I'm depressed

>How can I read my way out of a condition aggravated by a lack of action?
Don't worry about reading, for the depressed bookworm it's a path of least resistance. Start going to the gym, or find some sort of physical activity that appeals to you (boxing, rock climbing, etc). Get out in the sun. Put yourself in social situations. It sounds like a lot when you're in the pits, but start out with the smallest baby steps and work up from there - instead of having 'go to the gym' as your mental goal (easy to avoid), make your goal 'change into gym clothes', then 'get to the gym', 'stretch', etc. Afterwards you'll be glad you did it, and you just need to keep repeating it. It'll get easier. I guarantee you'll feel better

Ecclesiastes by Solomon

Oh how the wise live in the house of mourning

I have moodswings that stop me from reading. I had read ten books by early March but basically haven't read since. I fucking hate mood swings

Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus. Unironically, one of the best books there is that argues against suicide, and it's is very life affirming.

Nothing matters. That's better than if it did. It's freeing because it means you shouldn't take life too seriously. Enjoy yourself user, and get busy living, and don't worry about making the right choices.

so op said they're depressed, and you turned the post as an opportunity to voice your opinion about cynics, rhetoricians... which no one asked for and to take a jab at op because they might be one? fucking scum

Is there a specific version I should read?

What specifically about it is relevant?

Welcome to the NHK just makes me more depressed since Misaki isn't at my door trying to suck my dick. I'd recommend reading something miserable and unpleasant to minimize your depression. Holocaust books are great for that.

laozi said one who is depressed dwells on the past, one who is anxious fears for the future, but the one who lives in the present is at peace. maybe read some ancient chinese shitposting or something
relax shithead, i'm trying to empathize with op, not pity him. i mentioned the shit i read that humors me when i get depressed to see if anything there sticks out to him and gets his ideas rolling

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Power of now

Anyhow, try to do wholesome things.

>i'm trying to empathize with op, not pity him
You pulled this out of nowhere. Why would I ask for pity on behalf of someone else, and from a stranger on top of that? Get over yourself.

You're only showing your superficiality.

you didnt ask for pity and i gave you none. you can kys or not, i was just trying to help you find a book
i asked what his interests were. i'd recommend him flannery o'connor or beat generation off the bat but this board doesnt ever discuss those authors so i asked and shared some of the basic shit i and everyone else on the board knows about

>eats his own jing to maintain masculine energy
What's jing, is that cum?

I'm not op, you muppet! You said i'm trying to empathize with op not pity him as if I had asked you to pity him. Jump off of a bridge

shut up, op

Shouldn't it be the other way round?

virgin btw

Based on your post maybe something like this would help.

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What do you mean by wholesome things?

Ooooh, I've never seen that before. It looks cool.

>Is there a specific version I should read?
KJV
biblestudytools.com/kjv/ecclesiastes/
>What specifically about it is relevant?
The author of Ecclesiastes puts his powers of wisdom to work to examine the human experience and assess the human situation. His perspective is limited to what happens "under the sun" (as is that of all the wisdom teachers). He considers life as he has experienced and observed it between the horizons of birth and death -- life within the boundaries of this visible world. His wisdom cannot penetrate beyond that last horizon; he can only observe the phenomenon of death and perceive the limits it places on human beings. Within the limits of human experience and observation, he is concerned to spell out what is "good" for people to do. And he represents a devout wisdom. Life in the world is under God -- for all its enigmas. Hence what begins with "Meaningless! Meaningless!" (1:2) ends with "Remember your Creator" (12:1) and "Fear God and keep his commandments" (12:13).

I think fearing the Lord is the ultimate cure for depression.

dopamine restriction
semen retention
no drugs
no screens
walk outside every day
drink lots of water
work
eat healthy
live in the present and realize there is no need to stress about anything

If you want a book, try Ashtavakra Gita

Interesting. What makes you think I'd like Flannery O'Connor, user?

I did read a bit of On the Road during my first year in uni.

Apparently, the author got started self publishing and posting his work on 2channel. The description and reviews made it sound promising for a light novel and like something that many people like us who ended up here might relate to.

