Does anyone else obsess over the idea that they have become mentally worse – less motivated, less energetic, more anhedonic – than their former selves?
I have a habit of assuming this decline is just a known fact, and then thinking a lot about what has changed and how I could reverse those changes. But in the rare cases when I reflect on it, I realize I have no idea if I’ve declined at all. I might be comparing the present baseline to highlights of the past, for instance. Looking around on my computer storage, I can find occasional notes on my mood and motivation from various points in the past (up to 6-7 years ago), but these were all motivated by this same worry, which apparently goes back a ways.
It’s also possible that I really have declined in these ways, but that I’m choosing such a pivotal set of ages (roughly 17-22) for my reference points that I ought to expect decline.
I definitely declined, but I feel like in hindsight I was always sort of set up for a Fall From Glory, personality- and neurotype-wise :/
I worry about this regularly, but I continue to surprise people with new ideas, so I cannot accurately estimate it, and I think that if I can nail this aerobic exercise and eating and sleeping thing, I will improve again.
If not, we’ll just have to lean on Transhumanism.