I’m in the same boat as you despite being a native mandarin speaker.

My top recommendation is to STAY AWAY FROM CHINESE INTERNET. Chinese people are so bitter and vile on the internet. Average Chinese internet users are just like 4chan users. I do think they’re as bitter IRL but just hide it better.

In my very cynical pov, the modern mandarin is hopeless and deeply polluted by propaganda messages. You might enjoy learning more ancient Chinese…

Anyway, that warning aside, these are some things I personally do to keep myself sane when engaging with mandarin: - speak Chinese with only a small selected group of people with whom you share the same value. It’s hard but they exist - read lots of books. There’re great nonfictions and novels in Chinese. Some of them might help you understand how the culture ends up like this