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  • @willnever_fadeaway@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    How does one deal with demotivation to work or to do most things, other than just pass the time and stare at the nothingness and the lack of direction of one’s life? How does one regain the creative spark that was lost, the joy of life, the curiosity to learn and understand not just those around us but also within ourselves. How does one be "alive’?

    Just leaving my random thoughts here.

    • megane-kun
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      11 months ago

      On a more practical sense, someone once told me that discipline and habit is far more important than motivation once things are properly rolling. Motivation might be the spark that gotten things rolling, but it’s discipline and habit that keeps it going. (And that I ought to listen to that advice myself.)

      However, in a more philosophical sense, I think accepting that you’ve lost your own spark and facing that very question “how does one be alive?” with the intent of reigniting that lost spark is pretty much facing the absurd. That facing that question every waking day of one’s life, answering that question for every moment, is pretty much the point. Whether or not the answer makes sense (in the moment or otherwise) or not is irrelevant, because the value is not in the answer, but in the way we face it.

      It could be that for today, I could face it by making a slight detour in my daily commute and allowing myself to get lost on the way home, for example. It could be that for some other day, just as an example, I could choose to face it by not wearing any underwear during a work zoom meeting, relishing on that danger of being exposed. Or it could be as trivial as making pancit by using spaghetti. Or making spaghetti by using pancit bihon. All trivial things in the big picture, but if it makes my day any little more tolerable, then so be it.

    • tahann
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      211 months ago

      Demotivation. Treat it as a normal thing. Capitalists just attached a negative connotation to it.

      • megane-kun
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        311 months ago

        Just looking at what happened to the word ‘anomie’, ugh. I won’t even pretend to even have a slightest idea what that word means.

        However, I take it to mean (as baseless as it could be) as “the individual has lost the will to participate in the wider society,” which begs the question: “Why?” How could it be that a number of people have simply gotten detached to the wider world around them? Some people could point to those people and say “they’re just being spoiled, selfish little brats who refuse to grow up,” while some others point to the society, the system as a whole having failed those people.

        And for my personal opinion, “society” sees it fit to ignore and let those people be. That there’s some “better person out there” willing to be a cog. And if things don’t drastically change, “society” (and I mean, those who sit over the people), won’t even need people in the first place—with AI and machines making up for any lost productivity, or even more.

        • tahann
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          111 months ago

          Sana nga society just lets them be, di ba? Based on experience, society forces people to conform. If they don’t conform, they might be seen as a threat for extermination. Society will use them as cautionary tales. And society lived happily ever after.

          Well, iba-iba naman dahilan para mademotivate. Exag naman yung spoiled bratz image. Pwede naman they just don’t see a favorable future pursuing their current path. Pwede naman need lang magpahinga. Or may ibang issues na di maaddress dahil other matters consume too much resources. Iba din diskarte depende sa dahilan. Best pa din is to just chill muna.

          • megane-kun
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            111 months ago

            Sana nga society just lets them be, di ba? Based on experience, society forces people to conform.

            The image I had in my mind when‌ I wrote that part (which ties in to the “spoiled brats” quote) is the Japanese hikikomori phenomenon, mixed with the mental health situation elsewhere. As I imagine it, society sees it fit to let lots of these individuals fall into the cracks, only taking action when they “cause harm” (which could be as nebulous as it needs to be).

            And yeah, I admit that the “spoiled brats” portion is exaggerated (although I’ve personally heard someone adopt a similar sentiment [“isip-bata, ayaw ng responsibilidad”] when talking about someone who’s obviously mentally unwell). It is a caricature I used to highlight the polar opposites of a spectrum of opinion regarding the phenomenon. One end blames the individual, the other blames society. Individual opinion may even go off this spectrum, choosing instead to analyze things on a more holistic way.

            As I think it is a social phenomenon, I am more inclined to blaming society: that it is a failure of society to make sure individuals under it are well-adjusted. And that while individuals can flourish even under the most hostile of circumstances, a society that fails its individuals sows the seeds of its own destruction.

            Iba din diskarte depende sa dahilan. Best pa din is to just chill muna.

            Yeah, individually, it’s up to one’s circumstances talaga, and one’s answers are up to the person, as I’ve illustrated in my other reply (via my lemmy.world doppelganger). I’m sorry that I suddenly switched to a different context in my reply to you. I should have made that clear.

            • tahann
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              211 months ago

              Naghang naman yung world account ko, so balik ako dito.

              Napansin mo ba yung image sa wiki page na nishare mo? Bakit kaya yun ang piniling image, ano? Dunno about you, but medyo natheaten lola mo. Bakit kasi ganun? Or intentional kaya na gusto palabasin ng page na yun na they could be threatening?

              Pero kidding aside, nung bata ako, may pangarap akong maging ermetanyo. Bata pa lang ako, I feel I’m too weird for this world. Pero I didn’t see it as demotivation. Nakakapagod lang lagi mag explain ng sarili. Lucky for me, there are those who can figure me out. I’m now in my rightful place in the machine. 🥴

              • megane-kun
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                211 months ago

                Naghang naman yung world account ko, so balik ako dito.

                Nag-hang naman yung lemm.ee kanina, kaya nag-lemmy.world ako. I hope everything is okay with the different lemmy instances.


                Napansin mo ba yung image sa wiki page na nishare mo? Bakit kaya yun ang piniling image, ano? Dunno about you, but medyo natheaten lola mo. Bakit kasi ganun? Or intentional kaya na gusto palabasin ng page na yun na they could be threatening?

                I’ll say it out loud. It has school shooter vibes. There, I said it. Sayang since I kinda find that guy cute (and this better not awaken anything in me). Anyways, I think the article is far better off if that picture wasn’t there.

                And we’re not alone. A discussion in the talk page of the article has a user say this:

                What proof do we have that that person really is a hikikomori, and not just an ordinary Japanese young man? The photo only serves to consolidate prejudices against hikikomori.

                A different, and in my opinion, worse illustration featured in an older revision is discussed elsewhere.


                Pero kidding aside, nung bata ako, may pangarap akong maging ermetanyo. Bata pa lang ako, I feel I’m too weird for this world. Pero I didn’t see it as demotivation. Nakakapagod lang lagi mag explain ng sarili.

                IDK if it says something about the both of us, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If a child can dream of being a scientist someday, what’s wrong with someone wanting to be a hermit someday? However, I think that society only tolerates it until some threshold (maybe puberty, 18y/o, or 21y/o). After that, it’s seen as ‘childish’ (insert Le Petit Prince commentary here).

                But yeah, I could argue that it’s not really ‘demotivation’ (in the sense that it can be counted as anomie). Neither is my often fantasized ‘time stop’ superpower (fueled by my own remaining lifespan). In both of those, it’s still “serving society”. In the hermit scenario, it’s through the cultivation of wisdom, in which society reaps either through people visiting the hermit for wisdom, or the hermit’s posthumous writings. In my scenario, it’s through the assumption that I’m to re-engage in society eventually, recharged and better able to ‘do my duty.’

                So, bale, I draw a distinction between ‘demotivation’ used in these two senses:

                • “I don’t want to do this, but I have to—eventually, I must” —— this is more or less tolerated and (relatively) unproblematic, as you’re still having the will to meaningfully engage with society.
                • “Fuck this shit! Why should I even have to do this?!” —— I see this as being part of the wider (and confusing) ‘anomie’ phenomenon—at least, the way I understand it—since there is already a crack, if not a complete break, in that will to meaningfully engage with society.

                Damn, sorry for the wall of text. I admit I’ve gotten a bit fired up with this discussion.