experience diet
treat your mind like your stomach.
"what the fuck am i doing?"
i thought, for the 300th time that week.
another day waking up late, cuz life's too boring.
i open my socials, check for notifications － but there's nothing.
so i scroll the weather app, knowing damn well i ain't goin outside today.
i light a cigarette － not cuz i want one, i just wanna feel something.
meh.
that's how i feel.
everything's just meh.
i ran out of shows to binge.
so i'll just check Instagram reels for a minute.
minutes turn to hours and i'm glued to the couch.
part of me wants to get up － but that's too much of a hassle.
i fucking hate feeling like this.
i wanna do something, but i don't wanna do anything.
i'm starving for adventure, connection, inspiration,
but there's no room left in my mind.
like seeing your favorite meal on a full stomach:
you know you love it － but it's making you sick just looking at it.
hunger
your mind works exactly like your stomach.
instead of food, it feeds on experiences.
it gets hungry too.
it craves more.
either you digested everything and it's empty.
or there's some shit in there, but no nutrients.
let's look at the most popular dish today.
swiping your finger over a glass rectangle.
you're bored (aka hungry).
you spend 1-2 hours scrolling and…
nothing's changed － apart from a:
stiff neck, dry eyes, low mood and a dent in your pinkie.
you were filling up your stomach.
but somehow it still left you unfulfilled.
you were really craving nutrients, not just food.
something that touches your soul － not the brain.
if you just did some chores, worked creatively,
connected with the homies, finished a great workout －
you just got some essential nutrients right there.
you won't crave more until much later.
you're chillin.
so if scrolling doesn't fulfill you,
why the fuck do you keep doing it?
it does the trick temporarily.
a stomach full of junk seems better than an empty one.
and it's not like there's absolutely nothing in there.
every once in a while you find a gem.
somewhere in that pile of shit there's a tiny bit of food.
and cuz you just ate a ton of shit －
finding that food is exhilarating.
instantly your emotions start justifying the hours wasted.
but when you're done, you're hungry again.
so what do you do?
well, the pile of shit that just rewarded you －
is already in your hands.
let's go again.
like a junkie you keep taking the next dose －
to escape the agony created by the previous one.
you can't stop.
and your stomach is too full to get off your ass.
time to digest.
digestion differential
most people overlook the simple fact －
that experiences need to be digested too.
the more you consume, the more you gotta digest.
what's in the past isn't just in the past － it lingers.
like food, some are easier to digest than others.
a five minute walk doesn't need much processing.
a dying loved one does.
now you can see the relationship to emotion.
more emotion = harder to digest.
positive or negative.
highly processed food has additives and preservatives.
this extra garbage clogs the system.
highly processed experience, like content, is the same.
it's made to play into your emotions, to keep you engaged.
it massages your taste buds,
but your gut is starving for anything real.
this form of appetite deception is a modern problem.
distracting the masses was never this profitable.
before
humans have always craved emotional stimulation － it's how we survived.
but in the age of scarcity, mental obesity wasn't around as much.
you didn't have as many experiences to choose from.
you had your village, family and the surrounding area to explore.
the lack of options meant we would dive deeper into what we did have.
we would sit by the fire, feel the warmth flow through our skin.
captivated by all the little sparks and crackles bringing it to life.
it was almost hypnotic, that breathing beauty.
traveling efficiency changed everything.
first horses, then boats, trains & planes.
suddenly the whole world was available to us.
not only did we travel more ourselves － our experience buffet did too.
books and other forms of entertainment, suddenly available to the masses.
this increase in options robbed us of depth.
instead of the fire guiding our senses to wonder,
we became obsessed with stacking as many shallow thrills as we could.
taking a bite out of every meal, not finishing a single one.
and it's only getting worse.
the buffet boom
our recent tech development has skyrocketed our possibilities.
shit changed so fast, we haven't been able to adjust － at all.
like with food, the more you eat, the more your stomach grows.
but that takes time.
it's impossible to digest everything available to us right now.
every single day:
- 200,000,000 hours are spent on Netflix.
- 2,500,000,000 posts are shared on Facebook.
