Comment by edkennedy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by edkennedy | Hacker News Reader

I have felt something similar in the last few months, and have been feeling the repercussions since then. Everything around me in my life was wonderful, in fact it was the best it's ever been. Deeply in love, working at a highly paid highly skilled job, enjoying my free time and continuing to improve my living situation. However, I felt a sincere lack of motivation and my results had started to decline.

Recently I have gotten back on track. What assisted me in that process was: 1. Talking about my feelings and listening to the life experience of my partner. This is humbling. You are not alone. 2. Getting back to the gym. This was a huge motivating force, getting your blood pumping makes you feel alive and is the quickest way to get to where you want to be. I also changed my diet (no more coffee, alcohol, junk food). This takes self discipline. 3. Lastly I remembered to have fun. The most stressful times for me was when I forgot to do the things that made me happy. Celebration is another part of being alive.

I think this is great advice. I've been in some dark corners myself, and the parent comment resonated with me, especially:

* It seems like you're the only one dealing with this, but you're really not. My friend describes us as ducks -- all calm above the surface, padding madly underneath, but only you know about that. Everyone you know is dealing with something, and wondering why they're the only ones. They're not, and you're not.

* Exercise really does go a long way. After a long bike ride I get what really is best described as a "peaceful, easy feeling" (oh man I hate the effing Eagles) but it's true -- after a hard ride or workout you realize how much better you feel, and how stressed out you normally are in comparison.

* It sounds ridiculous, but's really easy to forget to have fun. Don't forget to do the stuff you love. When you do, you'll feel "more like yourself" again.

Anyway, the main thing to take away is that (as you've seen from these comments) lots of people are in the same boat, and there are things you can do to help yourself.

Good luck!

I agree with you on #2: going to the gym and traveling to work on my hobby (travel for rock climbing) has helped me feel a lot better in the moment, but ultimately feels like I'm putting off what's actually bothering me.

My diet is good already, but I feel like I should relax it a little bit (more social drinking, maybe a little more junkfood) as it will help me be less pre-planned and more free-flowing and social. I consider myself introverted (as many guessed and seemed clear), but am not stereotypically introverted: I have many close friends and don't have ridiculous anxiety attacks when meeting people. (Sometimes I do though).

Just relax more, if you frequent places like HN, you can easily get a feeling of inadequacy, don't fret about it. You're in your mid 20's, lot of people her are in their 40's and 50's. As for the occasional anxiety when meeting people, just do your thing, become truly competent in the things you consider to be important....once you have this, the anxiety will disappear I suspect.

When you get older and things like family start to pull on your attention, you'll realize that if you really gave it your best shot, that's good enough, whether you were a famous smashing success or not. Just work towards being happy for yourself, not towards what you perceive the community expects you to achieve.

In addition to the advice above:

1. Take Omega-3 supplements.

2. Build an asset that you can use later no matter what you decide to do. For example, if you can get 5,000 RSS subscribers to your personal blog then this is something that's going to help you for the rest of your life.

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