Is this normal? Early onset mid-life crisis? WTF?

[Jase]

You may ask yourself, what is that beautiful house?

You may ask yourself, where does that highway lead to?

You may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong?

You may say to yourself, my god, what have I done?

Same as it ever was.

[davos]

You can get away from those things now Bron, right where you are.

Funny thing is getting a smart TV helped me get away from "the suck" at little.

Instead of watching the "EVERYTHING IS BAD" network news in the evenings, I play music through Pandora (instrumental covers, and the like)

win

Went the 46" 240hz LED w/ Apple TV cloud mirroring this past year...no more cable tv, no more hdmi chords...fuggin rocks

[pstall]

when you focus on helping others, the clouds seem to part more often and the sun shines more.

don't focus on what was. focus on what can be.

i always crack up when i hear or see the phrase, "lost faith in humanity". remove the last two words and that's why there is the feeling you might feel.

but here. let me inspire you with a random youtube post.

well can't find it. its the chat between bruce willis and samuel l in Unbreakable.

just a few quotes i think fit.

Elijah(SLJ) talking to Bruce Willis- It's hard for many people to believe that there are extraordinary things inside themselves, as well as others. I hope you can keep an open mind.

SLJ to BW again. It's alright to be afraid, David, because this part won't be like a comic book. Real life doesn't fit into little boxes that were drawn for it.

SLJ to BW last time. Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you're here.

[Lumps]

Misanthropy.

It is inevitable in this world, in the American society.

Embrace it and love the ones that you believe are people who go against the grain even more. Realize ever more how special they are. Draw your energy and positive thoughts by people that you know can be different and can be special. Obviously you think there are such people having a wife and family you care for. Realize this life is a free ride and you have been privilaged above and beyond. START MEDITATING. Realise life, here on earth, is just surface deep you have nothing invested here regardless of what poeple want to try and get you to believe (including your own concious), try and have fun and make the best of it. Find purpose in the special poeple here and appriciate them.

I have not had a mid life crisis but I used to suffer from panic attacks. I still have them but I stop them dead in their tracks. We all fear what is happening here on earth, and the fact we don't know where we are or what we are doing or where we are going. That is how it was meant to be and it was meant to be that way so we could live life and let go. Don't let the fear turn to hate and consume yourself, your soul and ultimatley make the world and humans worse than they already are while condeming yourself. That is the ultimate battle we all face, the test we all take.

It's all mentality, it's in your mind and your concious and no where else.

[mmmbeans]

who's talking about fear and misanthropy? I'm talking about a lack of motivation to strive for the things i'm told as a society we need to strive for. I'm trying to detach myself from others' fear and misanthropy.

[Bronn]

I have to admit, though, a lot of mine stems from misanthropy to an extent... but it is a huge paradox because, like I said, I have a huge, tender heart and love the people I love with all of it...

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

for some reason i never struggled with the possibility that life just might be meaningless and/or just a big pile of random chaos that the human race has slapped a name and a set of rules on. it never depressed or upset me. of course i had my early-mid 20s existential crisis (am i really who i think i am? what am i doing with my limited time on this floating space rock? etc.) but that concept didn't play into it much.

my feeling about it is that while there may not be any magic "why" to give everything meaning and make one feel whole, this also means that there's also no magic "why" that needs to be chased or figured out when we're faced with terrible tragedies or the horrible poo that happens on this planet.

[thefuzz]

Many of my friends live a fairly "simple" life and they love it. I could have chosen to get into farming and live that exact same life.

It didn't suit me, I usually change jobs every two years or so, keep the same career, but take jobs that lead to my career advancement. I want to make enough money to live very comfortably, and to be able to support my parents.

I like to ride on Bertrams. I enjoy living by the beach, and having a boat, etc.... My more simple friends/family do not appreciate these things as much as I do.....so I work like crazy.

[Lumps]

who's talking about fear and misanthropy? I'm talking about a lack of motivation to strive for the things i'm told as a society we need to strive for. I'm trying to detach myself from others' fear and misanthropy.

Paranoid? Egocentric?

I responded to the OP, well part for the OPs issues. I did not read anything else.

general dislike of the human species in general.... a realization that people, myself included, just generally suck for the most part.... the societal structure that we live in... IE. consume, acquire, go to work, accrue debt, repeat.... feelings that seem to get stronger and stronger as the days go by...

