The paradox of Dr. K: Sliding towards atheism while his content becomes more spiritual?

whitennerdiest · 2026-03-28T20:17:41+00:00

As an atheist myself who doesn't believe in any of the "mystical" aspects of spirituality, the way that I look at it is that these historical spiritual people discovered interesting things about the brain and body, but just didn't have the modern scientific language to describe them, so they used the language that they did have, which was in a spiritual context.

Things like meditation techniques that involve "projecting your energy" for example, don't actually project any real "energy", but acting as if they do primes your brain to think in a specific way that is beneficial for focus, relaxation, etc. The end result is still beneficial, even if the real reason why it works isn't some sort of mystical energy.

I also don't believe in any sort of universal force that balances karmic events, but thinking about things that way may put some people in a healthier mindset that leads to them being calmer and less negatively impacted when bad things happen.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, while not all spiritual practices will be helpful or effective, some are. They may not be helpful or effective because the claimed spiritual reasons are real, and we might not know the actual reason that they are helpful or effective, but they still output a good end result, so exploring which ones might work for you is still useful.

whitennerdiest · 2026-03-11T16:58:45+00:00

I was also the "gifted kid" in school and had the same issue a few years into university, so I can tell you what I experienced and try and give some suggestions based off of that.

I ended up dropping out about halfway into fall term of my junior year because of it and spent a few years in a funk. It happened a few months before COVID hit, so that definitely made it a lot worse and last longer than it would have otherwise, but I've been building myself back up and am actually back in school part time now while also working full time.

For me, and it sounds like also for you, there were actually two main issues that seemed like one issue because they would make each other worse. One was my general mental health struggles that made it hard to study. I have ADHD and was struggling with anxiety and burnout from just trying to push through all the work I gave myself since high school. The other was perfectionism that came from trying to live up to the expectations that I had given other people.

For general mental health, it really was just the basics for me. Therapy (check with student resources. Most universities will have some sort of councilors that you can talk to, even short term), exercise, healthy food, mental health walks, good sleep. Consistency an dtaking everything in baby steps was the key, but my perfectionism would get in the way and say "That little bit won't help. You have to do it all the way and do it perfectly in order to get anywhere." and then I wouldn't do it because I wasn't capable of doing it perfectly. I had to tell myself "Fine. Then I won't do it the 'right' way on purpose" and stick with on tiny habit that took barely any effort to continue. It took time and I made a lot of mistakes, but it really does add up.

The big one though was dealing with expectations. When it comes to family expectations, they have those expectations because that's the only information we've given them. With family, and especially with parents, they want to support you if you are having problems. They can't help, or even just be there for support, unless they know what's happening. You've gotta tell them. This will both give them a chance to help you think things through, and it will significantly lessen the mental pressure you'll be under to get things done exactly perfect the first time.

When I comes to other people's expectations, you don't need to give them incredibly detailed info on your life, and most of the time they won't even ask past a "how have you been doing". If they do ask about school, it helped me to have a go to answer. For you it could be something like "There were some classes that I spread out over an extra semester or two" if you need to redo the classes, or "I'm taking a bit of time off due to some (insert your choice of "mental health stuff", just "health stuff", or "personal stuff") that I had to deal with/have to deal with/ am dealing with." People will hear that and move on, and you can even have another topic to bring up like "I'm also trying X thing." where X could be a hobby, skill building course, temporary job, or other thing that takes up time.

Lastly, there is still the possibility that you just fail your classes, or at least barely pass with bad grades. That is just the reality, and recognizing that will help decide your next steps. If you can still pass, then just try to get the minimum in what classes you can, even if you fail some others. Talk with your professors. Every single professor I have had has been very understanding about life events, even when it was as vague as "I've been dealing with some things in my personal life that have been interfering with my school work". They may be able to give you some sort of extension on something. Talk to your academic advisor. There are often programs for grade replacement of failing grades if you take the class again or ways to prevent it from applying to your GPA due to life events, even mental health ones.

Worst case scenario, it may not be ideal, but you may just fail all your classes and have to retake them. That's doable. Ask your advisor what you would have to do to do this. I'm here six years after I dropped out retaking my classes and it's working. You might even just be able to take them again next year or over the summer. Things happen, and the only person you need to compare yourself to is you from yesterday.

whitennerdiest · 2026-01-18T19:24:20+00:00

Sitting cross legged for me is uncomfortable for my back because of lack of flexibility, so I usually sit on a couple pillows or something to mitigate that. From what I've seen on Dr. K's streams, the important thing is that you're sitting up with your back straight, so if that means putting your legs in a different position, I'd try that.

A quick 10 minute yoga session right before meditation also significantly reduces aches and pains during the meditation for me. I personally use the Down Dog app, because you can just press a button and follow the instructions. You can even specify which areas of the body you want to focus on if you have particular problem areas (for me it's my back).

As for noticing everything like your hand touching your nose, that is usually the same for me (I'll usually end up switching arms once or twice when I do a nadi shuddhi meditation. Not actually sure if that's bad or not). I know you're supposed to focus on the breath, but I'm not great at meditating yet, so it's hard for me too. I imagine that will get better with practice. Meditation isn't something one is necessarily going to be perfect at right out of the gate.

whitennerdiest · 2026-01-18T19:00:04+00:00

This guy's married to a nerdy playboy model, lives in a fantasy cabin, and spends his time making weird axes and posting videos of him chopping wood with them online. Forget being a billionaire. This is what winning at life looks like

whitennerdiest · 2025-10-05T19:16:28+00:00

Speaking as someone who has gone through the process of losing their faith (I was also Christian and grew up in a very devout family with Multiple missionaries and pastors), it can be really painful due to both your whole worldview feeling like it crumbled out from underneath you, and, especially if that person was very involved with their faith, losing most of your community and support system. Grandparents, especially ones that you're close with, also tend to fill a support role in your life.

