Improving your life is like planting a tree. A tree must grow from a seed and be given years to develop. Reading TheRedPill is like drawing a picture of a tree on a piece of cardboard, sticking it into the ground, and hoping girls will think its a real tree.

The Cardboard Tree

This cardboard tree is a contrived piece of bullshit compared to a real tree. Even if a girl is stupid enough to like your cardboard tree, it will disintegrate after a few weeks of facing the elements, and you will still be at square one. What you want is a real tree, one that will remain for your whole life and only die prematurely if it gets struck by lightning or chopped in half by a chainsaw.

Don't get the wrong idea: most of what you see in this subreddit is true. The sidebar advice for interacting with women is true, the necessity of holding "frame" in all social interactions is true, and the need to maintain physical health is true.

Reading this stuff feels refreshing because they give you small morsels of the universal truth of social interaction– something many people can reach their hands around, but no one can ever truly grasp and describe in writing. You can look back at your memories through the lens of these truths and realize what mistakes you made and identify your flawed mindset. However, you won't be able to walk up to a girl right now and successfully apply your TRP knowledge. Why is this? It is because you know it but you don't understand it.

The difference between knowing something and understanding something is how the idea originated in your mind.

Something you know originates from someone else telling the idea to you. Something you understand originates from you coming across the idea independently.

The Real Tree

The people who wrote the sidebar advice are not simply parroting what was told to them. These people all independently came across the same realizations. At some point, they were in your shoes but eventually planted their seeds. They are writing about their tree and what aspects of the tree attract women.

You may be asking: "what is this ‘seed’ and where can I get one?"

The seed is little something called a positive sense of self-worth. All you need to do is plant this seed. Your tree will naturally grow over time. In a more literal sense, once you truly realize you are worth something it, you will naturally develop into the person you want to become.

Now, where does one get this seed?

Well... you already have it. Everyone was born with a seed in their hands. Over time, some people forget they have a seed, but it is always there. All you need to do is find it.

If you are fat, it may be lodged between one of your fat rolls, so eat less and go to the gym. If you are scrawny, you probably locked your seed in your pantry. Go eat some food and go the gym. Maybe you are traumatized by something that happened in your past and you lost your seed in the event. Either go to a therapist or confront your past by yourself. Whichever route you take, you need to find your seed. When you find your seed, be proud of yourself for finding it.

However, don’t think that realizing your self worth alone with instantly improve your life. Strong trees only grow in the right conditions. A man needs a purpose in life to strive towards as a tree needs a source of light for its branches to grow towards. You need to go out and interact with people to gain experience just like a plant needs water to grow. Without these things, a seed will never germinate.

Most of all, you need to give your tree time to grow. It will start off small and delicate, so don't initially depend on anyone else's opinions. As long as you are patient and provide the right conditions, your tree will eventually become a beautiful and robust, and it won't give a fuck about anyone else.