This pretty much defines misanthropy though there are many varying degrees, definitions (reasons for hate/mistrust, extent of teh feelings). Even you wanting to detach in a sense and go after teh simple life is exactly what misanthropists do. However they do vary, to say you're a misanthropist doesn't mean you ahte everyone, all the time. Or that you are going to go live by yourself until you die, completeley isolated from society, there are degrees, It's simply saying you're at a realizations that often humans hurt us more than help, get in the way more than help you, are wasteful destroying creatures with possesions that don't mean anything but humans think they do...people find themselves thinkging they do...Again, that is not to say all humans, just the majority and if this hasn't been your experience then more than likley you are a ucky bastard but hopefully not ignorant because you shoudl realize this is the common, general human experience. Definetley deals with misanthropy in a sense. Much more common in western cultures.

I am clinically helping poeple right now (although very new to it) and I see much much worse...I'm talking poeple who need to do excersises before they interact with other people.

Misanthropy is the general hatred, mistrust or disdain of the human species or human nature....

In Western philosophy, misanthropy has been connected to isolation from human society. In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates defines the misanthrope in relation to his fellow man: "Misanthropy develops when without art one puts complete trust in somebody thinking the man absolutely true and sound and reliable and then a little later discovers him to be bad and unreliable...

arise partly from dislike and partly from ill-will..misanthropy does not necessarily equate with an inhumane attitude towards humanity...more of a criticism of conformity rather than people in general...

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Misanthropy (yea wiki...buts its just a definition and not really broad enough anyhow) these are theories.

[KendrickPanther]

What you are proposing is not easy to execute. My father is trying to do it but he is willing to go without even more than you. He has found 17 acres in South Carolina not far from Asheville for $110,000. He hasn't sprung yet but his goal is to buy the land, build a small house, solar power, rain water collection, and wood/gas heat. No Air Conditioning. There is no power out there, no over the air tv, nor cable tv, maybe direct tv, no water. You have to learn to live without those things or engineer them yourself. You can get something called an "air card" for basic web browsing over cell towers but you probably won't be streaming Panther games on it.

I think there are literally Billions of unhappy people in the world right now. But literally thousands of people run the world right now. It doesn't matter who we vote for, it doesn't matter if we stop shopping at wal mart, it doesn't matter if we ride a bike to work, we are all just insignificant pieces in the machine. I try to pull as much love and joy out of my family because it's the only thing in the world that is unique to me. Thousands of people own the shirt I'm wearing, millions drive the car I drive, but I am my parents only son and my nieces dearest uncle. That is where I find peace with life. And the Panthers of course.

[Doyle]

Somewhere out there is a man who has lived on a farm his whole life. He is sitting there wondering why he didn't do more with his life...

[Doc Holiday]

So, the past several years I have kinda gotten bogged down in my general dislike of the human species in general (even though I have a huge, tender heart)... It isn't really a depression or anything, but more like a realization that people, myself included, just generally suck for the most part.

Paired with that is this desire to be away from the societal structure that we live in... IE. consume, acquire, go to work, accrue debt, repeat. I feel drawn towards nature. The quiet and stillness of the darkness of night in the country. The lapping of water around my ankles on a beach somewhere. Watching my son discover the outside world.

I'm only recently 32 years old, but I have all kinds of feelings that seem to get stronger and stronger as the days go by. I've re-read Walden in the past few years, and that has been an infulence on this whole situation, I think.

I look around and see all the bullshit objects that I have obtained, or collected, throughout the years. Most of them simply exist, and serve no purpose other than existing. I sit in front of the TV at night and, if I'm even watching what's on, let it amplify my desire to get away from it all.

My home is like 2,400 sq. ft. I feel like that is entirely too much space for myself, my wife, and my son.

The latest thoughts I have been having are that I should sell my house, or at least rent it, and buy a tract of land somewhere and build my own small home. I'm talking, at the very most, just over 1,000 sq ft. (probably closer to 800 if I could get away with it). It would be completely energy and utility independent, except for maybe TV/internet service (not for me, primarily), and have very little environmental impact.

Part of the problem with that idea would be getting my wife to go along with it. I also have some pretty close family that I'd like to stay close to, but buying land and such might move me further away than I'd like to be.

Anyone else out there dream of going smaller with their lives or some sort of similar drastic change?

WTF is going on here?!?!? lol

did it, and traveled the world for a but, found out that I can put anything I really need in life into one duffle bag and a backpack things included was my computer, iPod, 3 books my whitewater gear and the rest was close and toiletries, was some of the better times of my life when I didn't have too much junk.

I'm currently trying to down size my total possessions to what I used when I traveled. So far so good either sold, given/thrown away half the pure pointless junk in my life