>>394
I've been feeling trapped and feel like I will be regretful if I don't move forward in life. I am not in school anymore, and life at this point if I settle will only get much worse. I feel like if I settle, I will feel imposter syndrome if I manage to progress in life out of sheer luck. Mental blocks can be really pesky because I have had bad experiences, but I need to try if I am forced to exist in the world.

>>395
im in a similar situation. really want to progress in life but currently in a rut, im still a student though. i feel like my mental health has been pretty bad lately so trying to deal with all that on top of school feels paralyzing and also like im trapped. i hope youre able to progress soon anon

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>>11
random bump
whale noises are somewhat relaxing to listen to op. maybe give it a try

>>404
more random update vent
i am more productive lately but much more exhausted later in the day. i feel like school is making me dull as a person. i wonder how to get rid of this dull feeling.

>>420
Productive in what way? In the way of your school work or your hobbies? If you are more productive in your school work try making an effort on the weekend for your hobbies.

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>>414
Recently I found out that anonymity used to play a big part in the carnival of Venice. During the festivities people would wear masks, becoming unrecognizable which made distinctions of social class not matter. It was also an opportunity to act irreverently and criticize the authorities at no consequence (this was actually tolerated).

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Conversations about masks always tended to have a sort of distant, cold feeling to me. It's a topic that is deeply important for me, but I've never once met somebody whom I could relate to on the topic.
For me, masks and the concept of having no or an interchangeable identity is a core aspect of who I am as a person. For a good chunk of my life, I've never been "myself" with anybody. Where my experiences seem to differ is that I still do this online, and in anonymous spaces. This is because I LIKE having that mask. Having that mask, having the veil of anonymity, a fictional name and a picture that isn't your face, gives me a method to dehumanize myself.
I've always quite admired men who were so heroic as to be indecipherable from the idea of heroics as their being. Men so strong, so stoic, quiet, considerate and selfless that conceptions of "themselves" as a human being no longer occur to them. I'm not a very good person, but I strive to be the best person that anybody has ever met in their entire life. The most kind, the most considerate, the most heroic and selfless person they've ever been witness to. By changing who I "am", and by putting on that mask, I can render myself nonhuman, filtered down only to an idea. The idea of a hero, of a good person, of unfiltered goodness. I am not any of those things, but I can emulate those things by becoming them for the people around me.
By doing this, I can shed my human form and become what I truly wish to be-- an idea. I ENJOY the mask. In the times that I wonder what's below it, I will take it off and find nothing. I am the mask. I am the idea.

I don't know if this is as weird as I think it is or how common it is but that's how I see it at least.

>>421
At first I really wanted to call you a sociopath, but I kind of get what you're trying to say... I seriously doubt people will see you as so virtuous to be considered the "best person they've ever encountered" but there's still a nobility in trying to present an ideal for others to strive to, like how a parent presents themselves to a child (the only example I think would actually work). Again, I don't know why you're doing this; if it's solely for your own gratification to make people believe this lie I'm gonna call a stone a stone and say you're a psychopath.
You seem kind of misguided though. People don't think about you as often as you'd anticipate. They're all wrapped up in their own bullshit. Especially if you're being stoic, quiet, like you said, I doubt a lot of people would give you a second thought. It's funny to think this level of self importance probably wouldn't even reveal itself without anonymity. Just imagine telling the people around you the truth, what you just told all of us. They'd think you were full of yourself. That's another thing. Everyone thinks their shit doesn't stink. I can safely say you don't speak for me on this topic.

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>>437
A psychopath? I suppose that's possible. Personally, I believe I simply have a very damaged sense of self and have throughout my life patched it together with several less-than-perfect methods. Perhaps I didn't express myself properly, but I don't mean that literally every person I meet should think highly of me. I simply desire to leave this world having made the lives of the people deeply involved with my own better. I have been described as "cruel to be kind" so I'm sure you have some sort of point, but to many people in my life I am an example to follow, and I understand the responsibility of that position. Is the man who has evil thoughts and makes evil choices lesser than the man who has evil thoughts, yet makes good choices in spite of their own evil nature? Is a man who thinks no evil, and does no evil more purely good? I think so, but I also think that one who has not experienced the temptations of the Devil can never enter the kingdom of Heaven. All of Man is deeply flawed, mistaken, foolish, and outright egotistical. I am fully aware that I am no exception, but I try my hardest to be an example of the contrary. Because for others who are unable to learn it themselves, they need an example that it's possible for anybody to be "good". To them, I am proof of that. That is my mask, and it is my responsibility. To me, what that mask means to others is the world. More than what I might "actually be", because if you peel back the layers, nobody is truly good, and nobody is truly evil. Only lost.

