 It's easy to be depressed and I decided to try to do a show on how not to be depressed because I don't want you to be depressed. Life is too short to be depressed about these things. You got to know what's going on in the world and you got to be willing to fight it in whatever way you can and most of us don't have a lot we can do to fight it. But we have some, you know, whether you listen to the show or you share it or you support the show or you you write letters or you tweet or you do some stuff on Facebook. There's a way in which every one of you can fight and I know many of you do fight and that's great. But that's just one very narrow dimension of life. You don't want to just fight for your survival. You don't want to just fight against the evil and by the way your chances of actually making a change, your chances of actually having an impact on the next election, on the direction the country goes, are small. In the short run we have no influence. In the long run I think we do but in the short run we have no influence. So what do you do? How do you not get depressed? Well I've said this often on the show but it is worth repeating over and over and over and over again because it's worth repeating because it's true and because people people don't seem to take it seriously. The things in life you cannot control and the things in life you can and you've got to separate the two and you've got to realize what is controllable and what is not. The world of politics, the world of culture you have some small impact on and we'll talk about how you have some impact in your own life on the politics but you're not going to change the culture in the short run. You don't have a big impact. So yes, activism is good. I ran said you know fighting for the future is living in it today. That is all true and if you don't fight you'll feel like you're betraying your values and you will feel rotten and you won't be able to live a flourishing successful life. I think the time for not fighting is over. It's survival mode so you have to fight. So one way in which you can feel better about yourself, your life, your presence on this planet is to fight the bad guys. But again you have to realize that the bad guys is pretty much everybody. Fight evil wherever you see it. So but realize that the impact you're going to have there is minimal to non-existent in the short run. And then try to scope out and it's not a bad idea to make a list. All those areas in your life which you have control over, most of your life, I don't know, anywhere from 60 to 80%, maybe 90% of your life, you have control over what you do every day. Yes, the political circumstances impact that. If you're in lockdown, they certainly impacted a lot, but even then from a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis, you get to control what you do with your time, what you do with your life. So make a list of all those things and then start acting in the areas where you have control over your life. Start acting in ways that maximize your well-being. Maximize your happiness, maximize your ability to pursue your values. I'll give you one example that's related to politics. Some of you live in pretty shitty places. And I mean shitty places here in the sense of places where there are demonstrations, riots, which those are broken into, where you feel unsafe to walk the streets, where you walk around and you look at the world and you say, what the hell is going on? The world is falling apart around me. No jobs, high unemployment. The world is literally falling apart where you live. This might be in parts of New York right now. It might be Chicago or Detroit or Minneapolis right now. It might be anywhere in California, Los Angeles or San Francisco. So one of the things you should and can do is move. Move. Now I'm not saying you have to move. I'm not saying you should move. But I'm saying you have to, if you value your life, consider moving. Make a list. Pluses and minuses of living in Chicago. And if the minus is not outnumbered, but if the minus is a heavier, a more substantial, a more threatening, a more damaging to your life, then the pluses, you know, maybe families close by or that's where your current job is. But if the minus is a heavier, then move. One of the beautiful things, amazing things about America, one of the things I love about the United States of America is that it's big. Size in some things in life does matter. And the fact that the United States is big matters. It means you have the ability without a visa and a passport and a job permit or whatever. You can move to a completely different place with a completely different vibe, a completely different environment. If you live in Chicago, not only does the weather suck, but there are riots in the streets. If you live in Minneapolis, they're about to dismantle the police. Get out of there. Even if you live in the suburbs of Minneapolis, you know, and if you like the cold, I don't, but if you like the cold, then move to Wisconsin. I don't know, move somewhere that's more rational than Minneapolis. Move somewhere that's just at the margin, better than Chicago. If weather's not that important to you or if you hate the cold like me, then there's some amazing places to move to. You can move to Texas. I mean, people make fun of Texas. Texas is a wonderful place. It's beautiful. There's tons of stuff to do. The people are amazingly friendly. The weather