Recently turned 18. Looking at my life in retrospect and realized that I'm on the path to degeneracy.
>Don't work
>Do too many drugs
>Spend most of my free time on the internet
>Lack motivation to study
>Jerk off too much
What are some books that will help me legitimately improve my life?
Forgot to mention. Plan to spend most of my summer isolated to introspect and read.
>>7955637
Go hiking for a few days and meditate in nature. Self-help is a meme. There is only your will, your aspirations, your compass, your understanding.
Also, get the fuck off of 4chan and go talk to someone. Now.
>>7955644
20 year old here. Whatever you do, don't spend your summer isolated. Join a book group, at least find someone to share a joint with ffs.
>>7955655
I can't. I've become a very irritable person and lost my ability to communicate and relate to people. I'm starting to hate my friends and colleagues. I'm invisible to my family. The only person who has understood me, the girl I love and who loves me back, is toying with me. I've got no one.
start playing a sport or lifting weights and go to church
>>7955667
Quit whining, faggot.
You have nothing to lose but your chains.
>>7955637
No book will help you. Your own actions will help you.
>>7955655
Wow thanks nietzsche, should he go live in a cave for a while as well?
lol
>4chan: Teenagers
>>7955848
You currently live in a cave of your ignorance.
Go die there.
>>7955667
most ridiculous and pathetic post I've seen all year to be honest
The Bible. Not memeing.
>>7955637
Aristotle - Nicomachian Ethics
Epictetus - Discourses
Nietzsche - Genealogy of Morals
Read em'. Find a passion. Win.
get a job. i find that you will read less if you dont have one, whereas you'd expect the opposite effect. especially in summer you need something structured to occupy you and hey, you'll earn extra cash, which you can save, buy booze, weed, books, whatever.
>>7955637
>improvement
What does this mean?
>>7955637
>get /fit/
>create your own business that produces things
>join social groups like churches or charities
>make an effort to dress well
>start reading the modern library top 100 or blooms canon
the first 4 will get you a relatively conservative qt too.
>>7955879
good advice. nietzsche can be crazy motivational
>>7955637
Dammit, we get like a few threads like this a week. Books aren't a magic pill that will improve your life by just reading them.
>>7955975
Aren't they a start though?
>>7955950
>get /fit/
Working on it
>create your own business that produces things
Health science student. Running a business doesn't interest me.
>join social groups like churches or charities
These are all vain.
>make an effort to dress well
Not happening. Goes against my hippy-like morals.
>start reading the modern library top 100 or blooms canon
Will do.
>>7955637
>pans-labyrinth
I love that movie. What else would you recc like this?
>>7955644
>Plan to spend most of my summer isolated
I thought you were trying to improve your life, not dig yourself deeper.
>>7956286
>hi lit, help me legitimately improve my life?
>working on it
>it's all in vain
>not happening
>working on it
ultra-kek, you're one sad, pathetic, hopeless piece of shit and I hope you die slowly and with great suffering
Write bout it and become the next dfw furtmy
>>7955637
What drugs? Psychedelics and stims aren't that bad or life-destroying. Don't do downers. Benzos will turn you into a total slobbering retard, and studies indicate that cognitive impairment from heavy abuse may be permanent. Opioids will steal your life in a heartbeat. I've lost a year of my life to that devil. Just don't, no matter what delusions you may have that you can control it.
I was in pretty much the same place as you. I got out through meditation. Mindfulness in Plain English is available for free online and is an excellent beginner's guide. But it'll only work if you practice consistently, 15-30 minutes every day.
>>7955663
This. I spent two long summers alone in my room and it completely fucked up my own adolescence. If you don't live out your stupid teenage impulses you get goddamn self-destructive.
>>7956334
Thanks.
>>7956346
Cannabis, Mushrooms, LSD, MDMA. I have Xanax but only plan to use it as a trip stopper, haven't touched it yet, have friends that are addicted others that have died on it. Did 25i-nBOME without knowing what it was once which fucked me up. Tried salvia once but didn't enjoy it.
Currently not touching anything recreational until finals are over. Using Vyvanse to help me study.
>>7956540
>Tried salvia once but didn't enjoy it.
You aren't supposed to enjoy it, you useless fucking hedonist.
