Don’t suggest hobbies or human contact. It’s been suggested and it doesn’t work.
I have a job I don’t particularly hate nor like, some coworkers I get along with others are just morons, I go to work, then buy groceries, go home, eat, watch tv, go to bed. Rinse and repeat.
On my free days I do sport and watch pirated netflix. I don’t spend much money on clothing or media and save most of my paycheck. What for? I have no idea. I don’t eat out because I like cooking my own food and restaurants are expensive and the food is bland.
Everything is so expensive nowadays btw…
Most people bore me. I’m like an atheist monk.
I don’t want to kill myself or anybody fwiw. It’s like I don’t give a crap about anything or anyone and don’t see what’s the point of living.
I don’t want to travel because it costs money.
As soon as my cognitive abilities start to fail I’m going to be very easy prey for any online scammer.
is there any way to stop this
There’s pretty much every way. Work, eat, shower, sleep is such a minimal place to start that if emptiness is your issue, I feel like you could go in any direction you want and do better.
Maybe no one ever told you this so I’ll try. There is no objective meaning to life or purpose for it. The meaning is up to you to make. I don’t think any path whatsoever (therapy, volunteering, art, hobbies, dating, travel, whatever) will work unless you take responsibility for the problem. If you are hoping for others to provide the genius answer, or looking for some global perfect answer or “meaning of life” then you aren’t taking on the responsibility yourself.
You have to do that or nothing else can work. This thread might be a start. You did ask. Now you need to put the time into the many fine suggestions here.
Don’t take them in turns and try them “to see if they work.” That’s still the main problem of assuming the answer is outside of you somewhere. Instead, take them in turns and put everything you’ve got into them. If you can do this, any of them will work.
Volunteer, seriously, this changed my life. Maybe a dog rescue, or some political fight.
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. -Mark Twain
Do you drink or take other drugs? Those can make you feel empty.
I was actually going to suggest the opposite, I’ve heard taking shrooms can help people with depression and re-frame their life. I can’t recommend though, haven’t tried myself
Mushrooms are very dangerous. It’s recommended to take them only when you are facilitated by some kind of guide. Never do it alone or with frivolous friends.
Yeah you definitely want to be around supportive and emotionally reliable and safe people your first time. Set and setting are extremely important.
Also just dip your toes in. You don’t need to leave the planet. If the people you’re with are pushing you to take them in the first place they’re the wrong people.
Unless you have symptoms of schizophrenia or similar you’re pretty safe with those guidelines.
I have and I think it makes a lot of sense that psychedelics could potentially help with OP’s specific problem
LSD is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be. -Albert Hofmann
I’m would believe that’s true but I mean frequently taking drugs if any kind typically makes one feel bad, especially alcohol.
I was super interested in that and LSD but never tried them. Someone once said to me that from a Buddhist perspective they’re not helpful because they provide a one time view rather than a continual shift in mindset.
Someone once said to me that from a Buddhist perspective they’re not helpful because they provide a one time view rather than a continual shift in mindset.
That’s true, but you can take that experience and apply it to sober life. You don’t need to take acid all the time to appreciate psychedelia, but a few trips help broaden the horizon so to speak. My memories of psychedelic experiences sometimes return to me quite vividly when floating in a float tank.
Thanks for sharing! That’s cool. I wonder why specifically in the tank?
Maybe I should reword it that similar experiences in meditation can be had naturally, whenever and for as long as one wishes.
That said, I haven’t experienced either. Float tank was fun though.
I think probably because there’s no sensory input and I’m just there floating in the darkness with only my breathing and heartbeat. It’s not like the whole time I’m in the tank I’m tripping, but I have had some psychedelic adjacent experiences. Not so much the visual and auditory hallucinations, but rather the psychedelic thoughts. Pondering the nature of my existence, fleeting moments of feeling cosmic and eternal, that sorta thing.
I wouldn’t recommend psychedelics to everyone but I’m glad I’ve dabbled. Those in a stable mental state would probably have a worthwhile experience eating some shrooms and sitting down in the woods.
lsd, ketamine and others arent like regular drugs. many people arent the same person after taking them, even if its subtle. theres an odd experience where when youre coming down you never actually know when its ‘over’.
That’s an interesting point
Comparing alcohol to psychedelics is wiiiiild. Psychedelics changed my life. Alcohol mostly just makes me sad and sleepy. Occasionally giggly, at best.
As you can read I didn’t compare them other than using both words in the same comment, lol
You’re right, but I wasn’t being argumentative, just fyi. My intention was to say, “If you’re thinking of them as at all similar, PLEASE DON’T.” You should totally give psychedelics a try if/when it works for you, because they’re nothing even remotely comparable to a buzz, or being very drunk, or adderall, or weed (okay, POTENTIALLY mildly similar, but rarely, at least for me), etc. It was just intended to share my own experience with the two and how they compare, since you noted you’d only tried the one. But I do see how it could’ve come across. Wasn’t trying to be smarmy and corrective.
