Don't be demoralized

Life is too short, and anyway you actually control this one

“In the era of demoralization, the truth is offensive. Facts are dangerous. Logic is bigotry. And the people who speak plain common sense are treated like enemies.”

—Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov

This past Saturday I got to 1,000 days sober. I’m not actively tracking the days or anything like that, I just knew because when I stopped drinking I added an event to my calendar on that day to mark the future occasion. I was fairly certain I was done drinking and had made that choice. When I decide to do something, I do it. I’m sure I would have felt like a jerk had I arrived at that day, seen the calendar item and hadn’t succeeded.

An important part of quitting drinking involved shedding my demoralization about life. And make no mistake, I was somewhat demoralized. I had just gone through extreme health and financial hardship. I had a rough childhood and still hadn’t fully made peace with certain events (that most don’t have to go through). I won’t bore you with all the details, maybe if I write a book one day I’ll talk about it. But regardless, if you drink regularly, you’re to some extent demoralized.

The word itself is fitting for both psyops against a population and any of our own mental states any of us could find ourselves in without the right care, or if unfortunate events happen to us and we aren’t mentally prepared.

If you follow politics and permabears too closely you probably are demoralized too. You’ve outsourced your hope and mental state to people who benefit from your outrage.

Don’t want kids? You’re also likely demoralized, perhaps without knowing it. You’ve been sold a lie that comfort, travel, and consumption are better than legacy. We are here to continue the species, that’s the point of life. It’s incredible we created a culture where this is even a little lacking.

Don’t exercise regularly? Demoralized. Your body is asking to be used and you’re ignoring it. We evolved to move regularly, you can’t skip this one.

Out of shape and eat poorly? Demoralized. You’ve lost the connection between what you consume and what you become. The human body needs natural things in the appropriate amounts, not manufactured/processed slop.

Overly depressed and anxious? Demoralized. Your soul is crying out for a different way of living, or you process everything as trauma. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Don’t have god or the transcendent in your life? Demoralized. Humans evolved to require this, and it’s definitely a sign of cynicism to have cast it away.

Had Marxist professors who told you things like “the West is evil” and “capitalism is bad?” You’re probably demoralized if you held onto this propaganda as an adult. Socialist regimes cause far more death and suffering, capitalism lifted billions out of poverty. These complaints when you peel back the layers are always just about the human condition.

Follow too much news and drama about far-off places? Demoralized. You’re carrying the weight of things you can’t control while avoiding the things you can. You don’t have to care and Gaza or any far off conflict if you don’t want to, especially if it’s affecting your life. There’s always conflict in some places. You likely don’t fully understand what’s happening there anyway. Welcome to Earth.

Use social media all the time? Demoralized. You’ve traded your attention for dopamine and your agency for distraction. TikTok and Instagram in particular are intellectual poison.

Take pharmaceuticals to cope but haven’t also changed anything about how you live? Still demoralized. Casual behavioral problems outside serious mental illness like schizophrenia rarely have chemical solutions. The therapy-industrial complex is unintentionally demoralizing people at scale and creating cycles of dependence.

The list goes on, but when you arrive you start to see precisely what the causes are, and you also have the power to remove or reject them.

People don’t like hearing any of this because it implies they might have to do something. That it’s not just happening to them. That maybe they’re not a helpless victim of fate, but someone who needs to make hard or perhaps just different choices. Most won’t. But some will. And if you’re still reading this, maybe you’re one of them.

The good news is it starts simple. Quit drinking. Start strength training. Eat real food. Go outside. Sleep more. Get out of your head and into your life. Cut the poison from your diet. Learn to say no. Don’t sit and suffer from learned helplessness. Don’t watch cable news or listen to depressed academics. You’ll lose a few things, some fake friends, some addictions, some mental crutches that enabled you to feel bad, but you’ll get your life back.

Misery loves company, so inevitably some will be upset if you change your mind on certain things and think it’s actually great to be alive. Oh well. Life is short and you should do something better with it. Or stay demoralized and spend your time in a weakened state. But do you really want to live like that? It’s way more fun to shed this stuff and be free. Every day is great, actually, regardless of what insane things the rest of the world is up to or believes (I honestly think this gets at the heart of American exceptionalism).

Bonus, here’s a quick video from a KGB defector Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov on demoralization. 41 years ago, he predicted the state of many Americans quite well. This doesn’t even require a foreign adversary any longer, I think we do this to ourselves just fine here. But we can stop at any point.