Another day spent feeling empty, restless from a lack of direction in life...

Another day spent feeling empty, restless from a lack of direction in life. Any books that will help me come out of this rut while simultaneously blowing my hair back?

no, books cant treat faggots

You can read wikipedia articles and then defeat other anons in Veeky Forums
is there any pleasure in man's life bigger than this?

Following that pic will get you further than any book I can think of.

I want to start a blog for this kind of shit.
In my opinion, and from experience, your lack of direction in life comes from a lack of foundation in life - and the stability it brings.Your own sense of gravity if you will.

I think new experiences add new layers to your life. The depth of experience adds depth to that layer, though there are diminishing returns.

If you experience enough - and struggle is a good indicator of progress - you add more and thicker layers to you. Eventually this mass develops its own sense of gravity, attracting the things and types of people you were working toward.

I think life gets a lot less ambiguous once you've filled it out more, and that lack of ambiguity is a positive if you've filled it out with the right things.

In the mean time there's another kind of power in the vacuum that ambiguity creates; a kinetic energy that can definitely help send you where you want to go.

Like I said, I want to do a blog talking about this kind of thing or at least discuss it with a small community of people.

pls reply

Being smart on an anonymous image board full of meme'ers has immediate diminishing returns

You just said a whole lot of vague nonsense. I agree with you even, but what actually makes for a foundation?

like said, following the OP pic will do more good for you than reading. that being said, i have found some enjoyment in the lessons pic related taught me. it details the core principles of stoicism in a beginner friendly manner, and was actually quite nice to read. granted, i bought the book because i was in the same position as you, i wanted to change, but the big takeaway from the book is stop being fucking lazy. be the change you want to be, or continue being a lazy faggot. no one, other than yourself, can give you direction.

if you are looking for direction, think about what truly matters to you. not shit thats entertaining like movies or vidya that you "just couldnt live without" because you would be bored, but things that you would be furious if they were gone, things that you want to come back, things that you hope never leave, that sort of stuff. ive found purpose in the preservation of culture and history, you will find purpose in something else.

that picture is so fucking triggering, gaining muscle mass won't even do half the things on the right

k lets break it down then
>stronger immune system
body is healthier, works harder. increased blood flow translates to higher circulation of nutrients around the body, increasing overall health and by extension immune system health vicariously.
>higher iq
nebulous at best, but an argument can be made that by forcing yourself to stay on a strict schedule and diet, you are technically increasing your iq.
>sexual virility
healthy bod = healthy dick and hormone production. not hard to understand.
>functional strength
no arguing this, working your muscles means getting stronger, not working them means getting weaker.
>steady energy levels
someone who exercises often will be able to maintain their stamina for longer periods
>increased bone density
bit of a weird one, but blood is made in the bone marrow. increased blood flow means more blood production, which means the bone marrow is being exercised. marrow is similar to muscles in that you can exercise it, but you wont be able to exercise the bone itself. as i said, its weird and i cant full explain this one.
>balance and coordination
same deal as functional strength
>ability to deal with stress
healthier people are happier people. prove me wrong.
>reduced risk of cancer
sounds weird, but there is actual merit to this one. the fatter you are, the more likely you are to get cancer. not sure if this applies to skinny fags vs chads, but eh, ive done enough.

Literally anything. Any new or depth of experience. That's why I made a point to say that if it's filled with good things, it's a positive.

Plenty of idiots and drug addicts out there with a bad foundation and not feeling any existential angst.

What I think makes for a good foundation is more contentious and kind of requires explaining. The very lite version is this: I think that we can basically decide who we are, down to what we define as pleasurable. We can learn to find pleasure in anything. The question of what to find pleasure in - and ultimately what to pursue - I think creates a kinetic energy that can lead to a positive outcome.

While you don't want to spend too much time thinking about it and not doing anything, you don't want to get caught up in something and start towing the line. It's easy to get caught up in any mode of living. That's why I think it would be a good thing to be a part of a small conscious group of people that continue to reevaluate wayfind throughout life.

>but things that you would be furious if they were gone
Not to sound sociopathic but I think the one thing we'd hate if it were gone is pleasure. The best way to get a pleasurable outcome in any situation is to have control over it. Money is the most tangible form of power in the society we live in, but people are the biggest source of it.
To cultivate good relationships would be a good thing to pursue. That and the kind of self care physical exercise is usually correlated with.

This all sounds like a lot of empty words but I think there has to be a fun and fulfilling way to live in this society, and existential angst would go away by living it.

Agreed

Also on cancer, stress has been found to increase the rate of telomere degeneration. Telomeres keep the cells replicating without mutation (cancer being a mutation).

Cortisol has a positive correlation with stress and a negative correlation with testosterone.

chart conveniently forgets to mention that being fit puts you at a higher risk of sucking dick

ITT: pseud gymcels who think they’ll improve their lives by following the cuck-king Aurelius’ slave morality

I definitely don't believe in stoicism as an ideal, but you could do a lot worse than practicing a contemporary version like mentioned. Haven't read that book though.

Overall I think lol there is a difference between Ego and ego, the former taking into account the pitfalls of the latter.

