I, probably like many others, am struggling with exhaustion that seem hard to shake. It kills my hobbies and interests one by one, it makes doom scrolling and watching stupid shows seem like the only valid activities I can handle.
I have tried the "touch grass", I regularly switch off my phone to take breaks from social media, but it is hard to find motivation to anything but sleep and watch TV on the weekends.
Are there methods to deal with this sort of exhaustion from... gestures broadly at everything ?
Edit: after the initial replies I realized I probably should mention that I already do regular therapy and take prescription drugs for depression.
Edit 2: Thanks everyone for replying and handing out advice. My plan moving forward is to get some labs done to make sure I don't have any deficiencies and have my meds adjusted if they need to be. I will try eating better, be more conscious about sleep and regular exercise.
You may consider getting some labs done. I was deficient in B12 and found taking vitamins did help a bit. Cutting out / back on carbs and beer helps even more.
Not to entirely discount depression, but I have the opinion that we’ve become so addicted to a life of instantaneous everything that even brief moments of nothing happening can feel like withdrawal.
One suggestion: instead of regularly turning off your phone, just permanently put it in silent mode. Really consider what you must know immediately (for me it’s family phone calls) and allow only those notifications to come through. Everything else can wait for you to find the time to get to them.
I also struggle with this so I’m interested in the conversation. I love to read but have a really hard time choosing a book over television. I’m mindful of “blue light” and try to stop using any screen at all after 8pm but that can be difficult if I just want to unwind after a long day. People did it before tv though. I think maybe a less fulfilling life, or life fulfilled less, may actually be more healthy.
One suggestion: instead of regularly turning off your phone, just permanently put it in silent mode.
These days, I even set it to flight mode and vibration only for notifications, and I usually never check my phone during working hours.
I love to read but have a really hard time choosing a book over television.
Have you tried audio books or podcasts? I usually switch off my screens around two hours prior to sleep and tend to listen to podcasts and audio books until I fall asleep. Important to remember is that the voice of the narrator is super important, so make you get one that make you feel comfortable.
I don't even have vibration on. The display will turn on to show notifications but the vast majority of the time my phone is in another room on the charger. I even leave it at home some times.
I've had trouble listening to podcasts while I'm home doing other things. Perhaps I should try audio books and sitting down to do nothing but that. Generally, I don't like audio books for a bunch of reasons but they could be applicable for this issue. Thanks for the suggestion.
Something to consider when we talk about disconnecting and "touching grass"... it's not an immediate thing. You need to be vacation for several days before you can genuinely begin to relax and feel and positive effects. So this idea that we can just nip out for 20 minutes and leave our phone behind for serious benefit is pretty much worthless.
So if you're "disconnecting" and you spend the first few days just sleeping or staring at the TV, that's pretty understandable. You're paying off a fair bit of "rest debt".
WRT your update: That's great that you're getting professional help. Make sure (if you aren't already) that the feels you're sharing here are being thoroughly conveyed to your doctor. Medication can be fantastic, but you may benefit more from a different medication. All good things to bring up with your professional.
Good luck!
So if you're "disconnecting" and you spend the first few days just sleeping or staring at the TV, that's pretty understandable. You're paying off a fair bit of "rest debt".
This is actually a very solid point, thanks!
It won't solve everything but exercise and eating right can go a long way to ensure you're not antagonizing what I am assuming is your clinical depression that I suspect is what you are in treatment for.
The dealing with "everything" -you could try to find what specific issues are most important to you. Find out what you can do about them locally and participate in doing that perhaps through volunteering or otherwise. -That's what I try to do. Volunteering keeps my mind occupied and engaged in a healthier manner than doom-scrolling. It also makes me feel like I'm contributing to a solution (limited though it may be.) It's also good to figure out and try to accept that which may be beyond your control, but I don't want to overstep.
Another suggestion... have you considered if something in particular might be preventing you from getting good sleep? In my case, I've had restless-leg for quite awhile which was managed by doing some stretches before bed as needed. After a really car car accident, that went into overdrive, the stretches made no obvious difference and so I didn't think that was an issue any more, but apparently I was tossing and turning all night. I'd sleep for 9+ hours and wake up a zombie.
After years of this I finally talked to my doctor about it, we discussed a lot of things and I mentioned how I had previous had the problems with my leg pains at night. He decided to try treating this symptom and suddenly I started getting real sleep again. By now it has gotten so bad that if I forget to take my pills at night, my legs absolutely scream at me the moment I lay down in bed. Yeah I'll be on this med the rest of my life, but I'm getting good sleep now and feeling energetic the day.
The point is, your issue may be something you have already dismissed without realize fully how it affects you. When an unknown problem comes up, sometimes you just have to go back and reevaluate everything.
That's such a common thing these days that I have to wonder if humans have always had this issue, or if it has anything to do with our modern lifestyles. I was going to do a sleep study at one point, but when I took their questionnaire I checked off no on everything on their list. Then I found out my insurance wouldn't even cover it, and couldn't afford to do the study anyway. Ah well, if I ever get back to a point where I'm having trouble sleeping again then I'll reconsider.
Yeah it's hard to say. There are, at least, a couple of things you can do to mitigate the problem without any professional help
You've received a lot of great advice that I've seen. Definitely getting labs would be a good first step. I'd suggest working with your therapist on this, honestly. Supposing that you're not dealing with a deficiency or medication issue, it might be important to figure out how long you've been feeling this way, what way it is exactly that you're feeling, and figuring out what to do about it.
If your diet isn't particularly great I would make a serious consideration to changing your diet, especially if you're getting into your 30s. Lower your carb intake. Get lots of fiber and protein in you consistently.
Get a sleep lab done and check if you need a CPAP machine.
There is so much most want to do in life. Perhaps you are stretching yourself to thin, trying to do it all at once. Don't see the current lack of something as "killing" your hobbies. They aren't dead, you're working towards those things. It's a plan for the future. Right now you're focusing the energy you have right now on something else (for now).
I can relate, I suffer from anhedonia which sounds like what your describing, I wish there was a quick fix for it because and life can be a chore...very hard to overcome but I believe one day it will happen for us!
