r/TheNerdsCampfire

What a wonderful feeling is uselessness. It strips us of the last bit of decency we have for ourselves. It speaks to the highest form of ourselves - consciousness - the thing which tells us we do something right or wrong. When we feel useless, we know we ought to do more, we need to try harder, and we need to find meaning in our lives.

Working in a dead-end job? Working just for money with no positive effect on others? Not working at all? Blindly going from job to job, from hobby to hobby, from inspiration to inspiration. And in the end...there's nothing worth a f*ck around you. It's funny how we know we should do more meaningful things, yet get stuck in comfort. It's funny how feeling useless is accompanied by its best friend - feeling lost.

"Pick the heaviest load you can carry" is Peterson's advice, and I think it is a good one. He says meaning is found in responsibility, but you can be responsible for a whole marketing department for washing machines, and I don't think you will find much meaning there.

Help people. That's my advice for feeling useless. You might still feel useless even when you help thousands or millions, but that's the nice thing about feelings...reality doesn't care how you feel, it cares what you do.

We all suffer from low confidence and shame. We don't see ourselves as others do. We live in doubt and try to lighten it by calling it "Having too big expectations of oneself". But even if we try to become the best version of ourselves, we still lack the belief. We can believe in Gods, spirits, luck, misfortune and even others, but struggle to believe in ourselves.

So, let's try it today. What is the smallest and most possible thing you can believe in? Is it that you will make a good deal? Is it that you will go to the gym? Is it that you will help someone?

Just believe you are capable of something, and you will be astonished by how much your feelings about yourself will improve.

Keep it going guys!

The Nerd's Campfire is a place for any nerd. From anime and books to philosophy and sports. Anyone interested in delving into topics deeply and with the right mind and soul is heartily welcome here.

Just like a campfire in any fantasy world, it serves as a place for rest, chat and getting new strength for your next adventure. This place is not just for talking, but for getting better. Because the night is dark and full of terrors, and so is our real life. We must be better; we must strive towards something greater. Why? I will let you answer that question for yourself. But if you want to be better, you are in the right place, dear adventurer.

I want all of us to connect, to talk, to discuss, to share and to improve together. It is always much better to quest with others than alone.

Thank you for joining the campfire.

We often struggle with introversion. Our energy gets depleted quickly when we talk with people and get energized by alone time. In jobs, we need to be cheerful, and the more we pretend, the more we get tired.

I’m an introvert, just like you, and believe me…I don’t like to talk to people all day. I often even describe myself as an introvert and make it part of my identity. But I try not to let it define me. I see it just as part of my personality traits, just one of many (exactly one of five if you also like the OCEAN personality spectrum). When we make something our identity, we live in a story where the attribute hinders us, and we make excuses as to why we can't do certain things. We like to blame it for our failures, "I can't get the promotion because I'm too shy", or "I can't get the interview because I'm scared and shy".

We limit ourselves. We limit our potential. We limit the good we can do in the world. It can be depression, anxiety or our personality, but if we let ANYTHING else decide our fate, then it's all over, and there's no reason to try to be better. I hope you want to be the best version of yourself. I hope you don't get discouraged because "others have it easier" because they talk easily with other people, they don't get drained, their extroversion and higher energy give them a leg up. But life doesn't work like that.

Every coin has two sides. Introversion trades low sociability for introspection, anxiety for prudence, or shallow talk for deep debate (a great book on this is The Quiet Mind by J. Coleman). If you use introversion as an excuse, also keep in mind its positive aspects. Then there's the hard reality check of why introversion only seems to be negative and not positive in your life. Might have something to do with you. Keep it simple and take accountability for who you are and what you do.

Keep it going guys!

I thought about what rules nerds should live by. What simple creed is needed for us? What values should we hold and towards what should we strive? I like the number 13; I like to test destiny with an unlucky number.

13 rules:

1.        Know who you are.

2.        Find your guild.

3.        Treat your life as the ultimate RPG.

4.        Sharpen your mind.

5.        Build your body.

6.        Don’t make excuses.

7.        Treat introversion as a personality trait, not as a definition of your character.

8.        Be more connected to nature.

9.        Consume less, create more.

10.       Don’t AFK from real life.

11.       Choose meaning over comfort.

12.       Don’t spend life daydreaming.

13.       Become the Hero of your story