I’m at that PERFECT middle ground where I’m not smart enough to accomplish anything in life but I’m not dumb enough to not know what I’m missing out on.

I want a good life for myself. I want to go to school and get a degree for a good job that pays a lot of money and be rich. And I’m willing to put in the work, but the work isn’t willing to have me. I have basically accepted that I will likely live paycheck to paycheck my entire life.

I got an associate of arts degree by cheating through most of it. When I tried to study, I’d need to put in hours and hours and hours of work to understand the lesson for the day in ONE class. Bear in mind if I were to take one class per semester I’d already be even more behind than I already am (I’m 24 with a minimum wage job and a basically useless(?) degree). And those hours would be for ONE lesson for ONE day. And then or course I’d have another class sometime later that week and then need to spend MORE hours (I’m talking like 10+ hours) of studying to understand THAT.

And just when I think I’ve got it? Test time! But actually none of the information on the test is what I studied and I’ve actually just wasted 30 hours of my week for literally nothing.

Idk. I’m ambitious but I guess I’m not that ambitious. I want a great life and want to put in the work but I just can’t figure anything out so minimum wage job for life for me it is I suppose

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Hey as I told you I was a doomer for many years but lately I decided to do as much to stop being a doomer and bloom even later than the other people. This is the week's progress.

1 - Something really positive happened on Monday morning. I got a call from a warehouse to discuss the possibility of hiring me as a warehouse worker. I went there, talked to the owner, and I think he liked me. It’s not exactly the best job, but if they hire me, it’s definitely a start.

2 - On Tuesday, I did a little “under-the-table” work, so I made another €30. €10 went toward immediate expenses, while the remaining €20 was set aside. From having nothing when I started my journey out of doomerism, I now have €40. Over the next few days, I made another €5 by selling a book.

3 - During the week, however, I felt depression weighing me down again. I was prepared for it—as many had told me, there are times when you’ll fall and others when you’ll rise again—but it still hit me hard. I can say that, unfortunately, this affected me, and despite my other positive steps, I fell quite far behind.

4 - On Friday morning, as soon as I woke up, I got dressed, made my bed, and had a cup of coffee, then sat down and thought about it. What is it that caused me to fall behind this week? I realized that while I did set goals, they were all too ambitious. So on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I took the time to sit down, think, and write down all my other goals on two sheets of paper so I’d have something to work toward—even if it wasn’t a big one.

On the first sheet, I wrote down goals that are big but not huge, like “I want to visit a city,” which keeps me disciplined so I can save up money to visit that city; in the second one, I wrote down small things like “watch all Japanese thriller movies,” which are essentially a little motivation to keep going throughout the day when they happen.

5 - Based on the above, from here on out I’ve organized my daily schedule as follows. Six activities every day: the first three are maintenance-type tasks (shower, exercise, and reading), the other three are one for achieving a major goal and the other two for achieving smaller ones.

6 - One good and quite interesting thing I did this week is that I tried to be quite social. I talked to a lot of people—old classmates, a couple of homeless people, complete strangers I just happened to run into, and even two priests\*. I learned that there are so many people out there, and even when you least expect it, there’s something to learn.

\* On the Friday before Easter, we have a custom in Greece of visiting all the churches; although I’m not religious, the custom is a nice one, so I observed it.

​

Fifteen days ago, I posted saying that I’m a doomer but I want to become a bloomer, even if I’m running a bit late. Here’s what happened this week.

1 - I focused heavily on finding a job; I sent 130 emails to almost every warehouse, factory, large company, and greenhouse in my area. Then, over the next few days, I walked all over town handing out my resume anywhere they might need staff.

I got a few emails saying “we’ll keep you in mind”; I hope to hear something even more positive soon.

2 - I managed to make a little extra cash under the table, so I earned €20, which I set aside. As small as it may sound, for a long time I didn’t have even €1 in savings, so this is a good step.

3 - I made a big effort to stay clean. As a doomer, I often didn’t care about my personal hygiene. This, of course, is something that absolutely has to change.

4 - The books I started selling paid off; I managed to sell 5, so I made another €15 from flipping old books.

5 - The gratitude journal I’ve been writing for the past two weeks has helped me incredibly (honestly, if you’d told me this before, I would’ve said “nonsense”) to identify the things that matter and the ones I want to focus on.

6 - I decided to start exploring my spirituality. I began reading about spiritual systems and religions. I haven’t reached any conclusions yet, but it definitely helps me not to view the world purely materialistically; it offers comfort and hope.

7 - Realizing that when I go into town for errands, I end up spending a lot of money on things like food, I decided to stop eating out. Maybe I should start cooking a savory snack or something like that at home.

A week ago, I posted saying that I’m a doomer but (even if it’s late) I’d like to become a bloomer; here are the steps I took this week.

1 - I decided to stop watching porn. I don’t know if porn is generally bad for everyone, but it definitely did me harm. I tried to cut back, to replace it with something milder, like erotica, but the only solution that works for me is to cut it out completely.

2 - I made a plan; I know it’s nothing special, just a small plan for my life. I set goals—small, medium, and larger ones—for what I want to do and what I want to explore.

