Thinking Discordian for brain hygiene

[MaelOfCricklewood]

I need a fresh start.

My best friend of many years, a very young gay man, has de facto dumped me upon discovery of a sort of whitewashed Catholicism of his, plus the books of Peter Singer, and putting on a little face of smug moral superiority, telling me that feminists (like me) suck cuz they get so worked up upon first world problems and antitheists (like me) are oblivious to the solace of spirituality and blah blah blah (I simplify a little, but basically.). I used to bounce ideas with him on a daily basis, and I don't know anyone else with the openness that he used to have.

At work, I am a weary consultant that gets well paid to dish advice on the basis of vaporllke data, advice that will be systematically ignored and/or misconstrued. My current contract is a bit like herding a large litter of very angry kittens with a drinking habit. I've just resigned, effective in two weeks, and I plan to take a sabbatical for a few months.

I am an expat a' la I Hired a Contract Killer (the Kaurismaki movie), but I know superficially a bazillion of people.

Deep inside, I am more than a bit crazy but since a while such craziness has no outlet. I've decided to go back to my roots -- Discordianism is one of these. I'd like to hear advice from fellow Discordians on how to restart my poor battered brain. I don't plan to do anything extraordinary, I just need to stretch and exercise my underused Dadaist streak. Any advice is welcome, practical advice is very very welcome.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It sounds a bit like what you need is A. something completely different, and B. a creative outlet. Both of these could in practice end up being the same thing.

My story is that roughly three years ago, I was a heartbroken heavy-drinking very, very successful artist. I'd recently gone through a break-up and slid into a deep depression. I'd never been depressed before, and it sat on me like a pile of fiberglass insulation. I hated my life. So I decided to leverage my total apathy to fuck it all and go back to school.

Now I'm an Honors science major and I love my life. Although I am not a whole new person or anything so dramatic, I think about things very differently and I feel like my world has widened considerably.

So maybe what you should consider doing is something completely different.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Perhaps take photography classes; buy a film camera and start taking pictures that capture how you feel about the world in that moment. Have them blown up into high-quality prints and framed. Approach a small local gallery with your work and see if they will give you a show. Become a darling of the art world, drink a little too much red wine, and sleep with other artists, always making sure to flee their beds before dawn.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Obligatory GO OUTSIDE.

I had a bad stretch after my mom died and I hauled my ass out of it by wandering around taking pictures of flowers in people's gardens around town for months.

[MaelOfCricklewood]

Mesozoic:

You have an amazing story!! Care to develop? Was the decision a gradual one or sudden? Was an interest that had already planted the seed in you beforehand, or did it strike you out of the blue?

Your advice is sound. Indeed, I've taken up stand-up comedy already, doing a course a couple of months ago and taking some gigs. It's too early to say if it suits me or not -- I have been taught so many rules and conventions, and they are still so fresh and unabsorbed in my mind that I can't quite go past them and still get a laugh. We will see.

I am not sure I can take a step as extreme as yours -- I love my creature comforts, plus basically what I need is an environment where I can be intelligently stupid and admire others doing the same, and I suspect that it's hard to find something that provides that and a livelihood as well. But I am open, and I just started exploring.


Q. G. Pennyworth: very good advice. Hope you're better now? Do you still take pictures?


(thanks to both!!! )

[MaelOfCricklewood]

On a side note, wouldn't be of sudden solace and healing to be around people who talk? I miss the kind of conversation that has for purpose only itself, instead of some external intent. Oh well! We'll go out, explore, take stock and move accordingly.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I'm dealing with another bout of brain weasels atm, began a treatment routine of metaphorical banana stickers that seems to be managing the worst of the symptoms.

[MaelOfCricklewood]

Ah shite, the brain can be so burdensome Good luck!

I was mumbling earlier over this strategy of yours. Picturing other people's flowers, it's pretty cool. A storybook of street flora ephemera, each with its own unknowable story and individuality. Uplifting.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Obligatory GO OUTSIDE.

