I can relate. I just quit Twitter because everyone was so painfully dramatic and hatefull towards any kind of positivity. Yes, the world is a f*cked up place but a hopeless mindset won't make it any better.
it actually meant a lot, just yesterday i was so scared, so numb and sad all at the same time and i wished to never trust people again, but as you said there’s at least a little chance that things can get better and yeah, i’m not gonna give up now
I thought it was good. I didn't sleep last night - so my brain is too fried to formulate arguments or words or anything like that. And I am not terribly good at gushing.
Call me a nerd, but I like the idea of (positive) nihilism, I actually find it comforting. Here's a summary of my view of it: In 100 years, everyone I know will be dead. In 1000 years, or maybe 10 000 if you're famous, nobody will probably remember your name. There are 7 billion people in the world and everyone has their own life, just as complicated and faceted as my own and we don't even know how many stars and habitable planets there are in the universe. So if you look at the big picture, you could say that nothing in life matters and why should you try anyway. BUT, this is how I look at it: If nothing that I do really matters, if I'm going to die anyway (it could be in 50 years, it could be tomorrow), then I might as well enjoy it. Nobody will write books about all the mistakes I made in life, in 10 years nobody will ask if I got an A or an F on this exam. The only meaning in our lives is the meaning we give to it. If being successful in your job makes you happy and fulfilled, go for it. If spending time with the people you love, or if you just want to play video games all weekend long, it doesn't matter. Do what makes you happy. We don't have to reach some grand world wide success to have lived a good and meaningful life. I'm sorry if that was a bit rambly, I tried to get my thoughts on this down as good as I could. I don't know if this is helpful to anyone else, but it helped me realize that all the pressure I feel to get things right, is the pressure I put on myself.
Right? I think he confused nihilism and pessimism just because a lot of people who are nihilists seem to be pessimistic nihilists, but there's also optimistic nihilism so
I like what Extra Credits said; "Nihilism isn't mature." It's not more grown up, it's not cool. It's kind of just... Sad. As a professional sad person myself, I had a lot of this feeling of nothing matters. But then I got older and I realized that my life is finite. Sure, there's a lot of things that don't matter that other people will tell you do matter. But you figure it out for yourself. You decide. And what you decide is important, what's worth living for? That says a lot about you as a person.
I find the idea that nothing matters kind of comforting, gives you free reign to kinda just do whatever you want, that you don't really have to worry about things not working out or feeling overly guilty about something because, in the grand scheme of things, nothing matters anyway. Just live your life for you.
I spent too many years of my still young life thinking that hope was naive. Now I’d like to think that I not only surround myself with people who give me hope, but I have created an environment for myself that keeps me hopeful for the future. Care and hope are very punk rock indeed.
no matter the topic, i always know your video will give me a new kind of insight and i absolutely love that. i very much identify with your opinions and sometimes you even remind me of the great thoughts i tend to not see while falling into the absolutely unnecessary negative bs. and yeah, in short you just brighten my day.
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I'm quite an optimistic nihilist. I think life is meaningless, but it doesn't mean you can't have fun or create meaning for yourself. Or try to make life better for your fellow human beings. Like this comic strip: www.xkcd.com/167/
Don’t know how I found your channel... but fucking thank you. Thanks for being authentic, honest, and raw and beautiful. Cannot express how much I appreciate it. Warms my heart!!!!!
ok first of all i'm living for your hair. second of all, this means everything to me because i always care either too much or NOT AT ALL and times when i care "too much" are always the times when i'm really living my best life
This video turned into a mini Greek mythology lesson for me because I wasn't familiar with Sysiphis and didn't know that people say Sisyphean, so thanks for the vocab!!! But yes. I love your take on this because it seems that people (in general) love to jump to the poles of issues, in this case, complete nihilism or hopeless optimism, to an extent that it's exhausting to talk to both parties!! This approach is brilliant because saying "I believe things can get better" implies a "how though??" conversation, whereas saying things won't get better, or things will get better both are typically dead-end conversations! Loved the vid
I like watching your video bc Its kinda giving me some ambient vibes. Speaking your mind and wanting the world too care without making us feel attacked. Thanks for the great content!