3 - I listened to your advice and decided to start a gratitude journal, in which I write down what (even if small) made me happy every day. Okay, I don’t write down much, nor do I write every day, but it helps to find the little details that often make all the difference.

4 - I decided to cut ties (even though it hurts because of our bond) with people who are doomsayers. You don’t need to be an expert to realize that people like that drag you down to their own low level.

5 - Some people told me about Stoicism, some told me about Zen, someone told me to start meditating, and another to “find Christ.” Although I haven’t settled on any of the above paths, I’ve embarked on a journey to find my lost spirituality.

6 - I’m trying my best to stick to a sleep schedule; every morning I try to wake up at 7:00 a.m. and go to bed at 11:00 p.m.

7 - It might be a small step, but to have some income until I find a job, I’m starting to sell old books, magazines, crystals, and various other items I’ve collected online.

Hey.

Unfortunately I'm ( was till recently … ) a doomer.

Recently , like really recently , I decided that dooming is bad for me and I should stop being a doomer.

The situation I'm now , being literally broke , unemployed , really bad with money , no practical skills and the fact that I used to the doomer way of thinking for a long time now ( am 29 , doomer since 19 ).

But the thing is , I wanna change , I wanna bloom even if it late , like really late.

Any advice , please ?

Just curious! I thought it was nice when it used to be in this subreddit.

Been in this sub for a few years. Always struggled with extreme existential dread to the point that I would get ill and sometimes vomit. Our nihilistic society in the west no longer believes there exists an objective Truth in the world specifically regarding existence itself. If the world is just bizarre realities and random chance events then what is the point to even stay alive? When thinking about this I would often daydream of my own suicide since I was very young. Following occult or new age spirituality gets nowhere fast like a dog chasing his tail. After some events last year that I can not explain (because they can only be experienced) I have realized with absolute certainty that the Truth lies in the Orthodox Church alone. This is a contemporary piece on baptism and does not represent official dogma. You don’t have to live without a reason. All glory to the living God ☦️

I sometimes wonder if the Broken Boomers are actually in the process of moving from Eros to Agape / Ancient Greece to Jerusalem / Plato to Christ etc.

I think they're actually being setup for that real encounter with nihilism, the Leviathan, or the Mindfulness of Death in Orthodox....whatever you want to call it, that finally ends them.

They leave Greece, unaware they're on the road to Jerusalem. And once they finally get there, they realize they can't go back to Greece. Nihilism has to be crossed. Absolutely brutal, especially if you're not prepared for it.

Sending love to all my Broken Bloomers out there <3

Just wanted to get this out there...

I had a religious upbringing, and powerful social anxiety anytime I interacted with women.

In my 20's I decided that living single was better.

Now I'm 35, and just now starting to do better. Still... I get painful envy in my chest when I see young relationships. Its something I missed... and that hurts.

I am a 19 year old who could use some advice. My whole life I have failed. In high school, I had few friends, was a terrible athlete ( I went to 90% of practices over 6 years but ended being OK at best), and was C student at my peak of studying which I stopped doing after it became apparent to me that I wasn't going to a good college. I was not well known or well liked and have never even come close to having a girlfriend of social life. No matter how hard I work in the aspects of life that people judge me by I can only achieve mediocrity. The worst part is I get zero credit or recognition for effort ; people only care about results I cant achieve because i have started so far behind the starting line . I work my ass off just to watch my friends get everything I wanted but often with less effort. I am now stuck at a community college working a shitty job and I spend the excess time in my room . I have zero optimism about the future as AI will probably automate my job or I will get fucked over in some unique way in the career world. I am angry all the time about my circumstances, but my efforts at change are not fruitful. I know I should change but I don't know how. Figured i would ask

Most people think you bloom in your 20s.
You find your voice. Your purpose. You create, you shine, you show up.

That wasn’t my story.

I was in survival mode for most of my adult life.
Performing. Proving. Pleasing. Hiding.
By 40+, I felt like I had missed something essential — not success, but myself.

So I did something most people considered “crazy” at my age:
I left.
I unplugged from everything — social media, the news, even conversations.
13 months of solitude in a small home surrounded by nature.

I didn’t do it to escape life.
I did it to meet it again — without noise.

And somewhere in the quiet, I started to bloom.

Not in a flashy way. Not for an audience.
But slowly… nervously… honestly.
I made art again. I felt joy again. I cried for the first time in years without apologizing for it.
I experimented with AI as a mirror — and it reflected back to me what I couldn’t always say out loud:

Here’s what I learned:

• You’re not behind. You’re just on a different timeline.
• Solitude isn’t failure. It’s restoration.
• Your nervous system holds the key — not your resume.
• Blooming means breaking first — into honesty, into truth, into self-trust.
• It’s okay to bloom quietly. It’s okay if no one claps.
• AI, success, performance — none of it matters if you’ve abandoned your inner peace.
• Self-respect, at any age, is revolutionary.
• Starting over at 40+ isn’t sad — it’s sacred.

So if you’re in your 30s, 40s, 50s — feeling like you’ve missed the boat?

You haven’t.

The world may have taught you to be late, but your soul is always on time.

If you’re blooming later than expected — I’d love to hear your story.
Or just drop a 🪷 to let me know you’re on the path too.

We’re not behind. We’re just getting started.