now and long fo something different.
On the other hand there are always money issues. So I have to get a job eventually, if I don't want to end up relying on welfare, which would be a way of no return, which I don't want to go.
So in the end I will be forced to work a normal job. I know I am acting like a whiny bitch, but the whole thought of doing what a lot of people I know are doing seems like a life to hate. And it seems that sooner or later I will be forced into that life.

[Anonymous No.3902986]

>>3902975
>I just read it and what I got from it is, that I basically need change and new things to want

No, he's saying that that frame of mind, of forever wanting change, is very destructive, and is borne out of a desire for pleasure.

[Anonymous No.3903013]

>>3902975
>Like I said I enjoy reading, studying and writing. But the rest of my life is boring.
Every weekend it is hanging out with the same people doing the same things. I think I am just bored with social interactions. I am more happy spending the evening at home reading a book or simply chilling infront of the computer doing nothing at all and not getting drunk with people or watching stupid movies or going to clubs. But for some reason everyone I know doesn't seem to accept that. Saying it is strange to not go out and want to hang out, spend time outside and getting drunk together.
I mean it is ok in moderation, but right now it often seems like time wasted. I guess I am just introverted and most of my friends are extroverted and don't get, that social interaction can be boring and tiresome for others.

Most of us have gone through this. Just take the plunge and start gradually hanging out with your friends less. I had to do it with my stoner buddies from high school when I got tired of just smoking weed every weekend. Now I only hang out with two friends and only like once every other week.

Not everyone is meant to be a party animal. There's nothing wrong with being more comfortable by yourself. You're friends will probably say shit like, "Anon, you've changed bro." It's unavoidable. Don't let social pressure force you into obligations that you don't desire.

[Anonymous No.3903053]

>>3903013
This, well put. Don't let others force you into doing stuff you hate.

[Anonymous No.3903308]

>>3902089
>>3902083
>ubuntu
>windows

[Anonymous No.3903318]

>>3903308
>slackware

[Anonymous No.3903330]

>>3903308
>>3903318
>computers

[Anonymous No.3903336]

>>3903330
>life

[Anonymous No.3903339]

>>3903336
>substances

[Anonymous No.3903341]

So. Anyone else feels like they were already born too old?
I'm "just" 24 and already dropped out of college twice. Engineering and physics. Now I'm doing phil but IDK. My attention span for anything is so shallow. As in read a few wikipedia articles and getting bored/overwhelmed

[Anonymous No.3903357]

>>3903341
"Man I was born in the wrong era. All the kids these days like Beiber and Nikki Minaj but I love Led Zepplin and The Beatles."

[Anonymous No.3903362]

>>3903341
Born too old? I don't get this at all. Not trying to be a dick, I just literally don't know what you mean.

[Anonymous No.3903363]

>>3903341
if you dont like something dont do it
there is so much shit in the world today why bother with the shit you dont like

[Anonymous No.3903368]

Is that what it's like to be a mudskin in a white man's work? Try suicide.

[Anonymous No.3903389]

>>3903368
>white man's world

[Anonymous No.3903392]

>>3903362
Everything is competition and struggle. Im too tired for (and of) this. Always have been. This kind of thing.
Which I feel resembles a grumpiness of sorts I usually associate with elder people. Makes more sense?

[Anonymous No.3903421]

>>3903392
I suppose so. I'm 29 and I haven't felt this yet.

[Anonymous No.3903437]

>>3903363
>why bother with the shit you dont like
Because you need money :-)

[Anonymous No.3903500]

>>3903437
>--|-(-:@>

[Anonymous No.3903520]

Nope, thankfully.

I want to live the easy life. I want a big house, probably in New Hampshire (low taxes, peaceful), with a giant jacuzzi, and spend most of my time in the jacuzzi, and focused on making money and anti aging (hoping to reach the Technological Singularity).

I'll try to contribute to the world in my fields (Economics and Medicine). Best life ever.

[Anonymous No.3903534]

>>3903520
>hoping to reach the Technological Singularity

top lel m8

[Anonymous No.3903546]

OP, save up like 50 grand, buy a custom-made yurt and a piece of land to put it on, and live out your life Mongol-style.

[Anonymous No.3903550]

>>3903392
thank heavens someone agrees with me about how everything in life is a competition

[Anonymous No.3903595]

>>3903520
>and anti aging (hoping to reach the Technological Singularity).
10/10

[Anonymous No.3903618]

>>3903550

You should thank the person you're talking to instead of the heavens.

It's rude to speak as a soliloquy when interacting with others.

It's easier to respond if you feel acknowledged!

[Anonymous No.3903658]

>Noam Chomsky Advice to Young Students

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivglMgk4BDQ