Don't Drink Poison

Not dissipating outlets, numbing narcotics, amusements, or distractions -- these only drain, weaken, and increase despair. Instead: more tension, private wars, selective companionship, secluded congregations, reckless adventure, and exposing oneself only to the profound and beautiful. We often hide away, but we also experience more deeply while remaining undiluted by the meaningless and uninspired.

Most of the modern world is empty and boring, made by tedious robot people who injured their souls to death and semi-secretly hate themselves. Understandably some smart people look around at the state of things as hopeless and consequently cope with this by becoming despondent, as if they somehow feel bound to emulate the misery most people bring themselves.

It's true that there's an almost infinite amount of noise and nonsense, and once this is accepted as the main product and objective of modernity, it's easy to walk away from the whole and start over.

Imagine there's no Hollywood
No celebrities
No television
No political idiots debating irrelevant issues (while ignoring the essential)
It's easy if you try

From there a fresh view of life you had as a child is revived and returned into focus.

Think of what you care about. If you see much that is deplorable, first separate yourself from it (what profit could come from remaining close to it?), then befriend what is great, inspiring, and nurturing to your soul. Finally, begin creating in your image, not as a mercy mission for the world or a theoretical gift to a crumbling society, but so as to actively improve your life with touches you desire to bring into existence.

Looking past the endless pre-landfills and living cemeteries of the redundant, the world remains a blank slate open and awaiting you to press upon it. But first you must care for and revere your short life with faith in your mission and love for your destiny.