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the point of Misaki is that she has many problems herself and thinks she will have value if she can help someone else. saving someone from what she couldn't save herself from. in the end what the relationship ends up being is her using Satou as a cope for her own loneliness and feelings of worthlessness, and it doesn't help either of them.

no one will save you, and you cant save anyone. the whole point of the story is that the only one who's gonna fix your condition in life is you.

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how to cure depression
1. stop doing productive things.
a. watch yourself fall back on life goals.
2. think about how it's too late for you to turn things around.
3. become estranged to your family.
4. think about suicide daily, all day--don't let up.
5. get a gun
6. think about killing yourself some more.
a. repeat.
7. ???
8. profit!

i read this a few months ago. it's not fantastic writing (could be translation issue? idk if it was even translated), especially with the rough starting chapters, but it's a decent albeit somewhat cliche'd story. a good reminder to contemplate what actually matters. i would say it's worth the read given how short it is.

>no one will save you, and you cant save anyone. the whole point of the story is that the only one who's gonna fix your condition in life is you.
Satou literally saves her from killing herself in the light novel, and in the anime she saves him from committing suicide. Everything you're saying right now is what you're projecting onto Welcome to the NHK, the entire inciting incident of the story is Misaki taking an interest in Satou, if that didn't happen, he never would have changed. The message is no way what you're trying to say it is.

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of course having support from people around you is helpful but in the end Satou and Misaki became distant after the cliff scene and had to figure out how to improve their lives for themselves. i do admit i shouldn't have phrased it that way, it's a phrase from the way many fans talk about the show, but i still don't think it's inaccurate. either way, i think it is a bitter truth many people need to accept, even if it is just one interpretation or "projection" of the message.

I agree that it's true that people have to save themselves in real life, or at least 99% of men have to. But the appeal of Welcome to the NHK is a cute girl caring enough to even take notice of your problems. If you take Misaki out of the series, there is no series, no one would care. Misaki being #DAMAGED only makes her a more appealing waifu because it makes her more sympathetic and relatable. Also, if someone has no illusion that they may find romantic companionship, there is really not much reason to even try to save yourself. What's the point of, "saving yourself" if nothing in your life will actually significantly change once you have saved yourself?

I'd prefer the series without her desu. It's massively comfy without the awkward teen romance cringe

I don't believe you at all.

I’d just like to say that my only current motivation for succeeding in life is a 16 year old girl that lives in another country and doesn’t even speak my language. Without her I think I would just live the simplest life possible, not caring about anything. We’ve been talking every day for a year now

If you are not already lifting and doing cardio, then ignore everyone recommending smart boy literature. It is supremely difficult to think your way out of a depression. Most people who believe that you can are stuck in idiotic conceptual schemes inherited from the intellectual dark ages, namely Rene Descartes (a giant piece of shit, and the consequences of his thought have been a disaster for the human race).

Unlike what those who think you can think your way out of depression implicitly believe, your mind is embodied. If your body is in poor condition your mind will suffer. The ancients knew this. Thales writes that the chief element of happiness is a healthy body. The romans sloganized it with "Mens sana in corpore sano" - a healthy mind in a healthy body. Recent research into depression is questioning whether it may even be conceived as a "mental" disorder at all, since biomakers are being found for it - namely widespread low-intensity inflammation. Recall how you feel mentally when you have the flu to realize that the separation of mind and body is ridiculous.

Depending on severity, you may lift your way out of depression. It will likely nearly cure light depressions. It willalleviate moderate depressions. It wont do much for severe depression - if thats' where you are, pills are the answer, but severe depressions are comparatively rare. Books might do a bit for light depression, but will do jack shit for anything more severe than that, and even for light depressions, there's zero reason to believe they're better than lifting.

This is not idle speculation. It is extremely well-established.The effect has been studied and found significant in metaanalyses of randomized control trials. Lifting and cardio is the best you can do. Go lurk on /fit/ and get a gym membership.

