I feel like I'm there, I was there before Covid and feel like it's worse now. I legit have no motivation to do anything and I know I'm pessimistic and not fun to be around for the most part. If anyone wants further stuff I can deep dive but I need some advice because I feel like I'm stuck in the wallow not to escape. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
It's the whole theory of the "God shaped hole".
I don't adhere to any faith so that exact iteration doesn't scan with me, but the theory does. The idea is that if you identify yourself by your faith and theoretically faith is built on love and forgiveness, then your anchor is something built on love and forgiveness and your overall countenance will be built accordingly.
So if your 'anchor' is your politics, politics is built on connivance and backbiting and on its BEST days compromise (and even compromise means choosing between things you believe it). And this isn't new - it always has been. Go all the way back to Washington's second term and the National Gazette. Fucking Jefferson installed Freneau to snipe at Washington...while a member of Washington's cabinet.
I don't expect everyone's anchor to be their faith (though I will concede that the people I know who do tend to be very happy people as a whole), but man - it can't be something as pernicious as politics.
It's why I loved WilliamtheIrish's post so much. I don't know if he's a man of faith but whether he is or isn't is not relevant, if he has a 'god shaped hole' he's filled it with volunteer work - something inherently good. For others its exercise. Others family.
It just cannot !@#$ing be politics. It can't be sloth or envy or avarice or lust (sadly). There needs to be something there and it needs to be built on a positive framework.
After 20 years wandering the wilderness, my anchor is now in my faith, and I will tell you, I feel better than I ever have. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigBeauford:
I know this is probably WAY overgeneralizing but I've noticed a lot of white families don't have that same super close-nit extended family system like other ethnicites have (again this is probably a sterotype). I don't have someone in my family that I can call up if I'm having problems, I really just have to figure out my emotions and problems on my own.
It’s probably not too far off, depending on where you live. I know here in the rural upper midwest, we have pretty close-knit families. The youth group kids I had that suffered from depression and anxiety almost always came from broken homes - the ones that had strong extended families were much more stable.
We are designed to love and be loved. If that’s not there, we are going to have issues. It’s that simple. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Franchise:
I’m about there.
Look man. I’ve been there. Serious disassociation with a job.
I know you’re not looking for advice, but I would strongly suggest that you compartmentalize your life. At least mentally. Draw a hard line between who you are and what you do for money.
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
Look man. I’ve been there. Serious disassociation with a job.
I know you’re not looking for advice, but I would strongly suggest that you compartmentalize your life. At least mentally. Draw a hard line between who you are and what you do for money.
Stay sane out there folks.
Excellent advice. A job is a means to an end. Don’t let it define who you are. We are all so much more than that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
Look man. I’ve been there. Serious disassociation with a job.
I know you’re not looking for advice, but I would strongly suggest that you compartmentalize your life. At least mentally. Draw a hard line between who you are and what you do for money.
Stay sane out there folks.
I try to as much as I can. Seems to be getting harder to do over the last 6-8 years. [Reply]
My Dad is a Lock stock and barrel Fox News guy. FIL is a Dyed in the wool CBS guy (even though he’s more conservative than I am. IDK man. He’s just him). And if politics are in their mind they’re fucking miserable. Both of them.
Same goes for my wife who is pretty apolitical, if she reads shit on Facebook that winds her up she’s just fucking miserable.
It doesn’t help that Facebook knows that rage gets clicks and their algorithms put that shit in your feed. Less sophisticated, but cable news does the same shit.
This above is why I rarely ever go on social media anymore these days, because it's almost like everything people are posting is politics or just some dumb shit in general. It's just a mind fuck.
There are only at least three or four websites that I get my news from, and one of them is CP. Others are sports related.
I don't have cable, and I rarely ever watch any news these days, outside of the weather and sports. [Reply]
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
My 'anchor' is reading about covid for 4 hours/day. I probably should get a new hobby.
That might be strongly recommended. Reading about COVID for that much in a day could mind psychologically fuck your head up.
I don't even bother with COVID stuff anymore. If I just do my part and taking precautions to protect myself (1st important thing) and try to help on protecting others (2nd important thing), you're doing enough.
I just spend time reading books, playing video games, going for walks, hanging on CP (other than politics and I don't venture too much into the COVID arguments), anything just to keep my mind occupied. [Reply]
This is a fantastic thread and it deserves to be stickied.
Everybody that has shared their experiences or beliefs are showing someone else and angle to approach what might be possibly ailing them, and I mean that starting with me. Thank you all for your stories and insights. We need more of this these days.
