Modern Life is the Zombie Apocalypse

“Most people die at 25 but aren’t buried until 75.” — Benjamin Franklin

A zombie is a human who has “come back to life” in a creepy, dead-but-alive state. They can’t think, speak properly, or feel emotions. They just move, groan, and chase — typically to bite or infect others.

We define Zombies by these characteristics:

• Mental State: Completely mindless — they have no real personality, memory, or critical thinking. Their brain is in autopilot mode, driven only by primal instincts like hunger.
• Emotional State: Emotionally numb — zombies lack all feelings like fear, love, guilt, or joy. They’re hollow beings, incapable of empathy or connection.
• Physical State: Technically undead — their bodies are decaying, often disfigured, yet still walking. Despite rotting flesh and missing limbs, they keep moving with a terrifying persistence.
• Spiritual State: Soulless — a zombie has no inner life or spiritual essence. It’s a shell of a human, disconnected from meaning, morality, or purpose.
• Infectious: One bite is all it takes — the infection spreads fast, often turning entire populations into zombies.
• Apocalyptic: Their rise usually leads to the end of civilization, chaos, and the breakdown of social order.

And our modern society is no less than this. This is not a hypothetical future. We’re already here.

Mental Zombification: The Undead Mind of the Modern Age

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
— J. Krishnamurti

Look around. People move through life with dead eyes. No purpose, no fire, just endless meetings. Silent commutes. Notifications that train your attention like a lab rat chasing a pellet.

That’s not life. That’s undeath.

• They stare blankly at screens.
• They laugh at jokes they don’t find funny.
• “They buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t like.”
• And they think they’re free.

You think zombies are fictional?
No, they’re everywhere.

Mental zombification is the slow erosion of:

• Self-awareness
• Critical thinking
• Curiosity
• Emotional depth
• Creative spark

It’s when your mind becomes a slave to dead routine, dopamine, and distraction.

And this is as bad as it sounds.

The Modern Apocalypse

Zombies are a metaphor for the emotional decay we ignore by pretending to live ‘freely.’

What makes humans different from animals? Its our intelligence, our ability to imagine, to dream, to wonder.

But zombies? They don’t dream because they don’t remember how. And neither do most people.

From a young age, we’re taught to follow instructions, fit in, obey, comply.
School punishes mistakes.
Work punishes rest.
Creativity gets starved.
Imagination gets scolded.

And what’s left behind?

A world full of people who are alive in body… but hollow in spirit.

“Modern life didn’t kill us. It just made us forget we were alive.”

Wake.
Work.
Scroll.
Sleep.
Repeat.

We’re stuck in loops.
Not so different from zombie herds.

We wake up and the first thing we do is stare at a glowing rectangle.

Our minds hijacked by infinite scroll, push notifications, dopamine loops.

• The average person checks their phone 144 times a day (Reviews.org, 2023)
• Over 50% feel addicted to their phones… yet do nothing about it
• Average screen time? Over 7 hours daily (DataReportal, 2023)

Like zombies chasing noise, we chase pings and buzzes—without thinking.

Where’s the thought?
Where’s the “why”?
Where’s the wonder?

Mental zombification doesn’t mean you’re dumb.
It means you’ve been disconnected from your own mind.

“Zombies don’t just represent death.
They represent a society that lost its soul but kept going anyway.”

By 18, we’re expected to choose what to do with our entire life.
But how?

When most of us haven’t even figured out who we are?

It creates a gap.
Between the curious, alive version of ourselves as kids…
And the silenced, stagnant version we become as adults.

We miss the reckless infinite curiosity of childhood.
The raw emotions of teenage years.
The freedom to explore without fear.

But by 25?
Most people stop taking risks.
They settle.
They silence the fire inside.

• No curiosity
• No hobbies
• No desire to explore, question, or dream

They trade imagination for stagnant routine.
And then spend 50 more years just… existing.

And the biggest problems?

1. The 9-5 Grind Has Become the New Infection

We wear burnout like a badge of honor. Overwork as a status symbol.
We glorify busyness and somehow

We see having “FUN” as a crime.