>>421
I have come to realise there are two versions of myself. My IRL self and my internet self. Both meet up at certian points but they branch off at seperate points. I don't behave in the same way i do here on 22chan as i do IRL. (not that i'm a faggot or a normalnigger)
It's not like a split personality, More like IRL is the mask at some points and my true self in a sense is here. Anonimity made me free of the limitations of the flesh and the chains of morality and such. (in a way that works in conjunction with the rules of the site.
I explained it better on the old site but i forgot what i wrote and its probably lost to time so i might sound like an idiot.

>>418
What if I'm simply not capable of posting the type of stuff I would like to see? I'm a boring person with little to talk about, dumb worthless takes and I'm too untalanted/uncreative for decent OC. Looking back at my posts, I doubt I'd enjoy reading most of them if I were someone else.

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>>425
I'm curious about your perspective. It sounds like you're describing yourself as if you're (literally) brain-damaged and physically incapable of even trying to become a more interesting person. But, most likely, that's not true, and you're just feeding yourself this demotivating bullshit every day. You're on an imageboard that provides a vast amount of topics for serious or non-serious discussion, as long as it doesn't break the rules. There are countless posts here that can serve as inspiration.

You claim you're too untalented and uncreative to make OC, but how do you even know that without even attempting and reaching out? It's not like everyone who started making OC was already filled with creativity and talent from the get-go. Don't limit yourself to one genre or style; explore new and old, good and bad. Break free from the repetitive, mind-numbing garbage that you might find yourself stuck in. Your environment (in general, not limited to creative) plays a major role in your work ethic and attitude. Don't hang around mediocre people, just look at the social environment curated on 22chan, as a general example.

For more concrete examples on 22chan, take a look at the Rigasaurus Rex thread on /sewers/ the drawings look like it was done by a three-year-old, yet it's considered to be one of the more interesting threads on /sewers/ like not a single person on here is telling you to draw like some professional artist; if you are not confident you can ask for feedback on how to improve. If you're wondering what to do specifically on 22chan, as someone else mentioned, there are even some more interesting community projects coming up to which everyone might be able to contribute to. What is something you wish was on here, but just isn't? And hell on /vg/ you can even find a guide someone wrote for 22chan on how to make Gunsync videos that takes you step-by-step through the process if you are interested in that and even if you aren't have you even tried getting interested in it?

If money or cost is concerned, we are at a much better time than ever, so many free and open source software tools you can use to practice and exercise your creative muscle. Krita, Blender, Inkscape, GIMP, etc. and then there's also this >>>/b/1239/#1239 Hell, you can just get a paper and pencil and just try to use reference images and try your unique interpretation and build off from there if you're not interested in using digital tools and workflow, or don't think you're ready yet. You've been doing that since you were in kindergarten, hopefully.

Your options are vast, so explore them. Do whatever it takes to become a more interesting person and make the most of your time, whether you spend it in your room or elsewhere. You could read manga, comics, or novels, watch anime and films, engage in creative hobbies like drawing, painting, or writing, play video games or board games, produce music or play an instrument, try your hand at 3D modeling and digital art, or make and edit videos. Then, share your experiences and creations with the community. Use that as a stepping stone for making experimenting or creating your own content. Get inspired, and get drawing/crafting/experimenting. Right now. We're here to give feedback if you're at least willing to try and accept criticism on how to better your craft.

>>425
>>425
I think you are putting yourself down for no good reason. If you are insecure about your ability to make good posts, practice made me more competent in my experience. Use your anonymity to detach yourself from posts that embarrass you if you want to improve your post quality. Again, practice makes perfect, and if you want to post something, there is no reason to worry unless you are trying to break the rules. Rome was not built in a day, and personally, the more active posters there are the merrier.

>>426
>>427
I agree with you that to become more interesting I could spend more time on any of the activities that you mention. Arguably however, two of the most important qualities in imageboards, humor and inventiveness, can hardly be improved. A lot of it comes down to your genes and upbringing. Also it's not stuff you can easily practice because you can't force it to happen. But my main problem is a weird and personal one:

I spend most of my waking hours procrastinating the studying I'm supposed to be doing for university. During this time I feel too guilty to do anything other than watching youtube, browsing 4chan or other crap like that. In my mind, if I sit down and watch a movie I'm "choosing" not to study. If instead I watch a youtube video I'm "getting distracted" instead. In the end, either way I study very, very little.
There's a degree of mental delusion to this of course, but also it's something deeply ingrained into me since childhood. When I was a kid, I'd get scolded for playing videogames instead of doing my homework. But I could always sit at my desk for hours on end playing with my pencils pretending to study, my parents couldn't do anything about that.
Anyway, last semester at uni went unprecedentedly poorly, so now I've effectively quit any hobbies I had. How can I give myself breaks when I never work to begin with? How can I spend my time and effort learning something that isn't my university stuff? I have feelings of anxiety and guilt looming over me at all times.

