When is it enough?

Kohadre wrote: I have accepted that my life has been, and will endlessly continue to be a pile of shit, upon which the only shining moment will be my death. I have lived through abuse, homelessness, poverty, and the stigma surrounding mental illness for my entire life, and I can guarantee you that where I am at now is as good as it is going to get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ0KbJcav0

Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have food on the plate tonight? Do you have a little change in your pocket? Congratulations you are richer than 80% of the rest of the world!

You have a job, I just lost mine due to layoff that after two years, no one saw coming. So what then is the difference between you and I Kohadre?

I refuse to give up. I see everyday as an opportunity, and I seize it. I grab it by its scrawny neck and I make it MINE! I am now the equivalent of a starving artist. I don't have time to sit on the pitty couch in life and feel sorry for myself. I refuse to accept my situation, I refuse to accept that this is it.

You don't believe in yourself that's why you're down on yourself right now, period. You've given up, you've accepted what life has handed you. You can change, but in order to do so you got to stand up and tell yourself, convince yourself, scream to yourself, TODAY IS THE DAY I TURN THIS SHIT AROUND!

Life ain't meant to be easy, you get out of it what you put into it, unless you were born drop dead gorgeous or were born with incredible talent which most of us weren't, you gotta fight for what you want, and it takes years for most of us. You must ask yourself, is it worth it? Am I worth it?

I refuse to give up. I see everyday as an opportunity, and I seize it. I grab it by its scrawny neck and I make it MINE! I am now the equivalent of a starving artist. I don't have time to sit on the pitty couch in life and feel sorry for myself. I refuse to accept my situation, I refuse to accept that this is it.

You don't believe in yourself that's why you're down on yourself right now, period. You've given up, you've accepted what life has handed you. You can change, but in order to do so you got to stand up and tell yourself, convince yourself, scream to yourself, TODAY IS THE DAY I TURN THIS SHIT AROUND!

Life ain't meant to be easy, you get out of it what you put into it, unless you were born drop dead gorgeous or were born with incredible talent which most of us weren't, you gotta fight for what you want, and it takes years for most of us. You must ask yourself, is it worth it? Am I worth it?

exactly right, life kicks my @$$ at every opportunity, rather than doubting myself i take it as a challenge to be overcome...i don't back down, i don't surrender, i don't retreat...i am relentless and if need be i'm merciless (though that bit comes with a considerable weight)

Zenchi wrote:

Kohadre wrote: I have accepted that my life has been, and will endlessly continue to be a pile of shit, upon which the only shining moment will be my death. I have lived through abuse, homelessness, poverty, and the stigma surrounding mental illness for my entire life, and I can guarantee you that where I am at now is as good as it is going to get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ0KbJcav0

Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have food on the plate tonight? Do you have a little change in your pocket? Congratulations you are richer than 80% of the rest of the world!

You have a job, I just lost mine due to layoff that after two years, no one saw coming. So what then is the difference between you and I Kohadre?

I refuse to give up. I see everyday as an opportunity, and I seize it. I grab it by its scrawny neck and I make it MINE! I am now the equivalent of a starving artist. I don't have time to sit on the pitty couch in life and feel sorry for myself. I refuse to accept my situation, I refuse to accept that this is it.

You don't believe in yourself that's why you're down on yourself right now, period. You've given up, you've accepted what life has handed you. You can change, but in order to do so you got to stand up and tell yourself, convince yourself, scream to yourself, TODAY IS THE DAY I TURN THIS SHIT AROUND!

Life ain't meant to be easy, you get out of it what you put into it, unless you were born drop dead gorgeous or were born with incredible talent which most of us weren't, you gotta fight for what you want, and it takes years for most of us. You must ask yourself, is it worth it? Am I worth it?

I have found it's better to live without hope and have good things happen, rather than to live with hope ignorant of the reality that nothing good will occur.

I'm aware that life isn't easy, I'm just burned out on trying to fight against all of the B.S that keeps getting thrown at me, so yes I have accepted my circumstances and I am done trying to aim to improve them in the face of overwhelming odds. To continue to do so is a combination of stupidity and insanity.

The motivational speeches only work for so long, when there is no progress to be found.

To console more than to be consoled, this is a Jedi Temple, correct? It's becoming quite the trend for members to log on and dump about their life's drama. I don't want to say it, as I've said it already once this week, but damn you make it hard.

