Occasionally I have these days where I don’t feel like doing work or chores. So I’m thinking, why not just enjoy myself, do something that interests me?
But then I don’t find any motivation to do anything really. Not even the things I normally enjoy very much.
Typically I would then waste time browsing or watching videos, but that seems to make it worse. How to snap out of this?
Connect with the natural world. Go find some woods where there aren’t a lot of people and just be alive in them.
Sometimes I find myself on my phone too much. I’ve found it useful to try to remember something I saw online a week ago. Frequently I cannot. This makes me upset at the time I am wasting.
I started disc golfing again last year and I play every weekend and it’s keeping me sane. It’s like walking in the woods with a purpose. I like to go before anyone else is playing in the morning. It must work because my wife encourages it and it means her watching our toddler alone for a couple hours.
“Touch grass” unironically without judgment.
Personally i find mediating outside to be incredible satisfying experience. It still takes allot to get motivated and actually do it, but i have never regretted doing so and i am more motivated to do things back inside after.
Rather then doomscrolling i then actually continue the game or book i told myself i was gonna finish months ago.
The key as i have found it for my person is to be at psychological balance. Cognitive zen.
Easier said then done and i still end up wasting time scrolling most days but theres something “real” there and i haven’t found a better direction that resembles the true path of living a full life.
Also a good idea for people like us is to delve into a nerd hobby with outside applications. Astronomy, Geology . Ecology. I am having a great time just properly identifying things in nature other then “stars, rocks and plants”
I’m pretty impressed that people can still have moments of doomscrolling and enough time to also go outside and meditate, and then still be capable of working enough to earn money to survive.
I think going outside for a walk and meditation are both great. But they are also the first things I tend to drop when overwhelmed with work. Which of course makes it only get worse over time.
Caveat: this can potentially be dangerous. I used to go outside a lot when I felt bad, but it mostly let me stew in my bad feelings with nothing to permanently distract me from them. Now I always bring headphones to listen to music, because that’s a lot better at distracting me from the bad feelings.
I think distracting yourself from bad feelings can also be dangerous of itself when taken to extremes though. I remember using games to distract myself from bad feelings, but then I would play too much, start feeling uncomfortable, and feeling like I need to play more games. (which just made everything worse)
Of course you should still have time to do things that make you happy. But often I found that things I thought were special interests, were more like things I do to distract myself from bad feelings instead of things I actually like.
Great that you found something that works for you. Going outside is definitely helpful, but I also feel that that is the most difficult for me to do in such times. I hope I can turn it into more of a habit going into the future
Thanks. I understand. Maybe in the future you will be successful getting into nature or maybe you will find something that is even better for you personally. I believe you’ll find what you need.