No Interest
I am a female in my mid twenties. I want to like knowledge and activities. I have no interest in anything really.. Even if it’s as simple as reading an article. I don’t do anything. I always feel very fatigued to do anything so I feel like a potato always. Don’t really know what help I’m expecting and I don’t really reach out much, but figured I’d give this a chance.
As Salaam Alaykum
I’m glad that you did give this a chance and that you reached out. Sometimes even if there is no earth-shaking, life-changing answer to your situation, just the act of allowing yourself to be open to exploring possibilities can create a shift and shed some new light. Life is always moving forward and change is constant. The most important thing is not to get stuck in one place or in one state of mind. The key is to learn to adapt and go with the changes. Decrease your expectations and increase your patience. While you may feel like a potato today, insha’allah that will change and life will move you into a place where you discover a purpose and motivation.
In the meantime, I recommend that you practice pushing yourself a little bit to tolerate new things even if they seem uninteresting. The more that you are exposed to new things, the more opportunity you will have to find something that clicks and sparks your interest. Don’t worry if nothing does at first, just continue putting yourself in new environments and new experiences and trying to just simply witness things.
I understand that it may be the simple fact of feeling like you lack the motivation to even get yourself to those new experiences. Try to use the momentum of other forces around you. For instance; friends. If you have any friends that are into something, join them in that experience and witness them being excited and interested about that thing. It doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to like it or that you should copy their interests. It’s just a practice in order to activate something inside you that may be dormant right now. You can get inspired by someone else’s focus and attention and it can light a flame inside you that you never knew was there. It just takes witnessing more, seeing more, experiencing more. So either tag along with a friend to their activity, or read a book they are reading and hear their opinion about it. Or you could join a group of some sort that meets based around an activity, like a martial arts class, or painting class, or bike riding club. Like I said, you may not enjoy the activity but you are doing a personal study for yourself. You are observing and experiencing. Enlist a friend or family member to go with you so that you don’t wind up staying home. Use the people around you to help break your cycle of inactivity and apathy. While it may not be a huge problem right now, you don’t want to let it grow into a larger one. It is very important to be engaged and active in life so that you stay connected to positive energy and stimulate your mind, body and soul to live fully.
Making dua for you and sending you lots of life and vitality!
Your brother in Islam,
Fatima “Y”
HA18
Salaam my dear,
I am not a therapist, or qualified in any way, but it kind of sounds like you may have some depression. I think it is important to see how long this has been going on and to talk to your primary care doctor about it. Your doctor may be able to refer you to someone who could give you an accurate diagnosis. At the very least, you will know if you do or do not have depression. That itself could be a large breakthrough.
I like “Fatima”s suggestion where he suggests that you try to go out and about with the intention of not having to like something, but to just see how it makes you feel. This is a great first step to see if there are any activities that peak your interest and could possible energize you more. It’s also a good exercise to discover what you absolutely do not like and what drains you (which is equally important to discover). It is possible you may be in an environment which is not suited for you in certain ways and so you can use other environments to help you recharge. It is also important because it can give you very valuable insight to how YOU energize or de-energize yourself.
Is there someone, a family member or friend, who is involved already in any activities? You may be able just to tag along with them and that would be easy. For example, if you have a friend or sibling who takes martial arts classes you could go to his/her class to see what its like. If you want to try something by yourself, you could try your local community center to see if they have any classes. The easiest way would be to try something at home. For example, if you are into art, its very easy to find a sheet of paper and just see how you feel after trying to draw something.
How you are feeling is not something that can be solved with one piece of advice, or with one experience. This is a journey you will have to go through, step by step, experience by experience, challenge after challenge, to discover the intricacies of yourself and why you are feeling this way. When you gain insight little by little you will be able to figure out the best way to live your life for yourself.
I recommend that you keep track of how you are doing and feeling by writing down your thoughts about your day or about anything that might be bothering you (in a journal, for example). You don’t have to write about finding a solution or make any judgments about how you feel, but simply write about how you feel. For example, you could say “I tried karate class today. It was really hard and physically demanding. I felt uncomfortable being surrounded by people I don’t know and looking stupid in front of them.” as opposed to saying “I went to karate class today. It was such a disaster, I am so out of shape and everyone looked at me like what is she doing here? I don’t know anyone there. I am definitely not going back because i would just be embarrassing myself. I’ve never felt so ridiculous.”
In the first example you are acknowledging how you feel. In the second example you are just judging yourself. The first example allows you to energize yourself by getting those negative/scary thoughts out of you and unto the sheet of paper. The second example de-energizes you because it is just so harsh and has no possible solution. Not only that, you are not actually acknowledging how you feel and you are just putting yourself down. You may not talk exactly the same way as my example, but at the very least you can get a major breakthrough by discovering HOW you even talk to yourself. Your attitude and self-talk may be contributing to why you are feeling so down and de-energized. At the very least, writing about what is going on could give you insights to the people and event(s) around you that contribute.
I am very glad you took the time and energy to write on this site. I wish you the very very best. Please continue to post and leave any comments as you continue on. Sending you lots of love and duas!
FeelTheHeal
Hi Sweetheart,
Asalam o alaikum. Firstly, be sure to go for a complete physical. I was feeling similar a few months back…hopeless, tired and completely out of it. My doctor was very nice and found out I am Vitamin D deficient. It made a huge difference getting the right nutrition and vitamins into my body.
Secondly, this part of your life could be the best part of your life- as in this is the peak of good health, mental stability, not as much responsibility or obligations as the future brings (with husband, kids , inlaws, a house to run, etc). Ask yourself, do you really want to waste your time giving in to laziness and hopelessness?
You need to find what brings you to life…push yourself to read a book, go out and meet a friend, have coffee and watch a funny movie…find joys in little things then set aims to try out new things and find what may bring you back to life.
Take my word sweetheart…it’s too early to give up and waste life laying around. If you don’t change today…as in right now, you may end up with a lot to regret when your 60-70 years old and yearning for youth, health and excitements.