Currently I am a uni student, working 4 days a week during the summer, moving to about 3 during term time.
Every day I’m not working I feel tired constantly, regardless of amount of sleep. I push through anyways to get the work that needs done finished, then sit down and just collapse basically. I wouldn’t even call it relax, just sit and switch off.
I don’t have any energy or motivation to play games anymore, even though I used to play avidly. I play guitar but it’s been feeling like I’m not getting as much out of it now…
Once I’m out of uni, I’ll be in full-time and, if I get into the industry I want, more mentally taxing work.
In short, is there something I’m missing here, or is work-eat-sleep-repeat all there is until I retire? Cause frankly I’m more sure I can be arsed if not…
EDIT
Thanks for the responses, I kinda posted this in a moment of hopelessness for life and I don’t really know what I wanted as a response.
Asking for the meaning of life? Lemmy’s great and all, but I don’t think I’ll find it here lmao
Regardless, there’s a few things here for me to look into and take further, so thank you again!
If this is to close for comfort for rule 3, feel free to delete mods
Anhedonia or depression.talk to a professional
In short, is there something I’m missing here, or is work-eat-sleep-repeat all there is until I retire?
You might die before then. I definitely saw “bottlenecks” in my mid-20s and late-40s where friends dropped like flies and some never got back up again.
Anyway, it sounds like you are having a crisis - people talk about the mid-life crisis but they can happen at any age but often a turning point:
- Late teens - wait! I have to grow up and get serious?
- End of Uni - wait! I have to get a job and all that other adult nonsense?
- 30 - wait! I should really be married and having kids by now.
- 40 - wait! My biological clock is ticking, I haven’t been promoted like I thought I would and my body is starting to creak.
- 50 - well that didn’t turn out how I wanted but there’s still time.
- 60 - where did my life go? Ah well, retirement is looming, I can’t wait for all that free time.
- 70 - death is looming, where did all that free time go?
Unfortunately, the meaning of life is what you make of it, so start managing your expectations.and don’t measure your happiness against other people’s - they’re probably less happy than they appear.
I can’t claim to have any clear answers but find.out what you love doing and build your life around doing more of that. Don’t let your worklife eat into your personal time. Stop caring what people think about you, but that’s not a license to be a dick. Make the world a better place for having you in it. If you need help, ask. Eat well, don’t smoke, drink in moderation and wear sunblock - these things will help your later life be more worthwhile.
I think at around age 50 theres some negative sentiment towards younger generations and that racket they keep making. Source: am 50
I truly hope this never becomes me.
I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you
As others have said. If you feel like shit all day no matter how much you sleep then its most likely a diet issue. It’s crazy how normalized completely shit diets are. Its not going to be easy to fix. You’re going to have to do a lot of experimentation and research to see what works for you. I never really had a terrible diet and I felt okay most days. Never thought much of it but once I started to exercise more and looked into sports science on diets I realized how bad my diet actually was. After changing it and getting proper nutrition I was pretty shocked at how much better I felt. I was awake and alert all day and got great sleep. Definitely get a blood test or something. I also recommend doing some research on getting quality sleep. If you’re getting a lot of sleep but its shit quality then it doesnt mean a whole lot. Consistent sleep schedule, eating at the right times, and managing the light you take in during the day can make a huge difference.
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You might check out mealime. It’s got the same information, only you put in a meal plan and it creates a shopping list. So if 2 recipes call for a half a head of cabbage each it’ll have you buy a single cabbage.
Can it propose meal plans as well? If I don’t have to think about what to eat, I feel less anxious and usually eat better.
It has a bunch of recipes to choose from for free and the subscription is worth it, though I’d prefer they billed actually instead of $3/month.
Great, thanks for the info. I will check it out.
We found these too expensive and wasteful, for what you get, to continue using them. But we did keep some of the recipes and we still make them on our own.
If this helps someone get a jumpstart on home cooking, it’s well worth it. You can get the same from just trying more things from a cookbook but if the hassle of planning and shopping is a barrier to getting started, then by all means try one of these services and learn to cook.
I was in the same work-eat-sleep-repeat for years and the only advice I have is to go see a psychologist (the one who helps by talking, sorry for my English). Ironically, but you need to work to build the work-life balance, and that’s may be hard on start
You realized this much earlier than most people, which is good! Honestly I’ve never found a good answer to this…
You can try to minimize the time you spend working by getting a remote job or a part time one, or ideally try to pile up some money to take a year (or any time) off if you’re confident that you can get another job after that. Minimize the money you spend on material stuff so that you can work less, or go somewhere on vacation…
But if you find a good solution please let me know :)
or is work-eat-sleep-repeat all there is until I retire?
Yeah pretty much mate, welcome to adulthood.
If you make enough money you can have hobbies on the side or occationally take breaks from the routine and do something fun.
Assuming one gets the chance to retire. The trajectory things are currently on, I’m not counting on it.
I’m definitly not counting on it. Couldn’t even afford a prope retirement plan as they are advertised and recommeded.
My retirement plan is probably picking up extreme sports when I’m really old … let the odds do the work.
Sounds like you are burnout.
Pretty much that’s it.
There’s ups and downs.You’re just learning how to become an adult
Sounds normal to me, growing up brings a lot of changes and responsibilities that you aren’t used to. We all go through it and find our way.
Are you eating enough healthy food? I used to have some periods of lethargy and depression caused by an inadequate diet.
It sounds like you’re experiencing anhedonia, which is strongly associated with depression. Ultimately life is cyclical, day to day, week to week, etc, but there should be frequent periods of happiness sprinkled in there, where you spend time doing things you like with people you like. If you can’t find anything like that, maybe talk to a therapist.
“Should be”.
And if not, work harder and have less frequently so you can pay for expensive therapy.
That’s why we need to strive toward working less hours in general. Full time hours take up most of your waking hours when you factor in prep time, commute etc
What you do with your free time can make a world of difference of course but the math just doesn’t work out when you get home and have like 4 hours to do everything you need to do before you have to go to sleep.
Agree… The fact that many people here think that if you’re not happy woking, eating, sleeping then you’re probably ill, it kinda scares me tbh
There isn’t much else unless we start a revolution.
You’ve had lots of advice, so I’m not going to give any, but wishing you well mate. It’s really hard when things feel like this. I hope it gets better for you soon and I’m optimistic that it will.
I don’t have any energy or motivation to play games anymore, even though I used to play avidly. I play guitar but it’s been feeling like I’m not getting as much out of it now…
Once I’m out of uni, I’ll be in full-time and, if I get into the industry I want, more mentally taxing work.
If you don’t want that life, refuse to live it. You can survive on less money than you’d think, and you may be able to find ways to make money that are more chill or enjoyable. You can aggressively plan for a very early retirement. If those turn out to be next to impossible, well, you may have a very hard time, but you can still refuse to work and deprive society of what it definitely does not deserve from you.
