Going through the motions...

[jakethebake]

Do you ever feel like you're just going through the motions? I've been feeling like this a lot lately, in almost every aspect of my life...work, most things at home, social interaction, relationships with friends & family.

There have really only been a couple of things I've been focused on or really felt like caring about. Everything else has just sort of been background noise lately. I seem to go through these periods periodically...like every couple of years or so. And they're hard for me to break out of.

I actually feel like just disappearing sometimes, going to live on the street or something. Not that I ever would, but I actually think in detail about what that would be like and what I'd do.

Does anyone else go through this regularly? What do you do to snap out of it?

[Bluffoon]

Spend some time with my son.

[coffeecrazy1]

I feel like this daily at work, mostly due to the fact that I'm in a transitional period with a transitional job before graduate school and bigger, better things.

But...it sounds like you need a vacation, man. I find a bit of distance is always good for perspective.

[A_C_Slater]

Don't you have a 1 year old daughter?

Maybe you subconsciously want to abandon her rather than deal with the added responsibilty.

You sickeee!

You're sick!

[dcasper70]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't you have a 1 year old daughter?

[/ QUOTE ]

Take her out for some shrimp. You'll feel better. Post pics.

I go through this all the time. What you're describing is depression. I usually just wait for something really bad to happen that resolves itself, and then I reasess my life, and realize things could always be worse.
Or, I go out and get really drunk, and then the next morning I am thankful no one died and I begin to appreciate things more

[MrTrik]

I felt like this after my divorce. I was making huge money and was succeeding in other areas of my life. But every now and then, especially Sunday nights for some reason, I felt like I was a zombie. Not really caring. Not really acting on [censored]. Like life was quickly passing me by.

I pulled out of it at some point. If I ever split with my current wife, I'm sure it'll happen again. But we're happy and I have many other things going on these days so maybe that would help if I ever slipped into that funk again.

[phage]

Have cookies and milk with your kid(s) whilst watching the peacocks?

[Blarg]

It can all stink until you make it better. You've got to happen to life instead of letting it happen to you. Learn the art of happiness, to appreciate what you've got instead of expecting it to weirdly be somehow more than or different from what it is. And find an interest. Nobody can be happy just buying stuff, watching t.v., eating and sleeping. Like history? Become more than curious -- go for competence. Like martial arts? Go for more than fitness, try mastery. Think your family is okay? Don't just keep a roof over their head, be the dad you wish you'd had and the husband you hope or wish your mother had. Have a goal that engages your maximum effort and would result in improving you and making you a more interesting or better person, or even a few such goals. Fulfill your intellectual, physical, and/or spiritual obligations to yourself. Life without goals and interests is not only boring, but a symptom of being inattentive. It doesn't matter you do, just pick something hard and do a at least a little of it every chance you get. And don't get the blues if sometimes you get a little tired of routine. Life is mostly routine, unless maybe you're a kamikaze. Find the routines you appreciate.

[asofel]

The average persons life is often a cyclical and repetitive set of actions. If nothing different happens, these actions begin to develop a rut. You're experiencing a rut right now, and its perfectly common.

They're hard to get out of because of precisely those things which create them: you can't just quit your job and go skydiving in Europe. You can't hit the reset button and start over new, as some can when early on in life. This can also lead to feelings of being trapped in this rut which takes a psychological toll.

Sometimes little things can break you out of them--finding a new hobby, making a small but consistent change in your routine....finding a new bar maybe [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

At times I feel similarly. Its probably just because I just hit the quarter century mark, and am having some sort of psychological crisis....if only there was a forum for me....

But anyway, for a variety of reasons, these feelings can start weighing you down, and I'm convinced that those who can't deal with these feelings well can ulimately fall into depression. Perhaps this is like an early mid life crisis for you...

Is there anything you could do now that you've wanted to in the past but have never done? Learn how to play an instrument? Learn how to cook something? Attend a certain annual event you never seem to get to?

Start doing one of these things, whether its little or requires some planning. This will break up the monotony and bring something different into your existence....and whatever it is, write a trip report about it [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]


edit: or you could just read what Blarg wrote [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]