Lifestyle

None of this is expert advice. It's what people worked out for themselves, usually the hard way — what actually helped, and what they'd tell someone standing where you are. Take what fits and leave the rest.

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If you only read a few

  1. Repair and reuse old items instead of replacing them to find calm and joy in maintenance.

    This habit brings calm and joy.

    • Stop if it leads to hoarding stuff you will never get to.

    one person who lived it

  2. Define your own life path.

    If you do not, you will regret it.

    one person who lived it

  3. Remove large screens from your house and turn off all notifications except for critical family members to slow down.

    To slow down.

    one person who lived it

  4. Spend 20 minutes on hobbies three days a week.

    You will feel the satisfaction you need.

    one person who lived it

  5. Take up some form of exercise, especially team sports, to make friends.

    Team settings allow you to make friends.

    one person who lived it

life, activities, hobbies, helps44

Discover hobbies that provide you with a sense of fulfillment.

  1. Learn to play an instrument and cook to help you know and be yourself.

    Knowing who you are helps you attract compatible people.

    one person who lived it

  2. Meal prep and use appliances like air fryers or instant pots to save cooking time.

    These methods make cooking really quick.

    one person who lived it

  3. Invest in yourself between ages 14 and 25, as using this period could drastically change your life trajectory.

    Using this period better would make life whole different.

    one person who lived it

  4. Focus on life activities that do not involve being good-looking, such as enjoying movies, video games, and hanging out with friends.

    The vast majority of life does not involve being good looking.

    one person who lived it

40 more on this
  1. Keep your hobbies but adjust your lifestyle to ensure they do not dominate your life.

    It is okay to have interests, but they should not take over.

    one person who lived it

  2. Secure shared housing early to avoid the exhaustion of daily commutes lasting three to four hours.

    Long daily commutes are exhausting and waste years of life.

    one person who lived it

  3. Create a concrete plan for desired experiences, such as travel or relationships, and take specific steps to get them.

    Making a plan prevents spiraling by giving you a clear path to add what you want to your life.

    2 people, independently

  4. Put down controllers and engage directly with real life, treating it as a high-fidelity game with haptic feedback.

    Real life is described as way better than minigames.

    one person who lived it

  5. Go backpacking or immerse yourself in wilderness for days or weeks to gain a different perspective and clarify goals.

    Standing way back provides a different perspective that helps outlook gel into goals.

    one person who lived it

  6. Buy fitted, classy clothes when old ones no longer fit to improve your attitude and motivation.

    Having clothes that make you feel put together can help you get out of bed more easily.

    one person who lived it

  7. Listen to good tunes, podcasts, or books on tape while cleaning to help cultivate cleanliness as a habit.

    It helps me clean.

    one person who lived it

  8. Keep yourself genuinely busy with hobbies, school, or work to distract from clingy tendencies.

    Staying busy helps stop being so clingy.

    one person who lived it

  9. If you feel fed up with consuming activities, try creating instead.

    Your body may be signaling a desire to create rather than consume.

    one person who lived it

  10. Focus on enriching your own life.

    You attract similar energy.

    one person who lived it

  11. Travel to remove yourself from the environment of your habits.

    It forces you out and breaks habitual patterns.

    one person who lived it

  12. Pick up hobbies and learn new things to build confidence and give yourself more to talk about.

    Having a variety of activities gives you more confidence and makes you feel less uninteresting.

    2 people, independently

  13. Add variety to life by eating different fruits, singing, dancing in the rain, or greeting neighbors.

    You need to taste tasty flavors.

    one person who lived it

  14. Discover hobbies that provide you with a sense of fulfillment.

    5 people, independently

  15. If you have self-imposed arbitrary rules that make tasks harder, such as limiting trash can size in your bedroom, remove them to reduce unnecessary effort.

    It prevents making things harder on yourself, such as having to take out trash every single day.

    • Based on one person's experience with autism and social rules

    one person who lived it

  16. Move out of your parents' house; ideally, move to another city to meet new people.

    one person who lived it

  17. Hire a cleaner to handle household messes if they cause relationship friction.

    it can make relationships almost frictionless

    one person who lived it

  18. Adopt guiding principles or 'North Stars' rather than strict rules for your life.

    one person who lived it

  19. Change your life circumstances before attempting to change your habits.

    Simply stopping activities for a month won't automatically stop cravings.

    one person who lived it

  20. Throw away items you are keeping only because they might be useful someday.

    It is liberating.

    one person who lived it

  21. Focus on experiences rather than material goods.

    Recollections persist for a lifetime.

    3 people, independently

  22. Make flow activities the goal in life instead of mind-numbing pleasure.

    one person who lived it

  23. Identify activities that pull you along to improve your mood and enjoyment of life.

    Feeling better makes you more excitable and improves your mood.

    one person who lived it

  24. Mentor a younger sibling to gain perspective and meaning.

    It provides perspective and meaning.

    one person who lived it

  25. Make activities unusual or unique rather than sticking to a routine.

    Unusual activities make time go by slower, whereas routines cause years to fly by.

    one person who lived it

  26. Set meaningful goals and try new experiences to enjoy your life, acknowledging that it is finite.

    The realization of mortality clarifies priorities.

    one person who lived it

  27. Take up wholesome, simple activities like going to the gym and cooking dinner while avoiding partying.

    These activities feel good even if they seem boring.

    one person who lived it

  28. Clean and organize your living space to make it a desirable environment for potential partners.

    A dirty or disorganized place may make guests uncomfortable.

    one person who lived it

  29. Develop a rich internal life by finding hobbies and activities you enjoy doing alone to reduce emotional reliance on others.

    Valuing yourself and having independent interests helps prevent emotional distress from the absence of a partner.

    one person who lived it

  30. Travel to culturally different places to gain perspective and affirm your situation.

    Such travel has been described as eye-opening and helpful for feeling better.

    one person who lived it

  31. One person reported that traveling solo all over Asia at age 17 or 18 changed their life trajectory.

    one person who lived it

  32. Delegate tasks you are not skilled at.

    Human diversity in intelligence and ability is designed for delegation; you only need to know what is important.

    one person who lived it

  33. Attend events or try activities even if details like weather or food are imperfect, to gain understanding of your preferences.

    Focusing too much on details makes life boring; trying things helps you understand what you will like.

    one person who lived it

  34. Spend on high-quality essentials like solid shoes, warm jackets, or hobby equipment to make life easier and hobbies more enjoyable.

    Better quality items can make life better and easier, and nicer hobby gear can improve performance and willingness to practice.

    one person who lived it

  35. Be really intentional about sugar consumption to prevent behavioral episodes.

    Sugar usually makes us behave our worst.

    one person who lived it

  36. Do not engage in activities like traveling solely out of social obligation.

    Mindlessly doing it because of social obligation rather than a desire to explore yields less value.

    one person who lived it

  37. Aim energy deliberately at your life to grow by design rather than decay by default.

    one person who lived it

  38. Consider moving to a larger town or city with more future opportunities if your current location lacks them.

    one person who lived it

  39. Enjoy every stupid moment and celebrate it to make the balance positive when looking back at scars, mistakes, and regrets.

    one person who lived it

  40. Avoid wearing tight shoes simply to satisfy others' preferences.

    It causes significant pain.

    one person who lived it

  1. Buy cheap decants from retailers like The Perfumed Court instead of full bottles to try many scents affordably.

    Full bottles are expensive (e.g., $220), while small amounts last a while.

    one person who lived it

  2. Read Luca Turin's 'Perfumes: The A-Z Guide' to learn about fragrances.

    The book is described as passionate, insightful, funny, and capable of making readers like fragrances.

    one person who lived it

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