- 8,500,000,000 searches are performed on Google.
- 240,000,000,000 videos are watched on TikTok.
you're surrounded by so much noise,
you start mistaking it for signal.
and the main way we process all this,
hasn't improved at all.
you still only sleep 8 hours.
with screen-time taking a big bite out of it.
so you consume more, digest less － and your stomach hasn't grown.
this means most of us are constantly full.
and the lack of depth means we're never satisfied.
too full to move － too hungry to stop consuming.
forced to keep chasing something that doesn't exist.
being full means you're constantly absorbing calories.
no wonder your mind's overweight.
but what does it mean to be mentally obese?
your mind starts weighing you down.
like climbing up a ladder with a concrete helmet.
distraction, stress, anxiety & depression creep in.
you're too full of experience.
how are you ever gonna lock in if there's thousands －
if not millions of things pulling on your attention constantly?
no wonder you don't know what you want.
you never digest.
your mind can't function － it's a blurry mess.
you're drunk, trying to reverse park a truck cliffside with dirty mirrors.
you need a break, life's too much to handle right now.
but you can't.
you think life's gonna wait for you to feel better?
fuck no. decisions gotta be made and they're piling up by the minute.
eventually you're forced to act, so what do you do?
you rely on impulse.
living on autopilot wouldn't be a problem if the pilot wasn't obese.
but he is, and he's surrounded by drugs, entertainment, pleasure －
and slot machine based apps that profit as you gamble your soul away.
even a toddler with a lazy eye can see this is a recipe for disaster － but you're blind.
any time you start seeing what's happening, autopilot just reminds you:
pleasure is the closest thing you have to happiness.
you got nothing else.
now you're stuck in pleasure prison.
a spiral that never ends.
→ you get a device
→ you enjoy way more experiences
→ you set a new bar for the amount
→ the amount grows exponentially
→ despite all this, you don't feel fulfilled at all
→ you waste more time tryna get fulfillment from non-fulfilling experiences
→ the problem grows as your compass breaks together with your will
→ you get used to feeling this way, so you let your impulses lead
→ the impulse first approach keeps you stuck in this loop
and the worst part?
you know what's happening.
you just gave up.
you're fucked.
un-fuck your life
hopefully you've finally realized the magnitude of your situation.
if you've come this far into the piece, i'm sure you're waking up.
you're done being a slave to your impulses.
let's break free.
understanding digestion
your addiction to hammering garbage down your throat is one thing.
but carrying it around everywhere, complaining your life stinks?
that's ridiculous. junk in, junk out － what did you expect?
time to clean up.
processing our experiences is done directly or indirectly.
the direct approach is all about reflection and evaluation.
if you don't consciously decide what to believe,
someone else will decide for you.
instead of basing assumptions on your own life,
you're drip-fed other people's neuroses, trauma & resentment.
they decide the colors of your daily life,
usually turning grey.
so, every once in a while, take a step back.
assess what beliefs are guiding your behavior.
while the direct approach is great, it's incomplete.
some problems are so tough, our subconscious needs to do the chewing －
your biological algorithm, constantly grinding in the background.
indirect digestion means making sure the system is in good shape.
if you never update, clean & test it, it's a useless mess.
direct is for planning the journey.
indirect makes sure you follow your compass.
digestion breaks are essential to a good life.
without them you could go the complete opposite direction for years.
most of us don't even take tiny digestion breaks anymore.
simply waiting five minutes in line at the store is too much.
if you grab your phone as soon as this happens,
isn't that fucking pathetic?
you're much,
much better than that.
mental dieting
if the word "dieting" made you flinch － good.
that's the autopilot squirming in his seat.
now you know how he communicates.
you act like a slave, but you hold the keys.
let's get the fuck outta here.
the recipe
fixing your health is really simple.
there's no single solution though.
i'm not gonna tell you how to live.
most self-help furus would tell you to:
- meditate
- journal
- plan ahead 5 years
fuck that.
no one lifestyle is better than another.
if you wanna play video games all night, do it.
live your life on your own terms.
my problem is with people who don't follow their compass.