is, except for the summer, is actually pretty good. And the level of freedom is much higher. You don't see the level of destruction, the level of rioting that you see in some cities in America in Texas. Even left the cities like Austin, they're not dismantling the police. And with regard to response to coronavirus, Texas responded much better, still badly, but much better than many other states. So move. Austin is amazing. Houston, you have to really tolerate humidity. San Antonio is even pretty. And Dallas is amazing. Move to Florida. Florida. If you love the beach, you can't go wrong. Move to Tennessee. Memphis or Nashville. The area around Nashville is beautiful, plenty of places to live. And that's, and if you live in California, why are you paying so much taxes? I mean, California is an amazing place. Again, you have to do the plus and the minuses. But if you're really sick of it, sick of the homelessness in San Francisco, I mean, the homeless in San Francisco, I mean, we have homeless here in Puerto Rico, you know, who are on the streets and at the traffic stops and everything, but the homeless in San Francisco are the most aggressive I have ever seen anywhere in the world. Why are you still there? And if you're paying huge amount of taxes in California, I get the weather. There's no place on planet Earth that has better weather than California, particularly Southern California. I get the culture. I get the vibe. I love California. And yet, it's out of control. I mean, you're still a lockdown in the Bay Area. It's supposed to be a place that respects science. And you're still in lockdown in the Bay Area. So both Arizona is much freer, lower taxes, some beautiful places in Arizona, and some lower taxes and lots of different climates. You can go, you know, Northern Arizona, where it's colder, and you can go Southern Arizona, where it's really, really, really, really hot, but dry. You can go to Nevada, or I don't understand anybody who lives in Nevada, but you can go to Nevada, not pay state taxes, at least. I mean, there are lots and lots and lots of options. It's a big country. You can find anything you want. Just because you were born somewhere doesn't mean that's where you need to stay. Just because you've lived somewhere 20 years doesn't mean that's where you want to stay. You've always got to be selfish. You've got to constantly think about what is good for me. Where will I be happiest? Where can I live the best life that I can? And right now, in the world in which we live right now, place seems to matter. Place seems to matter. Some places are nuttier than others. The madness is out there. It's in the culture and it's going to spread. So you might not be safe for long, but at least for the time that you have, that we all have, to be safe, be in a place where you can really be safe. So take control of your life, in other words. Somebody says, Amy, pick up sleeping California. I live California. Everybody can leave California. I love a lot of people who live in California. Take control over those parts of your life that are in your control and dwell less and less. Practice. You know, Sam Harris is very popular and very successful and made a lot of money. A lot of money with his meditation app. And the whole idea of meditation. He's made meditation really, really cool. I don't do meditation. I don't get meditation. That's fine. But I've got nothing against meditation. But what I'm encouraging you to do is deeper than meditation. It's more important than meditation. Spend real time every week thinking about how to make your life better. Thinking about the things you control in your environment and how to make them better. How to live a better, happier, more fulfilling, more thriving life. If you get to the point, you know, where you're old, I don't know, you're in the 80s and you look back. There's nothing, nothing I can think of that's sadder than looking back on your life and saying, I wasted it. I didn't do what I wanted to do. I didn't live up to my expectations. I let the political reality cause me to be depressed for decades. And I, I just was depressed. The vast areas of your life you have control, including where you live. And you might come to the conclusion you want to leave the United States. That is not heavisy. There might come a time where you figure that, I don't know, New Zealand is better. Australia, or, I don't know, Georgia, the country, Tbilisi, is better and you move. That needs to be part of your consideration. And that relates to the politics, the environment in which you live. Find an environment that's more, and you know, you don't have to make a decision. You could, you know, particularly if you're young, you can go for a year here and a year there, and you know, now it's hard, I know, because of work. And that's the second thing. Career is in your control. Where you live is in your control. So it's career. Career in a sense is more important than where you live. But again, in the world in which we live right now, maybe, maybe where you live becomes very important because literally your life is where your life, just physically, you're being threatened. So yeah, somebody says, vote with your feet. Yeah, vote with your feet. But think about your career. Step back. Most of us decide on a career at a certain point. Get on a treadmill and go for it. And it's good. Once a year, once a month, once a week to ask the question, is this