How To Ruin Your Life in 10 Steps - The Fast Track to Self-Destruction

"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius

This is the fast track to self-destruction.

Step 1 - Wait For Life to Happen to You.

Embrace the notion that life and opportunities should gracefully fall into your lap, harbour a deep-seated belief in your inherent entitlement to success and happiness, and attribute any misfortune to someone else.

Believe that everyone who has achieved happiness or success was a direct result of luck, family, or something else, dismiss any narratives or claims of years of work that went into the result that you see.

Continue the path you have been on because any deviation from that is an intimidating and alien concept that is not for you, those people who deviate are simply different and lucky.

Step 2 - Over Analyse.

Engage in the meticulous dissection of every scenario, and use complexity as a shield and camouflage for inaction. By over analysing and making everything more complex you sidestep the simplicity of truth, convincing yourself of the impenetrability of your own logic. Believe that the complex jungle of logic that you create is the only possible answer and avoid sharing these with others so as not to risk the possibility of realising false logic in your ideas.

Create a maze of thought so complex and elaborate that you accept there is no viable option to achieve a desirable outcome.

Step 3 - Take No Responsibility.

Blame others for your problems, point fingers at societal structures, family upbringing, or any entity other than yourself. Believe that nothing is your fault, take no responsibility for the outcome of any situation and believe that everything in life happens to you, not because of you.

Stay away from those who dare to question your responsibilities and gravitate towards situations that allow you to blend into the background, absolving yourself of accountability while meticulously crafting excuses should the spotlight fall on you.

Step 4 - Stay Closed.

Stay closed to the outside world, to new perspectives, to new ideas and new possibilities. Maintain your mindset and beliefs to the point that you go your whole life believing the same thing.

Do not let others change your mind or introduce you to new concepts.

By doing this you start to believe that the only person that knows the truth is yourself, and the only person that can be right is you.

Stay physically closed off, do not go outside, and do not explore unfamiliar places. Stay closed off from people, do not interact with others and if you must, avoid eye contact and do not engage with the conversation, stay closed to the person and do not listen to or take an interest in what they are saying."

Stay 5 - Bring Others Down.

Whenever faced with the light of other's achievements, shut it down as boasting and complain about the help they received along the way.

Dedicate yourself to bringing others down to elevate your sense of self. Talk about others in a negative light, gossip with other toxic people to bring down people who are trying their best.

Make gossip, drama, and negativity your default communication method until you're left surrounded by only those who mirror your own toxic essence.

Step 6 - Disregard Health

Focus on comfort and ease over your health, take the easiest way out, and start to believe that immediate gratification is more valuable than the well-being of your body and mind.

Avoid difficult tasks that have a positive impact on your health, and convince yourself that the difficulty of these tasks is so much greater than the possible benefit of them. View those who manage their health with ease as anomalies, far removed from your reality, thus justifying your path of least resistance.

Step 7 - Absorb.

Absorb a constant stream of the most addictive content. Avoid the consumption of educational material or material that challenges your thinking. Focus on absorbing mind-numbing content that takes advantage of your short attention span. Avoid any material that might prompt reflection or challenge your existing paradigms.

Make sure to stay up to date on consumer trends and pursue material possessions as a measure of self-worth, indulging in the fleeting satisfaction they bring, at the expense of financial security and personal growth.

Step 8 - Stay Safe.

Shrink your world into a bubble, do not risk anything, stay safe and never put yourself out there and risk receiving criticism. Keep in your enclosed bubble of comfort and never try anything different. Even better use social platforms and anonymity to belittle those who dare to put themselves out there.

By staying enclosed in your bubble of ego you prevent any interaction with those who do not think the same way as you thereby creating an atmosphere thick with the comfort of conformity and the unchallenged echoes of your own voice.

Step 9 - Avoid The Difficult

Avoid any form of difficulty, avoid challenge, and pain and embrace the comfort of complacency and inertia. Avoid having difficult conversations and instead remain secretive, and closed to ensure you push that person away.

Avoid challenges like exercise or learning a new skill, let your life be defined by avoidance, ensuring a seamless melding with the mediocrity that surrounds you.

Step 10 - Honestly Believe That There is No Redemption.

Believe that your flaws are too much, that there is no coming back from this. Believe that no amount of effort could ever surmount the flaws and negatives in your life today.

Convince yourself of your own permanence in this state, close the door on potential, on transformation, on the mere possibility of a different existence. Convince yourself that it does not matter what you do, this is how it will always be.

This is the symphony of self-destruction, a path walked with eyes closed and hands tied by one’s own convictions.

Yet, within each step lies the potential for change, for in the recognition of these steps, you can find a crossroads. The journey of self-improvement begins with a single step in the opposite direction – a step towards responsibility, openness, and embracing life’s inherent challenges. An opportunity to change and grow, an opportunity to impact the lives of others and foster joyful moments. Each crossroad should not be taken lightly, each crossroad can compound over time to change the nature of your very existence.

Until next week

Matt.