Hello, 4-ch! I want to hear your troubles! Post what you're worried about.
Feel free to ridicule other posts. We're all just bored, spoiled souls.
>>55-56
...
>>51
I'm sorry to hear this.
You really should just start getting your life back together. Buckle down and do it, you know? There's not much more you can do. This is life, and you're living it! So while you still have the chance, fix things, get any job at all (its money), then turn 18 and move to your own apartment. Attend a college or community college, and live a semi-poor student life (they're not much fun, but assuming you at least get anime for free, it's really not that bad!) and then emerge with some kind of degree. Go into a job field and live life contently.
You have to start now, though. Get back in school and do what you need to, or you'll be regretting it the rest of your life.
I need to follow my own advice.
>>57
Indeed. Omae mona!
>>51
Well, it's good to hear you're staying fit. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it as well. I was in a similar situation in my senior year (only with less anime/games and more lying in bed and starting at the cieling all day) but thankfully I didn't fail and was able to pull through for the end of school.
Best advice I've got really is to find someone to talk to about it. I wasn't able to pull myself out alone, I had someone keep tabs on me to make sure I was doing the things I needed to do. It doesn't have to be professional or anything either, I got lots of good help from a Nurse at my school.
So yeah, try to find someone you can trust, set some goals for every week or so (like job hunting in so-and-so area, looking into what you need to do to finish school, etc) and see that those goals get met. I also found it very nice to have someone to talk to who wasn't a family member or someone that 'knew' me.
Hope you pull through, don't give up!
he's straight. but i still love him. if anything, after tonight i love him even more. shit.
Sorry to hear it. I can't imagine what being in a situation like that must be like.
>>60
I can at least relate to how it feels to love and be unloved back. I went through that for four years.
I am deeply sorry. I wish you the best. Here is a problem of mine that you might have too: in relationships, while i'm in them, they're the best ever, i'm hooked, even when they're in reality, not that great. It's that way with people too. When I fall in love, I fall hard. But I need to realize there are other people in the world. Other people that would love me back, too. I just need to wait for them, and find them one day magically. Hey, it happens.
So don't be down. It's kind of like "there are other fish in the sea" but less, I don't know, asshole-ish.
I truly hope the best for you! I wish I could be of more help.
"There's enough love in the world to power Seattle!"
That's what I propose we replace that line with.
>>13
This is my problem. Completely. All of my problems would be totally minimizable if I could just get organized, man.
>>60
Man. I've been on both sides of this relationship. It sucks, and it's hard to deal with. As long as you can keep yourself together things will work out. It seems like a good excuse to let yourself go crazy for a while, but don't. Stay on your feet and keep going. And yes, you have to just deal, but that doesn't mean that it isn't really fucking hard, and that's okay.
(Don't mind me, the last time I was on the "spurned" end of this relationship, one of the more damaging things that happened, I think, was they said "You know, it's not like you're the only person who's every been rejected." That and the whole "I'm really interested in you and I think you're a really great person to be around and I hope you'll be one of my best friends", followed by essentially ignoring me unless their significant other was too drunk to pay attention to them. But I oversimplify and digress ... )
<- 16 years old, male, lolicon, slightly attracted to hot jrock guys, suicidal, umm... lives with mother. =D
Few days ago I got the nerve to talk to a shy, quiet, small, cute looking freshman girl. I just walk up to her and say hi. Next day I wave to her and she actually waves backs o.0; I don't even know her name lol.
I laughed & cried @ >>65
>>65
Lucky. Continue small gestures of kindness and befriend her. Being a freshman is never very fun.
I'm just making this post for myself, really. I'll keep it short instead of my usual 3 paragraphs in this thread.
With my girlfriend so far away,
my friends such assholes,
my family not caring,
all i need is affection, really. From anyone. Like. In real life.
I JUST NEED SOME LOVIN'...
>>68
Pay a hooker.
>>65 reminds me of me when i was 16... 6 months later i was dumped by a freshman girl and tried to kill myself twice
Is there some kind of job where you have to punch overly emotive, suicidal teenagers in the face?
