Brace yourself, this is going to be a long one. I'm writing this mainly for my own benefit, but I think a lot of you are in the same situation as me.

The bottom line is: I'm not satisfied with the current state of my life. I don't have many friends, my love life is almost nonexistent, and most of my free time is spent browsing Reddit with SportsCenter on in background. I don't have a lot of hobbies, which means I don't have a lot of reasons to leave the house. I have a job, but it's only part time, so I'm forced to live with my parents.

With that said, I'm not nearly as socially incompetent as most shut-ins of my caliber are. I take a while to come out of my shell, but once I'm out, people really like me. I'm funny. Really funny. I'm pretty good looking. Even though I'm on the skinny side, I have an attractive face and a nice smile. Lastly, I can relate well to people. I'm a good listener and people seem to enjoy talking to me. These are things that work to my advantage.

I believe a lot of my problems stem from internet addiction. When I browse Reddit, I browse subreddits like r/seduction, r/malelifestyle, r/fitness and several other self improvement subreddits. Only now I finally realize that I visit these subreddits not because they make me a better person, but because they give me hope for a better future. When I read Reddit, I make grand plans for the future. I tell myself that I'll be a manly man. I'll have tons of friends. Women will fight over me. I'll be the life of the party. People will love my stories. Then, I turn off Reddit, go to bed and do the same thing the next day. I'm embarrassed to say it's been like this for a few years, but nothing major has changed. Reading Reddit is a zero-effort way for me to fill a void in my life. It's a way for me to feel like I'm doing something productive without actually doing anything productive. Facebook is another addiction, although certainly not as severe. When I browse Facebook, I always feel bad about myself because I see all the cool and exciting stuff my friends are doing. I can't help but compare my life to my friends' highlight reels that I get from Facebook. So, for these reasons, I need to overcome my addiction to Reddit and Facebook. Last week, I went Facebook free and didn't even miss it. Starting tomorrow, I will go Reddit free for one week.

With no Reddit or Facebook to fill the void in my life, I will be forced to fill it with other things. These are my plans:

I will listen to 3 new albums every week. Discovering new music gives me a lot of satisfaction and I love having conversations about music. When I think about the people I look up to in my life, they all have very eclectic tastes in music. It may sound silly, but I want to be the guy who can sing along when some obscure 90s rap song comes on the radio.

I will gain at least 10 pounds. I've been skinny all my life. When I graduated high school in 2010, I weighed 130 pounds. Now, I weigh around 160. At my heaviest I weighed 168. I will see the scale hit 170 at the very least this year. The more I weigh, the better I feel about myself.

I will watch one new movie every week. This one may sound silly, but you probably wouldn't believe how few movies I've seen. I can't tell you how many times people have asked if I've seen a certain movie, I'll say I haven't and the person says, "You haven't seen X!?!" It's a little embarrassing and it happens so much! I got a gift card to the movie theater for Christmas 2012 and I still haven't used it. That means I haven't been to the movies in over two years. In 2015, I will see more new movies and rent/stream more classics.

I will read for 20 minutes everyday. I'm sure you're all aware of the benefits of reading. For me, it's part of becoming a more well rounded person. I will read everyday and I will read many different genres.

I will find an activity that gets me out of the house and hopefully expands my social circle. Right now, I'm leaning towards volunteering somewhere because (a) it's free and (b) I want to give back to my community. Other things I've considered are ballroom dancing and Brazilian jiu jitsu, but I'm not in a financial place right now where I can spend much money on a hobby. I know bjj is too expensive for me, but I will look into ballroom dance. This money problem leads me to my last goal.

I need a new job. I've worked for the same retail company since I was 18. When I was in college, I met some of my best friends at this job and I'm starting to get closer to my new co-workers now as well. I think this is why I'm somewhat scared to leave. But, working 30 hours/week isn't enough to support myself. I need to find a full-time job that will allow me to move into my own place.

Thank you for reading my rant. Like I said, this was mainly for my own benefit, but I'm hopeful that some of you who are in similar situations will benefit from it.