I need to feel in control to feel peaceful. A house alone far away means I have the absolute control, nobody I care about can die and nothing could ever really upset me beyond any current memories or if I try to paint the house and drop my only bucket of paint on the grass.
Definitely. I need both. I need my base, my home to be the place I can have complete control. An area of total privacy, a place to collect my thoughts to regroup after a tough day and the place where I can prepare for the uncertainties and challenge of the next day. But I also want to develop and grow as a human being and you just can't do that when there is no uncertainty and there is total control. The only certainty is death or a life of mediocrity where you are slowly dying.
I understand how everyone here is feeling. Everybody here (me included) has been pushed to the point where they are fighting for survival whether from others or themselves. When simply staying alive is on the agenda, it is easy to feel you will be OK in life as long as the pain goes away. This is what life has done to us. Battered everyone so bad to a point where we will all simply be grateful if there was a place to escape all our pain, e.g a house far away. I love this idea of a sanctuary where you are safe. It is absolutely necessary as far I am concerned. But this is only step 1. To function well and be the best version of yourself you need a safe space and to be mentally and physically happy. We don't need this disgustingly cruel game of life to make us cower into accepting mediocrity once we have achieved step 1
. The crucial and most difficult step has been complete, why not try and win? I define a win as achieving your full potential and living a life of purpose.
For everyone else they take step 1 for granted and are looking way past that. Why should they get to extract the best this planet to offer just because of lucky circumstances ?
I don't really want total isolation but I want the ability to escape from people when I want to
I don't think anybody really wants total isolation, deep inside. That is why we are all here. Inadvertently many people who come to this website must have realised how being part of a community can be invaluable and it cannot be simply be a case of "I hate people". Many have ended up here for one reason or another but if they are here they cannot deny the value that human beings can provide and how speaking to them can help.
I was a recluse for the first two years of university, I took two years out while my original class graduated and when I came back despite being largely still an introvert I met a few people from my cohort and learned a considerable amount from them. There was still a lot of garbage that I hate about people like the gossip and the typical shit nature of people but I've really decided to adopt a Bruce Lee approach : "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own"
I want to use the great stuff that people can bring and mitigate the stuff that made me suffer. (Gossip, Rumours, Bullying, Abuse both mental and physical)
Lots of people are saying they want to cut people out completely and I get that but is it conducive to bettering yourself?
The saddest thing about this mentality is it's a double edged killer:
1) The easiest thing to do is to cut them out and we love the path of least resistance.
2) Your brain is actually justified this time and it uses all the overwhelmingly convincing evidence from past trauma to prove to you that it is right and you should do this.
But is it conducive to bettering yourself which should be the aim of the game at the end of the day...
I don't know if it's just me but when people do see it in you they will kick you! and kick you hard once your down.
or is that just me.
Life has taught me to come to expect it. I do not cry about it when I am down ever again.
You ever heard the saying: "Don't tell people your problems. 20% don't care. 80% are glad you have them" Those stats are obviously exaggerated but you're supposed to read between the lines. You want to talk to people that matter. Family. Therapist. Anonymous community like here. A close "friend" if you really trust them. Anywhere where there is an adequate structure which will help you solve the problem you have basically. If it's a financial issue for example, speaking to people and organisations whose sole agenda is to solve your problem.
Don't whine for the sake of whining to some randomer like a "friend" you think is a "friend" or your kid's friend's mom because it's probably just something to talk about and gossip/laugh about while giving the air of being a caring person.
This is people's shit nature. Why else do people love watching shows like Jerry Springer? They are misery parasites and we all know how misery loves company.
Why do people love watching the news? Cos it makes their shit lives feel a little better.
Like the Bruce Lee quote above, absorb the advice of the former and reject the trashy latter.
To the relevant people: I'm a person, one of the group you have a blanket hatred for right? But surely I have provided some value on this site and this thread alongside many many other people here? Even you yourself with your experiences that have led you to this site and the comments you have made have made useful contributions. You're throwing away a lot of good. Even if there was 1% useful information in everyone/good to learn from, with billions on the planet that's a considerable amount to learn if you just practice rejecting the 99% of the stuff you don't find of benefit with every single person you meet/ articles, books you read/ whose movies you watch.
With that I'll leave you with the image: