Poll: Ever feel like you're sleepwalking through your life?

[Ace of Spades]

You're really starting to remind me of Fight Club. "When you have insomnia, you're never fully awake."

 

[ElephantGuts]

I sort of know what you mean. Like, you have the potential to do a lot more, and you should be doing that, but instead you're just doing the same old thing?

I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about, I think what I described is more like wasting your life. But it sounds like you're talking about a similar thing.

 

[Disaster Button]

I have to say I gave this a cheeky "WTF".

I sometimes feel like it isn't real ya know. Just like.
This has to be a dream (cliche) kinda dealio.

But sleepwalking....We maybe be thinking about the same thing but I am just interpreting it the wrong way

Yeah I know what you mean, but I usually just feel liek that when something good happens. This is more of a kinda, drifting through your life, just not caring about anything that happens, it's kinda hard to explain

Are you talking about like, a brief moment in life?

Cuzz I can relate to that totally. It doesn't last longer then a couple of hours but...

You're right it is hard to explain

Not really brief, I've felt this way for at least a month, but some people can feel it for longer or shorter times.

 

[the1ultimate]

I feel like that when I wake up, and sometimes it's like I don't really wake up and can waste a whole day without thinking.
Mostly morning runs and getting up early fix this though. I don't know if we are talking about the same thing though.

 

[Frankydee]

I would say I feel like it myself but in a different sense than what you are suggesting. I made the observation the other day to myself that it seems like my day to day life pretty much consists of nothing but routine and more routine.

This being that I 1) have a minimum wage job that I go to every morning, 2) do the same thing every morning at said job and 3) do pretty much the same thing every day when i come home which usually doesn't stray far from either sleeping away the afternoon or slacking off.

Que in NIN "Everyday is Exactly The Same" and you'll get the basic idea.

 

[Disaster Button]

I feel like that when I wake up, and sometimes it's like I don't really wake up and can waste a whole day without thinking.
Mostly morning runs and getting up early fix this though. I don't know if we are talking about the same thing though.

I sort of know what you mean. Like, you have the potential to do a lot more, and you should be doing that, but instead you're just doing the same old thing?

I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about, I think what I described is more like wasting your life. But it sounds like you're talking about a similar thing.

Pretty much both of these things some it up entirely for me yeah.

 

[EnzoHonda]

Yeah, this feeling hits everyone once in a while. When this has happened to me in the past, I have a weird thing that happens. I look in the mirror, and can't really identify with the person looking back. This apathy, lack-of-self, or even depression can only be beaten by having a purpose in life.

When you don't care, it's because you have nothing to care about. Here's what I want people to do. Think of something you love (animals, children, story-telling) or maybe think of something you want to solve (injustice, world-hunger, cancer, crime) or even think of a characteristic you love (compassion, strength, awesomeness, beauty). Ok, now, when you really think, you will come to some ideas about what is important to you. I did this a while ago, and I now know what is important to me and what I want to do with my life. Since this has happened, I am now "that guy who is actually going somewhere." What I'm doing is not for everyone, and that is the point.

Summary: find what you really care about. Anything else will eventually turn you into an unhappy zombie.

(This may all be a little too serious for an Escapist thread, but I recently went through my "mid-20s crisis" and now have my shit together. I just had to find out what mattered to me.)

 

[Standby]

Without trying to come off as condesendng or patronising (apologies if it sounds so) but if your profile is correct, a lot of people go through something similar to this around your age, i know i did.
Obviously some of the people who replied to this thread could be a lot older yet feel the same so i'm not claiming to be a psychology expert, but if theres any advice i can give it's that these thoughts/feelings etc. do pass in time, it's just something you have to work through yourself, or maybe through confiding in someone you can speak to about things like these.

 

[DARKLARK]

Drugs help too but maybe thats just me lol

 

[Disaster Button]

Without trying to come off as condesendng or patronising (apologies if it sounds so) but if your profile is correct, a lot of people go through something similar to this around your age, i know i did.
Obviously some of the people who replied to this thread could be a lot older yet feel the same so i'm not claiming to be a psychology expert, but if theres any advice i can give it's that these thoughts/feelings etc. do pass in time, it's just something you have to work through yourself, or maybe through confiding in someone you can speak to about things like these.

Well I've been told that most people my age go through this, but no one else that I know seems to, they all seem secure in themselves and no exactly what they're doing. And this is more or less what I'm told when I told someone how I felt, no offense, so I'm not really sure what else to do other than think it through which also hasn't really helped me so far

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Sometimes I feel like what's happening... isn't even happening. It's hard to explain but I'm just there, but not really there. It's not an out of body experience or anything, but my body going into autopilot. It's hard to explain.

 

[Disaster Button]

Yeah, this feeling hits everyone once in a while. When this has happened to me in the past, I have a weird thing that happens. I look in the mirror, and can't really identify with the person looking back. This apathy, lack-of-self, or even depression can only be beaten by having a purpose in life.