Is there some kind of job where you have to punch >>72 in the face?
Not that I know of, sorry.
how should i react to that my friends talk bad about one of my other friend.
>>78
Question their motives.
>>78
Obviously that person is mean in general. Avoid him and make better friends with the one being made fun of.
What do you do when you've got someone harassing you in a thread?
(not on 4-ch.net).
Ahh. The hazards of being a tripfag... Pretty funny, the only place I'm doing any tripfagging, and a troll decides to target me to make the entire board suffer.
Had it been personal attacks, i would have easily been able to cope. But nope, it's just tons and tons of copy paste spam, shoving my name into the insults.
>>82
Ignore him.
>>83
I do that easily and already did. Problem being that the others are getting pretty annoyed even though it's not my fault. =/
>>84
Then try to divert the other's attention from the troublemaker, or at least from giving attention to the troublemaker directly.
Silly example, but remember how the people at a-ch dealt with Sakurai as he tried to pass himself of as Densha? They ignored him and then, as he was persistent, talked about him as if he wasn't present, then moved on to a new topic.
The best way to avoid trouble (if you are not a moderator or an admin) online is really to ignore the troublemakers or move the attention away from them because all they usually want is attention and outrage.
If that doesn't help you can still contact a moderator/admin about it (personally is sometimes better than publically in this regard).
Of course, sometimes the troublemakers will give themselves attention, even if it's just one single person, thus luring others into participating ("reverse meta-trolling": http://4-ch.net/net/kareha.pl/1112960050/70-73)
Because of this type of problems, some anonymous board software have the ability to reveal a poster's IP (in all of his posts) if he makes too many posts in a certain timeframe (as evidenced here: http://cerealandmilk.net/iichan/img/res/543.html#1022), but I don't think Kareha or Wakaba have this feature (yet).
>>85-86
Thanks, a lot. Most grateful for the help.
I'm worried that if I start playing FFXI again, my social life, as well as my school grades, will go to hell. But I'm starting anyway.
Bump bump bump up and over all those other crappy threads!
My school is having a job fair tomorrow, and considering I'll graduate in the spring, I'll be going to see what there is to see. The thing that worries me is that I don't feel like I've learned a lot of specific technical skills in college, and when companies ask me what I'm good at, what am I supposed to tell them? orz
>>89
Lie like you've never been lying before!
I am a roundworm living in 82's body.
I am sorry 82 had made this worthless post.
He is a born loser, but he has a big appetite, seldom wash his hands, always be filthy. That made his body our paradise.
Thanks to him, I have grown up to 2.2 meters long.
But one day 82 had bad diarrhea because he was teased on 4-ch.
He washed away my little brother Kenta from his bowels. Poor Kenta! He was only eight centimeters long then.
Normally 82 has enough nourishment to feed me and all my brothers and sisters.
I don't want to see my little sister Haruna lament the loss of other family member.
Ladies and gentlemen, 82 is a good-for nothing fellow, indeed, but pleas be kind to him.
Me and this girl I which went in the same class as me last year have been talking a lot over the internet lately, and I wish I could see her somehow, but I don't think I would make a good impression IRL. Other problems is that her ex lives pretty near me, and I don't want to get in any trouble with him (not that i'm afraid of him.)
Boohoo :(
>>92
You're a pussy and a lazy slob.
Your laziness prevents you from building up the required courage.
I don't understand.
Confidence comes from the belief in one's own powers. You can only truly exercise your powers through activity. It doesn't matter whether these will be futile or not Trying (something, anything) constantly will build up your confidence.
And try to follow this maxim: The hard way is always the better one (except in design).
This is a bad maxim for literal-minded people, who will always be able to find yet another even harder way!
>>99
Those are called philosophers. Leave them be, they are sensitive creatures.
http://4-ch.net/dqn/kareha.pl/1129365799 <- kind of relevant, if DQN ^_^
so either they don't know (leaving me back where i started) or they don't care. fucking brilliant.
Matrices, while a great invention, are quite annoying to complete by hand. If you make a slight mistake, it could take you quite a long time of re-checking to find it! I get so angry with myself when I try to find an error in a matrix problem, only to discover I wrote down the wrong question! Arg!