really what I want to do? Is this the path I want to take in life? If I spend the next 20 years doing this, will I look back and be happy with that decision? Will I look back and be satisfied with my life? Is this good? Is this good for me? Be selfish in every aspect of your life. So you should think about what you're doing right now. What career you have right now? Is this the career you want? And if it is, go full out. Go for it. Engage with it. Make the most of it. Be the best that you could be in it. Immerse yourself in it. Now, again, even there, there might be a circumstance where, because of the politics, you can't. Well, find a way to do it. Find a way to get it done. I don't know. You're in the restaurant business and restaurants have been shut down because your governor is a, you know, dictatorial maniac. Then again, consider moving and opening up a restaurant somewhere else. I know it's hard. I know it's challenging. I know you might not have the funds. You might have to work for a while to get them. You might have to borrow more money. I don't like these things are difficult, but you can't give up. You can't give up on your life, on the meaning of your life. So again, make a list. All the things that you have control over. All the things you have control over. And then optimize those things. Optimize where you live. Optimize what your career is and how you engage in that career. Make it the central purpose of your life. Make it what your life about. Take it super seriously. Engage. Be passionate. Go for it. And then think about what you know. Think about the knowledge you have. And whether in order to be happy and successful and flourish in your life, you need to know more things, different things. And go study. I said at the beginning of this lockdown, it's an opportunity to actually go study. Objectivism would be a good thing to study. Read Ayn Rand. Listen to Leonard Peacock. Read Opal. Objectivism philosophy of Ayn Rand. Engage with the ideas. Study them. Make a study of them. Because it will improve your life. Because it'll make your life richer. Because it'll embolden you to be more selfish. Which is the point. So think about studying, learning, broadening your mind. Read books. It's so easy these days. Not to read. But you got to read books. That's where the knowledge of mankind is stored. That's where real wisdom, real knowledge is available. Yeah, podcasts are nice. Podcasts are good. But it's not everything. So expand your mind. Grow your knowledge. You know, one of the things that makes a happy person I think is curiosity. Be curious. Try to understand stuff. Figure stuff out. Don't, you know, don't focus on, I mean, we focus on politics so much. We want to know every aspect of what's going on in in Chad, you know, in the autonomous zone in Seattle. Who cares? Who cares? Focus on your mind. Your knowledge. What's available to you. Spend your time reading about history or whatever interests you. Technology, science. Don't obsess about politics. What is under your control? That is the question. And what the content of your mind is certainly, the content of your knowledge is certainly under your control. Expand it. You want to thrive? You want to flourish? No more. Think more. Engage more. But no more. For you. For your own sake. For your own values. For your own life. Figure out what interests you. And if you're not curious, become curious. Start reading about different things. Maybe something will spark an interest. But you've got to be active pursuer of knowledge. Knowledge doesn't just fall into your lap. You've got to actively go out there and pursue it. And not on social media. There's very little knowledge on social media. I've got like 100 books on my Kindle that I'm waiting to read on all kinds of topics. And my biggest problem in life is to know what to focus on because so many things interest me. There's so many things I want to pursue. There's so many things I want to know. There's so many things I'd like to study that focusing on a one or two is the difficult part. Embrace that. Embrace the opportunity that technology has given you to expand your horizons in ways that are unimaginable. Unimaginable. So think about where you live. Think seriously about your career and whether you're taking it seriously and whether it's the right one for you. Expand your knowledge and find people that you like to handle with not online but in the flesh. One of the things that the this lockdown has really made clear to me that while Zoom is amazing, while interaction digitally is great and that you know yes we can do meetings and we can even hang out socially by Zoom and we can do all kinds of things by Zoom that break the sense of lowliness of being stuck in a lockdown. So you know it's great that this is happening in the 21st century. We have all these tools. It still is not like being in person. There's something about being with another person in a physical space that is unique. So find friends. Make friends. They don't have to be aligned on every issue. They don't have to be politically aligned or even philosophically aligned depends on the kind of friendship you want to make. You can have friends to go to a music concert with and different friends to talk philosophy with. They don't have to be the same. Find people who share your values. That's the key that they share your values and that you enjoy. You get something real out of being with