Rows of grey cubicles.
Blank stares.
Clock in. Clock out.
A system that rewards exhaustion—and punishes passion.

People are literally dying from overwork.
In Japan, they even have a word for it:
Karoshi — death from overwork.

Let that sink in.

Here are just a few real, devastating stories:

• Mr. A, who worked 110 hours a week at a snack food company, died from a heart attack at just 34. His death was ruled work-related.
• Mr. B, a bus driver, clocked over 3,000 hours in a year. No days off for 15 straight days. He had a stroke at 37.
• Mr. C, a printer in Tokyo, worked 4,320 hours in a year (with night shifts) and died of a stroke. His wife got compensation—14 years later.
• Ms. D, a 22-year-old nurse, died from a heart attack after doing five 34-hour shifts in a month. She never even got to live her 20s.

These aren’t just case studies.
They’re human lives, erased by a system that confuses productivity with purpose.

I was shaken when I read these.
It felt like reading horror stories from a dystopian world.
Except…
This is the real world.

“They just keep coming…”
But are we talking about zombies—or deadlines?

But Doing a JOB isn’t bad at all

Most people don’t hate work—they hate the meaningless version of it.

Let’s get one thing clear:
I’m not saying having a job is bad.

Hell, I’m also doing a full time job. What I’m trying to say is that YOU SHOULD NOT BECOME A ZOMBIE aka A SLAVE TO THE GRIND.

Mindlessly chasing deadlines you didn’t choose, for goals you don’t care about.

When overwork becomes your identity, often through unconscious repetition toward a goal you were assigned by society, you forget yourself.

You forget that you’re a human being—not a productivity machine.

And the stats speak for themselves:

• 85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace)
• Only 13% of people worldwide actually like their job

Most people aren’t working from a place of purpose—they’re working out of obligation.

They feel stuck.
Numb.
Counting down the days till the weekend… or till retirement.

Like zombies roaming endlessly, many humans work with no real direction, just survival.

(And I am gonna show you how to wake from that!)

2. Emotional Numbness: A Rising Epidemic

You ever felt your phone vibrate…
but there was no notification?

That’s called phantom vibration syndrome.
Your brain is so used to being buzzed, it starts imagining it.

You feel anxious when your phone isn’t in your hand.
That’s nomophobia.

You can’t enjoy a walk without music.
You need memes to laugh.
You need reels to feel.

One study showed teens who spend 5+ hours/day on screens are 71% more likely to show signs of depression and suicidal thoughts.
But we still give them more screens.

Because hey—silence is awkward, right?

Your mind used to imagine dragons. Now it imagines… the next notification.

We’ve learned to suppress emotions, not feel them.

• 1 in 4 adults globally report feeling lonely (Meta-Gallup Global Report, 2023)
• Rates of depression and anxiety have risen by over 25% since 2020 (WHO)

People are burnt out, anxious, overstimulated.
So much so, they’ve forgotten how to even recognise emotion—let alone express it.

So we cope.

Through escapism.
Through screens.
Through shallow validation that costs more than we think.

• Average monthly user spend on OnlyFans: $25–$100+
• “Superfans” spend $1,000+ per month on a single creator
• Estimated annual global spending: ~$15–20 billion
  → That’s $1.25–1.6 billion per month… just to feel something.

“You’re not just paying for porn.
You’re paying for attention, validation, fantasy—tailored for you.”

And here’s the scariest part:
The world spends more time watching porn each month than reading books, meditating, or exercising.

Not because people are bad.
But because they’re numb.

Science Confirms What Your Soul Already Knows:

Constant Overstimulation → Cognitive Fatigue

Our brains were built for focus, not for drowning in infinite information. Aka the idea of,

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. ~ David Allen

• The average person sees between 6,000–10,000 ads every day (Forbes)
• Gen Z switches tasks every 19 seconds on average (Microsoft Research)

The result?
Mental exhaustion.
Shallow thinking.
Decision fatigue.

