What do I need to do differently (reboot)

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The islamic equivalent does exist:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran_Belt

Try your luck there OP.

there are always places within an hour drive or so that you can go to. Just going to a different place can be interesting.

I did the same as Boo and thought it was only a scattering of places until I looked it up. Yeah, how scary is that! I'ts quite a chunk of the country. I am educated on here everyday.

Re your financial position and family drama - perhaps you could take someone with you and both do you own thing? If you share it would be more cost effective. (Not sure if you have one but) You could say "here, grandma, here's 10 bucks - go get yourself an ice cream and I will see you back here in 10 hours".

I did the same as Boo and thought it was only a scattering of places until I looked it up. Yeah, how scary is that! I'ts quite a chunk of the country. I am educated on here everyday.

Re your financial position and family drama - perhaps you could take someone with you and both do you own thing? If you share it would be more cost effective. (Not sure if you have one but) You could say "here, grandma, here's 10 bucks - go get yourself an ice cream and I will see you back here in 10 hours".


What I do know is that there are self-help books out there which can be pretty handy and as he works in a library I am sure he has probably read some good ones already.

He has already said what he has difficulty with and he is getting there but there are a few things standing in his way. I believe he will work them out for himself as he goes along. He wants something different and he wants something more than he has - he will work it out, of this I am sure.

It should be mentioned, really, that not everybody in the Bible Belt represents the stereotypes.

I've met some very nice, even liberal people from the Bible Belt; they decry the ignorance of the some people there as well.

You are correct, Temeraire. I am considered dysthymic as far as depression is concerned. I can still get up and go out into the world but I never feel 100%. I always feel an underlying unhappiness and emptiness even if I am feeling better than I normally do.

I have read some self-help books. It's just that the city I live in is such a shallow pond. There are no cool clubs or hangouts. There are just really nasty dive/sports bars, a pseudo pub, a ghetto dance club, two pool halls, and more churches than I can count. Unless you are a redneck, a 'gangsta', a general 'bad boy', or a hyper religious person, you aren't going to fit in.

They exist but they are in the extreme minority. Not all of them are friendly, either. Some have attacked me because both my parents are doctors so they think I am a 'rich kid' and that I support Donald Trump just because I am white. What they don't get is that other white people have called me "Satanic" for my music tastes and think I am a "Democrat" for not thinking Hinduism and Islam are the same.

Some might ask why I don't I just become a redneck or 'gangsta'. I hate pop country music and that is all what rednecks listen to. I also feel the same about mainstream rap music. I also don't have the body builds of either demographic (Either super muscular or extremely obese) and I don't have the money to 'jack' or 'pimp' my vehicle as well as buy drugs and alcohol. I also can't speak their dialects without sounding fake and they would pick up on that.

Because it would be stupid if you became a gangsta or a redneck.

Because it's not "you."

By the way, most people are not gangstas or rednecks, even in the Bible Belt.

Stick to your guns, man.

A better way to meet people is at Meetup.com. Focus more on meeting friends. A few girls will come along here and there. At Meetup you join groups of people with a common interest. I am in one called Darwin's Tavern made of of people stuck in Bible belt conservative Alabama who accept the scientific view of the world. I am also in An atheist group. This has smart open minded people who aren't bound by a 4000 year old book. I'm in a hiking, a photography, and board gaming. Want to meet geeks and diagnosed aspies?
Join a board game group. You could even be a leader instead of a follower and start a group. Meetup groups cost money to form and lead but you can also tart a regular group.

I am actually part of a meet up group but it hasn't lead to anything beyond acquaintances.

I've attended a board game group's meet ups as well as gone to game nights but the people generally aren't very welcoming.

Meetup's meetups are sausage fests from what I checked, even in the non-geeky topics.

The men drive the women away because they want to "bro out" as much as they can. Ironically, they are very homophobic but don't mind slapping each other's asses and bumping their chests as well as giving "skeeter bites" and genital tugging. Why don't they just get it over with and screw each other?

There is nothing wrong with acquaintances. It took me a while but in time I developed some friends.

The problem for me is that it feels like nothing ever goes forward for me. It feels like everything is stuck in place no matter what I do.

Yes you are stuck, very much so, in a depression which makes sure you don't feel the benefits of new situations as well as your everyday stuff. You are still getting out of bed and functioning and for this I applaud you.

It doesn't matter what anyone says on here because nobody can change the way you feel nor can they 'fix you' no matter how intelligent or creative the suggestion. It sounds like you have tried it all.

I hope you can keep going and at least have some faith in yourself knowing you are a resourceful guy.

Sometimes changes can be so tiny that we do not notice them until we can measure the differences across a long span of time.