Combatting Meaninglessness: It's Not About Self-Discipline, But 'Meaningless Little Things'

How to Deal with the Boredom and Emptiness of Meaninglessness?

I came across two posts:

1. "So bored, don't know what to do."
2. "Do you still have any hobbies at 30?"

Many comments mentioned some methods, such as:

1. Cultivate output - oriented hobbies like writing.
2. Read books, exercise, and meditate.
3. Take walks, go fishing, and listen to podcasts.
4. Take photos, grow green plants, and play with models.

Everyone's feelings about this problem are different. Some people live a fulfilling and energetic life and never encounter such problems.

Some people may think it's just being矫情 (pretentious). They are so busy working and making money every day that they don't have time to think about these things. They believe it's just because people are too idle, and once they get busy, the problem will go away.

However, I sometimes have this feeling too. So I asked ChatGPT to see what advice it would give me.

Here are some excerpts:

It's not "laziness" or "having no goals", but rather - the mind is in standby mode.

After a long period of high - intensity work, the brain enters an "idling mode". On the one hand, it has been driven by inertia for too long, and there will be anxiety if it stops. On the other hand, there is no excitement about "doing things again" because the reward system has temporarily malfunctioned.

So, at this time, what we should do is not "find meaning", but "find feelings". Doing some "purposeless explorations" is actually a process of restoring the "sense of surprise" to life.

The exclusive advice it gave me: You've been doing "result - oriented things" for too long. Now it's time to go back to "doing things without a specific purpose".

Spend 30 minutes every day doing a small "meaningless but fulfilling" thing. Write a passage just for yourself. Take pictures of the changing light in the same corner outside your window. Open an AI painting tool and let it draw your mood for the day. Create a small webpage that you won't publish, just for fun.

Result - orientation is good in many cases, but it can make people feel too stressed.

There's an interesting saying: Self - discipline can't save those who have "lost their motivation".

If you really don't want to move, neither external pressure nor methods will work. You can't be motivated, and if you accidentally hit a sensitive point, you may even be less willing to move.

This situation applies to many post - 2000s and young people. In fact, many of my peers are also in this state, not working and in a semi - lying - flat state.

I used to give them some ideas and suggestions to stimulate them, but later I found that it didn't work much. Sometimes, I couldn't even convince myself.

People don't need just theories. Most of the time, they need hope, role models, to be seen, recognized, and needed.

Theories are the most useless. After reading a few more books and articles, one can at least say a few words, even if they can't quote classics and be well - organized.

But it's not theories that can solve real - world problems. Most people can understand theories, but they are just not willing to follow them or put them into practice.

For example, when I just asked the AI a question, it immediately gave me a lot of specific action plans about what to do.

To really solve the problem, there are several steps:

1. Believe in it.
2. Take action.
3. Keep doing it for a while.
4. Get real feedback.
5. See improvement.

This takes time and a process.

Gradually, I also understand the meaning of many live - streaming sessions. Whether it's game live - streaming or companion - type live - streaming, many people use them to kill time or adjust their emotions and motivate themselves.

Just like sometimes I watch some anime to find a feeling, to experience and feel. Once my state is back, I have the energy to do other things.

Now, young people are more likely to encounter such problems, which is also closely related to the times. When they find that social reality is completely different from what they've learned in school over the past decade or so, or there's no connection at all, they will have a strong sense of落差 (gap), contrast, and even feel deceived.

It seems that by nature, people will look for something to do after having enough to eat and drink, otherwise, they'll feel uncomfortable. So young people, especially college students, are prone to fall into this kind of thinking.

They may lack money, but they don't lack food and drink. Instead, because their minds have been enlightened early, even at an advanced level, their mental state is ahead of their material situation, causing an imbalance and leading to mental pain.

Last night, I heard a sentence worth thinking about: "Being yourself" is a false proposition. What exactly does it mean to be yourself?

Yes, in fact, many of us don't know who we are, what we really like, what our hobbies are, what our dreams are, what we can do, what we can sacrifice, and what kind of life we want to live.

But we often chant this slogan to oppose some things, yet it doesn't bring any real changes to our lives.

Recently, I've been reading a book and have a feeling that for many things, at the moment, we don't know or can't judge how they will turn out in the future, whether they can really succeed, whether they can really change anything, or how much value they have.

If we wait until everything is clear and certain, it'll be too late, and the opportunity will be gone.

People are afraid of losing and this kind of uncertainty. How to solve it? Actually, it's about the difference in mindset. Change your mindset. As long as your direction is towards making yourself better, making things better, and making your life better, then you can do it.

This kind of judgment is relatively easy to make, but the problem is that we can't tell what's better between good and better, and also the priority, because the importance of different things varies.

Life can be restarted. The cost is high, but not extremely so. The most important thing is to be healthy and debt - free.

To solve the initial problem of meaninglessness and boredom, find feelings, feel and experience things with your heart, reduce numbness, integrate into the environment, live your life, do some small things, and spend less time on the Internet (it's full of hostility).

Xiaolu's Daily Reading and Writing 2025.10.06 [Day 762]