Talk radio station. Starts at low volume and builds up slowly. Calm voices are the most relaxed sound to wake up to. Tried all sorts of other sounds and they’re all too abrasive to wake up to.

AskLemmy…if you don’t ask in the post, then you will be asked in the comments.

You’re in the picture. You are seen.

It’s a strength check. It takes the might of Thor to squeeze the plug enough, in a tight space, at an odd angle, behind the computer.

If you’re looking for a “life hack” to make any exercise instantly enjoyable, then that’s really not going to happen.

But you sound like you’re motivated to start exercising so that’s great. You can add this in layers to make this genuinely enjoyable:

1. find something you like (for me: weight lifting and squash are fun. Running and swimming are hell)

2. Decide on a fixed time (for me: 10pm every day is designated for exercise)

3. Make it as simple as possible and remove as many barriers as possible (for me: I don’t sit to watch TV or play video games close to exercise time, otherwise I know I’m not going to get up again. I put on exercise clothes when I get home from work so I’m already ready when the time comes).

4. Add something else that’s really enjoyable (For me: I have a TV series that I only watch when I’m in the gym. So if I want to find out what happens next, I’ll have to go to the gym tomorrow.)

5. Make this routine (once you’re habituated to doing this regularly, then it stops taking will power to force yourself and is just embedded in your routine)

6. Forgive yourself for missing sessions (any time you miss a session, it doesn’t matter, you’ll start making progress again any time you start exercising again)

7. Make it social (some people love this and you can do exercise with someone. I personally hate that and I love the meditative solitude of exercise time)

Is that why I can’t seem to find it on my laptop? Skill issue?

If you’re genuinely interested, then there are people studying and talking about this (beyond the expertise of Lemmy). There’s a fantastic podcast I listen to that talks in detail and there author has written a book about how minds change. Here’s a specific episode (out of many) that is relevant, but I would really recommend listening to all:

https://youarenotsosmart.com/2022/05/01/yanss-231-why-we-often-cant-choose-what-we-believe-thanks-to-the-fact-that-certainty-is-a-feeling-and-not-a-conclusion/

Excellent choice. I did the same last year. I’m still on Tumbleweed.

I was late to the party. The only acronym I ever used was SC2.

This is about the best answer that can be expected for such a vague plea for help.

I’ve done the video game addiction thing myself. Path of Exile…the game was good. Using it for unhealthy coping was not good.

Basically I would agree. The only thing you can change is yourself. Work on yourself. Dodge the second arrow.

Virgin is always a rip off and only worthwhile if you don’t have BT fibre in your area.

Try stacking discounts (sales + O2 simcard discount) and negotiating aggressively at contract end.

I’ll add to this comment for UK:

Download 910 Mbps

Upload 105 Mbps

£32/month

I’m getting better at finding new ways to break my installation. Now I don’t mess with things and just use it as is. Might start messing with stuff on my laptop rather than PC so I can mess up there instead.

Understandable. I went to New York expecting it to be an urban hell. People in Manhattan were more pleasant and friendly than London. I guess the short term visitor experience will also be very different.

Which app are you using?

Where did you visit in the UK?

Because I live here and I disagree. If it was London (as it usually is) then I’m really going to laugh.

This is such a great app

I rarely use the key as shift. It’s reassigned to a different function when tapped and that’s what I use it for most of the time.

This question is way above Lemmy’s pay grade. I hope your situation gets better. People are right in saying that if self-help fails then it’s time to give professional help another chance if that’s accessible for you.

I do listen to a lot of podcasts and have recently heard something relevant from an expert in the field:

The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos: How to Find Your Purpose

Episode webpage: https://omny.fm/shows/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos/how-to-find-your-purpose

Media file: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pdrl.fm/057e02/tracking.swap.fm/track/SxlTEPDY7xDg35RXkASs/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/96c5c41e-0bc8-4661-b184-ae32006cd726/e1cedd34-b720-49da-98d1-b28f00c5badf/audio.mp3?in_playlist=d623ef0b-3fee-4c26-b815-ae32006cd739

Your post history also indicates that you’re routinely steeped in the worst doom news that social media serves up. It seems like it would be worth taking a break from consuming this material and find alternative ways to spend your time.

I’m both cases my view on the people is the same: they do understand. The information has always been there and publicised. People wanted this.

We don’t like what they want and we call them dumb, but it is no easy task to effectively use propaganda on this many people. It’s also easy to label people “stupid”, which is not true. This mindset genuinely exists. America is a Trump supporting nation. UK is a Brexit supporting nation (I don’t know if current regret surveys would translate into votes, Reform has more support than ever and it is increasing, and surveys last time also predicted that the majority didn’t support Brexit).

There have been a lot of podcasts looking academically how this polarisation and thinking has come about in the last 2 decades. I’m really interested in getting to the bottom of answers of how people are so convinced like this rather than the simplistic and inaccurate conclusion that “they are all dumb”.