You’re seeing everything, but absorbing nothing.

Doomscrolling Rewires Your Brain

Those dopamine hits from TikTok, Insta, and YouTube Shorts?
They’re the modern-day sugar.

Sweet. Addictive. Destructive.

• TikTok can hook a new user in under 40 minutes (WSJ, 2021)
• Dopamine hijacking reduces baseline happiness and shortens attention spans (Harvard Health)

Infinite scroll is designed for anticipation, not fulfillment.
You’re constantly chasing the next hit—never really arriving.

Your brain starts craving stimulation, not meaning.

You can’t sit in silence anymore.
You reach for your phone like a zombie moaning for brains.

And slowly, your brain begins to change.

• Your prefrontal cortex (the thinking brain)? It goes quiet.
• Your limbic system (the impulse brain)? It takes over.

You’re not lazy.
You’re not broken.
You’ve been chemically trained to avoid thinking.

Emotional Awareness? Disconnected.

We’re not just overstimulated.
We’re emotionally numb.

We scroll past pain.
Swipe away loneliness.
Filter out feelings.

• 1 in 3 adults can’t accurately identify their own emotions (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)
• Rising emotional detachment is linked to chronic stress, trauma, and overexposure to screens.

If zombies are emotionless shells of who they once were…
What are we when we can’t even process grief, joy, or anger?

3. Health? Declining Fast.

We’re alive… but are we really living?

Male Testosterone Levels have Plummeted.

• Male testosterone levels have dropped by 50% in just a few decades.
• A 30-year-old man in 2025 has the testosterone of a 60-year-old in the 1970s.
• Lower T = less energy, drive, fertility, strength… even joy.

Female Fertility has Declined

Age Range	Monthly Chance of Conception
Early to mid-20s	25–30%
Around 30	~20%
Around 35	~15%
Around 40	~5%

In England and Wales, fertility rates fell from 2.93 in 1964 to 1.44 in 2023 — the lowest in at least 85 years.

Physical Decline Starts Young

• Childhood obesity now exceeds adult obesity.
• Chronic illnesses like diabetes, anxiety, and hypertension are now affecting teenagers.
• 70%+ of US adults are overweight or obese (CDC).
• 35% of adults don’t get enough sleep—turning sleep deprivation into a public health epidemic.

Mental Health on Fire

Gen Z’s Mental Health (2007–2018):

• Self-injury: ↑ 47%
• Serious suicidal thoughts: ↑ 76%
• Suicide attempts: ↑ 58%

APA Survey (2022):

• 25% of Gen Z adults said they have more bad days than good each month
• 42% had a diagnosed mental health condition
  • 25%+ were diagnosed during or after COVID
  • Of those:
    • 90% had anxiety
    • 80% had depression

Doomscrolling Into Depression

Gen Z’s Relationship with Social Media:

• 94% say it’s “entertaining”
• 82%: “addicting”
• 57%: “boring”
• 43%: “isolating”
• 69% use it just to “pass time”
• 40% wish it had never been invented

We’re running on low energy, poor health, and fast food.
The physical decline is real.
The mental decay is worse.

• Attention spans are shrinking.
• Depression, anxiety, loneliness—skyrocketing.
• Schools teach obedience, not curiosity.
• 9–5 culture is draining our souls.
• AI is replacing people — but it’ll replace zombies, not humans.

The Persistence of the Normal

I came across a haunting piece in Real Life Magazine, and it hit me like a punch to the gut (and it was before Corona).

“The persistence of the normal.”
That’s the phrase Elisa Gabbert uses in her essay “The Great Mortality”.

She explores how even after mass death—like the Black Death, or COVID—we don’t evolve.
We don’t transform.
We just… resume.

We return to the same routines that broke us.

Gabbert argues that pandemics aren’t just random tragedies—we bring them upon ourselves. Through our choices. Our systems. Our refusal to change.

We suffer. We pause.
And then we slide right back into the same destructive rhythms—as if nothing ever happened.