[ 1 2 1 | 12]
[ 2 -1 1 | 5 ]
[ 3 1 -2 | 1 ]
ENTER THE MATRIX /rant over
what are the titles of these songs?
http://pya.cc/pyaimg/pimg.php?imgid=16420
http://yu-net.info/swfup/viewswf.php/0496.swf
Mezase Mosukuwa by Genghis Khan (looks like)
Gasolina Remix by DADDY YANKEE (f/ Pitbull, N.O.R.E., Lil' Jon)
I discovered 4-ch several days ago and have become addicted to it, but there are not enough posts for my liking. What can I possibly do about this?
>>107
Post more (or lurk more).
I am just posting to say that I have worked all my problems out and realized how lucky I am. I have good friends. I love my girlfriend.
However, I have new problems. School and education, mainly. My homeschooling program isn't quite going as planned. But I'll figure something out. Thanks, to all who have given words of support to me! See you in more threads.
>>92, continue talking with her, and eventually, you'll become comfortable with yourself.
Otherwise, try to find a way to gain confidence, like Densha did.
#NINTEY-TWO RENEWAL PROJECT. PART 1!
Well, for starters, I just turned 18. And turning 18 is supposed to be the point in your life where everything really gets started. You've become an adult, you go to college, or you get a job... You at least do something, but I don't see myself doing something.
Saying that I'm just not a very social person would be a nice way of putting it, but it's more than that... I'm really terrible around people. In pretty much every situation where I encounter a human being who is'nt myself, I'm more than a little inadequate to say the least.
I've practically reached shut-in status right now. It's probably been at least a month, maybe more, since I last left the house to do anything. And even when I actually do leave the house, it's very umcomfortable for me. Even walking a couple blocks can seem overwhelming. It's really difficult for me... I worry about every little mannerism of mine, and I always kinda think that people are noticing them, thinking about what a total loser I am. So I nit-pick whatever is I'm doing, and often I think I draw attention to myself because of this. I try hard not to look at anyone, but eventually, I feel I have to look or else I'll look silly staring only at the ground, so I look quickly then look away.
Saying stuff like this, it makes me feel pretty small... I just really don't feel like an adult, and I obviously don't act like an adult, either... I don't even look like an adult, I look 14-15 tops. I'm like 120 lbs., I have a younger sister who even weighs more than me.
But, I guess my life's not that bad, though. I know that a lot of people have it 100x worse than I do. And maybe if I was 14-15, I'd be pretty content with everything the way it is, but I'm not anymore, I'm 18, and everything's the same as it was when I was that age. I think that's my biggest problem right now.
I have whatever you have. It sucks. To fix it, just analyse your problem and its symptoms, and then.... do the things that scare you. You know what I mean!
>>112
I feel similar to you. I feel inferior until I'm initiated into conversation then my mind frees up and I stop thinking about that kind of thing. I have a problem initating myself into a social group (of friends, etc) but once it happens I seem to lighten up and forget about it.
Pretty much what you described also applies to me. Something something something sad conclusion.
I don't see what the big deal is. I'm nearly 18 and I'm not bothered about being alone for the rest of my life.
I think it's a curse or something.
It's such a pain to get motivated to do things. I've missed 2 days of school. I have the homework from the last day I attended, plus presumably 2 days of homework that I wasn't there to receive. And yet, I'm not doing any of it! I must start it, very soon, what the hell is my problem?
You are supposed to post about your problems in this thread, not to go around asking other people what your problems are. Show a bit more sensibility!
Don't feel bad, >>116 . I'm not doing my homework either.
mmm... I know what you mean.
I have a speech to read tomorrrow (that I haven't written yet) Trig homework assignments from the last week (not really that hard, though I haven't started) and C++ 2 assignments, that I also haven't started on... all due tomorrow.
And I'm too lazy to start.
Oddly enough, this semester It's been hard to motivate myself... but I still have A averages, since I usually finish stuff on time (at the last minute.)
The world is full of people who aren't doing their homework.
