>>25556
I feel like I have no reference for what reality is at this point.
People talk about the importance of family and support, and I play along and talk about visiting my family, but when I do none of my family really talks to eachother. My dad sits on the couch watching "top ten" youtube videos on an ipad and my mom watches TV. I don't claim to be an overly supportive or interesting person myself, but even trying to broach anything about their lives, my life, current affairs, media that we've both seen they usually just give empty responses like "good" or "I don't know". The few times that my parent's emptiness have led me to vocalize my lack of hope in a future or the disconnection I feel they also just disconnect and so "oh okay, I don't know".
People talk about all of these experiences they have outside of work that change their worldview or that they really enjoy, like travelling, hiking, various social activities, and I just can't understand. I travelled to a few locations in Europe in a last ditch hope that things would be somewhat different but all I saw was the same rampant consumerism and tourism that I see elsewhere. My airbnb roommates were vapid fat sluts who I couldn't even have a brief conversation with, all they want to do is "partyyy". My belgian airbnb host was a somewhat quirky french lady who liked to talk about how eating grapes with the seeds is best for health since that's where the vitamins are. NYE in Brussels was boring and overcrowded, the crowd barely even danced and basically just stood there staring at the stage. Everything is either a tourist attraction or basically the same as my home, and the people aren't really different either. Yet my friends who subsequently went on similar trips seem to call it the greatest thing they've done with their life - while not being able to describe anything that seems truly interesting.
Apparently Tinder works for a lot of people, but even when I do get matches I find myself bored so god damn quickly. Every minute of conversation is a chore. But conversation is supposed to be what people enjoy?? I don't know.
My friends used to all play civ V or CSGO but for some reason they quickly stopped, but don't really seem to do anything else. Not that I really enjoy any video games anymore either, but it seems impossible to gather people to do something.
The people who are younger than me seem both extremely lost, with no ambition or talent in their studies (very much the "woe is me I have 2 much homework" kind of crowd), and the people older than me seem very dead-set in everything being fine or good. Those my age similarily complain about depression or whatever but it seems performative as they then seem to do a lot of shit and not sympathize with any of my views (not that I press my views often as most don't like it).
School has been consistently very easy. Everyone around me complains about how challenging it is, this seems to be a constant throughout high school to university, but I see no issues. I'm constantly told it will "be harder next year!" but I've been doing less and less each year. First year of university I showed up for every class, bought books, and studied with friends. Third and fourth year I literally stopped showing up for class, skipped labs since I didn't need the marks and didn't feel like wasting 3 hours to do nothing, and still aced the classes with (mostly) A's. The only studying I did was a few hours before the final. This is for STEM. It feels like a joke, but I don't feel like studying more since there doesn't feel like there is a point and I'm too tired to do anything productive with my time.
My friends complain about finding jobs, applying to hundreds of positions, but I applied to 1 position and got the job. Did half-ass work during my internship and my boss literally seeked me out to get me on board after graduation.
I don't intend to brag here, it just feels all so dissonant. Nothing anyone says seems to relate to my experiences. It seems people are always doing things in secret. My beliefs are never really challenged yet the people I know are ardently opposed to me.
Maybe this relates to how you're feeling, I've been wanting to grind this axe for a while but don't do so IRL since I understand that most people don't empathize with this, so it's best for my relationships to be more optimistic/human etc.