them. So go out and find people to hang out with. Don't be stuck alone again with Zoom and Facebook miserable and lonely. Find a lover. Well if you're married hopefully you found them already or if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. But find somebody to be intimate with. Friendship is great. Romantic love is even better. But be active about it. Don't sit around waiting for it to happen as if just like everything else life will just drop in your lap. Knowledge will just drop in your lap. The right place to live will just drop in your lap. The career will just drop in your lap. No you've got to be active. You've got to pursue. You've got to engage. You've got to think about it. Have a strategy around it and do it and do it. And then something that I've talked about in the past often is surround yourself with beautiful things. Make your environment such that you smile when you walk into your home where you can stop once in a while and look at a painting you've maybe seen a thousand times and see something new in it. And get energy from it and get passion from it. You know I have sculptures all over the place and paintings in the world they don't have to be originals. God I mean if you had had originals nobody could afford them posters. Just posters it's fine. I mean it's a it's a decent quality. Then you get the effect of the painting. Not fully yes having an original is ideal. But don't wait for an original or quality print. Put stuff that's beautiful on your walls. On your counters and have preferences in terms of beauty. One of the things I ran was very strong on was have favorites. Have favorites even if they're just your favorites. Have favorites and pursue them. Pursue them. Make them yours. Make them real. Yeah somebody says I prefer mediocre originals to high quality copies. I don't. I prefer high quality copies to anything mediocre. But fine if that's what you prefer then get mediocre originals. But I am surrounded by high quality copies and very very happy with them if the art is great art. If the art itself is inspiring and what I want on my walls is not just great art I want inspiring art. I want art that makes me go yes pick beautiful things in all aspects. Just try to live in a nice surrounding. Again what's in your control. Maybe you can't have a glorious view out your window. But you can have a glorious view inside your little room. So you can flourish. You can thrive even in a crazy world that we live in. You can do so by doing a few things just to summarize and then I'll do the super chat questions. One is make a list of the things that you can control and that that you can't. Focus your energy on that which you can control. Focus your energy on that which you can change. Engage in politics and philosophical struggle that exists in the world today. Up to a limit limit yourself every day. You want to change the world. That's great. That's part of living a flourishing life. But don't obsess. Don't get depressed. Fight allocate a certain time of your day to fighting and to catching up on the news and that is it and make it short. Spend the rest of your time on hobbies. On art. On reading. On knowledge. On watching a great movie. On listening to great music. On going to a museum. And on your career. On making your life your work life the best that it can be. And achieving something. So when you look back you're proud of what you've achieved. What you've done. And finally if the politics are oppressive where you live more so than in other places and it is affecting you and it is hurting your ability to be happy. Then move. Move as far as you need to in order to be happy. Again you only have one life. Every minute that you have. Every minute that you have you will never have again. So embrace those minutes. Embrace every one of them. Live them to the fullest. It's your life to live. Nobody else's. Nobody else will do the work for you. Nobody else will solve your problems for you. Nobody else will get you out of bed. Get you off the sofa. Put a book in your hands. You need to do it. And don't delay. Because tomorrow you've wasted all of today. So there's never or not never. It's rare to have an excuse not to do something meaningful with your life. It's very rare that you have an excuse. A reason. A legitimate reason. Not to achieve happiness. Yes the things that can happen to make that impossible. But for most of us still that is not the case. What we need today, what I call the new intellectual, would be any man or woman who is willing to think. Meaning any man or woman who knows that man's life must be guided by reason. By the intellect. Not by feelings, wishes, whims or mystic revelations. Any man or woman who values his life and who does not want to give in to today's cult of the stare, cynicism and impotence. And does not intend to give up the world to the dark ages and to the role of the collectivist. Using the super chat and I noticed yesterday when I appealed for support for the show many of you stepped forward and actually supported the show for the first time so I'll do it again. Maybe we'll get some more today. If you like what you're hearing, if you appreciate what I'm doing, then I appreciate your support. Those of you who don't yet support the show, please take this opportunity. Go to uranbrookshow.com slash support or go to subscribestar.com uranbrookshow and make a kind of a monthly contribution to keep this going.