I googled Avoidant Personality Disorder, and I skimmed a couple articles... And it sounds like me, I guess. Then again a lot of articles sound like me.
And I know you're right about confronting the problem head-on. That's not to say that I have the will to do so right now, but I'm aware I can't just wait around for some magic answer to emerge.
But unfortunately, I can't seem to lighten up, and forgetting about my worries seems like an impossibility at times. I used to be kind of like that, though. I was just shy with new people, and once I got to know them, I was able to open up a little bit. ( still wasn't outgoing, though ) But now it's different, I'm even fearful of familiar faces.
>>121
If you start a blog and promote it well you can become famous as the first American hikikomori.
Or you can join the Army, you wuss.
I keep skipping lectures for stupid reasons ... mostly because I just can't wake up in the morning. I know it's hurting me schoolwise, but I'm still living in the delusion that I'll be okay like I always did in previous terms, but it's getting worse ... I've already had to drop a course (the first time I've ever done something that drastic) because I didn't know enough material from lectures to pass a midterm (or so I felt).
It's annoying, I need to start waking up earlier and feel more motivated about school, I feel horrible already because my parents are mostly paying for university (when I could just move to a different one for free tuition, because my mom works there, but I just like this one better)
It's just so ... meh ...
>>123 Try not to sign up for early morning classes. They are your doom.
>>123 and you could also benefit from a psychologist. Lots of universities provide free ones.
I need to start working on my org. behavior paper. It's fall break, after all. But I'm tool lazyyyyyyy...
I've been centemplating ending my life for quite a while.
Diagnoised with major depression several years ago, having gone through the worst of it....Still things aren't getting any better.
A constructive lifestyle -- having a career, being able to socialize and make connections, etc. seems so unreal to me, something of a hikikomori who can't even hold on to old friendships.
For the last 2 months I've shut myself in this tiny apartment, occasionally going out to the nearby convenience store only to buy food and drink. I download anime but let most of the files pile up unwatched because even watching anime makes me tired.
I feel like I'm dying an excruciatingly slow death.
God knows when was the last time I felt healthy or happy.
Suicide is no stranger to me. I've cut my wrist twice. The second time it was a real deep cut. Just a little deeper it could've done permanent damage. Numerous overdoses of sleeping pills out of suicidal urges also. Alas, these methods simply aren't lethal at all.
Now, the most efficient way out of this misery seems to be jumping off the building. 8 floors should be high enough. It takes serious guts, though. Just a month ago I overdosed some tranquilizers and then walked up to the roof to see if I could overcome the fear, but somehow it didn't work.
If only I can get a gun, which unfortunately is almost impossible in this country, everything should be a whole lot easier....
Everybody has problems, but everyone has their own ways to overcome them. Are you trying to say that you're one of the few who can't handle life? Life is precious, and by trying to end yours, you're wasting what so many others want to have, but can't have.
Think not only about yourself, but for others as well. What would happen to your loved ones if you really did take your own life? Wouldn't they be devastated?
Think of other people; the caring father who dies in an industrial accident, the teacher who is killed in a car crash, the loving son who drowns in the river. How much they would have given to get back what you're trying to throw away so callously.
Think about it.
key for >>130 is to find something that makes him or her happy.
If they can't do that, then the best thing to do is to do something WEIRD that no one else does.
Pack up and move to Mongolia, and live out in the fields as a transient.
Go to Nigeria and become a pirate. Or conversly, go to Italy and become a sailor.
Go to Australia and convince an aborigine to take you on as apprentice, to continue the caretaking of the bush.
If you don't care about your life or your safety, there's lots of neat things you can go out and do.
>>130 take some cyanide
>>130
If I were like you, I'd do a bunch of illegal things before suicide. Make sure you have a definite and quick method of suicide before you get caught by police and sent to jail for years. But the list of illegal things you could do are innumerable, and once you start to do the more serious ones, there is no turning back. It'll force you into either suicide or jail time, and perhaps suicide will be the friendlier of the choices. You wanna go down in history right? Everyone wants their existance validated. Well, at least I do, so it's always a potential plan one day.
orz
Ah, if only it were possible to do just one thing in your life that you've always wanted, but couldn't because of the consequences ... yet just this once be guaranteed none.
