Emotions Can't Motivate Me, Is There Any Cure?

[Ben]

I am going insane because of boredom and loneliness, and not being able to use it to put myself out there or do something. What the hell do I do? I simply can't live like this. I am stuck in hell. I really want to do some stuff, but I can't. I can't use my emotions to motivate myself. Everything I do is robotic, responding to emotion is a manual process for me.

I finally know what my problem is. But what do I do? The deprivation is killing me! If I took a lot of progesterone, would it myelinate the nerves that go from my emotion center, and thus allow them to communicate better? Do high doses of progesterone myelinate nerves to this extent? Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Bodhi]

My problem is that i'm so full of anger, grief, pain, sadness that i'm not even able to go out of my home..
I always thought it was related to my diet and hypothyroidism, but my hormones are getting better so i guess i'm gonna have to do some emotional work.

 

[cantstoppeating]

Stop whining on forums. Turn off your computer and go outside and talk to people.

 

[answersfound]

Stop chronically masturbating.

 

[Makrosky]

Ben, strategies have you tried so far ? Please let us know.

- Gut : carrot salads, charcoal, antibiotics, etc.?
- Inflammation : Gelatin, Glycine, etc.?
- Drugs : cypro, ondasteron, etc.?
- Diet : saturated fats ? Ripe fruit ?
- Supps : Extra calcium/magnesium ? Soluble Vits ? Hormones ? Extra anything ?
- Lifestyle : Solar and fresh air exposure ?

Have you always been like that ? Did it happen to you after anything special ?

There are a few threads here and on the old peatarian site about overcoming learned helplessness, I guess you've looked into them ?

I have similar problems like yours although to a much lesser degree. In my case I still have to figure out what's exactly going on but as time goes on and I try different things I would say I'm closing the circle to gut problems, that I guess increase serotonin/estrogen.

 

[Such_Saturation]

MDMA

 

[Blinkyrocket]

Stop whining on forums. Turn off your computer and go outside and talk to people.

Not giving him much of a reason to talk to people

 

[Bodhi]

Stop whining on forums. Turn off your computer and go outside and talk to people.

**** you!

 

[Brian]

Start small. As small as you feel semi-comfortable with.

Find something worthwhile to do outside of your home related to some interest of yours. It doesn't have to be extremely meaningful or require a long term commitment, just enjoyable and preferably involving two or more people. If you make a point of doing this everyday, most likely your desire and interests will build on each other into something that will get you out of your rut. Focus on activities and environments that involve giving.

From what I gather from your posts you have a really strong desire to "change the world." There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the practical reality is that humans need other humans to accomplish anything in life and maintain a functional level of mental health. We need a network of people that trust and understand us. The only way to build this network is to slowly make deep (face to face) friendships with people related to our interests.

There is obviously a physiological component to what you are experiencing, but see if trying the above can help get you kick started in the right direction while you continue to try to improve your health. For me increasing DHT was probably the biggest thing that stabilized my emotions and increased my motivation. Also getting lots of sun for most of the morning seemed to have a profound effect on my outlook on life. Regular heavy sweating, followed by a quick cool shower also seems to have a very positive emotional effect.

 

[cantstoppeating]

cmon fellas, this guy often starts a topic with the same theme and he gets pages and pages of sincere responses only to do nothing and complain again a few months later.

His problem isn't biochemical, it's behavioural/mental. He needs to get his **** outside and start taking action towards his goals instead of moping and whining on internet forums. Responding with what you think are suggestions just enables him to continue perpetuating his whining.

 

[Nicholas]

do you work? do you support yourself? if so, tending to those matters first...and with joy....even if it is robotic joy....putting your whole heart into the basic aspects of life - even things like laundry. don't fill boredom with expectations of necessarily fun things or suddenly having this exciting life....tend to and get the basic things taken care of first....and then other things should fall in line. eat a carrot salad and prepare it correctly. find a way to get some sunlight even if just sitting. pretend you are inspired. stretch your body. i know the feeling of not being able to motivate yourself.....but the currently (and temporary) difficult truth is that you are reaping what you are sowing. we all are. that is exactly how it all works and there's no other way around it. once you can be content in the fact that you really are doing all you can do on a basic level, then you can go to the next step of changes.....but you will never be able to skip any of the process.

 

[Blinkyrocket]

cmon fellas, this guy often starts a topic with the same theme and he gets pages and pages of sincere responses only to do nothing and complain again a few months later.

His problem isn't biochemical, it's behavioural/mental. He needs to get his **** outside and start taking action towards his goals instead of moping and whining on internet forums. Responding with what you think are suggestions just enables him to continue perpetuating his whining.

We are more or less wired to do what comes easiest, when a process seems too hard, we don't do it even if the outcome is feeling better, when that happens too much you "learn" to not try anymore. What makes something seem harder for someone than it seems to someone else? Do you really think we have free will? Just the other day, I drove to work after being mildly agoraphobic for about a year, now I feel uneasy about it again... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING changed in my way of thinking, it was either the benadryl or salt because my uneasiness is accompanied by clear urine. I really don't think we have free will to change our behavior, it can't "just be done". Because if you do force yourself to do it, you just force another and possibly even more negative outlook on that specific thing on yourself. We can show ourselves the merit of changing an aspect of our lives but we can't just outright change ourselves without showing ourselves a good reason to.

