What to do with my life if I don't want to do anything?

Hobby_Jogger_999 wrote:

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

It sounds like you aren't on the usual treadmill of life made up of wife, house, kids, cars, toys, and most importantly WORK to pay for it all. Make use of your freedom. Sell what you have and roam the country in a van. Hike the ATT or PCT. If you have no interest in anything you should consult a psychiatrist. They have drugs for that.

^^^This. OP, nothing is more dangerous than a person with nothing to lose. You are that person right now.

I imagine you have some interest in running, based on your post on Letsrun. What motivates you with regard to running? Is it the freedom? Is it the hope associated with one day realizing the fruits of your training? Is it the thrill of overcoming mental barriers in a grueling workout or race? Whatever the motivation, it seems that the same tools which you use in running can be applied to your social anxiety.

How would you act if you did not have to worry about consequences? What if, when you approached someone, you didn't have to worry about the long-term effects of them judging you, or thinking you are creepy? If you approach all interactions with this attitude, you will win. The problem is making it over the hump. Confidence comes from competence - by interacting with strangers and acquaintances, you can fail and thus learn. The key is not being paralyzed by the fear of failure.

Try writing down the worst case scenario, and then plot out what you would do to combat that. I am going to assume you are a male. What if you approached a random female in the street and complimented her on something small (like her bookbag)? The worst that could happen is that she screams and runs away. The second worst is that she takes a picture of you and calls you a creep, and posts your photo all over social media. Now, what is the likelihood of either of these things happening? Little to none. Take the risk and approach someone, and you will feel better - not about the outcome of the interaction, but the fact that you have faced a fear and conquered it.

Finally, you must frame failure in a positive sense. You will fail. Failure is viewed as a bad thing in childhood, but in the adult world it is good. Success is often gained through repeated failure. Every time you fail, you are closer to success.

Finally, you must frame failure in a positive sense. You will fail. Failure is viewed as a bad thing in childhood, but in the adult world it is good. Success is often gained through repeated failure. Every time you fail, you are closer to success.[/quote]

No kidding! I used this "fail until ..." strategy to begin three careers (lobbying, sales, fundraising) that I had no real business being in cause i had "never done it before." I stopped thinking that I would do something **when** I felt motivated and instead started to DO SOMETHING in order to motivate myself.

You don't run because you're in shape, at least not at first. You run because you need to get and stay in shape. Once you start running, you get faster and faster, but you don't avoid running because you're not fast.

Your thinking needs a major overhaul, OP. Depression is a groove that gets deeper over time.

pre-school teacher.

They will almost have to hire you because you are male.

Registered user wrote:

Here's what I would do

Work 20 hours a week (any job)

Volunteer 10 hours a week

Dedicate 2 hours a day to training

Read a lot

Hangout with intelligent and cool friends

Enjoy

You're not a loser. You're smarter than most people because you're not easily impressed. Even though society doesn't measure you that way yet.

Look, that doesn't change the fact that you kind of have to do something or end up in a bed of urine in the alleyway. I'd do what is suggested above. I've been burnt out before. Working part-time at 20 odd hours is a good way to find your fire again while making ends meet. It leaves plenty of time to run on the side, etc. Eventually that or another passion that you do on the side will probably flow into your full-time life.

Don't join the military just because you're bored. Didn't they make a movie of that (Jughead)?

Work for the government

Was this just an elaborate way of slamming people the serve in the military? If so you need a reality check son.

2 Years in Afghanistan would do you a world of good.

Live to run wrote:

Registered user wrote:

Here's what I would do

Work 20 hours a week (any job)

Volunteer 10 hours a week

Dedicate 2 hours a day to training

Read a lot

Hangout with intelligent and cool friends

Enjoy

You're not a loser. You're smarter than most people because you're not easily impressed. Even though society doesn't measure you that way yet.

This is probably the most profound insight I've seen on LR. If I were OP, I would delve into this more.

I make 100k a year. I bartend seasonal jobs around the world. If I want to golf, I hit up Naples, if I want to fly fish all summer, I work in Montana. Seeking adventure I have down Alaska. Currently I have bought a Sailboat and am cruising the south florida...

I bartend the busy tourist season. put 35-40 k in cash in a backpack, and hit a foreign country for a few months, then back to the states to hit another tourist area.

Took a few years to work my way up to being a top level bartender, but it's easy. Only you can change your life my man.

bartending in the sunshine wrote:

I make 100k a year. I bartend seasonal jobs around the world. If I want to golf, I hit up Naples, if I want to fly fish all summer, I work in Montana. Seeking adventure I have down Alaska. Currently I have bought a Sailboat and am cruising the south florida...