During COVID, we were given the rarest gift:
Time. Silence. Space.
We were home. With family. With our dreams.

So let me ask you something real:

How many people do you know who actually started working on those dreams?
Did you?

4. We’ve Outsourced Thinking

“The greatest tragedy is not death—it’s never having a thought that’s truly your own.”

We’ve outsourced our thinking.
To influencers.
To algorithms.
To ideologies dressed up as content.

• 42% of adults can’t name all three branches of government (Annenberg Civics Survey)
• Most adults share misinformation without verifying it (MIT Study)

We don’t reflect. We react.

Creativity is in a Coma

Creativity isn’t loud anymore—it’s drowned in noise.

• Children’s creativity scores have declined steadily since 1990 (Kyung Hee Kim, Torrance Creativity Test)
• 80% of adults say they don’t feel creative in their daily lives (Adobe State of Create)

We’re not just forgetting how to think—we’re forgetting how to imagine.

Critical thinking is dying. Echo chambers are rising.

• Over 60% of people share news articles without even reading past the headline (Columbia University Study)
• Algorithms decide what we believe, who we trust, what we desire.

We don’t search for truth.
We wait for it to be delivered.
In 15-second videos with background music.

• TikTok’s average video length? 20–60 seconds.
• Our attention spans? Shorter than a goldfish’s (no, seriously).

Just like your body craves fries and soda…
Your brain craves easy content, quick answers, and predictable pleasure.

• TikToks instead of books
• Hot takes instead of real conversations
• Headlines instead of introspection

And what happens?

You become mentally obese.
Stuffed with opinions. Starved of wisdom.

Just like zombies follow whatever is loudest, we follow trends, opinions, and clickbait—without thinking for ourselves.

“Zombies eat brains.
Doomscrolling steals yours—one reel at a time.”

The Zombie Virus? It’s Digital, Emotional, Cultural.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” — Henry David Thoreau And today? That desperation is scrollable and monetized.

The scariest part?
Most of us don’t even realize we’ve been infected. I hope all that statistics that I shown you made you realize, how grave of a situation we are in.

“The most dangerous zombie is the one who doesn’t know he’s dead.”

We’ve become exactly what the system needs us to be:
Obedient. Distracted. Numb.

We stopped living, but didn’t notice. Because everyone else stopped too.

So no—the real question isn’t:
“Will there be a zombie apocalypse?”

It’s this:

“Have you already become one?”

ARE YOU A ZOMBIE? TEST

If your mind hasn’t been blown in a long time, you’re turning.

Symptoms of Mental Zombification:

• You feel numb yet constantly overwhelmed
• You can’t sit in silence without reaching for a screen
• You consume far more than you create
• You’ve lost your sense of why you do what you do
• Your days blur together—and you don’t know where the time went
• You react more than you reflect
• You mimic more than you question
• You feel uneasy—sometimes even afraid—in moments of stillness

If even three or more of these hit too close to home…
You might already be halfway to zombification.

But here’s the good news:
You’re here. You’re reading this.
Which means… something inside you is still awake. So…

WAKE THE FCK UP

“We’re not afraid of zombies. We’re afraid of becoming one.”
— Every zombie apocalypse movie.

Let me drive the final nail into the coffin of the BIGGEST excuse out there:
“Aw man, I DON’T HAVE TIME!!!”

Really?

Then what’s this?

Worldwide average daily screen time (Q3 2023):
6 hours and 40 minutes

Average screen time in the US (Q3 2023):
7 hours and 3 minutes/day (↑ 23 minutes above global average)

• 50% of screen sessions begin within just 3 minutes of the last one.

Generation	Daily Time	% Who Feel Addicted
Gen Z	6h 5m	56%
Millennials	4h 36m	48%

• 22% spend 7+ hours/day.

Generation	Overusing (%)	Reducing Efforts (%)
Gen Z	76.3%	41%
Millennials	67.3%	30.5%

If we don’t have “TIME” outside of our job then how do we find time staring at our screens more than 50% of our waking time? Shocking isn’t it?