it hurts seeing them like that, they've never seen their strength.
they wake up to blurry minds,
always unsure of what's real － unsure of themselves.
forced to let their impulses drive 'em off a cliff every day.
like i said, i'm not telling you what to do.
everyone needs a different amount － enough is enough.
just try to make sure you're not deficient.
if you're lost, let digestion lead you.
the clarity will reveal what you're missing.
and please remember euphoria isn't happiness.
happiness is when the mind is silent.
think of the happiest moments in your life,
were you lost in thought or immersed in the moment?
mental silence comes from peace and contentment.
sure, you can buy silence by flooding yourself with pleasure too,
but the problem is the mind is relative, so you'll keep needing more.
until the contrast with the rest of life grows so big, it turns into misery.
instead, if you can find peace in a mental storm － you'll always have it.
so the road to real happiness
is accepting your thoughts and feelings,
not giving them what they want until they shut the fuck up.
practical
i know some of you crave answers, to silence the noise.
i can help, but i won't give you answers － they don't exist.
i'll give you some questions though.
answering these as often as possible will help you a lot.
be brutally honest, don't flinch, expose your mistakes.
admitting you lost today is the first step to winning tomorrow.
"where did i escape my emotions today?"
answering this helps illuminate how you abuse experiences.
if something comes up you don't like, it needs digestion.
not distraction.
"where did i pick purpose over pleasure?"
answering this will show you the balance in your diet.
diversifying stimulation can hide over-consumption.
this reveals it.
"did i choose stillness today?"
this shows you the level of your stimulation addiction.
choosing stillness doesn't necessarily mean meditation.
not taking your earbuds everywhere counts too.
anything that proves silence isn't punishment
is building happiness.
"did i stay true to my word?"
this one is powerful for living life how you want.
whenever you back down, fearing discomfort, you lose.
doing what you want isn't just indulging in pleasures.
it's living up to your values.
losing weight
getting your consumption under control is great,
but when you exercise, you tackle the problem from both sides.
mental exercise means breaking emotional barriers.
anything that makes you flinch works.
any time you suffer, you have a choice:
- either you lift the weight, burn calories, and gain strength.
- or you let it suffocate you by playing victim.
suffering is like a free bug report.
if it feels heavy, that's where your room for growth is.
progressive overload works for mental exercise too.
climb, but don't jump. consistency first.
escaping life
this might be the single most destructive behavior there is.
we abuse experience as a way of escaping our feelings.
physically fat people escape to food.
the mentally obese to experience.
whenever you're dissatisfied with an experience, pay attention.
if you jump right into another one, drugs, scrolling, movies －
that's your escape.
escapism is like being in a unique kind of prison.
you have a certain sentence you need to sit out －
but this prison offers you temporary relief.
there's a catch though:
either you sit out your full sentence and are free.
or you can choose to be free for a day － but it resets your sentence.
when you escape your feelings you're choosing the latter.
always resetting your sentence and never becoming free.
you clearly don't want to be here, right?
then why the fuck do you keep extending your sentence every chance you get?
you're not escaping.
you're settling.
our future
we're wiping our ass with everything that made us human.
instead of enjoying our lives by actually fucking living them －
we let the lowest part of our being make every decision.
is this what you came into this world for?
our inner child is screaming at us to create, explore, become.
but it's drowned out by the demons we keep feeding every day.
can you imagine a world where the majority of your fellow man lives like this?
things like war and genocide won't just be headlines anymore.
the problem isn't power － it's weakness.
our fear of facing our demons robs us of our humanity.
anytime we concede a bit, it takes more.
until you're just a puppet, strung along by fear & hate.
fuck all that.
we overcame the ice age, meteor impacts, and countless wars.
people dying left and right, winters without any food.
don't forget what it means to be human.
we can adapt to anything by becoming happy again.
slowly we'll see the empty calories for what they are － hollow.
even the ones who can't see it at all, eventually hit a wall.
like flat-earthers going to the edge, only to end up right where they started.
i'm tellin you, even the blind will see it.
all of us will start waking up.
because if we don't,
we'll be the only species that starved to death
on a full stomach.