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Why do I (or you) feel passionless?

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posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 11:23 AM
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Today I'm asking for help regarding a problem I've had for years. Simply put I have no passion. I have yet to find a reason for my existence.

As a child I did not have any dreams or aspirations, no secret ambition to be prime minister, or an astronaught or a policeman...it just didn't happen. Nothing I was exposed to grabbed my attention or set fire to my thoughts. While others have always had goals and plans, I managed to flit about willy nilly without a care in the world...the problem being, that as a man with well above average intelligence I have always had a nagging suspiscion that something was wrong with me. But as a child I managed to convince myself that it would happen eventually, and so I waited, I experienced, I grew and still nothing.

Flash forward to near the end of high school. I've accomplished much, from public speaking to large crowds, running for student council and winning, writing for 3 newspapers(one a slightly tabloidesque national paper) going through cadets and sports and winning awards and accolades. It all felt hollow. Others felt pride and maybe a nudge in the right direction, getting ready for their next step in life while I worried incessantly about not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up. Still I realized I'm young! I'm about to head to university, even though I don't have a clue about who I want to be I'm sure this will be the place to figure it out.

Flash forward again, I'm an educated person, working a dead end job. Living the plan b life (as reference to another thread) not unhappy but not overly impressed. During one of my brow beating sessions, where my mother decries the waste of not using my gifts, I asked her a very simple question, when have I ever seemed like something mattered to me? She was dumbstruck, referencing failures but unable to come up with a succinct and plausible answer, so I asked my friends...little use as well.

I always thought that something would show itself as the reason for me to be here. But instead I am left with questions. Why am I unable to find a passion that will lead me to fulfillment, I do not wish to settle. How do I discover what is important to me? As I've done a poor job of it. What does it feel like to find your niche? How many people are like me, searching for something to stand stark naked in front of them screaming "this is you!"?

I wish for more, I want a direction. My family views me as the quick witted failure and I'm tired of it. Simply put, how do you discover what is important to you?



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 11:33 AM
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reply to post by the cynic jester
 


You are clearly showing the symptoms of Sodium Fluoride poisoning.

That combined with the futile existence we find ourselves in has served to crush your will and passion.

I am reminded of the Monty Python, Life of Brian tune.

"Always look on the bright side of life, doodo, doodo doodo doodo".



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 11:36 AM
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reply to post by the cynic jester
 


The system is beat, but I still have passion. Yeah you gotta deal with alot of bs, but it could be worse. With that said, you can still find passion and be able to succeed at what interests you, and distance yourself from the other system. Part of the American dream involves risk.

Live well. Enjoy.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 11:39 AM
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I have been the same all my lif, and i had no ambition too, and i have been passionless since school where i found out they used electronic mind control on peopel to ridicule them.

So your not alone, and what you should do is set yourself some goals, and try to keep to them. Everyone needs goals, and unfortunately my life has no real chance of ever being able to be lived as the uk gov would never let me live. If you are left alone to live, live your life, but unfortunately peopel like me are just here to be tortured till we die by scum like uk police and gov, and with no reasons.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 11:49 AM
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Sodium floride poisoning? How do you over come that?

I love life, I just don't understand why I've never had that drive others talk of. Money means nothing to me, I was born affluent due to my father, have lived poor due to choices I made, come full circle and yet nothing. Blaming the government(though they do keep people down) seems silly to me, because I've never wanted anything other then to be happy, no consumerism will fill the hole in my heart, no particular job pops to mind when I think about who I am, goals sound great, but what goal? Which path? I feel like compass without a magnetic north. Every direction is open but nothing is drawing me, so I spin on the spot.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 12:36 PM
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reply to post by the cynic jester
 


If I might, how old are you? These sorts of questions usually come with middle age, though I was one who had them earlier, and arise out of the realization that we are mortal, our best years are likely behind us, and should we be happy or disappointed with the results to date? For me, it was an assessment that helped me clean up and remove aspects of my life that were negative pulls, and open myself up to some really great things that happened with a clearer mind/life.

On the other hand, you might be experiencing Clinical Depression, and, if so, doesn't hurt to go up the clinic and have a chat with someone about it.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 12:39 PM
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reply to post by the cynic jester
 


Maybe you just haven't found your true passion in life yet.
Why not try something different and see if it sparks something off. I don't want to sound like a cliché but maybe you could try volunteering for some kind of charity work, or something along those lines, it might just get you motivated



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 01:21 PM
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reply to post by the cynic jester
 


Maybe its time you stopped listening to your head and started listening to your soul. You probably just havent found your passion yet. While ive always lacked ambition work wise. Due to the fact that i see myself as a slave, who does'nt accept money as anything but a token for my life. I've still managed to find other things that im passionatle about. The paranormal for instance. Theres no limit to how far you can take your knowlege and experiences in this field. Football, which watch and play. Even though its just for fun i still love it.