I bartend the busy tourist season. put 35-40 k in cash in a backpack, and hit a foreign country for a few months, then back to the states to hit another tourist area.

Took a few years to work my way up to being a top level bartender, but it's easy. Only you can change your life my man.

I would like to be you.

[quote]grade A loser wrote:

I've been burnt out since middle school and I really have no desire to work a job just for money to get by.

burnt out since middle school?

What a Legend.

Measles wrote:

Life is about the struggle not the achievement.

Challenge your anxiety head on - take the calls, go on the interviews and pursue new opportunities with vigor. If one thing doesn't work out, chase the next one down. You'll be a better person for trying not because of the end result

wisdom.

I was in a similar position last year and joined the army. My advice to you (and myself really, cause we all project) would be to follow whatever it is you daydream about, like what you picture when you're listening to music. Whatever gives you that enthusiasm. The anxiety you feel before job interviews is cause you know you're about to do something you don't even like! I'm starting to enjoy the army more now that I'm shifting my focus from escaping a crappy situation to chasing a dream. It involved a lot of suck though. I wouldn't want you to go through the same. It's a lot of bs in the military. Less so in the Air Force though. But don't pick a job you're not excited about.

bartending in the sunshine wrote:

I make 100k a year. I bartend seasonal jobs around the world. If I want to golf, I hit up Naples, if I want to fly fish all summer, I work in Montana. Seeking adventure I have down Alaska. Currently I have bought a Sailboat and am cruising the south florida...

I bartend the busy tourist season. put 35-40 k in cash in a backpack, and hit a foreign country for a few months, then back to the states to hit another tourist area.

Took a few years to work my way up to being a top level bartender, but it's easy. Only you can change your life my man.

Burning cash on a sail boat and 100,000 is a ton of money??.. yeah you are killing it.

Mr. Bodybuilder Bro wrote:

Live to run wrote:

You're not a loser. You're smarter than most people because you're not easily impressed. Even though society doesn't measure you that way yet.

This is probably the most profound insight I've seen on LR. If I were OP, I would delve into this more.

I second this. Not everyone falls for the hyper-individualistic, dream chasing culture we idolize today. Life is futility, and we are all more or less just biding our time, waiting to die. But you got to work to meet you needs. I may be wrong, but I'm guessing you (OP) still live with your parents. If so, you must move out. You will have no motivation to do the things required to provide for yourself, if you aren't forced to do so. Also, to quote the show RED OAKS, "work isn't supposed to be fun, otherwise it wouldn't be called work, it would be called chuckles." So to sum up, it's fine if you don't have any dreams to chase. Just don't become one of the lazy a$$holes that expects others to carry their load for them.

I get anxious over starting new jobs too, I don't think it's uncommon. And I used to feel like I didn't wanna do nothing with my life, either. But you gotta. Just get a job, any job that you can with your high school diploma, because you need money to live. And jobs keep you busy. Do I want to go to work each day, hell no, but I know if I was unemployed I'd get bored pretty quickly. So gets job and grind it out.... If you wanna join the military, go for it!!!

Burning cash on a sail boat and 100,000 is a ton of money??.. yeah you are killing it.

Unlike you my man, I am killing it. I don't have any student loans thanks to my running skills in college. I never bought that "american dream house" and filled it with kids and leased a few cars.

I have bought my families old farm in Michigan...75 acres. I own thousands in guns and ammo. I stockpile gold and silver buried in the back yard. I own a few old project cars that I spent months researching and watching youtube videos to build from the ground up I could flip anytime. I have download multiple stock trading apps and played around and double my money. I can walk into a woods, or ride my horse, and live for weeks in the Montana backcountry or BC mountains chasing salmon and now I have the skills to set to the seas...

I feel like at 27 I am a bit more ahead of you, and I am just trying to help a fellow person ;)

To the OP. Change your life. It's really simple. You dont know what YOU want, but first find you. It's easy. Let's start with this, do you like the cold or the hot weather. Hot, ok, tropical or seasons. Seasons, ok, how about southern cali? Tropical, how about an island country. Move yourself. Then in that environment, find what you enjoy. Maybe caring for animals, something artistic, or money in the stocks. Take a deep breath, throw away your social media and phone and start to see the world. How can you know where you want to be if you haven't even seen another part of your own country.

Sorry for the typing errors. Hard on the boat and after a long night of bartending...Cheers.

Marry a female medical specialist making 300+k a year and then live off her. A person at my hospital regaled me with tales of some of the deadbeats that women marry.

i really want to believe this, but just can't.