I find allmost as many people coming here griping about their personal woes in comparison to those who actually come here to train to be a Jedi.

You know what pulls me out of the occasional depressional craptastic slump, I remind myself what I am grateful for. It works, but again requires effort, sometimes and often on a daily basis. Doesn't mean I quit trying either. If you ain't making progress, your doing something wrong, or you expect to see results over night.

There's another one, it's called patience...

Zenchi wrote: To console more than to be consoled, this is a Jedi Temple, correct? It's becoming quite the trend for members to log on and dump about their life's drama. I don't want to say it, as I've said it already once this week, but damn you make it hard.

I find allmost as many people coming here griping about their personal woes in comparison to those who actually come here to train to be a Jedi.

You know what pulls me out of the occasional depressional craptastic slump, I remind myself what I am grateful for. It works, but again requires effort, sometimes and often on a daily basis. Doesn't mean I quit trying either. If you ain't making progress, your doing something wrong, or you expect to see results over night.

There's another one, it's called patience...

It would seem you have the ability to quantify what makes or unmakes a Jedi, perhaps you would be willing to share that definition from your elevated position of status.

I left the temple for a year because I didn't want to be a Jedi, it seemed far too uppity and unworldly of a community and the basis of discussion was based in impractical nonsense. To be honest, I don't really give a damn about talking on whether or not "Jesus was a Jedi", or the finer points of "Alan Watts". Neither are going to help be in any practical way that can be transferred over to what the rest of us living like to call "the real world".

I'm still getting that impression and I'm getting it strong.

I'm no monk, I'm no saint, I'm no priest or knight or deacon or master. I am a human being with human flaws, and I think all of you other "transcended" beings either forget the human aspect of things, or you purposefully ignore it. If my posts remind you of this, then I'll make things as damn hard as I need to.

I don't expect to see results overnight, but when it takes over a damn decade to see some progress, screw patience.

I made a post on the very real experiences of poverty, and as expected I am now getting the response of "Your not working hard enough, work harder and longer and you MIGHT get somewhere sometime (who knows when).

i've been fighting uphill for nearly 40 years....the chances of me finding success in all aspects of life are getting slimmer by the day. however i refuse to accept that "fact"...

what's the point of life if we just roll over and give up....following the path of least resistance leads to a boring and meaningless life....

as i've said, life kicks my @$$ at every opportunity...and there have been times where i wonder "why?", "will it ever get any better?" , and "what's the point?:...then deep inside i hear that defiant voice of mine scream out "F...K THIS S...T, IF YOU GIVE UP THEN YOU'RE NOTHING BUT THE S...T THE WORLD TREATS YOU LIKE", then i hear "teach them, punish them, don't let them win, the harder you fight the more it will piss them off" then i feel my mischievous smirk stretch across my face...the very thought of pissing off everyone and everything that seeks to keep me down fills me with joy...

Kohadre wrote:
It would seem you have the ability to quantify what makes or unmakes a Jedi, perhaps you would be willing to share that definition from your elevated position of status.

I left the temple for a year because I didn't want to be a Jedi, it seemed far too uppity and unworldly of a community and the basis of discussion was based in impractical nonsense. To be honest, I don't really give a damn about talking on whether or not "Jesus was a Jedi", or the finer points of "Alan Watts". Neither are going to help be in any practical way that can be transferred over to what the rest of us living like to call "the real world".

I'm still getting that impression and I'm getting it strong.

I'm no monk, I'm no saint, I'm no priest or knight or deacon or master. I am a human being with human flaws, and I think all of you other "transcended" beings either forget the human aspect of things, or you purposefully ignore it. If my posts remind you of this, then I'll make things as damn hard as I need to.

I don't expect to see results overnight, but when it takes over a damn decade to see some progress, screw patience.

