Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here has come across this dilemma while thinking about their life, achievements,motivations,etc. Upon reflection I have realised that I have been very uninterested in really pursuing a career since 3rd year of my uni. What's most worrying for me is that the past 3 years I have spent a great deal of time(majority of my days) reading stuff on the internet. And then at the end of the day, I feel bad for not spending time working towards something meaningful or productive career wise. I have had it so much so that I almost jeopardized my university. It almost is like an addiction, but not the kind where I neglect food,showers,etc or social life. I dont feel the vigour that a lot of people seem to have to pursue various goals in their life and to shape it the way they want to. So, I started doing some research and found that I might be suffering from dysthymia. But then I also think I might just be very very bored and feeling disenfranchised by the options available to me career-wise. I often feel very confused and paralysed about what to do next with my life. Or I might just be suffering from some kind of computer addiction. Have any of you faced ever faced such questions? If so, how did you deal with them and what would you advice me? Thanks!
I think that slapping a diagnostic label onto how one thinks, feels or behaves can be a seductive way of absolving oneself of personal responsibility for the choices one makes. "I can't help it, it's a syndrome...". You feel uninterested in pursuing a career but feel you should be pursuing a career? Start exploring what you want to do with the rest of your life. It's OK if you feel a bit lost or adrift; many people do at this stage of life still need to find their passion. Maybe the university course you are on is just not where your passion lies.
Show me a person who isn't, except rare exceptions. Do you really think that bunch of people had a life dream of becoming a insurance salesman, or bank teller ?
Just remeber that whatever you plan or chose at this stage, it's fairly likely you may find yourself doing something fairly different in 10 or 20 years time. You can reasonably expect to be working into your 70s so you have at least 50 years of it ahead. This isn't to depress you but to say that not everything is determine now and you will probably do a few different jobs in your time. I read physics, qualified as a Chartered Accountant, worked in Risk Management and became a developer. But I'm actually currently planning is to become a schoolteacher. And in there I spent a year running an ice cream parlour.
The internet is the single worst place to get anything medical related be that drugs, diagnosis or advice. Talk to a real person about your concerns.
I think that needs tattooing on a lot of peoples foreheads. OP: It's up to you to motivate yourself, IMO. If you need someone else to motivate you, then as far as I'm concerned you're doomed to fail. Yes, it takes effort to find out what motivates you, but that's the only way out of the rut you're in. Right now, it might not be so much about getting a career as getting a job, and then when you're in a working routine you'll be better prepared to find a career.
Isaac, I'm sure they're millions around the world feeling the same as you do, I know I do, but for now I'm not even going to bother looking up that diagnosis. My two cents: barring ill-health and accidents you can expect to be kicking around this place til you're at least 80. When that time comes is there anything you can see yourself regretting not doing? If so, get on and do it. But if you're like me your answer will be more like, "not really" because you feel everything in life is trivial and find it generally absurd how serious people take everything. Ergo you can't falsely motivate yourself to be interested in head-bangingly banal work stuff. The internet passes the time but you probably do reach for it too habitually, I know I do. Stop yourself from doing the habitual stuff for a few days and see where it gets you. For me that means not opening a browser at all. It won't necessarily resolve the feeling of fecklessness you've got, but it will highlight how easy it is to get into and out of an internet habit and it will certainly make it easier for something a bit more novel to enter your life.
I wouldn't disagree that wrongly putting a label on something can be like this. On the other hand though, if there is something fundamentally wrong then not getting help out of a sense of pride or desire to take responsibility can be dangerous. It's not really possible or sensible to judge on a forum. As the theshadow2001 said, talk to a real person face to face about it and don't be afraid to at have a chat to your doctor if you or others think there really is something amiss.
That's where the "start exploring" comes in. Careers advice, student counselling etc. First rule in mental health formulations: common things commonly happen. Before we reach for diagnoses like dysthemia, lets rule out the common explanations, e.g. isaac12345 just really hates his university course. It doesn't interest him, it leaves him cold, he just doesn't see himself building a career in that direction at all.
Well, no. LOL, that would be that last thing it would be. Look, in 1999 I was diagnosed with Dysthymia. But I still agree with your statement that it 'can be a seductive way of absolving oneself of personal responsibility for the choices one makes.' That is spot on. Not to mention, there are ways of combating it in your daily life that allow you to function normally. Exercise, sunlight, diet, socialising; they all help. More importantly, the diagnosis is a pathway to recognising the low points in your everyday life. It helps you identify the things that make the condition worse. Boredom has nothing to do with it. I'm never bored. There are books to read, skills to learn, food to eat, beer to drink. Am I always pumped and super energetic? no. But I can always identify the days that will be tough and what it is that makes them tough. You work around them or through them. As for not being crazy about a career path, that is a whole different issue. That would be a large section of the book, I know all about that. Edit: I have found that the absolute worst thing for low grade depression is to sit in a dark room and surf the web/play video games. Hell, that's bad for people with out mild depression.
......Chronicus Procrastinitis, unfortunately there is no easy cure for this disease. Step 1. Decide what you want to do with your life. Step 2. Plot a course of action, from where you are now to your goal( See step 1). Step 3. Break down the course of action (see Step 2) into manageable chunks, then schedule these chunks of activity into a planner/calendar. Step 4. Execute your scheduled activities(see step 3) with samurai like discipline, kill anybody who gets in your way. ^^If you cant be arsed with the above, then get used to being a bum wandering aimlessly through life & stop stressing about what might have been. Just enjoy what is, we're not here for long.
Those are basically the things research says make people happy. I think it is as simple as people having varying levels of default happiness.
No, not quite. I know that for me, sunlight has a HUGE effect on my moods. The Middle East and Africa were almost free from some of the worst of my moods. Where as here, as the winter looms, I can feel it lurking. Well, maybe you're right. Maybe those things that make most people happy are most beneficial in stabilising the issues with mild chronic depression. Which makes them all the more valuable in combating the stagnation a lot of people feel.
Some people are more temperamental than others: their mood is more susceptible to influencing factors. Others are more stoic and harder to move from their centre. Do sunlight, weather and seasons affect your mood? Hell yes. So does diet, sleep, activity, social bonding and all the other stuff that id good/bad for us. Mood is also a matter of interpretation. How do you experience it, what does it mean to you, how do (you feel able to) regulate it. If you expect happiness to be a constant euphoria that can only be elicited by wealth, hot men/women and lots of kinky sex, be prepared to be miserable a lot. If it means contentment and inner peace to you, you're more likely to experience happiness.