That’s not just ironic.
That’s terrifying.

THIS IS HOW PEOPLE ARE BECOMING ZOMBIES IN A WORLD FULL OF HUMANS.

I’ve stopped using social media countless times—not because I’m better, but because I couldn’t stand what it was turning me into.
Even now, my average screen time is under 1 hour 30 minutes (if I exclude my clock app, which weirdly tops the list).

And then there’s the dark side of digital escapism:

• 40%+ of global internet users visit porn sites monthly
• Ages 18–35 are the most active demographic
• In the US, 70–80 million people consume adult content monthly
• Peak hours: 11 PM to 1 AM, especially on weekends
• Usage spikes during events like Valentine’s Day, lockdowns, and even social unrest

If porn sites were a country, they’d be the third most visited in the world—right after Google and YouTube.

And what about drugs?

Drug	Est. Annual Hours “High”
Cannabis	39 billion
Cocaine	2.6 billion
Meth	2.4 billion
Heroin/Opioids	14.6 billion
Total	58.6 billion hours/year

That’s 6.7 million years of human time—every single year.
Imagine 1 million people spending 6.7 years each, doing nothing but being high.

Meanwhile…

• People hate their jobs, but don’t leave
• Hate their health, but don’t fix it
• Hate their lives, but scroll anyway

They wait for something external to save them.

But here’s the truth:
No one’s coming.

If you’re stuck and not trying — welcome to the horde.

Don’t blame the world.
You’re not a puppet.

Sartre’s existential man reminds us:
Every action is a choice. Every choice is yours.

In a world where everyone else is sleepwalking,
WAKE THE FCK UP!

Here’s how

How to Become a Human in a World full of Zombies

“If the system kills your soul, maybe it’s time to break the system.”

Step 0: Understand That REST Is More Important Than WORK

You don’t regret what you didn’t achieve. You regret what you didn’t even try

People say we have to work. And sure, we do.
But rest isn’t the opposite of work—it’s the fuel for it.

📘 Read: Rest – Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
Its core message?
Work and rest are partners, not enemies.
You can’t have one without the other.

So, Work Like a LION (as Naval likes to call it):

You don’t get 1 unit of reward for 1 unit of effort. That’s industrial-age thinking. That’s factory logic.
We live in the leverage age. One good idea, one piece of code, one right move—can be worth decades of grinding.

A zombie grazes all day, mindlessly chewing.
A lion rests, stalks, attacks, and then sleeps deeply.

Your nervous system is designed the same way.

• Sprint → Rest
• Create → Recover
• Think → Disconnect

Sprint. Rest. Sprint again.

Step 1: Reboot Your Mind with a Dopamine Detox

Step back to move forward.

Dopamine—the “feel-good” chemical—isn’t the villain.
But in today’s world, it’s been hijacked.

Constant stimulation lowers your baseline joy. You feel meh all the time.

So, try this for 24–72 hours:

• No social media. No YouTube. No Netflix.
• Walk without your phone.
• Let boredom hit you like a truck.

Why it works:
Boredom is the birthplace of original thoughts.
Zombies avoid it. Humans create from it.

You know that feeling when you sit down to study, and suddenly your brain floods you with every dream, plan, and fantasy you’ve ever had?

That’s not distraction.
That’s your mind remembering itself.

Boredom unlocks the vault.
Let it.

Step 2: Have a Structure for the Day

“Without structure, freedom becomes chaos.”

After a dopamine detox, your mind starts waking up again.
You start feeling clearer.
You notice ideas surfacing again.
You finally have space to think.
You feel… alive.

But without a structure, that spark fizzles out.
Because your energy—just like water—needs direction.
Otherwise, it spills everywhere.

In my opinion, most people don’t need more hours in the day. They just need a simple rhythm that keeps their mind anchored.

I built mine around 3 intentional walks—what I now call the “3 Walks System“.

Why?
Because movement trains the body.
And movement expands the mind.

Walking clears the noise.
It melts away mental obesity.