I made a post on the very real experiences of poverty, and as expected I am now getting the response of "Your not working hard enough, work harder and longer and you MIGHT get somewhere sometime (who knows when).

i relate to pretty much all of this - the exception being to make any personalized judgements of any particular member, which i would extend to include any judgements made about you by others

i walk that path a bit myself and it doesnt ever go anywhere sustainable or worthwhile in any positive way (to my way of thinking)

i very much agree that things need to be functional and effective at the human level, i like to call it the \ "kicked in the nuts" level, or else they just not effective at all

one idea that i have found to be effective at all levels is that every situation has at least one very small adjustment which we could make that would produce at least one very small measure of improvement

usually the process of discovering what that is will open us up to further, also minor adjustments

and these accumulate over time to a fair degree of progress

i have confidence that some small adjustment likely could be found in your circumstances, but i admit that i dont know the full scope of your circumstance so i wouldnt press that point if you say otherwise

i do note also that another member has not only announced herself as being professionally qualified to offer some, perhaps minor amount of input, but has made the offer to do so if you choose

i dont know and dont want to know if youve taken her up on that, but in a moment where there seems no obvious way to better ones situation, any ghost of potential improvement is worth looking into

i have been poor - like people get killed and robbed on a regular basis where i grew up poor - ramen noodles every other night poor - i understand poverty

and i myself have been homeless - and i mean under bridges and in tents in the woods homeless - cops cutting the tents open in the middle of winter homeless - surrounded by psychopathic drug addicted barbarians homeless - so i understand homeless well enough and i know its unbelievably difficult to get back up

thats actually what i am doing right now - restructuring my life so that the next ten years are better than the last ten

its not my place to tell you that your life can get better and i can see you dont want to hear it, but since you initiated the conversation i would hope you might consider that the responses you are getting have been with a genuine interest in your well being

i dont like for people to look at me and tell me im not trying hard enough or i dont have enough faith or optimism, especially when they dont ask a single question about whats actually happening with me

but nor do i appreciate when i see another person in suffering and i reach out to them, in whatever meager way i am able, and they only take it as an insult to them and then return to me the insult they feel they took

if you just want to vent then i understand that - open forum is usually the medium we use when we hope for feedback and advice from other members so it was a natural assumption thats what you wanted

i guess i would ask where would you like for this discussion to go from here? what kind of responses, if any, do you hope for?

also if youd like my personal feedback or just someone to talk to in the general sense, feel free to shoot me a PM

I am not without compassion, and I am no better than the next person. Yeah, you left, and I sent you a message on your way out, you remember what was said?

So you've got problems, and some debt to top it off. You weren't just bringing up the topic of poverty, you complained more than once how you've given up because you don't have enough money, or stuff.

I had a friend die last year from breast cancer at 32 yrs and she never gave up, she fought till her last dying breath, and was grateful for every day she was alive.

I recommend you go back and reread every post you've made since starting this thread, and realize how good you have it compared to the vast majority of people living on this planet.

I'm not without compassion, you need to chew over shit, i'll make time if I'm awake, my inbox is always open, please stop griping about how bad you have it when you are physically able to change your situation, and be grateful your alive another day to do so...

I'm stifling the response to be offended, but it is of note that it was my natural thought process. You're coming off as being dismissive and rude.

No one is trying to dismiss you or judge you. You may well be working hard enough. The true factor in life is how hard are you willing to give your all? There is no short road. No magical cure, no wonder-job.

If you find things are not applicable to you, then why immerse yourself in them? I am a proponent of each finding their own way, and while I believe this way is a good one for me, you have openly stated that you don't see it. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does beg the question "why do you remain here"?

If this is a depressive problem, I'd like to suggest you see a professional about it, as what we're saying here is either incompatible with your current state or not what you need. Either way, we are trying, and it seems you are not grateful for that. I am not stating that to be truth, simply pointing out my own perception, but it is a disheartening one to receive.

Your life is not harder than anyone else's. Just different. If you think you're worse off than the majority, you have a false perspective of how hard life is for everyone.

If you ever want to talk about it, vent, I'm here. I'd like to hope others would respond as well, though make no commitment for them. We can talk about life, if you'd like. I'll share too.

I dont think anyone is saying you dont work hard enougth and I understand that right now you cant see anyway to improve your situation.
But if you think we dont understand poverty or feeling like there is no hope then you are wrong. We are all human and we are offering advice based on our own experiences.
I dont want to see you give up because you never know how things will change and everything does.
But we cant change things for you, only you can do that.
You may not be ready to do anything except vent, thats okay and we are willing to listen, but you have to be willing to hear or this is pointless.
This place may come of uppity sometimes I have seen that, but it also has a great deal of practical, human advice that can be used in daily life to improve your outlook and just that small difference can give you the drive and hope to carry on trying and be grateful for what you do have, if you have clothes, somewhere to sleep and food then you are richer than the majority of people.
Dont give up, too many people do that and as one human to another if I can help pm me, I can give you my time if nothing else.