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Not the user you're replying to but I don't see what makes Misaki appealing, she doesn't actually give a shit about you, she's just using you for herself.

You're gonna get burned by this lifestyle, user.

She would be paying attention to me, spending time with me, trying to fix my problems. Why would I care that she has ulterior motives when not a single person in this world has ever even pretended to care about my life?

I think we just have a different way of seeing things.

You probably have a much better life. Misaki is incredibly appealing to NEETs and depressed young men who have been disillusioned with society. If you can't see the appeal in Misaki I can only assume that you've never fallen into either of those two camps. It's possible you've had periods of sorrow, and I'm sure your life has been hard because life is always hard, but the particular way in which your life has been hard is probably nothing like the way Tatsuhiko Takimoto or any other NEET's life has been hard.

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this is a good point. i guess i never considered it because i never saw any romance between the two. it seemed more to me like he was going along with her weirdness because of curiosity/boredom and of course loneliness. i can see how the series would be much more appealing to a lot of men because of a romantic aspect.

for me initially the main appeal was the (personally) untopped representation of being an anxious shut in. i felt like it captured the behavior and thoughts perfectly and i liked the idea that i wasn't alone in that obscene suffering. after i read the novel, the motivations for each characters' behaviors began to click for me.

maybe. But I have no other goals. It’s either her, or living a simple life with no ambitions, no desire to “improve.” I don’t think there is any bigger goal than to simply be alive and healthy. But as long as I remember her existence, I would suffer if I didn’t try to be with her, as she wants to be with me. If I stopped talking to her, I would regret it for the rest of my life, because she’s the only girl I’ve ever loved. And I don’t know if I would be able to love another. I like younger girls, this I know. If I keep waiting in life, I won’t be able to fall in love again. But as I’ve already fallen in love with her, I don’t think her aging will affect my interest in her, but we’ll see. She’s my only hope of having a family

it's normal to want to have a family, but it doesn't mean you can't be searching for something more alongside that. the issue is you're weighing your satisfaction in life on one relationship which can at any point be damaged or disappear. don't put all your eggs in one basket, man.

Having a gal pal is based. Gives you a reason to go on, even if she's imaginary.

I've been a NEET for a few years now so I don't think I'm too far away from that. In any case I just cannot see the appeal of starting a relationship with her, I just simply don't see the point, atleast from my perspective. Now I don't mean that I would refuse her help, in a pragmatic sense I mean. I'm not stupid, if I'm starving and someone is offering food I'm obviously gonna take it, but that's it, I'm not gonna actually try to become friends with this person who is clearly using me for ulterior motives(though I might try to appear as one if I feel this will get them to help me further), and as soon as I'm better I'd be cutting off contact with them, lest they end up hurting me eventually.

Nice, thanks. It's always a little difficult with fiction and especially light novels, because the consumer reviews always act like they're some groundbreaking achievement. Actually the intro of the first review that I saw did give me hope for this book though:
>I am rarely attracted to modern literature because of its jargon, lack of values, and incomprehensible messages. The authors of the newest works often forget what the book is for and what message it should carry to society. It is our teacher, guide, advisor... We can go on and on. When you open a volume of classic foreign literature and read it, you will see there what modern works lack...
Maybe a little silly for the review of a light novel, but I just really wish more stories had emotional storylines with that kind of underlying innocence/morality
.. promoting values without being preachy or overly cheesy, I guess. I've just noticed that with most pieces of "normal", Western media that most of the time it makes me feel nothing or otherwise just worse off than before I began.

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You seem to be missing out on the fact that Misaki's ulterior motive is that she wants to fix Satou to prove she can fix herself. Because she views herself as incredibly fucked up, and Satou as more fucked up, but in the end Satou proves that he's less fucked up than her, and then he helps her. The whole story is about two fucked up people helping each other be less fucked up. You saying you would cut her off after she fixed you, makes you the bad guy, you're worse than both Satou and Misaki.

Like I said, I think we just have a different way of seeing things.

Your way of seeing things is wrong and you're a stupid poop head.

Ok.

Cope.