I love a little color on ya, Connor. The glasses look great, the whole aesthetic, really. Also, hope is very important. Since being diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago I have grappled with how to redefine my hopes for myself. I've had to set my expectations for myself at a different bar. Not a lower bar, just a different one.
1: I'm pretty nihilistic. I genuinely believe that in the grand scheme of things, nothing we do will matter. But to me, that just means that if we want to be happy, it's our job to get us there. We can't rely on fate to decide that we need help. cw: next piece has discussion of depression and self harm 2: Hopelessness sucks hell. I moved to another city away from my people and my support network and it's so difficult. The culture shock is so much harder than I expected. My mental health has plummeted and I'm back at square one with self harming. Huzzah. Idk right now how to answer with a trick like I usually comment. I guess if anyone else is currently feeling hopeless, know that you aren't alone?
God, I think about that quote from Sam all the time and it’s genuinely helped shape my worldview. I agree with this so much thank you for doing this video.
I am navigating into all NB youtube and wiki and I am glad have finding here, you talk about things I use to talk and I will keep talking. Subscribed! c: Siento que es como el estado del arte de mis ideas y creo que incluso esto me ayudo a refinarlas un tan uhh Fucking great
I relate to the question how am I not dead yet and this same hope you were talking about was a reason for me to be alive. Now because I still have self worth issues, my main focus/purpose is to get to a point where I have the resources to help someone or some NGOs, at least someone should be happier
A good way to stave off nihilism is to reexamine whether your current situation really is as bad as you think it is. I've had a very isolated life and very few friends. For a long time, I was miserable thinking I had missed out on some kind of fun lifestyle, going out partying with "the boys." The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wouldn't even enjoy the "party hard" lifestyle. I'd rather watch YT and play video games than go to some sleazy bar and get drunk out of my mind. I also realized many of my coworkers were people I'd call friends, even if we never saw each other outside of work. It turned out I already had exactly the life I wanted.
💚 you, especially for quoting mah boy Samwise Gamgee! I don't have anything deep to add to what you said … I agree with you that hope is necessary to move forward in a positive way, but still I suck at hoping. For now I just hope that hoping can get easier for me, step by step …!
What I thought of this video, no matter how sad you get and no matter how happy you get it don’t matter anyways your body won’t allow you to rest in content. Another thing I took away is god is an eternal concept we can’t get rid of the idea of hope faith trust whether that’s the universe or whatever you think god is.
I've taken to spinning my intrinsically nihilistic brain into thinking abt some sort of optimistic nihilism, where it's nihilism but because nothing matters why not make it mean something to yourself? It's not super healthy but by now I'm desperate for anything to keep me from this dark hole I constantly find myself trapped in haha
hey! i appreciate this video and its insight, but i also have to kinda disagree. personally, i really do think in the grand scheme of things we rly dont matter. in a billion years, maybe we've spread across the universe and have achieved real peace. or maybe we've all been dead for millions of year. idk! and personally, that can be pretty liberating. after all, if nothing matters in the grand scheme of things, that in no way means that my person minute-to-minute, day-to-day experience is entirely meaningless. it means that generally, i wont have a big effect. but what it doesnt mean is that it doesnt and shouldnt matter to *me* personally, and it also doesnt mean i cant have hope. and this is where the liberating part comes in. if in a billion years, everything ive ever done makes not one bit of difference, then i can do anything now! i can make the choice to refuse to have hope and completely give up, or i can make every day the best it can be, and have a ton of hope and put all of my energy into what i love and what makes me happy. i think nihilism is often seen as ~edgy teens who hate everything~, and sure, it sometimes does manifest as that, but i think nihilism is just as much, if not more, seeing the world and your actions as generally meaningless and then taking it as an opportunity to live your life how you want it, because after all, what does it matter? i saw somewhere someone comparing it to a movie. you dont go to a movie expecting it to last forever. you know its gonna end, but does that stop you from enjoying it? no, you enjoy the movie while its playing and when its over you appreciate it for what it was. idk, i hope this makes sense lol
