I forgot about this thread. o.o But I was happy to see that it eventually got a reply. Thank you, @GM Angel.
It's been over a year since I created this thread, and things have changed in my life since then - I've spent the whole of 2019 in college (I'm graduating in less than two weeks), though I will be returning to the NEET lifestyle from December onward into 2020 while I focus on job-hunting. ...I personally hope my next stint being a NEET won't last for too long...
I can definitely relate to this. The way I've usually felt about it is that in the first month-or-so of being a NEET it's really enjoyable - few responsibilities, endless free time to play games and read books and stuff, but then in the months that follow it really starts to wear on you and you feel more and more hopeless about your situation and feel like a burden to everyone around you and society in general.
Honestly, I don't think I would feel as bad about being a NEET if it weren't for the fact that a lot of pressure and guilt is put onto me by others who have high expectations of me (mostly from family, sometimes from friends as well). I know they only want the best for me... but the constant nagging and complaining about me being unemployed makes me feel worse rather than being motivated to make a change. It doesn't help.
The NEET life certainly has its ups and downs. I'm glad to hear that you were able to make something good out of your time as a NEET. I try to do the same - asides from job-hunting I like to catch up on my backlog of games, go for walks and explore shops and whatnot, visit the library, work on personal projects and skills (practice learning a new language, design graphs and charts, write stories and an autobiography which is taking an eternity to complete xD). It's good to keep active during time as a NEET.
This is something that I have considered as well, but have never quite been able to establish how I would go about it. It's like I'm lost in the middle of a traffic intersection and each road leads down a different pathway, and I can't decide which pathway, if any, I should go down. I've mainly thought of self-employment via:
* Being an author / publishing books.
* Making my own music (I do own a synth I play sometimes).
* Getting into livestreaming and/or "professional gaming" (maybe even Speedrunning/E-Sports - there's lots of tournaments for that kind of thing).
* Focusing more on graphic design and animation (which I have a history with and am passionate about) and working from home doing that.
There's probably more, but, I feel that this reply is getting quite long so I won't ramble on with that.
As for the advice, I greatly appreciate that and I agree with the points you made. I intend on practising and taking those points into consideration when I resume being a NEET starting next month, the self-improvement and staying active is really going to help me, I think. I guess it mostly boils down to staying strong and not giving up... maybe focusing on the positives will help a lot too - I think I might put my energy towards that as well.
And yes, I have even considered the mindfulness and meditation stuff as something I could indulge in long-term. Who knows, I might even give it a try. xP