Rift

Anybody ever feel completely lost in life? I have felt this way for a while now. Just not knowing why in the hell I'm here on this earth. It's an awful feeling to have and it can really affect your self esteem/self confidence.

I have just been thinking lately that I am still so clueless after all these years about so many things. I just don't feel like I have been progressing like a young adult should. Am I just gonna live some random/clueless/meaningless existence. This thought is so damn depressing.

Like job/career(still trying to figure out what I want to do or what I'm even good at.), relationships or lack of relationships, feelings of wanting to be isolated from the general popualtion and then feeling of loneliness and wanting to connect with people. Jesus christ I'm a mess.

Anybody else feel like this day to day? Just going through the motions and not really accomplishing anything....Thanks.

Dee74

I felt like that for a long time - it was one of the factors that tipped me from being a heavy drinker into alcoholism. Of course drinking just made it worse - it screwed up my self esteem,. my motivation and my perspective...but all those things came back with recovery

I found helping others, a bit of service work, was a great thing for me to do while I worked out my path - nothing like helping others to take myself out of my own head for a while. It helped me with the perspective too

I wish you luck finding your way DWD
D

ArtDeco454

Dee brings up a great point. Do some volunteer work. It can change your life and maybe just show you your place in the grand scheme of things. Good luck.

Muunray

Even with all the other stuff...some of the feelings you are having goes along with Erik Erikson's Stages of Development...

artsoul

I remember all those feelings very well. I spent most of my college days and into my 20's asking the same questions and envying people who don't think too much. I would go so deep and then wonder if I was going crazy.

Maybe look at the positive side - you're a seeker and a searcher. The questions you're asking are spiritual questions. And we have to have the questions before we get the answers, you know?

Take heart - and take it one day at a time. Life unfolds..........

A passage from one of my favorite writings by Maria Rainer Rilke:

Anna

Volunteer work changed my life and I met some of the best people ever.

firestorm090

Bruised and confused, yep, been there, done that, got the t-shirt, then used it as a dust rag to clean my new place, lol.

One thing that helped me through that stage of uncertainty was a little saying I read, that was close to "the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose". The hard part for me was choosing my purpose, which we all have to do at times. It evolves as we evolve, so it changes as we do. It helps to focus on what we really want to spend our time on, and how we wish to engage with others. Staying isolated is secluding ourselves from the very experiences that help us find meaning in life, so it helps to find those with whom we share commonality and embrace those relationships, such as all our friends here at SR. We can be ourselves here, which helps us find ourselves as well, and hone our lives into something which provides the spark/direction that keeps us going forward each day. After wandering in the woods lost for days, it's great to emerge and find our way home to loving friends and family that were awaiting our return. You are home here, so kick off your shoes and relax a bit. The rest will come to you in time.

brandonlee81

I've felt this way for a long time now. Thanks for your post, and everyone for your responses. It always helps to know I'm not alone.

How old are you, Down? (if you care to share)

newby1961

Oh boy can I relate and I am old as in June I'll be 50. Even though I haven't been in the drug or alcohol world for almost 7 years now I have a whole lot of wreckage that doesn't go away that I have to deal with on a daily basis. If I am not working any kind of recovery program then I fall into the Why me's, the only if, or the coulda, woulda shoulda. I forget to be grateful for what I do have. I am so hell bent on what I don't. I also although this is hard to admit, I get into this attitude because I have quit and turned my life around, life should be easier somehow, or that somebody should notice what a fine upstanding citizen I am now lol. Then the poor me's come and my disease talks to me and says"see nobody loves me, or cares, my life is always gonna be hard and blah blah blah. If I don't stop and get help I can get really depressed and sometimes even suicidal. So sorry to go on and on but I wanted to share all that so you know someone out here gets it just like some of the other people who posted. Keep the faith. Peace & Blessings Judy M

ReadyAndAble

Hey, DWD. Sorry you're going through this.

Life isn't meaningless; you just haven't found (or created) your own meaning yet. It could be argued that by pondering questions like that, and searching for an answer, you're progressing through life exactly as one should, regardless of age.

Bamboozle

When you're feeling like that it's doctor time. You just described me to a 't'.

Glad I got a therapy session Tuesday...feeling very out of sorts.

Rift

Thanks to everyone who replied. The positive side of it is that I am still 33 days sober even after these kinds of thoughts/questions about my life. Usually I would go straight to drinking when feeling like this.

Thanks again. It's good to know others feel like this every now and then. I don't feel so alone now.

Rift

Yea I hear it. I have tried ant-depressant medications in the past and they all seem to have negative/weird side effects on me.

I have tried therapy a time or two but I don't feel like it's for me.

Michelle922

As I was reading your post...it sounded like me! I think from "things" that has happened in my past and GUILT I started drinking and I became more lost in the world. Until recently, I feel as though I finally found myself. "Drinking, makes the "lost" feeling worst. I think as time goes on you will feel better about yourself and others around you...if something happened in your past that you need to let go, LET IT GO to the person or, persons that it may apply to. I've been doing that and I can honestly say; I am feeling good. Thoughs, feeling lost and finding myself feelings are going away. Sometimes we have to look deep inside of ourselves to find the problem. I hope I made sense.

Good Luck!

Dee74

were you drinking then DWD?

Just wondering...I know from my experience I negated whatever good anti-ds did for me, and created other interaction problems by drinking on them.

D

spen71

As other people have said this sounds like me. It seems to be a common train of thought with us alkies. I am hoping that over time the feeling I have that life is passing me by will go.

EntreNous

Your not alone. I found myself in your shoes many a times and still do. It comes and goes.

coffeenut

33 days is still pretty early in sobriety, lots of feelings and emotions. Sometimes they get amplified. Take good care of yourself. Coming to SR was an excellent move.

Glad you're here.

TexasNative

I think we've all felt that way at one time or another. I know I have. All I can really say is drinking makes it seem 6 trillion times worse, good for you on the 33 days. As more time passes you will feel more stable as well. When I was at 33 days (las August or so) I was an emotional train wreck. Hang in there.

Michelle922

Here's a thought. Is it the drinking that makes us feel lost or is it feeling lost that brings us to the bottle?