But I could argue that everybody has different reasons for sucking. I might have this weird delusional thing going on, but it is a widely known fact that most people are mediocre, and 90% of everything is shit (Sturgeon's law). When it comes to problems of any kind, everybody's always eager to blame other people; nobody seems to ever entertain the thought that maybe they themselves are part of the problem. And yet somebody must be, otherwise there wouldn't be a problem in the first place!
I don't condemn this line of thinking though. After all, if you believe that you are doing something wrong, you'll simply stop doing it, right? So it's only natural that everybody's always convinced they are doing the right thing and are entirely innocent.
But doesn't this all mean that it is extremely likely that right now you are doing a lot of things wrong or in a bad way, and are simply unaware of it? And if there is some problem, is it not likely that you're contributing to it, or at least failing at making things better?
To be fair, it's not very useful to worry about pointless crap like this. You should just try your best and forget it, right? But this is how I see things. I'm often inclined to blame myself.

Anyway, I do try to make OC, share interesting things that I find (we should really remake that "share a link" thread. It was really good on the old site) and discuss things that I watch/play/read. Despite posting for years now I don't think my output is good, but maybe I am putting myself down unfairly. I've also come to think that people end up in the communities they deserve. I could be doing worse I suppose.

>>433
fug. r u me??

Just here to check if >>219 replied.
Hope you're holding up buddy.

>>141
i think there's nothing a single person can do but do what you can to just deal with your personal situation and improve your life, you can try and inform friends and family and form groups irl to study, learn, stay aware and do cool stuff like hobbies and the like. if not, then there is always 22chan which is always there and to me has the same purpose. talking is the most important thing above all instead of clamming up.

>>257
I think he's dead...

>>335
Or if you want to be positive he just isn't on 22chan anymore.

>>338
The reason I say this is that 22chan doesn't spell out what advice works for which anon. Anons can figure out their own issues with the help of our hints. I think not spelling things out helps the anon if they really want to help themselves because giving hacky advice like taking a shower won't work for just everyone because the issue is deeper than probably what the anon describes.

>>275
Online friends can be just as bad as the normalfags in real life, even if they are non-normalfags due to poor communication skills. Some of the worst communication skills I've seen come from people I've met online. It is a flip of a coin if they respond sometimes, and ignoring people would not go well in real life. To say it concisely online people can be worst than real-life people in ways.

>>275
god maybe this is unrelated but i wend to a comic-con and foolishly thought going to the vampire panel was a good idea. everything was fine and the lady hosting the panel was talking about old school vampire shit and then she started talking about vampire fetishism and sex shit and played softcore on the monitor, and yes there was kids in the room the con was honestly so bad aand it was the first one i ever went to. i just wanted to make friends and talk to like minded people about the stuff i enjoy but it was just sad. it was poorly managed and everyone stayed in their own little friend groups and when i tried talking to someone i basically got brushed off. i told one guy he had a cool nightwing costume, mentioned about nightwings solo run by chuck dixon was neat and pointed out if he used EVA foam and hotglue and he told me to fuck off and that he "was busy" even though he was just chilling by himself. stuff like that happened a lot but i did stay for the full 'con since it was free.

>>275
>I didn't try, but at the end of the day, normalfags won't care if you aren't exactly like them
Yeah, that's why I said "best you can do". You can't reveal your power level to a normalfag because the relationship would be ruined so it wouldn't really be an actual friendship. And like >>276 said, online friends don't guarantee anything either because you're dealing with the opposite side of the spectrum of difficulties, you simply have better odds in that due to the easiness of just writing text from anywhere instead of meeting people face to face.
The last thing you will have in this struggle is an easy time, you surely know that already, but finding something good is possible, you just have to keep pulling on the life gacha until you are lucky enough to get it. That's what it all boils down to: Being in the correct place at the correct time with the correct strangers.

>>276
Yes, online/imageboard friendships are very difficult to maintain. I had to learn it the hard way. There are some "normie" I hate that word, as well as power level, f that people who are my best and most loyal friends who like me and treat me well, and vice versa. That is the most important thing.

>>290
the concept of "imageboard friendships" is honestly antithetical to anonymous imageboards in general.

>>261
I do, ocassionally. Most of the time it's pointless smalltalk or stuff that makes them feel just how I feel about their subjects of conversation, but that's not the point of this thread.