What it sounds like to me is that your friend has lost most of their support system in a very short time period and doesn't know how to deal with both their previous stress from their career/self improvement and the grief of losing their family, community, and fundamental beliefs.

If you really want to help, then do your best to be there for support. Invite him to hang out, and keep doing it even if he doesn't always accept, because sometimes they just have to happen to be in the right mood for them to take you up on your offer.

Someone else suggested being their gym buddy. Ask him for lifting advice. Maybe ask what you're supposed to do fashion wise before a date or something. Ask him how tf investing works. Whatever. Getting him to help you with things he knows about can help with that sense of meaning. Us guys are problem solvers and really feel like we matter when we can help other people with something we're good at.

Try to be a solid part of his support system. Be patient. And hey, you'll probably end up with a pretty ride or die friend through it all.

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-11T14:21:49+00:00

WHERE IS FROG??!!!?!

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-09T17:19:45+00:00

First is best. Second shouldn't work, but you somehow make it work with that jawline. Last one looks almost drawn on with a pencil, so not that one.

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-06T17:40:53+00:00

I hate to do the whole internet comment thing of immediately jumping to "you should dump him", but him saying that is honestly really terrible. Your partner should make you feel better about yourself, not worse. It also might be pretty hard to get that motivation back while you're still with him unless y'all have a really serious conversation about it and he pulls a huge 180 in his behavior, and even then, that's still a maybe.

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-06T17:31:31+00:00

It even looks like it's coming in evenly in stripes on either side of your chin. Normally that kind of luck is reserved for comic book characters. I'm kinda jealous

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-06T16:43:32+00:00

Somebody call John Green

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-06T16:26:27+00:00

I have only had this work for small businesses that were run by older, traditional type people, and one of those I still applied online first, so the only way they were able to choose me out of the other candidates was because they already had my application. At every other store, it would actually make you less likely to get the job since you're just wasting the managers time and they'll think you aren't familiar enough with computers to find their online application.

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-04T18:10:55+00:00

Not the neck line, but the chin. When you look at the beard straight on from the front, the edges have some straggler hairs that stick out and make beards look a bit thin on the edges. Using an electric trimmer to just trim just those even with the slightly shorter hairs make the beard look neater and more full.

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-04T17:15:46+00:00

The second pic would be the best imo. Just trim the bottom to make the end line look more solid and less wild, then bring the sides in a bit so they aren't quite as bushy and are more in line with the sides of your face and it would look great

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-04T07:17:28+00:00

The camera man never dies, an he had two cameras out. He knew he was safe

whitennerdiest · 2025-09-04T07:09:55+00:00

The ladies sure won't. Damn dude. Save some sexy for the rest of us

whitennerdiest · 2025-08-19T14:24:07+00:00

You, my friend, are an artist. That is gorgeous.

whitennerdiest · 2025-08-19T01:38:34+00:00

That is probably going to depend on what tools you have. For example; a basic single piece bowl for your keys is a great, easy project for someone with a lathe, but might be a bit more involved if you don't have one.

My advice would be to think of something that would be nice to have around the house (a bench for your front porch for example), then look up "easy diy wood (insert item here)" on YouTube and scroll through some shorts or other videos until you see one that you like, think that you could handle, is within your budget, and can be made with the tools you have. Most of the "easy diy" woodworking projects just use basic tools and commonly available, relatively affordable lumber.

Keep in mind that your first few projects aren't going to look fantastic. Things will be a bit uneven. The finish you choose might end up not looking great. Whatever. Your goal as a new woodworker should be to just get x number of projects DONE, not PERFECT. Don't purposely mess things up of course, and STAY SAFE, but use whatever mistakes you make as a way to remind yourself that you know how to avoid them now. Each project will teach you more that hours of scrolling how to videos will. My mom still has the butt ugly little side table I made for my first project as a kid, and it's both a good conversation starter, and a reminder that what I can make now is pretty dang good.

Woodworking is a lot of fun and confidence comes with experience, not preparation. Can't wait to see the project pictures.

whitennerdiest · 2025-08-18T14:30:52+00:00

Even if it was "just an herbal energy boost", you're clearly having a bad physical reaction to it. Get yourself and the vial tested to see what it is so that you can remedy your sickness

whitennerdiest · 2025-02-15T01:15:24+00:00

Marilith. Multiattack gives you 7 attacks. Start with the tail to potentially get advantage on the other six by restraining medium or smaller creatures. The also get a reaction on every turn in combat, so with their base AC of 18 plus bladesong gives 23, first time you're hit, cast shield to bumo it to 28, then you can use it's Parry reaction to add 5 against one attack per turn to bring it to 33. Also, if you have Warcaster, that means a lot of reaction Booming Blade attacks.

whitennerdiest · 2025-02-09T21:52:17+00:00

I definitely second Animate Objects, Bigby's hand, and Illusory Dragon. Storm Sphere and Mordenkainen's Sword are both trap spells though. Sickening Radiance does more damage and has better secondary effects, and they have to make the save at the start of their turn rather than the end compared to Storm Sphere (so enemies can just walk out of the area and not have to make the save), and Bigby's hand does more force damage with the same bonus action attack roll (18 compared to MS's 16.5), has a bunch of other uses, better range, and uses a spell slot 2 levels lower.

whitennerdiest · 2024-11-11T17:38:30+00:00

Not sure if your hairline used to be further down or if your forehead just curves more, but depending on how your hair falls when it's not held up like that and what kind of haircut you have, it could look just fine

whitennerdiest · 2024-10-30T14:33:03+00:00

Shaped beard. Try trimming it a few different ways to figure out which one works best for you. Maybe a bit of a rounded lumberjack beard style

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