Reddit mentions of Opening Up by Writing It Down, Third Edition: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain

Whatever you do, your life is an automatic cycle of your habits. In order to change it in a planned direction, you need to achieve some level of awareness and willpower.

Some people have it naturally, they have bigger prefrontal cortex or they develop it by stuff they do, or the approach they have to it (mindfulness). For some people it's natural, like some people have naturally bigger muscles. They have more willpower and more awareness. But you can work on it like a muscle.

1. I strongly recommend meditation (start with 10 minutes a day) + some reflective work (10 minutes too). If your life seems like a blur that you just cannot escape, you need to put yourself above this cycle. Take a sheet of paper and write about your life every day. Write about your plans, about your pain, about what works and what doesn't, about your fears and hopes, everything your brain pulls out. Even if it's the same stuff every day - it's even better, because writing same things over and over again will irritate you, you will realize you are in a loop, your mind will see it's prison. Stick to it. Talking with a therapist or a priest has same reflective effects. Consider therapy. I've heard that Jordan Peterson (I don't share every view on life he has, he's very conservative, I'm more liberal) has this program that can help with reflection... Yep here it is: https://www.selfauthoring.com/self-authoring-suite If you don't like JP, then read this (JP program is based on this book): https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Writing-Down-Third-Expressive/dp/1462524923
   
2. You are what you consume. Replace games with sports. Replace tv shows/movies/YouTube with books. Eat good quality food, if you don't like healthy stuff, learn to like it. Stop consuming shit or your life is going to be shitty. Obviously don't read heaps of self-help books, it will drive you crazy. Read various books written by intelligent authors (not marketers or coaches), biographies are great.
   
3. Change your environment. If you are interested in some new job, go for a meetups/courses/ that gather people with passion for it. You want girls? You won't get them if you are not in places when you can meet lots of them. You want high pay job? Change town if you are living in a shit hole. You are depressed rotting in your room? Get out of it. It's imperative. You need to change environments. Girls are masters of this, they flock to places where action happens and hot guys are, they expose themselves to opportunities.
   
4. Learn positive coping mechanisms that are at your hand at every moment. If you are feeling down and want to fap and watch porn, but it makes you depressed even more... You need to have alternative activity that's positive and involving. Like punching a bag. Going for a walk without destination. Whatever works for you and can be done no matter what hour it is. If it contains change of environment it's even better. When you are down and horny, it's not like reading a book while sitting next to an open pc is going to stop you from wasting time on porn.