You know the type, probably a good father or worker, but serious faced all the time, never smiles, often in a bad mood, very cynical. It’s just I feel like I’m on the path to this, I’m 28, just escaped 12 years of food service so I’m already super cynical and if someone comes up to me, I’m super ready to shut down whatever’s about to happen. I feel like working with customers for years I’ve learned to have giant walls up and I can’t seem to remove them. I see the other guys in the factory I’m working at laughing and joking all the time, I think of myself as funny but it’s always deadpan humor and I wish I could genuinely smile and laugh and make friends with the other guys. Any old timers or well travelers out there have any advice?
Practicing what I call Micro Pleasantries helps me feel good about life. Can be as simple as complimenting someone on their awesome new shoes or giving up your seat on the bus (or allowing someone to merge) It makes me feel better and hopefully makes someone feel better , too.
This. I try to do give a stranger at least one genuine compliment whenever I go out. It helps keep me positive and aware.
Look for the little joys. Seriously. You know that light that always seems to be red when you get there? Celebrate the times it’s not rather than getting annoyed when it is. Make up words from the letters on a license and consider what might make a person want that. Come up with bad answers. Absurd ones. Find shapes in clouds.
Not all of that is easy but it can be worth the effort.
Happiness can be chosen, just not all the time. Look for the places you can and try to do it. Like anything it’ll get easier with practice.
*There are hard things that will make choosing happiness nigh impossible. If you find yourself in one of these places you need external help, very probably professional. It’s not weakness to acknowledge that any more than it is to see a doctor if you cut off your arm.
I’ll add, Listen to stand up comedy or a funny podcast while driving. Your brain will eventually associate annoyance with humor, and everything irritating becomes a chance to make a joke. Made a difference for me after years of sitting in traffic.
That’s a really great idea, I never thought of that! Would have really helped my 2 hour each way commutes that drove me crazy before I went full remote.
One thing no one seems to be mentioning, is finding a purpose. A reason that things are worth it even when they aren’t good.
What is your reason for living, your hope, even when shit hits the fan?
Don’t worry about it, accept it as a stage of life and do it with style. Start cataloging a lot of zingers aimed at young people being foolish and practice your delivery of the word “dumbass” so that it can be used to end most sentences.
Indeed. Would that we could all aspire to “The 70s Show” ideal crotchety old man.
I’ll introduce my size 10 boot, to your ass!
Well, self awareness goes a long way, so you’re on the right path. Lots of people get crotchety and cynical by focusing too much on things that are outside their control. Focus more on areas of your life that you can influence, and learn to enjoy your life for what it is rather than what it could be.
Honestly, if you’re the type of person who’s prone to this, disengaging from hyper cynical social media platforms (yes, including Lemmy) is probably another good idea.
My dad used to be super into politics and consumed rage-bait news on TV and social media a lot, especially during the height of covid. Once he unplugged from all of that there was a noticeable shift in his demeanor and I would say that he’s significantly happier and more content now.
disengaging from hyper cynical social media platforms (yes, including Lemmy)
Ideally, but I found on reddit that highly curating my subscriptions (including pretty much removing all defaults) helped too.
Join a men’s group. Nothing else in my life has softened my face more.
What is a men’s group? Can you elaborate
I assume he means like a group of guys who get together and just do some activity
I think he means a group like the NY Jack’s
Sort of like a cross between group therapy and a mastermind group. Mostly we just check in which whatever’s good or bad going on, how it makes us feel. There’s a focus on minimizing the details and sticking to what things feel like right here and now, as a way of getting in tune with what feelings are present.
I had no idea this was true, but I couldn’t identify which feelings I was feeling. I only expressed, and allowed myself to identify, emotions that matched who I was in my story.
Now I feel my actual literal emotions. Directly. It’s made it so much easier to make life decisions. And I feel a lot less out of place in life. I actually feel like part of humanity now.
I think I messed up and joined a cult
Duh just take shrooms
As someone who doesn’t do shrooms, this might actually be the answer.
On a less sarcastic note, Shrooms and acid both bind to the 5HT2A serotonin receptor in the brain. This receptor is responsible for filtering out information. Sensory information like the buzzing of the AC or fridge gets filtered out because it’s not useful information, and you’ve heard it a million times anyways. When this receptor is blocked, your brain reverts back to a childlike state because all information is treated like new information because it’s not getting filtered out
Just to add a bit; I don’t know anything about brain chemistry, but if I cast the subjective experience into these terms I would imagine that this filtering occurs at higher levels of abstraction than the mentioned sensory input. Meaning that you have conscious awareness of ideas that your usual habits of thought would filter out before they reached conscious awareness. The vast majority of those ideas are just fun, creative, silly bullshit that can easily take on a quality of profundity that it is tempting to take far too seriously, but sometimes they can inspire more long-term creative paths, or even just let you appreciate your sober experience of the world in new and interesting ways.
This is useful for many of us who spend the vast majority of our thinking time in very utilitarian goal-oriented patterns. These habits of thought, while useful for earning a living working in a kitchen or whatever, for example, can hamper our ability to experience other sorts of creative, playful, and novel patterns of thought that make life fun. Breaking out of those habits can help bring new, vibrant perspectives on our living experience.
Right, good point, and yes: it’s much more than just sensory information. And it’s more than just the removal of a filter. There’s no small change in a complex system, especially when that system is the brain
Ive made a lot of music on Lucy. Im really curious what the effects of learning an instrument or languages are when under those conditions
As someone near your age who had worked in Food Service for a similar amount of time; I highly recommend you talk to your GP about getting some help. I came out feeling the exact same way, but ignored it. That was the wrong thing to do, and getting medical help has made a huge difference.
It’s kinda freaky reading your post honestly. I even worked on Factory lines after kitchens and had a similar experience.
Eh just lean into it.
Do you happen to have access to a bunch of balloons?
I agree with @Bluefruit that therapy is invaluable if you get a good therapist (you might have to try a few; don’t get discouraged). I think 80% (a number right from my ass) people could benefit from therapy (as opposed to 80% need therapy).
But also, some of it is just personality. I also don’t smile easily with people who aren’t close to me. I have trouble making jokes with people that don’t know me intimately because my (also) deadpan humor is dark and absurdist. Only through knowing me intimately will it sound like a joke. A colleague once observed that he was starting to recognize my brand of humor six months into working together, which I found surprising at the time. Some of it you just accept as who you are.
Having been in CS positions at different times in my life, I realize that it can make a person dead inside. Hopefully, this isn’t your situation. If it is, please work (however you find an ability to) to find a change. For me, it was witnessing a moment of truly astonishing empathy from someone that was a wakeup call. Best of luck!
Don’t get injured.
Oh, I don’t know, I’m all kinds of broken and am still delightful.
Give more than you take.
I think this would work. It’s effort but it’ll do.
Get a better job and hang around with cooler people, get drunk and high if you feel like it, and get your mind into a state of carelessness about all the bullshit. Don’t worry about things that you can’t control, because it does no good and stains your mind. Enjoy your hobbies and do whatever you want.
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The way you avoid becoming a crotchety old man is to die young. I’m not sure I’ve met a genuinely happy old man.
I know of one that seems happy all the time, he’s approaching 70. He’s also stoned 24/7 which may have something to do with it.