Originally Posted by Bowser:
This is a fantastic thread and it deserves to be stickied.
Everybody that has shared their experiences or beliefs are showing someone else and angle to approach what might be possibly ailing them, and I mean that starting with me. Thank you all for your stories and insights. We need more of this these days.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
It's the whole theory of the "God shaped hole".
I don't adhere to any faith so that exact iteration doesn't scan with me, but the theory does. The idea is that if you identify yourself by your faith and theoretically faith is built on love and forgiveness, then your anchor is something built on love and forgiveness and your overall countenance will be built accordingly.
So if your 'anchor' is your politics, politics is built on connivance and backbiting and on its BEST days compromise (and even compromise means choosing between things you believe it). And this isn't new - it always has been. Go all the way back to Washington's second term and the National Gazette. ****ing Jefferson installed Freneau to snipe at Washington...while a member of Washington's cabinet.
I don't expect everyone's anchor to be their faith (though I will concede that the people I know who do tend to be very happy people as a whole), but man - it can't be something as pernicious as politics.
It's why I loved WilliamtheIrish's post so much. I don't know if he's a man of faith but whether he is or isn't is not relevant, if he has a 'god shaped hole' he's filled it with volunteer work - something inherently good. For others its exercise. Others family.
It just cannot !@#$ing be politics. It can't be sloth or envy or avarice or lust (sadly). There needs to be something there and it needs to be built on a positive framework.
Glad I stopped in yesterday and opened this thread. Really glad this is stickied. (Although I'm still in the Detox camp of "smoke more weed").
In my initial post, I was going to discuss this aspect, as I was a catholic raised boy. Although in various religion classes we called it "the void". Simply put, we were taught that from birth, every person, no matter how small were looking to fill that void (and it should be with god).
And while I, like you, have no adherence to any particular faith, we discussed this "void" at length in 8th grade religion class and in religious studies in high school as a junior and senior. The questions, concerns and answers then were as varied as in this thread today. Which I find amazing and rather joyous. People in this thread willing to help a stranger, not for any other reason than they show the human trait of caring.
To me, in my personal life, I look at it as an evolution. Filling "the void" with material objects of money just doesn't feel as good as seeing the eyes of your child or grandchild light up when you walk in the room. This evolution is a full time gig, I tell ya. Not a day goes by now that I don't think of something that helps my outlook on life.
For instance, I was walking by the TV last night and saw Jimmy Fallon was introducing something as he was holding an album. Turns out, it was Alanis Morissette, from a remote location singing a new song with her toddler child in her arms.
She sang and the kid interrupted her and smiled and giggled and played with her headphones. It made me smile to watch a person interact with their child while singing a song, promoting your new album, on national TV. I don't know why. It just did.
As I reflected on it today, I thought maybe it made smile to see a person who sang such angst filled songs in the 90's, evolved to be happy mother and wife. Because I smile like that when I see my own children these days.
I fell asleep with that thought and today, just thinking about that clip, has made me smile all day. It was really worth the 5 minutes to watch. [Reply]
This thread has been really helpful to me. I've been going through burn out for the last couple of years. Couple of cases I was involved with were a large part of it. I'm out of those cases now but I'm still feeling what you all are talking about: lethargy; no interest in work; no interest in life. Covid hasn't helped.
I'm out of those cases and that has started to make a difference. A friend told me the other day when we were having lunch that in the last few weeks he can start to see the old me coming back. I think I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. [Reply]
About 20 years ago. I was under a lot of stress at work and my heart felt like it was gonna explode out of my chest. I was always pissed off and miserable when I’d get home. I went to the doctor after work and my standing heart rate was 121 beats per minute and my bp was 145 over 95. My doctor freaked out and took an ekg and those readings were fine. He asked if I was dealing with stress at work, and I said yes. So he told me to take the next Monday off and come in to see him after a 3 day weekend. My bp was 110 over 70 and my standing heart rate was 72 beats per minute. He told me it’s stress and you have to learn how to deal with it.
After that I changed my whole attitude. No job is worth dying over lol so I started my “I don’t care attitude campaign™️“ I went to work and said to myself I’m going to do the best I can and if it’s not good enough for you you can go fuck yourself. Well it turned out I actually performed better at work with the new attitude and wasn’t as stressed out. It worked out very well for me. Everybody is different and you gotta figure out how to deal with your own situation. Just my two cents. Good luck! [Reply]
