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Comment by erxam | Hacker News Reader

Frankly, I just don't see how any sort of optimism can survive the moment you step out of the house.

It goes beyond the internet. The real world is an excruciating parade of torture, and no amount of self-platitudes or of positive thoughts will change the reality of the situation.

Sure, you can try and not have anxiety. Live in the moment. But someone is eventually going to take advantage of that and you'll be worse off. That can only happen so many times before you start reevaluating your thoughts, intentions aside.

Personally, the only times I've ever felt good about the world and how everything was going to be okay have been when I'm using opioids, hidden away in a corner of my room.

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No it isn't. The world's amazing.

Just yesterday I went to the shop. A man was carrying an animal to the vet. He said g'day on his way past. Then I had a nice chat with the lady at the post office about her kid's birthday this weekend. I'd overheard her telling the previous customer about it, so I continued the conversation despite being a stranger to her.

Then I tried to buy a slab of beer at a place but it was too expensive. Had a nice chat to the lady there though.

That was about all. A quiet day. But really lovely. Nobody took advantage. Nothing bad happened. No woes or tribulations. Just a nice day with reasonable weather.

What happened to you yesterday?

I hope you are being sarcastic.

> A man was carrying an animal to the vet. He said g'day on his way past. Then I had a nice chat with the lady at the post office about her kid's birthday this weekend.

And these shallow almost-no-effort-required conversations are what convince you that everything is good? For some, people making these polite conversations to hide the awfulness of life itself is maddening.

Not that such interaction is bad, but try to build on them to create any sort of meaningful relationship and see what happens.

> Nobody took advantage. Nothing bad happened. No woes or tribulations.

For you. I bet you many people were taken advantage of, killed, died from lack of food, were verbally abused, neglected emotionally, etc... that day

I bet you’re fun at a party.

Today is rainy and windy. I look forward to going outside with the missus for a moment to plant a few trees. That won't change the fact that my knees are hurting, that the economy sucks, or that our eastern neighbor is waging a genocidal war upon another neighboring country. I'll get a bit of excersise though, and get to spend time with my beloved wife. And to plant trees, which brings us closer to realising our dream about having a backyard forest AND being good for the environment.

Neither will offset or do anything about the global inflation, or the famine in Sudan. Sitting inside and worrying about those things won't change it either.

In the end, it's a matter of convincing yourself to do something that goes against your instinctive responses, and then learn from that experience and hopefully re-train said instinctive responses. This is neither easy nor quick, and there will be times when you will feel like an idiot for trying to convince yourself to see something in a positive light. But once you manage, even for a few short moments, it will make you feel better. Losing hope won't.

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