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What helps me is ensuring that I'm fulfilling various facets of my life, for example;

Income - a satisfying and fulfilling job

Mind - meditation

Body - gym

Hobbies - rowing

Self development - part-time degree and learning Spanish

Socialising - volunteering group, seeing friends and family

Try and find something you like that ticks each of the above boxes. I also try and get a 10 minute walk out in nature most days, I feel like it really makes a difference.

I look back, realise that I'm still young, ~20ish and that even if I'm not going somewhere I know of or have certainty in, I have to take the steps to go where I want. Regarding your lack of enjoyment in things (Anhedonia), it's a waiting game, at least for me, because I can't enjoy what I used to, but I know I did at some point, so I make sure to keep my physical health at baseline, 3 or 2 meals, especially if I haven't eaten all day and I'm still not hungry, medication if I'm on any, water when thirsty, go out if I have obligations/responsibilities, and your physical health will be a safety net for when you mental health dips, Also, go into rabbit holes, learn something new about a creative art like photography's rule of thirds or how a Camera works, they can change how something looks in life sometimes, and if you want to sleep all day, so be it, sleep, Eat and fulfill obligations.

Someone else mentioned taking leisure as a good thing at times, If you have no obligations to fulfil; like work, Understand that leisure IS now the new obligation. Like on a weekend where you have nothing to do, treat enjoyment as a task to complete, because if you're struggling to do so, it is a task now. sometimes taking a day to enjoy your day is something that's difficult, and therefore, should be a objective to be proud of, personally, I've had that and so have mental health professionals I've talked to.

I'm also spontaneous, so a 2hr train ride by myself or with a friend that has planning from the night before just to get food is sometimes pretty fun.

Btw, not a professional, but keep practising mindfulness, or other DBT skills, or just check out DBT, it's useful for day to day stuff and not specifically for a certain diagnosis. If you're trying to change perspective, keep learning and practice techniques and skills, think in extremes then another extreme then contrast the two and think of the juxtaposition between each and find the middle ground... For an extreme format of perspective shifting, but don't get lost in the sauce of things.

Additional notes about anxiety (TW?), I'm kinda extreme, so I did exposure therapy on my own, or negative mindsets to understand that anxiety is pointless to think about if everyone is thinking the same thing, but it can go deep and dark if you're not careful.

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This has been reposted like 3 times in the past months

Yeah explain this shit to some 7 year old mining cobalt

Begin an adventure learning all sorts of information. History. Science. Become a student of humanity. There's this particular thing where as you mentally navigate through history you recognize that you could have been anyone anywhere. You could have been Jewish in 1930's Europe. You could have been taken as an Aztec sacrifice. A lowly farmer just trying to get by and be left alone.

Eventually you have enough knowledge to have this picture of how we got here. How we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and yet almost all people just tried to get by same as you and I.

How the hell did we build the skyscrapers? Where does all the poop in a city go and how ( I mean its a lot). How in the flying fuck did we actually get people on the fucking moon? How did we ever decide its reasonable to run wires everywhere and use electricity for freaking everything.

There's something so very healthy that comes with this curiosity. You sort of feel like you become one with humanity. You don't have to be an investment banker or navy seal to be on this ride.

I’d argue this song is much more appropriate

>It comes from overcoming things you thought, you couldn't.

So it does come from things you can do?

Start small. That’s the biggest thing when it comes to productivity and feeling like you aren’t wasting your life. People are generally too ambitious and will over commit at the beginning without building a foundation. “People will overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade”. I don’t know who said it and frankly I don’t care enough to look it up but it’s one of the quotes I live by. A little bit of productivity in many areas of your life over time will ALWAYS outshine the grind set mentality for only a week.

At the end of the day, you’re in control of your life. Nobody else is. If you are trying to do something to not feel like you’re wasting your life it has to be something you want to so. It can be a skill or hobby or passion you want to develop. Whatever it is, just do it right and take pride in your progression and growth. It’s a mindset shift that I’ve tried to adopt in which you take full responsibility for what you want to get out of life.