Some of the greatest minds in history—Nietzsche, Aristotle, Jobs—used walks not just for health,
but for focus, thinking, and clarity.

But you don’t have to start there.
Even a loose structure is powerful.

It helps your brain distinguish:

• “This is rest” → where you recharge
• “This is growth” → where you show up

Once your mind knows when to breathe and when to lock in,
you stop forcing discipline…
and start flowing with momentum.

AKA—you start working like a Lion.
Focused sprints. Deep rest. Repeat.

Step 3: Do Morning Pages

“Your mind is not messy. It’s just clogged.”
Morning Pages are how you unclog it.

After a full night of unconscious thoughts, mental residue, and emotional leftovers, your mind wakes up… full.

If you don’t clear it, it clutters everything else.
Your focus.
Your energy.
Your creativity.

That’s why the first thing I do every morning—before inputs, before screens, before caffeine—is this:

📝 Brain dump. Raw. Unfiltered. No rules.

Just grab a notebook (or app, or voice note) and spill everything.

Why It Works?

Your brain is like a tap.
When you first turn it on, all the dirty water comes out:

• Random thoughts
• Negativity
• Stress from yesterday
• Distractions
• Loops and worries

But if you let it run, the clean water starts to flow.
That’s when real insights arrive.
That’s when your brain starts thinking clearly.

“Morning Pages isn’t journaling for the sake of productivity.
It’s journaling to remember who you are.”

How I Do It?

There are no rules—but here’s my personal flow:

1. Voice-first → I take a walk and ramble into my phone. Total stream of consciousness.
2. Transcribe → I run the audio through AI to turn it into text.
3. Extract → I pull ideas, patterns, or questions into Obsidian.
4. Reflect → If something hits me, I sit with it or turn it into action.

This is the most powerful form of mental hygiene I’ve ever found.
More powerful than to-do lists.
More powerful than productivity hacks.

It’s not about doing more.
It’s about clearing space so you can do what matters.

What to Write? (If You’re Stuck)

• “I don’t know what to say” → Great. Start with that.
• “I feel tired today” → Say it. Why?
• “I’m excited but also nervous” → Perfect. Explore both.

You don’t need perfect grammar or big insights.
You just need honesty.

“If you’re overwhelmed, stressed, or stuck…
it’s not because your life is broken.
It’s because your thoughts have no place to go.”

Give them a home.
Give them a page.

Step 4: Practice “Stillness Sessions” Daily

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
— Blaise Pascal

Let’s be honest—most people can’t sit in silence for 10 minutes without grabbing their phone.
Stillness feels… uncomfortable.

Why?

Because in stillness, your real thoughts show up.
The ones buried under notifications, to-do lists, and expectations.

But by the time you’ve reached this step, you’ve already:

• Removed the excess noise with a dopamine detox
• Started noticing your own thoughts through Morning Pages
• Built a basic structure to direct your day

Now it’s time to go deeper.
To listen before you speak.
To be before you do.

So What’s a Stillness Session?

It’s simple:

• 10 minutes a day
• No phone. No music. No input.
• Just you, your breath, and nothing else.

You can sit, lie down, or even stand. Doesn’t matter.
Just… be.

Pay attention to your autopilot reactions.
Watch what rises when there’s no distraction to drown it out.

This is how you build inner awareness, the very thing zombies lack.

Stillness reveals:

• What you’ve been ignoring
• What you actually want
• What patterns are repeating
• What thoughts aren’t even yours

When to Do It?

🕕 After Waking Up → Clear the mental static before the world hijacks your brain
🌙 Before Bed → Let your thoughts settle so your nervous system can rest

You don’t need to “meditate” or be a monk.
Just pause.

Stillness is a mirror.
Most people are scared of what they’ll see.

STACK IT with Morning Pages

Pair them like this:

• Stillness → Awareness
• Morning Pages → Expression

First, feel.
Then, articulate.
That’s how you rewire your mind for clarity and confidence.

If you’re serious about becoming alive again—
Stillness is where your real voice returns.

