I am just curious if I am a minority here, but sometimes I just feel bored with living. I don’t mean in the sense that I am suicidal; it’s just that often times the monotony of the week just seems to get me down. I am a college student, and I know that Mondays suck. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a lot of classes, and Wednesdays are spent studying. It’s just that it gets old really quickly.
What do you guys do to help stay motivated? For instance my freshmen year of college I was really motivated not only in school but in life in general. I was so motivated to “succeed.” It just seems like now it takes too much energy to care anymore not only about school but about life. It’s too much work to worry about what others think of you. What do you guys think? Am I crazy?
im the same way. i dont know where it stops being normal and starts being depression though, but i can relate to what you’re saying. There really isn’t anything nouveau going on after a while and even if it does its not really important.
Yeah that’s it. I don’t understand when it becomes something serious or when it is simply something that will pass. I usually seem to get depressed this time of year anyway so I am hoping this will pass.
I know exactly what you mean. I’m a college student as well. The everyday grind is starting to get really old - the newness has worn off and I feel like I actually “live” here now (I’m a freshman, far from home). I don’t care one way or the other about doing anything lately. Even the events that should really stick out, whether good or bad, don’t really make me feel anything, one way or the other. I’m a psychology major, but I don’t have a clue what is normal and what is crossing the line in this regard, especially when looking at myself. Either way, you’re not the only ones feeling it.
I’d suggest talking to someone, professional or not, just about feelings in general. I don’t really take that advice myself though, so take it or leave it. IANA therapist.
I had that all through college (two separate degrees at two different schools), and still have it.
Once you realize two things: (a) “success” means whatever you want it to mean, and (b) you are NOT going to get rich and spend the next 40 years playing, you lose a lot of motivation, I think.
We Americans are so heavily socialized into thinking of every aspect of life in terms of money that we have a real problem when we either (a) decide that sometimes, an extra dollar isn’t worth the effort to get it, or (b) realize that we’re not GOING to get that extra dollar, period.
You have to find new sources of motivation, rather than trying to stick to the old ones that aren’t working. This is very old advice, but it often works: try to turn what you have to do into a game or other challenge. You get interested in what you’re doing, rather than in what may or may not happen when you’re done.
Absolutely, and then I reach for a pet, story, guitar, frying pan, flute, backpack, saxophone, bicycle, recorder, camera, cook book, harmonica, birding guide, synthesizer, flower, pen, keyboard, paint brush or new food ingredient that makes me feel better.
Yea, it happens to me. You have to do little things for yourself now and then, I think. When I start feeling like that, I go catch a movie (or rent a movie) or something to kind of shake up my routine and in college, it’s WAY too easy to fall into a routine.
If you’re bored now, wait until a few years after you graduate and the work-work-work-work-work-weekend-weekend grind sets in, most of your friends are married or have taken jobs out of town and you aren’t surrounded by 18-23 year olds!
Seriously though, assuming that you are just in a “rut” and not clinically depressed or anything, try joining a club or something. Pledge a fraternity or join an intramural or club sports team. Go to the gym. Check out a concert. College is a time to try new stuff. You don’t want to spend all your time playing Asshole or XBox with your roomates and studying.
There will be times you get bored. I live in NYC and I sometimes feel like there’s nothing to do. Then suddenly, I’ll have too much going on and I won’t see my appartment for what seems like a week.
Anytime I get that mood going I usually find some relief by listening to some good music, reading, watching a movie, or talking with a loved one. Sometimes I can just play over an old chess game from years ago, or read old letters, or even watch home movies. I don’t get that depressed as a general rule, but the feeling does come by once in a while.
I suppose the best examples I have found for coping have been the Japanese haiku poets. The wisdom and appreciation for Nature and Life expressed in those poems has been very helpful in generating a sense of “it’s all part of the game” that lets the serious setbacks and disappointments be seen in a perspaective that’s not as painful as it might otherwise be. Taking oneself too seriously can be painful. It’s easier to laugh or at least smile at the hard knocks and boring stuff. It all wears off eventually, or at least it has so far.
Considering how hard others have had to deal with things that are way more serious than I have had to face so far, makes me reluctant to take my situation too seriously. I’ve had it pretty easy, even in the harder of times. Surely I can weather a few more storms before I start taking it too hard.
Besides, some of the best jokes are built around hopeless situations. Just find them in your own.
Just kidding yeah I know what you mean. I get like that too. You just need to make some changes in your life. I’d start by taking less hours, giving yourself some more free time to do the things you like to do. I try to spend more time outside, hanging out on campus, doing my homework in the library as opposed to my room. But yeah, it passes, I relapse every once in a while but I don’t think it’s something you’ll be stuck with. Try new things, check out places you’ve never been to, talk to random people… it’s all good.