When you don't care, it's because you have nothing to care about. Here's what I want people to do. Think of something you love (animals, children, story-telling) or maybe think of something you want to solve (injustice, world-hunger, cancer, crime) or even think of a characteristic you love (compassion, strength, awesomeness, beauty). Ok, now, when you really think, you will come to some ideas about what is important to you. I did this a while ago, and I now know what is important to me and what I want to do with my life. Since this has happened, I am now "that guy who is actually going somewhere." What I'm doing is not for everyone, and that is the point.

Summary: find what you really care about. Anything else will eventually turn you into an unhappy zombie.

(This may all be a little too serious for an Escapist thread, but I recently went through my "mid-20s crisis" and now have my shit together. I just had to find out what mattered to me.)

I've done this before, and it usually helps, but sometimes I just end up feeling like this again (although this is the worst its been in awhile) so what if I can't find what I want to do on my own or if it's more than just this. I know it's kind of a big thing throwing this all at you but I really don't know what else to do.

(I like to sing, even if im not very good, and like to think I'm a good writer, and I like to tell people stories. And passion is a characteristic that I love)

 

[Bendon]

I live this feeling haha

I'm a bassist for fuck's sake, in a rock band no less. Sleepwalking is my job.

 

[Valiance]

I know this is probably gonna do down a little weird, and its very possbile most people won't know what I'm talking about, but do you ever feel like you're sleepwalking through your life? Or you're not being the real you, that you feel you could be?

What I mean by this is do you ever feel like you're living someone else's life, or as though you don't feel exactly yourself, or like you just don't care about anything? It's almost as if I can just kinda float through my life and just not to do anything whilst everyone else seems to have all these things going on..

It's a kind of weird thing to describe but I really hope you guys know what I mean by this because it's starting to bug me and want to know if anyone else feels like this or if they know how to stop it?

EVERY.
SINGLE.
DAY.

Spoiler

Please let me know when you find a way to change yourself into caring about petty shit like everyone else so you can smile and say "I like those ones!!!" while watching fireworks instead of wondering how much energy, money, time, resources, and development was put into making some shit blow up to look pretty. Like, the colors involved, the physics involved to make them trail across the sky, to make extra parts explode after a few seconds...

Etc, etc.

And you should also let me know when you find a way to not only nullify your own mind, but you can also make other people understand that you don't think MJ being dead should STILL be front page news, while the state senate being deadlocked because of a coup is on page 20+.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Only after a night of heavy drinking.

 

[Artemis923]

I know this is probably gonna do down a little weird, and its very possbile most people won't know what I'm talking about, but do you ever feel like you're sleepwalking through your life? Or you're not being the real you, that you feel you could be?

What I mean by this is do you ever feel like you're living someone else's life, or as though you don't feel exactly yourself, or like you just don't care about anything? It's almost as if I can just kinda float through my life and just not to do anything whilst everyone else seems to have all these things going on..

It's a kind of weird thing to describe but I really hope you guys know what I mean by this because it's starting to bug me and want to know if anyone else feels like this or if they know how to stop it?

I feel like I'm watching a movie of someone else's life. I see, hear, and feel everything, but I don't feel any emotional attachment to anything that's really gong on.

Like I just broke up with my gf of two years, and I don't feel a damn thing. She was a great girl, and I really liked her, and I don't feel any different now that she's gone.

 

[AkJay]

Whenever i am in school, i sort of like, go auto-pilot, which can be frustrating for friends of mine, because i normally stare off into space when they talk to me or say hello.

 

[Laura.]

Yup, happens a lot when you are 6 months in a bed with a mutated brain. Then when you are fixed everything is crystal clear again

 

[EnzoHonda]

I've done this before, and it usually helps, but sometimes I just end up feeling like this again (although this is the worst its been in awhile) so what if I can't find what I want to do on my own or if it's more than just this. I know it's kind of a big thing throwing this all at you but I really don't know what else to do.

(I like to sing, even if im not very good, and like to think I'm a good writer, and I like to tell people stories. And passion is a characteristic that I love)

Ever considered getting involved in music journalism? I'm not kidding. Find something you have a passion for, study those who have done it in the past, talk to people who are doing what you want to be doing.

Start a blog, right now, not tomorrow, now. You don't even have to be a good writer (look at Dan Brown). You just have to do it. Seriously, "Music and Passion from the Disaster Button" is a blog that has an audience. It builds a portfolio, which makes more things possible in the future.

Take singing lessons. You'll meet people, do something you enjoy, and get better at it. Any downsides there?

Even if none of this stuff is anything that you actually want to do (I went real heavy on the music stuff), you'll be closer to what you actually want to do. The big problem is that people often settle. The comfort and ease of what we are doing is so much easier than taking a chance.

It takes a lot of work to know what you want your life to be. When it hits you, it hits you like a bolt from the blue. I remember the exact moment when I realized what I was going to do with the rest of my life. It's a good feeling and you'll get it too.