I had a bad stretch after my mom died and I hauled my ass out of it by wandering around taking pictures of flowers in people's gardens around town for months.

Yes.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Mesozoic:

You have an amazing story!! Care to develop? Was the decision a gradual one or sudden? Was an interest that had already planted the seed in you beforehand, or did it strike you out of the blue?

Your advice is sound. Indeed, I've taken up stand-up comedy already, doing a course a couple of months ago and taking some gigs. It's too early to say if it suits me or not -- I have been taught so many rules and conventions, and they are still so fresh and unabsorbed in my mind that I can't quite go past them and still get a laugh. We will see.

I am not sure I can take a step as extreme as yours -- I love my creature comforts, plus basically what I need is an environment where I can be intelligently stupid and admire others doing the same, and I suspect that it's hard to find something that provides that and a livelihood as well. But I am open, and I just started exploring.


Q. G. Pennyworth: very good advice. Hope you're better now? Do you still take pictures?


(thanks to both!!! )

I've always been interested in science, particularly neurobiology and human behavior, so it wasn't out of the blue so much. I also was burned out on my art, burned out on customers, burned out on all of it, and both depression and drinking, along with the recession were keeping me from doing much more, at that point, than pay my bills. Barely. I knew I needed to change my life radically to pull myself out of where I was at, so it wasn't a hard decision. I'd always said that I would go back to school when my youngest child started kindergarten, but when she started kindergarten my art career was peaking; I was earning six figures and had three employees, so it was too hard to walk away from.

The rest of the story between there and the place I found myself in before I went back to school involved scaling back my business so my husband could build his career, followed, of course, by a sordid tale of betrayal, recession, and divorce. Which is how I found myself dating, and then heartbroken, depressed, broke, dreading entering my studio, and in need of a life overhaul.

It all worked out rather will for me in the end, though.

I'm not necessarily suggesting that you completely switch gears and change your career; more like switch gears and find a new hobby outside of your comfort zone. You'll probably even meet some interesting conversation partners on the way.

I started playing Ingress a few months ago, and surprisingly enough that's turned out to be a great way to meet people. So are enrichment classes at community colleges or art schools.

i guess all I'm saying is that whatever you don't see yourself as, whatever (nonharmful) pursuit violates your self-image the most, that is an avenue to explore.

[MaelOfCricklewood]

Mesozoic, you have a book-worthy biography. I am awed and I high-five you over your ability and willingness to shape your own adventure and imagine a future self.

I take up right now two of the ideas you mentioned: I've just signed up for Ingress (something I wanted to do at some point and then forgot), and this:

whatever (nonharmful) pursuit violates your self-image the most, that is an avenue to explore.

Sounds both wise and strictly logical to me. I shall now catalogue what I am not and see where it goes. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Mesozoic, you have a book-worthy biography. I am awed and I high-five you over your ability and willingness to shape your own adventure and imagine a future self.

Thanks!

I take up right now two of the ideas you mentioned: I've just signed up for Ingress (something I wanted to do at some point and then forgot), and this:

whatever (nonharmful) pursuit violates your self-image the most, that is an avenue to explore.

Sounds both wise and strictly logical to me. I shall now catalogue what I am not and see where it goes. 

Yaayyy! Have fun!

[Cainad (dec.)]

I spent 5 years earning my undergrad in Geology, slowly becoming more and more disaffected with everything I was doing the whole time (not with the geology; I love me some rocks).

I decided to bail out on going to grad school, because academia was starting to kill me. After a few months of searching for work and living at home, I found work in my field that allows me to live independently. That in itself is a goddamn miracle in this decade.

But I recently started having a LOT more fun since I took up two different martial arts, around this time last year. I've never been an especially physical or fitness-oriented person, but it's been an absolute blast.

So, optional corollary to the GO OUTSIDE rule: DO DIFFICULT STUFF FOR FUN.

[LMNO]

[Cainad (dec.)]

I think I just invented my own new slogan