I’ve been unemployed for a while with an unstable housing situation that’s just made it all the harder to get a job. I’ve been reading a lot(it’s been a driving force behind me transitioning from demsoc, or radlib, to being an ML), but I’ve also noticed a change in my outlook. I have PTSD, and suffered a lot from depressive episodes. But the more I learn, the fewer episodes I’ve had. I no longer view the world as a hell that I had to get through just to feel the occasional spark of joy. Getting rid of a lot of the individualist thought that I had before has changed my viewpoint. I now know, that with other principled people, that the world doesn’t have to be this way, that it’s changeable, and that we’ve got much of the strategy for how to do so already laid out for us. It’s made me much more optimistic than I had been, ready to face the struggles of the world because I know that we can change it.
Theory had a big impact on my political views. Reading Marx helped me clearly understand the nature of economic relations in society. Meanwhile, Lenin helped me understand the nature of the state and political power. Reading The State and Revolution in particular helped me understand how the state machine works, and whose interests the government represents.
I also find that having a clear understanding of how the world works, and how capitalism has been defeated previously helps build a positive outlook.