My journey feels like it is mostly unidirectional and I haven’t noticed the cycles. For me it was:
Get good grades and follow rules to please the adults.
Play Magic: the Gathering and video games for enjoyment and socialization with peers.
Get a post-college job.
Start burning out at work and romantically due to unwritten social rules that I didn't understand.
Look for social rules/advice on the internet.
Find SlateStarCodex.
Realize that my observations and struggles around socialization were due to undiagnosed Aspergers and gain a better understanding of tribal social games.
Make some posts in SSC adjacent communities about politics and personal struggles to get feedback on things I didn’t feel safe discussing elsewhere.
Lose interest in most politics/controversial topics on the internet because people are just optimizing for engagement instead of having good faith discussions. (I've seen the pattern enough to learn that keeping any controversial opinions to myself generates the best outcomes).
Get into weird (but less controversial) topics that seem to attract more open-minded people and keep normies away because they don’t have enough background information to keep up. (Things like Carl Jung, John Vervaeke, and nootropics).
Do weird self-experimentation with nootropic assisted exposure therapy to reduce the amount I care about social pressure.
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My journey feels like it is mostly unidirectional and I haven’t noticed the cycles. For me it was:
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