I don’t like this feeling.

[Deleted member 42060]

I’m not depressed or anything, but I find it difficult to enjoy. This feeling caused me to almost give up on writing. I’ve lost interest in all kinds of stories, be it anime or western movies. The only thing I’m interested in is food—I shit you not. I’m only happy when I have my McDonald’s, and everything else is just a chore.

Forcing myself to enjoy an enjoyment while not being depressed is just the worst. It’s somewhat borderline apathy or contentment. But aside from feeling this weird apathy, I feel kind of scared since I’ll be the most boring person ever if I start enjoying nothing. The only things I’m looking forward to are my lunch and dinner—that’s it. And that scares me. My happiness is getting more shallow and shallow.

I don’t know. I think it would be better if I was depressed—but I’m not. And that’s what makes it worse since my feelings aren’t clear. The inability to enjoy without being depressed—just makes you feel like a numb robot.

Have you guys felt the same way too?​

 

[BenJepheneT]

I have. Multiple times. You have no idea the amount of hours I spent laying on bed feeling apathetic about everything, on how nothing interests me and not even my favourite hobbies can ignite that enthusiastic spark, sometimes at days on end.

The way I fix this is by sitting myself the fuck down and treat it like it's a problem. This might not work for you, but brute forcing my enthusiasm out has always worked for me. It's like sports: you start out okay, then you get bum fucked tired, but if you persevere, you'll eventually get into the groove. The groove will come like an indecisive maiden. Sometimes an hour, sometimes a week, sometimes a month. Do it regardless. By the time you feel that spark you'd thank yourself for having made that unenthusiastic progress. This works more for creative stuff, like writing, or drawing, or music production, or cum jar collection, or what have you. For more entertainment oriented stuff, I find that writing reviews and making analyses, even if they aren't accurate, to help with my engagement with media.

The road to happiness, sometimes, isn't an inviting wave. Sometimes, you have to actively chase it with all your might. If sitting on your bum ass eating a McChicken doesn't save it, it's time to have a Plan B.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yes.

 

[RavenRunes]

Now and then. It's incredibly frustrating and that only makes me feel worse. Thinking about what I should be doing, but don't actually want to, makes it worse. Especially if I try it anyway and then suck at it because my heart's not in it.
The feeling usually goes away after a fortnight max: I'm lucky that I have an allotment so I just go and pull weeds. Mindless, but I don't feel like I've totally wasted my time. And yeah, at those times, I can only look forward to food.

 

[Deleted member 57675]

Perhaps interests have changed. You no longer have the motivation or interest to pursue writing wholeheartedly (ik that feel). Perhaps your destiny calls you and its time to set up a youtube channel and make vids with titles like how to flip burgers better than mcdonald.

You could be in burnout, writer's block., etc. Sometimes interests disappear while new interests come up. Its life. We go through different stages of things, and these things move and change eventually while others stay consistent. But in the meantime, while your old interests are temporarily away, why not focus on making the best out of your new interests (food)? Be it vids about food, cooking various foods, blog about foods, etc. It may not be appealing but why not give it a try? That way when your old interests (writing) comes back, at least between then and now you got something worthwhile to show.

And if need be, you might need help.

 

[greyblob]

that's depression. stop what you're doing (youtube, anime, novels, etc.) and break your routine. go outside take a long walk sit in the sun visit the beach. and if all you're looking for is food try picking up cooking

 

[CarburetorThompson]

that's depression. stop what you're doing (youtube, anime, novels, etc.) and break your routine. go outside take a long walk sit in the sun visit the beach. and if all you're looking for is food try picking up cooking

I’d add to try and talk to a doctor as well. I know insurance isn’t the best for everyone but nowadays mental health is taken more seriously and usually you can get some level of help partially or fully covered be it you aren’t on a catastrophe plan. Though I can only speak on this as an American.

 

[greyblob]

I’d add to try and talk to a doctor as well. I know insurance isn’t the best for everyone but nowadays mental health is taken more seriously and usually you can get some level of help partially or fully covered be it you aren’t on a catastrophe plan. Though I can only speak on this as an American.

i don't trust doctors and i refuse to give them money

 

[CarburetorThompson]

i don't trust doctors and i refuse to give them money

I’ve generally had a great experience with doctors, though I can understand why my experience could differ from that of others, which is why I say that I can only say from my point of view as an American. I don’t know about OP but if they are in the US and have the ability to I would suggest talking to a doctor. In general I have trust in my country’s mental health field.

 

[Ninini]

I can tell by your pfp

 

[Deleted member 57675]

that's depression. stop what you're doing (youtube, anime, novels, etc.) and break your routine. go outside take a long walk sit in the sun visit the beach. and if all you're looking for is food try picking up cooking

I’d add to try and talk to a doctor as well. I know insurance isn’t the best for everyone but nowadays mental health is taken more seriously and usually you can get some level of help partially or fully covered be it you aren’t on a catastrophe plan. Though I can only speak on this as an American.

Good points.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Go touch some grasses?

Stay away from toxic people?

