I think what would give cavemen pause would be if the house was on fire for 20,000 years.

That said, we definitely should have stayed on nuclear.

Barring special circumstances, the looks you are born with matter very little. What matters more is your presentation.

First, take care of your skin suit. It is the only one you own, it’s the one you have to wear, and it is the one everyone else interacts with. Hygiene. Grooming. Basic fitness. This doesn’t mean that you have to have a specific body type. This means that whatever body type you have, it has to be healthy. You can be heavy built and be fit and healthy. If you do not take care of yourself, why would some trust you to take care of them or their stuff?

Second, you have to prepare excessively. I always assume that I am not ready, so I over prep. Being prepared fills you with confidence. Being confident makes other comfortable and helps them trust you. There is no such thing as being too ready.

Third, keep your mouth shut and listen. Do not just hear…listen. This helps you better understand your situation, what others need, what to avoid, etc. When you do finally open your mouth, speak clearly, succinctly, and with confidence because you now know what is needed and you came prepared.

Bottom line is that, like all magic tricks, it is all about the prep work.

Of course, but first you need to figure out what your true definition of “better off” is. What would bring you true quality of life. Also, what would you trade off in order to achieve that quality of life? The answers to those questions are very individual.

Bob Odenkirk is not amused.

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I think this entire response thread is too young. Back when you connected to the Internet with 14.4k and 28k modems (mid to late 90’s), websites were as OP described. Simply put, there was no bandwidth for too much extra crap.

Not a joke.

https://youtu.be/0FyKQ3HrmII

As someone that spent half their life very poor, I always take offense with the “just move” answer. Many people, if not most, in the US cannot afford to emigrate. It is also very likely that OP or someone else in their situation, cannot afford to get a STEM degree.

OP said that they are disabled.

TL;DR: The following is going to be dark and harsh but it all comes down to one thing. Life doesn’t get better, you get better at dealing with shit. Hang in there.

You need to disconnect and find a way to focus on you.

It feels like the entire system is a scam and it’s pointless to even try.

It has always been a game where the only way to win is to cheat. Always.

It feels all but certain that I won’t be able to enjoy a prosperous life or get to retire.

The system is not setup with rest (retirement) as its main goal. The system is setup for you to play until you die. Even if you hoard more money than you and your descendants could possibly spend in a hundred years, you would likely still want to play, because you are winning. If your end goal is mere prosperity and retirement, then you should prepare to be under the boot and a slave until you die.

All of the wealth is going straight to the top.

Always has been the case. It hasn’t stopped people from finding a way.

All of the opportunities to move up in the world are being rug-pulled.

This has always been the case. You have to make your own opportunities and expect others to drag you down. We are all crabs in a bucket.

All of the federal agencies that help keep us safe and healthy are gone. The social safety net is getting flushed down the toilet.

Fantasy. These things has never existed in this country. At best, FDR gave us a yoga mat to land on when we fall off a cliff, where before it was a bed of nails. Fall hard enough in this country and you will get wrecked no matter what. It has always been that way.

We will live in disease and squalor, and the most vulnerable of us will die.

Same as it ever was.

Because I dared to not be a sociopath, I and anyone else who voted for sanity will be deemed enemies of the state and hunted down - which won’t be hard, because it would be trivial to build the most robust surveillance state in human history if it doesn’t exist already.

Take a breath. Here is a truth that will sound harsh but it is meant as a kindness. You do not matter. Just about nobody knows you exist. Nobody is coming to get you. This fact applies to almost everyone.

Since all we can do is live the life we perceive with the meat in our skull, we tend to see ourselves as the main character in the story of life. We’re not. We barely qualify for NPC status.

I myself have disabilities (which I don’t think qualify for benefits) that make it hard, but not impossible, to find a job.

That’s a problem, I am sorry. All problems have a solution, but one unlikely to be found here, with Internet strangers.

The problem is that I just can’t bring myself to do it because I don’t get what the fucking point is anymore. I have to work so hard to get out of this rut just for some fascist fuck to kill me or toss me into a torture facility before I can even experience life on my own.

Again. Breathe homie. That’s not going to happen.

Have you been in a similar headspace and were able to escape it?

100%…often. I have lived with chronic, sometimes crippling, depression and fairly severe PTSD since 1989. Long story short, a lot of trauma broke my brain. Combo that with ADHD, borderline personality disorder, heart disease and cancer, and we are living the life baby! Still, I have been able survive and rise from poverty to wealth without hurting too many people…I hope.

If so, what snapped you out of it?

Nothing did. I just kept getting up out of spite and contempt for this life. As time went on, i got used to it. The bullshit bothered me less until it just became background noise. A nuisance from time to time.

I always say
“two thousand”
“Oh one, oh two, oh three…”
“Twenty ten, twenty eleven…”

My ADHD manifests in the complete opposite way.

Me: “Let’s go to sleep.”
ADHD:

Those ladies were likely in their early to mid twenties.

I always understood that you refer to yourself and your fellow countrymen abroad as expats. You use the word immigrant when referring to others.

“Stimpy, sometimes your wealth of ignorance astounds me.” – Ren Höek

No single administration has the ability to totally fuck up the country in the amount of time they have.

Women in need of reproductive health services in red states would like a word.

For anyone that hasn’t played UT99, try it. There are still plenty of servers with active lobbies. I have played this game on and off since release.

Obviously. You can’t really expect the pope to play solo. Now the true question is, who did he romance first? My money is on Karlak.