Step 5: Reignite Curiosity (The Anti-Zombie Trait)

“The cure to boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
— Dorothy Parker

Zombies don’t ask questions.
They follow orders. Trends. Headlines. Herds.

But humans?
Humans ask. Wonder. Explore. Obsess. Connect dots.

And if there’s one trait that separates the undead from the truly alive…
It’s curiosity.

Why Curiosity Matters?

Curiosity is energy. It’s momentum. It’s your brain reaching out instead of shutting down.

• It breaks autopilot.
• It challenges assumptions.
• It reconnects you with your inner child.
• It turns “routine life” into a living adventure.

Without curiosity, you consume like a zombie.
With curiosity, you create like a mad scientist.

How to Reignite It (Start Small, Start Playful)

Ask “Why?” at least 5 times a day.

Why do I always open Instagram when I’m bored?
Why did that conversation make me uncomfortable?
Why does this fascinate me so much?

Follow a weird rabbit hole once a week.

• Google something random.
• Watch a documentary on a topic you know nothing about.
• Read about someone who lived completely differently from you.

No purpose. No productivity hack.
Just exploration for the sake of aliveness.

Experiment like a kid with crayons.

• Try a new recipe
• Doodle nonsense
• Record a weird voice note idea
• Build something in Notion you’ll probably never use

You don’t need talent to be curious.
You just need permission—from yourself.

🧭 Make curiosity your compass again.

Every time you feel stuck, burnt out, or mind-numbed—don’t scroll.
Ask:
→ “What would fascinate me right now?”
→ “What have I always wanted to try but never did?”
→ “What questions am I afraid to explore?”

You don’t need another app.
You need a question.

Because the day you stop being curious…
Is the day you start becoming a zombie.

Step 6: Swap Consumption with Creation (1:1 Ratio Rule)

Creation is how you detox the brain.

You don’t have to quit consuming. Just balance it.

Because when you only absorb and never express, your mind gets clogged.
Bloated. Overstimulated. Numb.

The 1:1 Ratio Rule

For every 1 unit of input, output 1 unit of something.

So, every time you consume, create something back.

It doesn’t have to be big.
It doesn’t have to be shared.
It just has to move energy outward.

📚 Watch a video? → Write down one takeaway.
🎧 Listen to a podcast? → Share a voice note about it.
📖 Read a tweet thread? → Reflect on it in your journal.
🎮 Played a game? → Note what emotion it triggered.

Even a single journal line counts but create something daily

The point is to stop absorbing without expressing.

Input without output = mental constipation.

Make Your Mind a Workshop

The brain loves closure.
If you don’t close the loop on your thoughts, they just linger and pile up.

Creation closes the loop.
It turns:

• Passive into active
• Noise into clarity
• Chaos into insight

So stop being just a consumer…
And start becoming a conscious processor—like when you were a child.

Step 7: Keep a “Life Log” – Your Proof You’re Alive

“A day that slips by unnoticed is a day half-lived.”

In a world where every moment is optimized, scrolled, or forgotten, most people have no idea what they felt, thought, or even ate yesterday.

But one simple habit can change everything:

What’s a Life Log?

A daily ritual that captures your existence in just four lines.

Every night (or at any calm point in your day), write down:

• One thing you learned
• One thing you made (or contributed to)
• One thing you felt deeply
• One thing you’re grateful for

That’s it.

Four lines.
No overthinking.

Logging your life like this turns ordinary days into evidence of growth.

5-Year Journals – The Wisdom of Austin Kleon

Artist-author Austin Kleon keeps a 5-year quote journal.
Every day, he writes down one quote or thought that resonated.

Each new year, he adds a new quote beneath the entry from the same date in past years.
Over time, it becomes a timeline of insights.
You get to see how your mind evolved, what stayed the same, and what still hits hard.

It’s like talking to your past self every day. I do this too!

Mr. 2025 – My Personal Memory Ritual

This is a technique I developed for myself.

