Need Help finding something to believe in

[Drag]

[ QUOTE ]

well i'm not going to be a recognized poker player ever, but i make okay money (more than i could with any job at the moment). I just play hockey for "fun", it always used to be fun but now it just kills a few hours.



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IMO that's the main source of your state.

I make 10 times less money per hour at my day job, than I make playing poker. And I wouldn't change it for all-poker carrier even if I could make 30 times more playing poker. Poker as an occupation is highly unproductive, it gives some money, but robs of a sense of fulfillment and social relations.

I'd recommend finding an interesting job, even if you'll make much less. Volunteering could be a good start too.

[kevin017]

how old are you. do you go to school. do you work. describe your thoughts about your social life, with both guys and girls, past and present.

sounds to me mostly like you're bored and have no structure. working a job or going to school is a good thing, and i doubt you do either. Beyond that, life is about spending time doing things you enjoy with people you enjoy.

[Jamougha]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

well i'm not going to be a recognized poker player ever, but i make okay money (more than i could with any job at the moment). I just play hockey for "fun", it always used to be fun but now it just kills a few hours.



[/ QUOTE ]

IMO that's the main source of your state.

I make 10 times less money per hour at my day job, than I make playing poker. And I wouldn't change it for all-poker carrier even if I could make 30 times more playing poker. Poker as an occupation is highly unproductive, it gives some money, but robs of a sense of fulfillment and social relations.

I'd recommend finding an interesting job, even if you'll make much less. Volunteering could be a good start too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I play poker for a living and i've never been happier. People differ.

[Henry17]

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I make 10 times less money per hour at my day job, than I make playing poker. And I wouldn't change it for all-poker carrier even if I could make 30 times more playing poker. Poker as an occupation is highly unproductive, it gives some money, but robs of a sense of fulfillment and social relations.

[/ QUOTE ]

I couldn't disagree with this more. My choice was between lawyer or sports betting + poker. I tried both and the latter is much better for a sense of fulfilment.

Poker is merit based. What you earn over the long run is exactly what you deserve. There is no office politics. No kissing up to anyone. It as close to a pure merit based system as you can get.

As for social again. How can you say poker isn't social? When I play B&M I travel and get to see the world and meet a lot of people. When I play online I usually bring my laptop to a pub and play from there. You'd be surprised how easy it is to meet people if you just put yourself in a social setting.

Plus the freedom. A job = you need to be somewhere at a certain time. You can take vacations but that needs planning and is limited. With poker I can jump on a plane and go to NYC to see a friend DJ. Jump on a plane and go meet up with a friend in Brazil. That sense of freedom is very positive.

[BuddyQ]

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

-Shakespeare, Macbeth; 5/5


"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

-Shakespeare, Hamlet; 3/1

[bocablkr]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, for starters i'm an atheist. I think that life is pretty meaningless and when you die, thats it, you're dead. Today i talked to my shrink about it for a while. She said that i need to find something to believe in (she mentioned that god was obv not the answer for me), so i could shake deep depression. When i prodded her on what to believe, she said that she couldn't tell me, that i'd have to figure it out for myself and ask others what they believe in.

So SMP, what i'm asking is, what do you believe in? If you're an atheist (which i'm fairly certain a large portion of you are), how do you cope with the emptiness of life?

[/ QUOTE ]

Have children.

[Drag]

@ Henry17

Poker is a zero sum game, there is no plus side for a society as a whole. (One can argue that there is some entertainment value produced, but only a rich society can afford it.) Any job, on the other hand adds something to society, so that everyone gains, i.e. positive sum game.

What's the problem with the politics? Just be nice to people, don't tell them thay are stupid and it will be ok.

Working with people and enjoing the joint achievemnet =! talking to a random dude in bar.

As for freedom I agree with you.


Anyway, I tried to present a different view to OP. Job being a thing that I like to do vs a thing that I have to do.

[JMAnon]

The love of money, power, competition, and family.

[Henry17]

The problem with the plus side for society is that it assumes people care about that. Most people don't. I could careless about society. To be honest I actually have a lot of contempt for the vast majority so helping them is the last thing I would want to do.

It also assumes that jobs somehow help people. Some do but very few and they usually pay too little to be a reasonable option. I don't see how society would be better off if I was down on Bay St defending a corporation's intellectual property rights vs sitting here enjoying a cider and playing poker. At least with playing poker my waitress will get a generous tip which makes a Monday afternoon shift that much better.

[tame_deuces]

Have to admit, the idea of playing poker professionally has never appealed to me. I could (atleast before, I don't know how much more tougher the games are now) probably beat mid stakes games if I played regularly. It just seems so useless to me though, so I could never do it. I have to feel I'm making wheels spin somewhere more useful than an online gambling operation .