
Ask HN: How not to be pessimistic, helpless, and more - techsin101
What has worked for you:<p>I&#x27;ve noticed that it&#x27;s mostly the base feeling that dictates your logic and not logic dictating the emotion. Basically if you are feeling a certain way, i.e. helpless, your brain will find dozens of examples and create a very logically convincing story that would reaffirm your feelings by cherry picking certain events&#x2F;facts from the past and concerns about the future. It&#x27;s like a fog you can&#x27;t see past at all until you are not feeling that way.<p>stuff like: avoid carbs to get used to low state, Write few gratitudes daily forcing good facts into emotion driven equation and messing it.<p>Qualities I&#x27;d like..<p>1. Be less pessimistic - or be more excited about things. I&#x27;m really considering fasting and dopamine fast. Maybe I&#x27;ve been overly stimulated that I no longer find anything exciting&#x2F;worth it.<p>2. Be driven by the plan - not how i&#x27;m feeling. Omg seriously why the heck can&#x27;t I just do what I think should do. It&#x27;s like dealing with a baby who wont listen. But baby is also in control of your energy levels and focus.<p>3. Conquer myself - I feel I have violated every goal and promise I&#x27;ve made to myself. Like a ship with Math.random() inside a while loop, I&#x27;ve no control.<p>4. Stop being sorry all the time - I&#x27;ve gotten better in this category, basically it&#x27;s reminiscing the past all day while completely ignoring good things now &amp; not utilizing the opportunities now.<p>5. Not be afraid of doing - infinite ways things can go wrong. Paranoia has been helpful at times, but I&#x27;m sure it has also prevented me from even attempting many things due to stress of having to make something foolproof. It&#x27;s not loss aversion more like aversion to being regretful, thinking requires time and I&#x27;m always backed up on thinking part.<p>6. Be excited about something for more than few hours - I get an idea, next day I don&#x27;t give a shit. Facts hasn&#x27;t changed. I&#x27;d rather just watch 20 episodes of something..<p>continued..
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techsin101
Things that have helped me..

\- sleeping consistently at the same time, with air circulation and no noise.

\- walking daily

\- being in a social group where everyone is working toward the same thing.
i.e. Startupschool, not the build sprint.

\- not eating after 6-7pm -> sleep better.

\- brushing teeth twice, surprisingly I feel way more positive, might be
something to do with gums inflammation, I read a study linking gum disease
with Alzheimer so this could be a thing too.

\- Not being on reddit, linkedin, hackernews... news in general. Not because
they are negative, because you're always in consuming state, never in thinking
stage. State of distraction.

\- audio books don't help.

\- reading doesn't help.

\- writing seems to help a bit.

\- I read a tip in book saying that motivation comes from a fact that you are
in control. So do things daily that take low effort and have an impact. It
slowly builds up solid belief in you that yes you are in control.

\- Traveling by a car to somewhere for at least few days.

\- Watching or listening to a good long story till end.

