Overcoming Learned Helplessness

One of the side effects of living a life such as the one I have, in so many facilities that encourage total shutdown on emotional and even physiological levels is developing what’s called “learned helplessness.”

Learned helplessness develops in all mammals when faced with uncontrollable circumstances in which they feel and internalize a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness.

With learned helplessness, we can face the most miserable situations and our minds and bodies can become so familiar with the suffering that we just… accept it and may even avoid things, people and interests we love and adore.

We can stagnate, repress and fall into suicidal depression in our hopeless, powerless loneliness.

This is one of the reasons I’ve removed so many worthless things from my life. Knowing what motivated and exacerbated my learned helplessness and sense of stagnating misery, I was able to assess my belongings and start building a plan for my future.

Photo and videography are lifelines for a future unburdened by hopeless depression. They offer me an evolving social framework for connection and collaboration while taking precidence over islating oaddiction, substances and meaningless video games or “selfish” investments.

Some people ask what helped most when recovering emotionally and socially.

I would honestly say that devoting myself to photography and videography while simultaneously expanding mobility hobbies like longboarding, cycling and eventually rollerblading I hope… might have legitimately saved my life.

Now, I can eventually settle down once I have a sufficiently powerful and capable editing computer, able to handle massive photo and video file sizes with ease and efficiency. I’ll then have a cozy at-home hobby once I’ve developed a comfortably capable social and community purpose.

The more I expand upon my gear, the more opportunities and hopefully dopamine drips can encourage my growth beyond the walls of depression and suicidal isolation.

"We seem okay with violence, but nudity we race to criticize and censor." Eva Mendes

This seems to make a certain degree of sense from a productivity standpoint in a technological society. If we suppress, shame and punish our most basic, fundamental and intrinsically motivated instincts... the most social and easiest to fully satisfy of ourselves when in true connection, we also have raw potential frustration and energy to direct toward said violence and domination-mentalities.

Sex, communication, social skills, deep and compassionate knowing... these are polar opposites to violence and war-like dominance. If a society obscures our most fundamental biological functions and confuses people into obedience... it's building up that energy and directing it toward a collective purpose. ...instead of a peaceful and relaxed state of being in sexual awareness and priority.