Too many rules and instructions often end up defeating the purpose of the objective they were put in place to protect. Regulations suck. flowcharts are confusing. step by step approaches take too long. When I came up with the idea of Led Nudd, I didn’t want to overwhelm people with too many instructions telling you that you need to “this” in order to get to “that“. Or if you’re looking for “that“, you have to stop doing “this”. Sure, pretty much every post on this site will be a snippet of advice or a think piece meant to inspire some sort of mental gymnastics on your approach towards life, but none of it is actually required. Except for two very generic, very easy, and very digestible rules: Exist for a while, and be decent. Following, but more importantly, understanding these rules, is the only requirements to be a part of Led Nudd, and thusly live a more content life.

We’ll take this mantra and digest it piece by piece.

Exist: in this absurd world, one is constantly faced with the decision to either exist, or to not. Sometimes it may feel as if the world doesn’t want us to exist, or that our existence means almost nothing to the world. But really, Our existence is the one true significant choice we have in this world. When all else seems to fail, it’s the last bargaining chip we have left. When faced head on with the meaninglessness of our existence, and it seems like there’s no real reason to continue on, that last chip is always there to play. When you’re frustrated with something in life, sometimes screaming “FUCK YOU” to the problem is usually the most satisfying solution. When frustrated with life itself, the ability to choose to continue to just exist is our biggest “FUCK YOU”. By simply existing, we are participating in the largest rebellion against life’s lack of meaning and the world’s seemingly relentless efforts to cause us suffering. Our existence is not something to maximize or minimize. Existing does not need to be pushing ourselves through every second of life to intensify our existence in the world. It also does not need to be a downward of spiral of self destruction compelled by an enlightenment of the futility of the universe. “Exist” is a simple word. Participating in it is just as simple. to “exist” is to “be”.

For a While: our time on this earth is finite. From the moment we are conceived, the seconds on our life clock begin to count down. Everyone’s clock may be a little bit different, but we all do have one. Some people will try to game the clock, hoping to add a few more seconds to their overall count. I say, just let the clock tick. We’re already existing, we might as well just do it for a while. for as long as we’re supposed to. Cutting our time short is a disservice to the clock and searching for extra time is futile. If one dedicates inordinate amounts of their time searching for extra time, not only is this an oxymoron, but it adds a level of meaning to life that isn’t truly there. If you were to accept the absurdity of life, then adding additional life onto our already predetermined amount would mean that the absurdity no longer applies to it since it is of our own creation. additional life is no longer absurd, but a curated existence. And a curated existence is not rebellious by any nature. As I type I can think of almost unlimited ways to present this phrase, its vagueness is a measure that I appreciate. In its essence, “fOr a while” means “not too much” but also “not too little”. just don’t think about it too much, and exist for a while.

Be Decent: I really hate unrealistic expectations that are so easily said. “be nice” is such a common example. so is “have fun”. Phrases like this may sound nice, but really can’t hold up in the world we exist in. Of course, they do have their applicable moments, but they can’t really apply to life in the overarching way they were intended. One can only be so nice for so long. And what even is “nice” anyway? Everyone seems to have a different definition for it. The linguistics of life, morality, and purpose are like a minefield in a funhouse. Any path you choose leads to explosions and will be riddled with furrowed brows and philosophical checkmates from those on alternative paths. Justifying a motto like this has always been a confusing thought experiment to me, because when I try to run the equations of real life in my head, there’s always a variable that just doesn’t fit and ruins the solution. The idea of a simple motto is a great premise, but all the popular ones just don’t cut it for me. I needed something foolproof. Something that would hold up mentally and morally and not be too confusing to forget or change later in life. I wanted consistency, yet a certain amount of guaranteed liberty. Not something good or something bad. Good and bad are too subjective and too difficult to maintain on an extremely large scale. I needed something decent, and that’s what I decided we all should be. We can’t all aim to be great. If we all become great and no one is bad, then the new bad will just become the least greatest. We can’t all be nice, because nice honestly isn’t all that great. But everyone, literally everyone has the ability to be decent. By setting the expectations low, but really not all that low, we can make it easier for larger progress to be attainable. Exist for while, don’t worry about being great, or nice, or positive, or mindful, just be decent. We can all do that, and if not, I’m sure you could argue that you are.

If you follow this mantra, and nothing else, for as long as you live, I can almost guarantee that you will be content through life. It is easy, practical, adoptable, adaptable, and effective on a large scale. Repeat it throughout the day. Write it on your personal property. Write it on public property. ingrain it in your mind, and let your life be guided by its principles.

As I’m sure you’ve heard from someone, somewhere, at some point in time, modern life seems almost designed to be stacked against our ability to succeed. Whether it be the looming presence of late stage capitalism, the ever trending introduction of some Marxist or fascist ideals, or the idea that quadruple billionaires are scheming a new world order to brainwash the working class of society in order to expand the wealth gap for total world domination…we seem hell bent on coming up with some theory to explain why things aren’t working out for us or our peers.

In reality, Who really cares?! All this is a just distraction from doing the one thing that actually matters: finding a way to succeed anyways.

Let’s face it, the world we live in is an absurd place. The more you try to dig to a deeper level and gain some sort of insight or level of understanding on what seems to be a pressing issue, the issue will hawk up a lougee and spit it in your face. No matter how good or ethical we try to be, someone will always find a contradiction in your efforts that completely opposes your initial intention. We can’t be completely good. We almost can’t be completely bad. We’re just existing in some weird limbo where we battle our inner conscience to be a good as we possibly can, and bring about a change to the world that ends with some complete net positive impact that we fabricate from our own improvised worldview. If we try to take a step back and comprehend the world and everything that exists in it as whole, we might as well cover our eyes with duct tape and sticking our head in the sand. This place is impossible to understand, and seemingly unchangeable. Nothing about it makes sense, yet somehow it all makes sense in the most contradictory way. When we start to understand the basics of the absurdity of this universe and our existence in it, we eventually realize how little control we have over everything, eCxept our ability to perceive said control. We can spell “except” however we want. We can write sentences in paragraphs that really might not mean anything to anyone except those who come up with some bullshit gymnastical interpretation of said pseudointellectual mumbling. We can even contradict ourselves to such great lengths that our sense of morals and ethics are almost completely indistinguishable from what they were just a few moments ago. Nothing needs to make sense, unless we choose to allow it to. We can establish ultimate contentment in life by using the most available entity in our access: ourselves.

i think this notion of “ultimate contentment” is the greatest leverage we have to bringing about a noticeable net positive change to the world. Even with the knowledge of universal absurdity and an existential understanding of our existence, we can still be content and happy. Especially knowing that all the bad in this world just comes from our choice on how to perceive it. With happier and more content individuals, i think the world will easily become a much better place, or at least round itself out. Therefore, our best option to move towards a better tomorrow is to navigate our way around all the bullshit that life pushes in our way, and to find success, especially when the popular opinion is to doubt our ability to do it. Be a little selfish for the good of society. When we think of it that way, its not really selfishness, is it?

This leads me to the two rules that I have carefully set for myself. Yes, only two rules. these rules are contained in the mantra I’ve chosen for this site “Exist for a while, and be decent”. I will dive deeper into these two rules in the future, this post is long enough already.