To make it clearer I'll present a different scenario: I was talking with some old "friend" I met all the way back in middle school. He asked me my thoughts on abortion since that's been a hot topic around here lately, and of course I told him I can't give him a proper answer because I don't care about the subject, they could be putting fetuses in blenders and serving them with straws at carnivals or passing a law that makes it legal to lynch a woman who aborted and I would care as much as I do right now. For some reason he got mad at me and accused me of saying the fetus blender thing as mockery since he was pro-life, I told him that he was making shit up and that if I wanted to disagree with him I'd tell him dorectly but he just remained butthurt about the topic.
They say the secret to long friendships is never talking about religion or politics, which is very true since faggots go full retard whenever those subjects are brought up, but at the same time is it really a friendship if you are unable to discuss something like a civilized person who is supposedly someone you care about?

And this is all about people who know who you are, when you go online it's even worse. Of course, normalfag social media becomes even more of a cesspool with each passing day which is why refuse to use it outside stuff like youtube, but shit like Discord seems almost unavoidable nowadays. You used to have your forums with their circlejerks and their "you must be logged in to see this link" and while some of them are still around, they pale in comparison to Discord servers. Do you want a mod? Join the Discord! Do you want to give feedback to the creators of a game? Join the Discord! Do you watch XxliteralwhoxX's videos? Join the Discord! It's extremely intrusive. And when you do make a burner account to join these holes of pestilence you will find a bunch of faggots who turn politics into their entire life. Religion I can understand because that's more or less the point, but politics? And retarded American "muh right vs muh left" no less, which function no much different from a cult with its members all wanting to act the exact same way and if you differ slightly you are one of "THEM".
Of course, I never interact with these individuals there, but I have done it in other imageboards and it's as tiring as one can imagine. And of course, if you say you don't care about all that in a context that originally has nothing to do with politics by themselves (videogames or cartoons, for example) then you've commited something worse than supporting the "other side": Being a fencesitter. No, nigger, I don't think "both sides are flawed and bla bla bla" I just don't give a fuck about whatever you're trying to sell me and I'd rather not even think about it. Is it that hard to comprehend wanting some peace of mind and to remain away from this ridiculous circus?

I hope my point has come across more clearly this time, I'll even close with a question: Do any of you feel like this about any particular "serious* subject? Something seemingly everyone goes insane about but you genuinely can't bring yourself to care? And if you do care, are you sure you actually care or is it just because other people care?

I lost the ability to feel or care about things and my situation means because i don't, it means i'm evil or that something is wrong with me.
Guess its lie that made me that way or maybe it was because i was unintendedly exposed to shit that fucked up my brain. I want to live a quiet life and figure myself out and what i do care about and so on. I dont want to force myself to feel something to make others happy, i want to feel shit naturally. My situation sucks because im constantly am confronted about shit like that on a daily basis. An example of this is a family member of mine is big on human trafficing and played a video about that shit and said since i dont care, didnt get mad and didnt cry i'm a bad person or im a pedo or that whatever and the thing is sure thats bad i guess that i dont feel jack about squat but am i supposed to fake it? like fuck man its like that every day and all i want to do is this
1 live a normal, quiet and comfy life
2 figure myself out and if i do care then fuck it i'll go full rambo but i haven't reached that point nor do i know how.

>>263
its funny because i was the one who gave a damn about conspiracy theories but when i talked about them i was basically bullied about it and now their like "oh yeah u where so smart u knew about this"
fuck man.

>>260
There are a lot of topics that I don’t really care about, but I’ve never been put into a situation like you or >>263 have described (or, at least, I don’t remember any). Even if I’m with one of my parents and their friends are there, they are quite civil about their discussions when it comes to politics and other “serious” topics. Even if they ask for my input, they just accept that I don’t really have anything to say and move on.

>>262
>And if you do care, are you sure you actually care or is it just because other people care?
I think the problem is the word “care”. I don’t really “care” about any particular political issue, I just have my views. A lot of people do genuinely care about certain issues though and I think that’s the problem. As you described with the “muh right vs muh left” stuff, most people want to win an argument rather than hear what others have to say. I’ve had some thoughts about the futility of arguing before but I don’t know if that’s off-topic for this thread.

>>263
Holy shit man that's exactly the feel I was talking about when I made the thread. Sometimes you just can't be assed to care, even if something is "terrible" or "immensely important". Emotional manipulation can tongue my anus.
>>265
I guess it would fit the thread, please share
>most people want to win an argument rather than hear what others have to say
Yeah, on subjects like these it's always like this. Yesterday some family members were arguing about religion and then came to vent to me since they remained seething at each other from their previous encounter lol.