Personally i think committing suicide is the cowards way out. You cant handle your problems so you just end them. It's pathetic your just gonna give up trying because your failing at the moment?
even if you failed your whole life, there's always time to make up for it. Just go do something, get off your ass. It's hard at first, but if you socialize a bit more it'd feel a bit better. I am kind of in the same position as you but not nearly as extreme. Suicide is pretty dumb. I completly agree with >>132. And don't listen to >>135, it's possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
I don't mean to throw so many insults around in this post, but I feel that you need to get up and get going. Find something that suits you, okay? If you commit suicide, we'll all be sad.
No we won't. We'll never know it. And more, I personally don't care if he lives or dies.
His life is for him to enjoy, not for us to moan over. If he thinks suicide will make him happier, go for it.
Um. There is no concept of "happy" for someone who's dead.
>>130 I agree with >>133. In a sense, you've been able to fully renounce yourself -- something which not many people manage to do. But once a person renounces himself if he has nothing within him to move him to action then he simply descends into nihilism. We can't find what makes us happy. That's what we're sold in this society: buy this, accomplish these goals, adore these people and you'll be content. If we're looking for something to make us happy, then we're simply reactive creatures that do naught but responding to stimulus: even bacteria do that; hell, even a ball rolls if you kick it. Once the event occurs that triggers our awakening to the injustice and pettiness of the ordinary life that is sold us, it's easy for us to recognize the meaninglessness of such a life. Perhaps your depression and suicidal thoughts are the key to a positive but radical transformation of your mind.
As humans gifted with free will we have the power to take initiative and create our happiness. It doesn't come from any passive involvement in things: the fact that you don't even watch the anime you download shows that you recognize this truth. It's ok that you're not interested in these things, because to you they probably seem vacuous. They may have rewarded you in the past, but now you recognize the futility in seeking happiness through material things.
The problem you are experiencing is that you haven't yet come to understand what to go about doing that will truely create your meaning in life. When we have nothing then we are empowered to do everything. What do you have to lose? If you don't know how to reduce your own suffering now, maybe you can go and help those who suffer from the simple things that we take for granted: those who have no food, no clothing, no shelter, no education or opportunities. Recognizing what we have, it's pointless to sit and feel guilty over the things we have been blessed with. Maybe you aren't starving, but your suffering is still real. I think that going out and simply helping people--and not only meeting their material needs, but giving them the connection that you desire and that they crave--will be a remarkable experience for you.
I understand some of what you've been through. I never reached the point that you have, but I struggled for many years with a huge void of meaninglessness inside of me. It's hard to convey to others why, even though we have so many material comforts, we still feel depressed. Simply create your meaning. Get up, get out, and take action. Isn't that worth a try?
>>141 well written
>Once the event occurs that triggers our awakening to the injustice and pettiness of the ordinary life that is sold us, it's easy for us to recognize the meaninglessness of such a life.
I'm at this stage about now, but still plenty of time to experiment with life.
>>138, why is >>135 just about the stupidest thing you ever heard? If you're going for suicide, you might as well make something of the whole ordeal. I'd rather be considered a nutcase than someone who's too weak and just gives up on life. Or maybe a giant scheme of revenge to ruin the life of your most hated enemy (provided you have one), then once accomplished die in peace. There are various ways to commit suicide, and if you must, maybe be original and not take the classic way out?
One might argue that hurting others is a terrible thing, but as >>141 roughly said, "create meaning in your life".
>>143 While suffering can be transformative, purposely causing suffering to another is never a justifiable thing to do. If we choose to be vengeful or to destroy then we have simply returned to an economic mode of living. By economic I mean that we have returned to that meaninglessness that our society presses upon us: that we're all just objects to be used for one another's pleasure--that all we are is a consumer driven by animal emotions and feelings. Contrary to what Mouse in The Matrix says (that our impulses make us human) our humanity consists of our ability to deny our impulses and to decide what is better. >>130 has finally reached a stage of selflessness (although it's manifesting in an improper way) and you would have him re-establish his ego, to return to what drove him here in the first place? To do good works in service of another is to renounce our ego--to make ourselves into judge and declare the value of another's life is to make us all numbers, including ourselves!