Stop posting immediately. Stop posting on this board until you've read studiously for at least three years.
>>7956540
Read the Beats and change ur mind about degeneracy
>>7956570
I was fourteen when I tried it. Didn't know what I was doing. Didn't bother reading up on it like I've done with all other drugs I've tried cause I knew I wouldn't touch it again.
>>7955655
ah monsieur, retreat to the Berghotel Schatzalp sipping chia pudding from a syringe dailntly humming ""dies irae"".. Catholic circumcision, monsieur, cutting the foreskin ritually but not physically.. Jews, monsieur, j e w s? ? ?
>>7955637
Try Prometheus rising. It was incredibly helpful when I was stuck in a rut.
>>7956354
Not OP. Got any more advice on this topic? I don't have any friends and prefer isolation, but I think it is really bad for me mentally. Also, I already feel like I wasted my youth with trying to be "deep" all the time, while everyone around me is enjoying themselves, drinking, kissing etc.
>>7956766
Don't take life so seriously, say yes once in a while.
>me age 19, drop out of uni
>semi-attractive girl asks me out while I'm on a loss, do nothing but have sex with her from 1 1/2 years, break up with her, nothing,
>go back to uni, when people ask me to go out, against my own comfort, I say 's-sure'
>instead of drinking alone in my room (well, I kind of still did both)
>meet some of the best people of my life, end up with objectively red-pilled Eastern European qt 3.14 by the end
If I had kept on being 'too deep' I wouldn't find myself in these situations, also I ended up seeing how lame a lot of parties were. I don't mean this in a fedora way, but just go to 'see what's up', don't throw your heart and soul into it.
>>7956867
>me age 19, drop out of uni
>have no friends
>nothing happens
I keep saying yes once in a while but the walls don't seem very talkative
>>7955667
>I'm miserable and refuse to change.
Sounds like you should just give up then, faggot
>>7956766
I'm the one you replied to. Unfortunately, I'm not any further than you are. I do try to be more out-going now. It will feel like pretending for the first few times but it gets better. Just don't kill yourself and hope for some lucky coincidences.
>>7956867
No one has ever asked me out to go anywhere or romantically
>>7956867
I'm not very fluent in internet slang, can someone please explain the last sentence?
> end up with objectively red-pilled Eastern European qt 3.14 by the end
>>7956959
I won't kill myself. However, I frequently think about it.
>>7955637
Sun & Steel
>>7957273
its a meme you dip
>>7955637
Just saw Pan's Labyrinth.
It was an emotionally manipulative movie with generic writing saved by good acting.
Del Toro should stick to dumb movies.
>>7955667
No joke, read ancient history at a cafe and befriend the staff.
I'm socially retarded and chatting with baristas who know me as a regular has helped me mellow out a lot and become much more at ease and comfortable.
Also ancient history (Greece/Rome) is all about getting your shit straight. Personally I found Rome more relatable and inspiring than Greece, and would recommend Sallust>Polybius>Livy with regard to getting your life on track. Of the three, Livy has the best stories, Polybius is the best teacher, and Sallust has the most damning commentary:
>It is wrong for humans to complain about human nature, speaking of frailty and saying that their short life is ruled rather by chance than by merit. For, after careful thought, you will discover that nothing else is greater, nothing more stable, and that it is more often the case that human nature is lacking in determined effort than in strength or time. But the leader and the ruler of the mortal life is the rational soul. And when it proceeds toward glory down a path of manly virtue, it has more than enough power and potential to win fame and it does not need the help of chance, which cannot grant or steal from anyone honesty, diligence, and other excellent qualities. But if the mind is seized by perverse desires and descends into the corruption of sloth and bodily pleasures, then for a brief time it enjoys its cravings, but when indolence has worn away strength, time and talent, then men blame the inherent weakness of human nature; each man shifts the blame for what he has created to his troubles. If, on the other hand, men were as concerned about virtuous ways as they are eager to seek what others have and what will do them no good and is often even dangerous, they would control what happens rather than be controlled by it, and they would advance to that height of greatness where they would no longer be mortals, they would become eternal in glory.