I call it Mr. 2025—a yearly log where I write down:

• First-time experiences
• “Holy f*ck” moments
• Major decisions
• Wild lessons
• Surreal plot twists
• Inner breakthroughs

It’s not a to-do list.
It’s a memory bank of everything that shaped me that year.

Whenever I feel lost or numb, I open it—
and it reminds me how much has changed.
How much I’ve grown.
How damn alive I’ve been.

Use Whatever Format Feels Right:

🗒 A paper journal
📱 Your notes app
🧠 Obsidian
📆 A physical 5-Year Journal
🎙 Or even voice notes

What matters is the ritual, not the tool.

What These Habits Have Done for Me?

• Helped me track progress even when life felt chaotic
• Showed me patterns in my emotions, habits, and energy
• Gave me journal entries that I now cherish more than photos
• Became the seed bank of stories, insights, and ideas
• Made life feel less like a blur and more like a story I’m actually writing

These tiny habits will become your time capsule.
Your story-in-progress.
Your proof that you were here and you were awake.

And one day, when the world feels like too much, your Life Log will whisper back:

“You’re doing better than you think.”

Believe me.

Step 8: Talk Like a Human, Not a Hashtag

Connection is the real rebellion.

• Send a message not tied to content
• Tell a friend what you’re actually going through
• Call someone instead of replying to their story
• Say “I love you,” “I miss you,” or “I’m scared”—without a filter

The goal is to connect.
Honestly. Awkwardly. Imperfectly.

Because that’s where the real spark lives.

The Death of Language = The Death of Intimacy

The more you filter yourself, the more disconnected you feel.

• No one knows how to speak from the soul anymore
• Everyone’s trying to be viral instead of vulnerable
• But likes don’t touch you. DMs don’t heal you. Emojis don’t hug you.

If you want to feel like a human again—speak like one.

“Most people are lonely, not because they’re alone—
but because their words aren’t reaching anyone.”

So start small.

Say one thing today that you mean.

No polish. No punchline. No filter.

Just you.

And see what happens.

In Akira’s world (Zom 100 reference) , the end of society was the beginning of self. And maybe, just maybe, we need to burn the rules to build something worth living for.

Freedom isn’t just the absence of rules—it’s the presence of purpose.

So choose:

• Deep work over shallow scrolling
• Mindfulness over mindlessness
• Creation over consumption
• Reflection over reaction
• Curiosity over conformity

It doesn’t take a virus to kill you. Just apathy.

What Aliveness Actually Feels Like

It’s the spark when you lose track of time building something.
It’s the shiver you get from a line in a book.
It’s a walk where your brain finally, finally shuts up… and your heart speaks.

It’s awe.
It’s curiosity.
It’s creation.
It’s choosing to feel, even when it’s hard.
It’s dancing with no rhythm.
Drawing without caring how it looks.
Writing a line that only you will read.
Laughing until your ribs hurt.
Singing badly but with everything you’ve got.
Screaming when you need to.
Crying when you must.

It’s following your hobbies.

Next time you feel the urge to scroll—create something instead.

Even if it’s messy. Even if it’s stupid. Even if it’s tiny.
Just make it yours.

Learn every day.
Play.
Move.
Try.
Love.
Mess up.
Start again.
Feel something real.

Because your actions and your responsibilities are your own. ~ Sartre’s existential man

“The New Virus Is Consciousness”

Gen Z is digitally native, mentally vulnerable, yet spiritually open—a rare combination that presents a unique intervention opportunity

If you’ve made it this far—
You’re not one of them (the brainless zombie).
Not yet.

• Once you wake up, you infect others
• One dreamer creates a ripple
• That’s how the REAL apocalypse begins — the good kind

Every time you pursue your dream, share your story, or spark wonder, you infect others with possibility.

They start questioning the loop.
They start feeling again.
They start living.

We don’t have to accept numbness.
We can chase meaning, connection, creation, and adventure.

Utterly, rebelliously… human.

“The real zombies are the ones who gave up on their dreams.”

It’s time for you to become the main character who wakes up while everyone else is sleepwalking.

~ Dewansh Jain