(originally posted here∞)

Why you should listen to me: 3 years ago had I flunked out of an even more expensive school. My mental disorders are probably worse (I will be on hardcore antipsych drugs the rest of my life). Today I have a diploma on my wall, a job I enjoy, a girl who loves me; I'm not far from owning a house, a retirement portfolio, and a path to the imperial throne of humanity.

That paragraph is not about me; [b]it's about you coming to grips with what you're missing[/b]. I'm sure you're thinking "I know, I know." I was too. Yet I detect the same unwillingness to make real lifestyle changes that I wrestled with for years. Heck knows it's not easy, but ultimately you have to change from being a consumer of helpful information into a person who's not only willing to apply them in some abstract sense but has a [b]plan of action[/b]. It doesn't even matter so much what that plan is -- although I have some sober advice in that department to follow -- because I guarantee every plan you're offered on Ars will be superior to the act of merely reading Ars while your youth slips away. I applaud you for being willing to address your problems in public, but realize just how much that act, as subtle as it seems, is still an action and thus creates far more impact on your real life than the abstract ideas you supposedly came here for.

My thoughts:
(1) If your psychologist does not know you extremely well by now (i.e. your mental traits, values, goals, personality, tendencies, thought patterns, ambitions, etc.) then you need to find one who will. Two-way street of course: you must find one you trust enough to share those things with.

Only from such a person can you make decisions like "I need pharm therapy," and only within such a relationship will you feel obligated to really ponder thought trains like "If I do not change the way I live my life, it will never improve." Trust me, you can't just accept things like that as a truism -- things like "change" and "never" are a BIG concepts, and getting your brain to parse them effectively requires trust.

(2) Take a job NOW. Any job. If you don't like it, [b]learn to like it[/b]. I'm serious. Anyone who claims they are too smart for some job simply isn't thinking smart enough. Go home from burger flipping and draft a consultancy proposal on how Wendy's could streamline their business practices. While you're delivering Pizza Hut, think of algorithms for optimizing JIT graph traversal -- which stoplight states create sensitive dependence on initial conditions (nonlinearity) and which can be pruned from the decision tree? As you operate the cash register at Old Navy, take mental notes so that you can write an essay on demographic trends. When you're asked to wash dishes, take pride in your obsessive-compulsive search for defects and bask in the feeling of soapy hot water at the end of a long night. If you work with a point-of-sale system, see if you can get access to manager-level stats & processes without getting caught. If you work in customer service, maintain a list of the stupidest things you've ever heard clients say.

Some of these things will "only" keep you from going insane. Some of them will help teach you which career path(s) are right for you in the next couple years. Some will be invaluable during your lifetime career. It doesn't really matter, right now -- you'll be smart enough to figure out which is which once you've returned to Planet Earth for a few years. Just get a job.

(3) Eat right, exercise, and go to sleep + wake up at the same every day. This should really be #1. Do whatever it takes -- bribe your roommate to beat your ass into submission, or write a script that shuts off your computer at meal & bed times, or hook up with one of the endless supply of crazy chicks who tries to "change" you, or get some hardcore sleeping pills you're sure you can remember to take after dinner, or anything else you can think of to unfuck your schedule.

I'm not qualified to address your debt problem, but there are plenty of Arsians attacking that angle. It'll be a lot easier once you have a decent shot at long-term sanity.

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