>I say this because, just as the human race is composed of body and soul, so all of our accomplishments and pursuits follow either our physical or spiritual nature. And so it is that outstanding beauty, great wealth, even physical strength and other similar things quickly pass away, but the extraordinary deeds of intellectual talent are, just like the soul, immortal. Simply put, just as there is a beginning, so there is an end to the benefits of body and fortune; all that is born dies, all that grows, grows old. But the soul is incorruptible, eternal, the director of the human race; it guides and has power over all things, and is not itself controlled. All the more surprising, then, is the depravity of those who are devotes to bodily pleasures and pass their lives in luxury and idleness, but allow their intellectual talent, which is the best and most noble part of human nature, to grow torpid with neglect and indolence, especially when the rational soul has so many different ways to attain the heights of glory.
>>7956346
>psychedelics and stims aren´t that bad
>>7956334
La Grande Bellezza is my favorite movie. If you like it watch Sorrentino's other movies, especially his last one Youth is very similar to LGB.
>>7955637
The Bible
>>7956346
>stims are not life destroying
>stims are not life destroying
>meth and coke are not life destroying
>>7955637
This desu senpai
>>7956540
Reduce then drop the weed if you can, no amount of smoke is good for you, that said don't skip DMT if you get the chance, make sure the mdma is spaced out and you supplement with 5-htp, it is slightly neurotoxic and causes some anxiety over time, Shrooms and LSD are fine, they cause Neurogenesis (birth of neurons), ignore the unenlightened who don't know any better
As for self improvement, the best thing you can do is change your habits (do not attempt to change several habits at once, introduce new ones and phase out old ones one at a time over a few months), start with meditation, then add exercise, then diet
on reading
>The Game - Neil Strauss
(modern classic on pickup, do not change your behaviour until you read the next one)
>Models - Mark Manson
(more practical and relevant than the game, negs are out)
>What Every BODY is Saying -Joe Navarro
(if even a fraction of this sinks in it will improve your social confidence)
>The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey,
(self explanatory)
>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
(read Zen, any Zen is good)
>Finite and Infinite Games - James P. Carse
(play the game with joy)
Anything by Alan Watts, you have the fortune to be able to get most of his stuff off of youtube (including the view why all self improvement is folly, which is worth having as you go through it) and some more Zen, he has lots of stuff on non dualism (dualism having infected all western thought, once you step out of dualism you will never fear nor worry again and your life is set)
you're not going to commit to reading a book. just go outside more often
>>7955637
You're 18, you're too young to be on a path to anything you dumb nigger. When I was 18 I was on a "path" to being a successful mathematician, now I'm an alcoholic whose idea of productive is reading more than 20 pages of a meme book in a day.
>>7956540
These drugs don't have the connotation suggested by the "drugs" in OP.
Just listen to >>7955975 or check the damn catalog. No single book is going to make you into a superstar. And even if there was such a book, given the defeatism you've displayed throughout this thread, acting like you're 18 now so your personality and all your opinions are cemented and not going to change, I doubt that book would reach you. Nietzsche might be worth a read, but I'm not sure that he had people you in mind as his ideal audience.
>>7955637
Discipline yourself, kouhai. You're not enjoying things enough as is. Real pleasure takes practice.
Pay me $30 and I will no joke write you a page of advice tailored to your situation.
>>7956286
>Recommend me some stuff that will help me improve my life and come off the path to degeneracy
>What about these things anon, they're a good way to get back on the right track
>No, I won't do those, they're vain and go against my current morals
Your current morals are the reason you're in the state you are, genius. You can't change yourself while staying the same person, you have to create meaningful changes in your lifestyle.
Books aren't going to fix you, they're not a magic pill, they're just a way of learning to be able to look at things in ways you might not have considered.
Join social groups, do something to benefit society, and stick with it. Cut the contact with the girl that's just fucking around with you, I can nearly guarantee she's doing drugs too, and you're not going to improve with her linking you to your past. You have to absolutely change everything about the way you're living to live a different way, you're not going to just magically change into something better by spending a while looking at yourself. If you're not willing to change something today, you're not going to be able to change. So either do something, or stay how you are now. It's your choice really.
>>7956354
I recently alienated all of my friends accidentally and isolated myself last summer, this one's coming up and I have no friends again. My main concern is that if I hang out with people from my classes we'll probably go to the same places that the people I've alienated go, and it'd be awkward.
>degeneracy
boOooOoOoooO
