Opted Out, Still Watching

[sahgwa]

 I'd suggest it's hard to have an opted-out life if your partner isn't of the same mindset.

This is it right here.
I am lucky when I met my wife we made sure we were on the same page with everything before we got married.
We were both the 'i am not ever planning on getting married' type, since we were both always outsiders. 
So luckily we agree that what is going on is a bunch of bullshit and the whole dual paradigm is nonsense.

[quintessentone]

You quoted: "Watching the stars and letting them remind me what it feels like to be small on purpose."

I feel the complete opposite when I look at the stars as I feel one with the universe.

[sahgwa]

I’ve spent a lot of time outside the lines lately—off the grid, off the script, just… off. I stopped trying to "fit in" somewhere around the time the world started demanding more performance than participation.
We weren’t meant to live like this. Tied to screens. Addicted to algorithms. Medicated into submission. Watching politicians, corporations, and “influencers” fight over who gets to rent out our attention next.
I used to work, used to play the game. Wore the shirt. Clocked the hours. Smiled when I wanted to scream. Then something snapped—quietly. It wasn’t a big moment. No bolt of lightning. Just this slow, creeping realization:
This isn’t life. This is survival dressed up as civilization.
So I left. I didn’t rage. I didn’t protest. I just walked off the stage. Started hopping trains. Camping deep in national forests. Writing coordinates in a notebook where my phone might pick up a single bar of signal. Watching the stars and letting them remind me what it feels like to be small on purpose.
I saw something once in a forest in Pennsylvania—something I now know fits the old stories of the Wendigo. You can laugh if you want. I probably would have, once. But after seeing it? You don’t laugh. You remember. You carry it with you. Not everything fits inside science’s box. Some things belong to older truths.
People talk a lot about waking up lately. But waking up doesn’t always feel like freedom. Sometimes it feels like grief. You mourn what you thought the world was, then try to rebuild something real from the ashes.
And if that makes me crazy, a dropout, a weirdo? Good. Because I'd rather be a fool in the forest than a pawn in a dying empire.
Just thought I’d add my frequency to the static. Maybe someone else out there is tuned in.
—Redsun

I can respect making that choice and sticking with it. I recall your posts on ATS, and the anger and condescension towards others who have not made that choice is a bit uncalled for sometimes, though. 
After Boy Scouts and the Army, I like my creature comforts enough to play 'the game' on my own terms and enjoy the aesthetic side of society.  Music, film, art.
I also think that we should enjoy life while we can, because it takes it's own kind of training to remain in a 'natural' mindset while still 'in the world.'

[quintessentone]

I can respect making that choice and sticking with it. I recall your posts on ATS, and the anger and condescension towards others who have not made that choice is a bit uncalled for sometimes, though. 
After Boy Scouts and the Army, I like my creature comforts enough to play 'the game' on my own terms and enjoy the aesthetic side of society.  Music, film, art.
I also think that we should enjoy life while we can, because it takes it's own kind of training to remain in a 'natural' mindset while still 'in the world.'

I agree as I played the 'game' to get what I want in life and where I am now in life, the 'game' gave me the means to live as I choose.

[sahgwa]

I agree as I played the 'game' to get what I want in life and where I am now in life, the 'game' gave me the means to live as I choose.

Exactly. Everyone has their own path to follow and everyone 'is a star with their own orbit to follow ' to get to their 'true self' :)
That's not to say I am not going to make fun of people. I am only a half monkey.  But I wont inhibit them from making their own choices.

[quintessentone]

Exactly. Everyone has their own path to follow and everyone 'is a star with their own orbit to follow ' to get to their 'true self' :)
That's not to say I am not going to make fun of people. I am only a half monkey.  But I wont inhibit them from making their own choices.

Now that I've been out of the 'game' for a few years, I kind a miss certain aspects of it, mostly the people. Go figure.

[sahgwa]

Now that I've been out of the 'game' for a few years, I kind a miss certain aspect of it. Go figure.

My bro in law has worked remote, alone, for years now and he is starting to hate it. Humans need a balance.  They closed his last office around, about 2 years ago. (what's it called . US Government - General Services Administration)
I love my job because we are 50% remote so I get to socialise and goof but also have quiet when I want it.

[quintessentone]

My bro in law has worked remote, alone, for years now and he is starting to hate it. Humans need a balance.  They closed his last office around, about 2 years ago. (what's it called . US Government - General Services Administration)
I love my job because we are 50% remote so I get to socialise and goof but also have quiet when I want it.

I would have loved that 50% remote option, just for quiet reflection time to rethink work strategies and forecasting.

[sahgwa]

I would have loved that 50% remote option, just for quiet reflection time to rethink work strategies and forecasting.

In office I better at mundane repetitive robot tasks fill out forms, do math budgets etc
At home I better at larger picture outside the box strategy things.

[quintessentone]

In office I better at mundane repetitive robot tasks fill out forms, do math budgets etc
At home I better at larger picture outside the box strategy things.

At home one can destress and think more clearly and more in-depth with all the work environment distractions and interruptions removed.