I see now that I need to clarify the phrase "create your meaning" that I used. For me, it has a specific context that I failed to evoke, and I apologize for that. Meaning is rooted in truth; there is no meaning aside from truth. The creation of our meaning is how we choose to respond to truth, how we make that truth manifest. If our meaning is something that is soley our creation, then its essentially just an arbitrary goal that we've set. Without knowing truth, how can we seek to act in this world? Creating our meaning means interacting with and discovering truth. What is suffering? What is purpose? What is justice? What is humanity?
Our society places us in such a powerful mode of relativism that we're essentially nihilists: "I'm ok, you're ok, just seek out your individual happiness like an animal, we have no responsibilities towards one another." "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." Our popular culture has even devolved into making religion into either an agent of the status quo or a tool for our own egocentric happiness. Go to church because you'll develop a strong social network. Go do yoga because it's good for your muscles and body. Go do meditation because it will reduce your level of stress. Never mind that the church is the Body of Christ that calls us to love and forgive one another, never mind that yoga is about seeking union with the divine through physical and mental discipline, never mind that meditation is about transcending our simple self-centeredness to recognize the great sense of being in the world and the interdependence of all its elements. Never mind responsibility! Never mind being challenged! Now we just have fads of Qabalah and Zen*, we have a buffet of interesting ideas where we can arbitrarily declare our own truth as it is convenient for us. Truth has become a playground for our creativity, but we're all miserable because as finite human beings we can't create truth, we can only discover it.
I use the phrase "create your meaning" because too many people expect everything to fall into place without any action. Saints don't fall down from Heaven, the Bhagavad Gita wasn't found lying on a street corner, and the Dalai Lama doesn't just sit around all day. Truth is something that we have to engage. This is why I stayed away from "go find meaning," because that implies that we can just look around and say, "Oh, there it is." It's much more difficult than that. But I will tell you this: even from the beginning of this struggle, you will begin to cultivate a sense of joy. No longer that cycle of happiness and suffering subject to the whims of the day (or as >>143 said, a total inability to experience happiness), but a real, true sense of joy within you. Joy is distinct from happiness. It's not about having something or being somewhere, it's about doing something and being someone. You will be frusterated as you encounter so many conflicting ideas, you will be angry as you fail to live up to the example of those you admire, you will still have to work and eat and sleep. But underlying all this will be a simple sense of joy and a profound sense of responsibility. And someday, if you struggle for truth with openness and honesty and sincerity, you will find home.
*Note: I'm not insulting Qabalah or Zen; just saying that they've been bastardized by popular culture.
I live in southern Ohio.
Have you ever lived in southern Ohio?
When I act like myself everyone (including my MOTHER) is embarassed to introduce me to other people, but when I try to pretend for the sake of getting along I'm miserable and I hate myself and I hate everyone around me.
All I want is for people to quit nagging me. I haven't answered my phone in days.
>>144 He has, but in the wrong way. He's selfless in that he doesn't value his life. Since he doesn't value his life and isn't tied down by passion for the world, he's free to do what he needs to in order to overthrow this world. What he needs to arrive at is to be selfless but with a proper sense of being and an understanding of the value and purpose of his life.
What would be a non-asshat way to tell my aunt to stop downloading so much weird shit on her computer? It breaks randomly and runs like molasses in winter, and I'm the one who has to fix it afterwards. -__-
>>146
You should probably act like yourself.
Maybe you could analyse your behavior and figure out what truly is no good to do in public, and what your mother and others are just idiots about.
There's nothing wrong with changing how you act if something you do makes the people you're introduced to uncomfortable.