I’m sorry misread your tone then and replied such. Thanks for clarifying
Nah, you’re good. I get how you took it like that.
Sounds like depression. If you have some savings, it might be worth it to see a therapist to find out.
Hey, I just want to say that in case you did give therapists, SEVERAL times, a chance to be a solution, and they showed themselves to be charlatans, you may want to consider that they are absolutely not the end all be all that some people may sound them to be.
I don’t have the answer, but there are leads to follow still. Someone here was suggesting giving your time to help others. If possible, this may actually help. Or not… Then try something else. Just don’t think therapists know it all, because they sure as fuck don’t…
A therapist that claims to know it all or makes promises that they can help you (esp. Short term) is just a licensed grifter. Can that fucker and find one that gives a shit.
The most significant factor for success in therapy is that the therapist has a similar condition to yours and they’re engaging in therapies that worked for them. Next it’s important they look like you (share your demographic somehow). Your dedication comes immediately after that.
This needs to be said more. What if the therapist can’t help you? Even worse, what if they don’t understand you? Wouldn’t that make you feel even worse?
I have tried a couple therapists. With both, it was as if we were speaking different languages. Needlas to say, I stopped seeing them.
Sounds a therapist problem and not a therapy problem. Not that therapy is perfect nor always the solution, just that you didn’t receive any.
I can’t spend all my money searching for a therapist.
100% fair, that’s my current issue. Honestly it’s bullshit they even charge for the first session.
I have no suggestions for you, but I at least wanted to let you know that you’re not alone in this world. I hope you find whatever you are looking for.
Therapy.
I can’t emphasise how badly you need to travel. I’m old and very well travelled, much of it for work, like easily 20 countries all across the globe and it has been a huge eye opener to experience different cultures, foods, make friends with fellow travellers, locals and has broadened my horizons on so many fronts.
Yes it can be expensive but it is something you will never regret if you can scramble the money together for it. Embrace it. Deeply.
If you’re in North America you can experience lots of cultures and experiences like the national parks in the US very reasonably. I’m guessing you’re not in Europe because travel is cheap AF here.
I honestly think it will bring down many of the current barriers you express.
Get a pet, you need a distraction and to look outwards a little bit perhaps. Mine give me a point since I enjoy their antics and need to be around to sustain them
Only do this if you’re going to be responsible tho. There’s enough deadbeats with pets that shouldn’t be trusted with an egg-timer let alone a moving, breathing, lifeform
My answer isn’t gonna resonate. It’s so frustrating how being depressed makes getting off the couch to go for a walk just feel like… Jumping into a mosh pit ot something.
Find a 2 mile walk to do every day. Must include at least one hill or set of stairs or something. Works best if in nature.
Marijuana constant masturbation and an overabundance of YouTube reality shows.
That got you right back on your feet.
(This is a joke)
You’re going to get a lot of advise about what makes life worth living, but it sounds like you have low level depression. Talking to a therapist and looking at an antidepressant are your first steps, along with the other things that can help with low level depression.
To rush to antidapressants as the first solution is to give up, and not a solution at all.
These are classic signs of major depression.
There are some decent comments here overall with stuff I bet would help you. But it sounds to me like you have lost the appreciation and rewards from life and the world around you. I would wonder if you have undiagnosed anxiety.
This isn’t going to sound great probably, but the problem isn’t the world around you, it’s just you. The good news, ‘you’ is the only part of this you can fix. The rest, totally outside of your control.
You need to retrain your brain. Slow down to appreciate the smaller things. Even the tiniest things. Read up on the raisin technique. I think raisins are kind of dumb, but apply it to everyday things. Go slow. Examine. Savor. Eat slowly. And with each bite think of the process that got that very thing into your mouth. From growing the ingredients, raising, milking, whatever. The process and storage, maybe inspection, transporting it to the store, you buying it and cooking it. The skill it took to do that and the history of you cooking to get there. It’s an awful lot packed into each bite. Do that with as many bites as you can. Be mindful. Repeat it. You don’t need a different thought every time. Just keep thinking it through. And apply that to more things throughout your day as you’re able to. It’s not an overnight process but it’s much faster than you might think to regain the value, passion for things. Do this people as well. Forgo the NPC thoughts, and delve in. How they got to be who they are. Ask questions over time and build a mental roadmap.
That’s pretty much it. I could have easily written your post word for word a decade ago. With therapy and general learning, fighting anhedonia was a process. And still is. But I do appreciate things and I look forward to things. I often look forward the most to me not being me tomorrow but a slightly better version of me.
Anti-depressants might help.
