view the rest of the comments
Self Improvement
A community which focusses on improving yourself. This can be in many different ways - from improving physical health or appearance, to improving mental health, creating better habits, overcoming addictions, etc.
While material circumstances beyond our control do govern much of our daily lives, people do have agency and choices to make, whether that is as "simple" as disciplining yourself to not doomscroll, to as complex as recreating yourself to have many different hobbies and habits.
This is not a place where all we do is talk about improving "productivity" (in a workplace context) and similar terms and harmful lifestyles like "grindset". Self-improvement here is intended to make you a generally better and happier person, as well as a better communist, and any other roles you may have in your life.
Rules and guidelines:
- Posts should be about self-improvement. This is obviously a wide category, and can range from advice, to finding resources, to self-posts about needing to improve in a certain area, or how you have improved, and many other things.
- Use content warnings when discussing difficult subjects.
- Do not make medical decisions solely because of a discussion you have had with any person here (e.g. whether to take or not take medications; diagnoses; etc.) as we do not vet people. All medical problems should be discussed with a real-life medical professional.
- Do not post harmful advice here. If this is seen, then please report it and we shall remove it. If you are unsure about whether it's precisely harmful advice or not but feel uneasy about it, please report it anyway.
- Do not insult other users and their lifestyles or their habits (unless they ask, I suppose). This is a place for self-improvement. Critique and discussion about a course of action is encouraged over shit-flinging. Don't talk down to people.
First post in one of these threads.
I left a Discord of friends I've had for around 15~ years because I got sick of endless discussion of anime, manga, and video games and people going silent any time anything real was being talked about. It's isolating, since I don't go out much, but has left me with a lot of extra time that I'm trying to make better use of.
I literally just started like 3 days ago, but I'm taking formal Mandarin Chinese lessons and a class on music theory. I've always wanted to speak Mandarin. Music is a relatively new interest of mine, but I frequently listen to music actively for hours at a time, not while multitasking. So I don't think it's another 'side quest' like other hobbies I've explored. I bought an electronic keyboard a few years ago I never really touched but I'm fiddling with it while I learn about music notation, keys, etc.
Chinese tones and syllables are hard, but I'm just drilling as much as possible between work. I only got xué correct once and had to move my mouth awkwardly to do it. Hello Chinese is a nice little app that tells you if you're saying things correct or not, so I've been using that until we get partnered up with some people.
Picking out the key of a song is also difficult, especially when there's no obvious instrument like a bass guitar to hone in on. I'm pretty okay with rhythm, I think.
I've learned a lot in the past few days and am feeling much more curious and fulfilled than when I would spend late nights chatting in voice calls or whatever. Re-discovering who I want to be and what I am interested in doing.
Plan is continue with these two things for the next 3 months and not let other things get in the way so I can continue beyond that. Need to also add some exercise into my routine somewhere.
An excellent first post.
Thanks. Spent part of the day drilling consonants again. I saw you also stopped interacting with some long-time friends. Probably a different situation, but similar feelings. Just not interested in the same conversations and time spenders as I was 15 years ago, but no real ill will involved. Hopefully you're able to take advantage of that time too and keep the gamedev rolling.