>we'd hate it if there was no pleasure
with all due respect you are taking what i said too literally. what i meant by 'things that you would be furious if they were gone' was things like art, sports, higher concepts or more grounded things like family or community, not the concept of pleasure itself.
direction in ones life is derived from agency and control. by its very nature, to search for direction or 'purpose' is to find that which you can control, and master it. everything between you and your purpose are just means of control, if money is required to fulfill what you deem is your purpose, then you will search for money. to this end, one cannot have purpose without control.

>there has to be a fun and fulfilling way to live in society, and existential angst would go away by living it
existential angst doesnt work like that mate. you can have a great life and still fall victim to thoughts of your own mortality, the idea that you are less than nothing in the grand scheme of things. do frat boys have a fun and fulfilling life? sure they do, they live exactly as they want for the reasons they want. this doesnt mean it will last however, the past catches up with them and at some point they may regret the time wasted. same goes for a aging historian, or a multi-millionaire business mogul, these are all fun and fulfilling ways to live in their own way, but they can only last so long, and all ways of life prevent you from living in other ways. there is no one way to live user, dont bog yourself down and try to min-max your life like a videogame, just live how you wish to. thats what /r9k/ does, they delude themselves into thinking the world is unfair only to them and that by not becoming part of society they are some how 'breaking the system'.

You're much better off exercising moderately and eating well than you are being Veeky Forums.

To expand on the higher iq point, while it's definitely not what happens, constant exercise vastly improves circulation in the brain, boosting oxygenation of brain cells, so while the iq stays the same, the overall capacity for thought and the ease of it rise dramatically. In indolence, the body's circulation decreases, which is why doctors prescribe minoxidil for baldness, it stimulates subcutaneous circulation in the area applied

>increased blood flow translates to higher circulation of nutrients around the body
the immune system is weakened by being malnourished but a skinny individual and a muscly individual won't have any notable differences in combatting an unrecognised pathogen
>an argument can be made that by forcing yourself to stay on a strict schedule and diet, you are technically increasing your iq
iq is completely unrelated to discipline
>healthy bod = healthy dick and hormone production. not hard to understand
it's not hard to understand it's just plain wrong, muscles won't do anything to help erectile disfunction or low libido
>ability to deal with stress
only if the person enjoys building muscles, otherwise it could make it worse
>reduced risk of cancer
still bullshit, just because fatasses have higher risks of cancer doesn't mean muscly people have less risk of cancer

>by forcing yourself to stay on a strict schedule and diet, you are technically increasing your iq.
What the fuck?

>bone marrow is similar to muscles in that you can exercise it, but you wont be able to exercise the bone itself.
Mechanical stress on the bones, growth hormone, and good diet can increase your bone density, and it has nothing to do with "exercising the bone marrow"
Also
>more blood flow means more blood production
Just fucking LOL

t. /fitlit/

Cannot recommend Meditations by Marcus Aurelius strongly enough.

I'm working from first principals. Pleasure itself is the only thing that we'd hate if it were gone. Beyond that, there's the question of what to find pleasurable.

>existential angst doesnt work like that mate
Yes it does. Existential angst comes from a lack of fulfillment. If someone were living a fulfilled life then they wouldn't feel it. I agree, the fratboy life will take almost anyone out of existential angst temporarily. The idea is to find something more long term. The business mogul thing definitely seems to work for a lot of people to be honest; constantly working on new and interesting problems can make for a relatively fulfilling life. Of course everyone is different - though not by much - and again I believe you can learn to find pleasure in whatever anything.

>and all ways of life prevent you from living in other way
Business, I think is a tangible microcosm to test this in. The prevailing mindset these days is that you can start anywhere and end up anywhere. Lateral raises are kind of the best way to get a raise these days. The main goal being to 'do good work'.

Anyway, I do believe any definite equation has a definite solution. We're learning that there is no one size fits all diet for example, and that different diets are best suited for a given genotype and phenotype.
I agree that trying to min max is pointless in the beginning given our lack of information and can lead to analysis paralysis. Min maxing is best done deeper into a state of growth.

I see it like an inverted all seeing eye, where a general direction is all that's important in the beginning until you begin to build a more tangible foundation.

We can use the microcosm of working out as an example. It's not that important that you perfect the best workout routine and diet in the beginning - it's more important that you start exercising and eating moderately well in the beginning and from there start to min max via general wayfinding; seeing what works better and worse for you.

This microcosm is indicative of the macro. As above so below.

>just because fatasses have higher risks of cancer doesn't mean physically fit people have less risk of cancer
That's exactly what it means.

I think it's known that most people are at least mildly malnourished. It should go to stand that hitting all of your macronutrients and exercising would fend off a lot of diseases. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer being the obvious ones.

Exercise is inherently enjoyable. Beyond the 'workout high' phenomenon, drawing your consciousness to a single endeavor is inherently enjoyable. Throw up a yoga tutorial on youtube and give a few moves a solid try. Post results.

Testosterone increases libido

Not enough is known about iq to talk about this but I think it should be obvious that the focus mind that discipline cultivates would be conducive to intelligent thinking. You would get a different iq result depending on your mindset. It's known that stress decreases...

Cont. It's known that stress etc affects test taking abilities and the ability to make intelligent decisions in general.

Also check my post on cancer:
You should be smart enough to draw your own conclusions

>can't even quote properly
>thinks his argument has any validity
kill yourself

By not adhering to a solid diet and exercise routine I very much am.

I miss /fitlit/

it was a massive circlejerk