I think it may help if you can find someone else shares a similar passion. It gives you someone to bounce off and when your interest starts to fade a bit. They can usualy rekindle it and make you realise why you loved it so much in the first place.

Keep looking. It does'nt have to be some complex future Goal or life plan. It can be as simple as making model cars in your spare room on the weekends.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 01:25 PM
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I'm 24 which is still young (though not getting any younger) and I volunteer regularly. Habitat for humanity, the Terry fox run, and a local shelter(though rarer). It's not through lack of effort that I find myself in said position. Opportunity has blessed me, never have I found an obstacle I could not overcome, through sheer force of will or luck or even happenstance. It's like I was jaded before my life began, like I've been there and done that and it's not exciting or interesting or what have you. Is this something you feel as well?



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 01:30 PM
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Hopefully the passion energy has been taken from the old and given to the young. They can do more with it. God forbid a world with passionless youth.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 01:36 PM
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reply to post by the cynic jester
 


It sounds to me like you live a fulfilling life. Maybe thats the problem. You far to busy doing things to stop and realise what it is that you love doing. Maybe you already have a passion, but you just dont see it that way. You say you volenteer a lot. Volunteering itself may noy be your passion but helping people might. So your already doing it, but because its there in your face you dont realise.

Think of it this way. If it was taken out of your life. What would you miss the most?



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 05:00 PM
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reply to post by KrypticCriminal
 


That's an interesting way of looking at things, I have always focused on what is missing and why I can't find something that brings me joy. My friends have stated that the only real thing that grabs my attention is learning something new or having my oppinions altered, perhaps I've been too caught up in everything and need to take a step back.



posted on Nov, 9 2010 @ 05:30 PM
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Hey Jester,

Funny enough this is my first post, though I've been lurking for a while now. I actually have the same issue as you, I feel. I'm 21, able to float through anything as though it's "as simple as that". I've been poor and rich, but money has no value to me. I have the most amazing girlfriend in the world (been together almost 3 years and still very happy),but I feel like I'm just jaded.
Maybe it's because I'm intelligent enough to have understood just how terrible people can be to each other since a very young age. The only aspiration I have ever had was to become an "old wise man". My only ambition is to be part of some extraordinary event that effects the whole world. I honestly have never really felt excited. But both of those aren't defined and are mostly just things that actually feel within reach anyway. I once had a chance to win a grant to get me money to start my own company, and my girlfriend was honestly ecstatic, and I put on a good show, but every once in a while she would say "I feel like I'm more excited than you are." She was. That's just one in a very, very long list.
I have been to other countries and I hardly feel anything when I'm there. I attempt to force a little bit of nostalgia while I'm there since I am honestly grateful to be there, but it all feels like it's happened before and is old hat. I'm not trying to be arrogant or ungrateful, I know just how privileged I am, but it's the inner workings that just won't reach that level. I've been to a few funerals of very close people (one of them was my aunt) and I just don't feel sad whatsoever. I have more of a sense like "People die, I'm glad I got to spend time with them." It's more just a logical dull sense of the event.
I don't feel depressed, I fully enjoy life, but I never seem to go above or below that average level of emotion. Fortunately for me I was started in musicianship at a very young age. I'm at a university where I'm pulling an A average, three part time jobs, and I have a band. The band is a post-punk/rock band with a sort of intellectual twist, and is outside the realm of genre's I would ever have imagined myself playing. The weird thing, I honestly get a little boost of excitement when I play in it. The intensity and the rhythms seem to get my heart racing and for the first time in my life I actually get that sort of fluttering feeling and when I'm done with a show I feel proud when someone tells me I did a good job. I know it sounds like I've found my "dream", but it's not really that. I don't really want to be part of a rock band, I just actually feel excited when I play. Maybe music can help you?
Coming from someone who has had almost no passion in his life for the past 21 years, I can tell you that there's something out there that's safe that can get your blood pumping and at least get the gears in your head turning.
I hope this helps.



posted on Nov, 11 2010 @ 01:03 PM
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You sound exactly like my husband, who is 42, not 24. And actually a little like me, as well. We've talked about this, and we both feel that part of the reason for us feeling this way, is that, simply, life is too overwhelming. There are too many demands on us, too many choices available to us, too much expected of us, that we feel a little like deer in the headlights. We are keeping our heads above water, so to speak, which leaves little time/energy to really discover our inner child again, and feel passion.



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