Questions to ask yourself: what do you want? Do you simply not want to feel depressed/unmotivated or is it a symptom of something larger, that you feel this way because of xyz? Once you can set a clear, concrete goal that can be broken up into bite sized goals with measurable daily, weekly and monthly progress things will look up since it comes back to you.

A little background, I’m a professional athlete and full time student. I honestly feel like I’ve been depressed for years and deal with anxiety about everything I can’t control. All the bits of advice I wrote are things that I actively do for myself that have made positive differences in continual progression, which helps me manage the constant feeling that I’m not doing enough or that I’m wasting my life. Hope this helps, feel free to dm if you want more advice

Not much different than now, I would throw a goodbye party tough, and stop worrying about the future 😅

A point of view that stems from a more pessimistic starting point; my life has no inherent value. If I do nothing with it it's not a net loss, it's a net even. ANYTHING you get out of life is a fundamental increase in value. If you derive a small amount of pleasure from reading a book or eating a bowl of icecream you have wasted nothing, you have gained a little bit of joy.

You aren’t the only one suffering from this. But you are the only one that can do something about it for yourself.

For me it’s simple, I tell myself that life as no meaning so to be honest I have no idea of how it can or cannot be wasted. In the mean time I make sure my daughter got everything she needs and I am curious to what will be his answer to that questions and others.

I feel the same way, I don't even have a partner to share anything with. Honestly, when I go on dates. I almost feel so much apathy for dating. It just makes it harder. Almost like ground hog day. Same conversations every time.

I booked some solo trips and got my passport a few weeks back. I want to start traveling and making more of my time off. Try and get out of my rut.

Set goals. Something short term, mid term, and long term. Examples: get better at job, have a family, travel. If your goals are true goals, and you live your life according to those goals (maybe ideally with somebody whose goals are similarly aligned), you should feel fulfillment. If no goals come to mind, or your near term goals are lacking in fulfillment, seek counsel in your therapist.

I'm not OP but this is an absolutely amazing outlook on life. I'm trying to implement this right now. It's crazy how many good things happen when you just simply take a deep breath and start working on The Stuff.

I severely underestimated how much working from home was affecting my mental health. Might be something to look into if at all possible. Sure work from home has its perks, but spending most of my day out of the house has done wonders for me.

True

Work out. It’ll get you addicted to achieving goals, like gaining weight or losing it. Upping your bench, etc. and that’ll leak into other parts of your life. Worked for me anyway, use to be 140lbs at 6’1 in high school and when I got to college I wanted to change and now I’m 10+ years in and I’m in the best shape of my life and it has given me the confidence to set my mind towards anything. The change starts small with something like getting out of bed everyday to go to the gym, then you start eating healthy, then you start living healthy, and before you know it taking care of yourself is part of your routine and not something to be forced. Life doesn’t have to be spent dedicated towards noble tasks. Sometimes just taking care of yourself is enough. And once you learn to do it for yourself you’ll find you’re better equipped to take care of others too. You’ll be a better brother, son, father, husband. And a life spent being good to the people you love is a life well lived.

Getting the F off social media, stop watching porn and using your phone. You’re not going to “intellectualize” your way out of this mindset from Reddit. Start reading positive mindset books, make exercise your new life, get more sun exposure, and add more value to your relationships. Get off the internet, if you are not intentional about what you are doing on it, it will become an echo chamber of weakness, sadness, and mediocrity, especially if you are a man. When you start to feel better consistently your mind will find natural avenues to provide value and your path will be laid clear before you.

Or attractiveness.

What's worked for me this year is the "everything is fucked, a book about hope" audio book. The understanding between the "thinking"brain and "feeling" brain really put things into the right perspective for me. Can't recommend it enough.

It's not a power, the Jedi would teach you