Live, laugh, love?

To be honest, while I do feel the same as you most of the times, I know what my cause of problem is. It is just excrutiatingly hard to remove.

Personally my tactic would be to have some alone time at the beach, park or even the local playground. Please beware of shitters, shankers and social justice warriors (if you look like a pedophile for the last example of location) , because there is nothing more lonely than be in a crowded room and no one to interact to.

Talking to the folks in this place or any other online places is also nice, if you and maybe some of us here are comfortable, go for a zoom or teams call to get some human interaction. Make some friends, have a kitkat, enjoy your time on Earth for happiness is a fleeting feeling. Enjoy the tiny things in life.

Like my dick.

Look away from your problems for awhile, but never stray too far because the problem will always be there. Watching. Waiting. Instead, throw it aside for awhile as you kick back and relax.

Or just gungho like Ben over here and push past the adversity, that might work.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

i don't trust doctors and i refuse to give them money

I've been there, but sometimes, it's necessary.

I went to a doctor for depression in my early twenties. She wrote a prescription right away, and I read the side effects of the pills. Loss of libido was listed, and that was already an issue for me, so I decided to stop taking birth control pills instead because those were a possible cause of my depression and they weren't doing me any good anyway. Depression cleared up after that.

There's no shame in taking medication if you really need it. I didn't feel that it was the right choice for me, but some of my friends take medication for their mental health, and it works for them.

 

[greyblob]

I've been there, but sometimes, it's necessary.

I went to a doctor for depression in my early twenties. She wrote a prescription right away, and I read the side effects of the pills. Loss of libido was listed, and that was already an issue for me, so I decided to stop taking birth control pills instead because those were a possible cause of my depression and they weren't doing me any good anyway. Depression cleared up after that.

There's no shame in taking medication if you really need it. I didn't feel that it was the right choice for me, but some of my friends take medication for their mental health, and it works for them.

beside the horrible side effects, it's a literal addiction. trying to quit depression medication is a nightmare. you shouldn't take prescriptions for depression unless you have some genuine condition/disorder

 

[CarburetorThompson]

beside the horrible side effects, it's a literal addiction. trying to quit depression medication is a nightmare. you shouldn't take prescriptions for depression unless you have some genuine condition/disorder

you shouldn't take prescriptions for depression unless you have some genuine condition/disorder

What do you think depression is?

 

[AliceShiki]

I’m not depressed or anything

Honest question... How do you know that?

Do you go to a psychologist and/or to a psychiatrist regularly? Because like... The psychiatrist is the one that can confidently tell you if it is or isn't depression.

I can confidently tell you that extreme apathy IS a depressive symptom. It doesn't necessarily mean you are depressive, but it's definitely something that should be triggering a red alert on your head.

If you aren't going to a psychologist or a psychiatrist, I suggest starting. A psychologist may help you go through whatever it might be that is troubling you right now, and a psychiatrist might be able to better tell you if this is depression or not (a psychologist can also tell you this to some extent, but their specialty is different and they can't give you the prescription for the medication, so they'll at most tell you that they suspect you have depression and recommend you go to a psychiatrist), and recommend medication in case it is depression.

Like uhn... I don't suffer from depression myself, but I do have ADHD, and I spent years telling myself that I had nothing and that I just needed to focus on work and get my things done... After 5 years of trying and failing to regularly work at home-office, I decided to go to a psychiatrist and got an ADHD diagnosis and started taking meds for it... Lo and behold, I can now work at home-office after 5 years of failing at this.

Your situation is different than mine, but I still highly recommend getting professional help... Telling yourself that you don't have something when you don't know if you have it or not is a bad idea. You might just be hurting yourself.

 

[greyblob]

What do you think depression is?

mental state

 

[gaylolis]

i do sometimes feel unmotivated and stuff, but usually i got through them by just going to bed. perhaps it's the notion that reality is limiting and we're just a mere human with no power and couldn't change shit. but with our imagination we can go anywhere and experience everything we want. if you had something bottling up, just let it go since we don't have any limits there.

one of the things i love to imagine is relaxing with a bottle of wine, beer or any kind of alcohol that made me all warm and relaxed. it's kind of hard to get them in my country and expensive af, so i got to cope somehow.

or maybe just try to create your friend in your head. not sure if it works for everyone but it helps me quite a lot.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

beside the horrible side effects, it's a literal addiction. trying to quit depression medication is a nightmare. you shouldn't take prescriptions for depression unless you have some genuine condition/disorder

Indeed. Modern medicine is imperfect when it comes to diagnosing such things. I'd really like to see more hormone tests being implemented before doctors jump to medication. They did some tests on me, but the only hormone they tested me for was thyroid because my dad has low thyroid, and I specifically requested that test.

 

[Deleted member 68927]

Why don't you try to write something without caring if it becomes popular? Write for your personal niche. A story you have always wanted to read but never found on the internet or bookstores. Then, after each writing session, make the chapter, or chapters, into an MP3 and listen to them. You'd be surprised about how many things we forget during the writing period that come to us after.