At the same time, don't let them push you around about it.
it looks like we all are around the same age and have similar type problems. I am also hikkikomori, no education, masturbating all day infront of my comp, suffering from ocd, and in a state of constant fear all the time. And i dont want to step outside because looking at how other people are living and the way of life outside make me sick.
but do you know what i think is going on? I think all teenage human beings are 'cursed' or must go through this phase of terrible suffering due to certain chemicals that have to change for teenagers to become adults. The changing of these chemicals and cells causes an imbalance in the body, and so that is why we are all angry or sad about life.
And i bet one day we will wake up and suddenly feel fine again, and realize how retarded we were. This would mark when all the cells and chemicals in our body have finished changing and doing its business, so we regain balance.
whatever we are scared worried angry about is completely meaningless to a person whos chemicals are balanced. Thats why you see adults or older people having that urge to punch depressed teenagers in the face telling them to wake up.
so just wait for the chemicals to finish doing its thing, for now just do what you think you will have fun doing. if you like staying home then stay home until you get kicked out, if you hate the place you live in then do whatever possible to run away. if you like to worry then keep on worrying. This post is too long
>>150
That's an interesting thought. We all think that when we go from elementary>highschool, we're "all grown up", become mature, and so forth, but until we actually reach 25+ we cannot say we've fully developed or even experienced a tiny portion of the world. Well, those of us in this situation reading this thread will come to some kind of understanding in the years to come, hopefully.
I want to ask all the hikikomori in the thread, what degree of hikikomori are you? Do you never leave your room? Or is it "never leave your house?" If I were ever to become hikikomori (that is if they didn't kick me out / to a pyschiatrist / to a job interview) they would certainly not cater to me and bring me food and so forth.
Also, those of you without university degrees / other certifications, do you find happiness doing perhaps mundane jobs? Any job is realistically a chore. I don't want to be tied down by any certain thing; I figure I'll go to university for software degree, but if I didn't get accepted I'd go to Japan as part of a student work program. Traveling to many countries might be nice, and I could potentially spend my life going from place to place. But how difficult is your life without a degree?
>>151
Having only recently learned of hikikomori, it's hard to say what degree I am. However, I do think my case is pretty severe. Unlike some hikikomori, I do leave my room, but I only venture out of the house when I absolutely have to, like in a situation where I'm backed into a corner and have no choice.
No one seems to think of me as hikikomori, or a shut-in, it seems more like they just think of me as reserved, despite the length of time I spend in my room. I think if I told them how I felt, they'd think I was being melodramatic, so I don't see myself speaking up about it. And I also don't see my family mentioning anything, either. They haven't really been pressuring me to look for a job or go to college, even though I am 18 years old now, and should be doing those things.
>>151 are you aware of the fact that you id almost says 'Upper' i'd like to think that this is a sign from god
>>153
Yeah, it's almost like Upper Quarter 3: Lite
or Lite 3rd Upper Quarter. Amazing!
I think it would be dangerous to put oneself too easily into a stereotypical role, such as otaku or hikikomori. The risk lies with the excuse it can form to avoid certain parts of life that you feel uncomfortable with. It seems to me that most of the people here are in their late teens, going into tweens. Especially for those people, as >>150 not incorrectly points out, there are a lot of hormonal changes, plus that expectations by others usually change without being voiced. These changes may very well cause confusion about the world.
I have experienced this myself as well, and I mean that your view of the world is easier shaken (perhaps for the better!) However, as mentioned earlier, this relativating society makes it very difficult to adjust your views to more logical ones. In my case, I found it very difficult to postulate any goals or aims to guide my life to, because consciously or subconsciously I had refused them for being pointless. I would like to have a point in my life. I think all people do.
The result of having no acceptable goals (I tried to force some upon myself, but to no avail) was pure lethargy, and severe difficulties with conducting my studies as it was very easy to be distracted - after all I would be virtually indifferent between reading a comic book and passing an exam.
From this point on I am only a voice, as I have only very recently started this: I have finally found aims that are noble enough to attempt and challenging enough to last a lifetime. I think it will be easier to live when having strong acceptable goals as people with actual goals are willing and able to change themselves and their environment
Some simple advice, just in case: find a good brand of multi-vitamin pills, and take them regularly.
If you're low in something essential it can make you feel pretty miserable, and that's the last thing you need if you're already feeling depressed.