 

[Ben]

do you work? do you support yourself? if so, tending to those matters first...and with joy....even if it is robotic joy....putting your whole heart into the basic aspects of life - even things like laundry. don't fill boredom with expectations of necessarily fun things or suddenly having this exciting life....tend to and get the basic things taken care of first....and then other things should fall in line. eat a carrot salad and prepare it correctly. find a way to get some sunlight even if just sitting. pretend you are inspired. stretch your body. i know the feeling of not being able to motivate yourself.....but the currently (and temporary) difficult truth is that you are reaping what you are sowing. we all are. that is exactly how it all works and there's no other way around it. once you can be content in the fact that you really are doing all you can do on a basic level, then you can go to the next step of changes.....but you will never be able to skip any of the process.

It sounds like a good suggestion and I did that when I practiced living in the moment. Heck, I realized again today that I shouldn't "work", but play, experiment, instead of seeking a certain outcome.

For whatever reason, I get excitation when I do even simple tasks like cleaning, making myself food, etc. If I don't, I am sloppy and will probably screw up. That's why accepting myself as stupid worked for me. I either do the task and get stressed out, or don't, so that's kind of a barrier to me doing stuff as well.

I can run off of the stress hormones, but then I get a headache. So it is not worth it. I don't know why I am either dead stupid or wildly excited, or a mix of the two.

Start small. As small as you feel semi-comfortable with.

Find something worthwhile to do outside of your home related to some interest of yours. It doesn't have to be extremely meaningful or require a long term commitment, just enjoyable and preferably involving two or more people. If you make a point of doing this everyday, most likely your desire and interests will build on each other into something that will get you out of your rut. Focus on activities and environments that involve giving.

From what I gather from your posts you have a really strong desire to "change the world." There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the practical reality is that humans need other humans to accomplish anything in life and maintain a functional level of mental health. We need a network of people that trust and understand us. The only way to build this network is to slowly make deep (face to face) friendships with people related to our interests.

There is obviously a physiological component to what you are experiencing, but see if trying the above can help get you kick started in the right direction while you continue to try to improve your health. For me increasing DHT was probably the biggest thing that stabilized my emotions and increased my motivation. Also getting lots of sun for most of the morning seemed to have a profound effect on my outlook on life. Regular heavy sweating, followed by a quick cool shower also seems to have a very positive emotional effect.

I did find someone who I click very much with and she feels the same way about me. It was what I was looking for since July 2014, when I had my spiritual awakening. All I wanted was to find people who accept my true self, I became quite honest when it comes to normal social interactions. I also have a good friend who I get along with too. Would more time around people who I get along with help this issue of mine? I would like to be around them more and I will be around the girl a lot.

I took creatine to boost DHT, but it messed with my libido so I stopped taking it.

And I did think that maybe if I'm around the girl a lot, I will have this need satisfied and I will be able to move on to working on projects. After all, lots of fun encourages work and lots of work encourages fun. I wanted someone to sleep beside when I was little, it does reduce stress a whole lot.

But what about my lack of motivation by emotion, would sex and egoless fun stimulate just my emotions, or the derivatives of emotion like motivation too? I wondered if it would help, but I didn't know if anyone knows this. It is a weird issue and this would be a weird solution.

Maybe I will work on my party house idea with her, finding people for that with me. She did say that partying everyday would be her ideal life. I'll try it, thanks for the good suggestions.

Ben, strategies have you tried so far ? Please let us know.

- Gut : carrot salads, charcoal, antibiotics, etc.?
- Inflammation : Gelatin, Glycine, etc.?
- Drugs : cypro, ondasteron, etc.?
- Diet : saturated fats ? Ripe fruit ?
- Supps : Extra calcium/magnesium ? Soluble Vits ? Hormones ? Extra anything ?
- Lifestyle : Solar and fresh air exposure ?

Have you always been like that ? Did it happen to you after anything special ?

There are a few threads here and on the old peatarian site about overcoming learned helplessness, I guess you've looked into them ?

I have similar problems like yours although to a much lesser degree. In my case I still have to figure out what's exactly going on but as time goes on and I try different things I would say I'm closing the circle to gut problems, that I guess increase serotonin/estrogen.

I tried carrot salad for a week, but didn't notice a change.
I tried charcoal, but didn't seem to have an effect.
I have antibiotics, but I don't know if I should take them.
I tried kefir, and it permanently cured my diarrhea response to orange juice, so I guess my gut bacteria is fine now. The last time I got diarrhea was from a virus.
Gelatin makes me irritable if a lot is dissolved in juice. Don't know about smaller amounts. Glycine, I took at one point, but don't remember effects, so maybe ineffective.
Cypro was relaxing, but it's expensive. Don't know if it's worth it.
Seeds with atropine (anticholinergic) felt good and mentally relaxing, but they dilated my pupils and that is socially inconvenient.
Don't know what onderastan is.
I eat plenty of coconut oil in the form of chips everyday. They made me lose fat mass when I started eating them.
I drink a little orange juice everyday, to my craving.
Drinking lots of milk right now, calcium isn't an issue.
I seemed iron deficient for a while, but now I am sometimes quite energetic.
I tried epsom salt foot soaks and they were relaxing. But not enough that I crave it.
Pregnenolone seemed to have a mental stimulant effect. But same issue with motivation persisted.
I tried progesterone megadoses at one point which made me drunk, but didn't help my issue at all.
Tianeptine has a mildly stimulating effect on me. It helped me concentrate in school. Never payed attention to whether it helps this issue though. If it induced improvements in brain functioning, I should have them, but I don't.
Taurine and niacinamide help me relax by reducing all those emotions. I always feel like taking them for some reason. But destroying my emotions isn't the answer here.
I moved to high altitude but after a few weeks I didn't feel much better. It is also sunny here and it makes me happier, but the motivation issue is still there.
T3 seems to have either no effect or very little effect, unless I take 15 mcg or higher, which impairs my immunity. I may be hypothyroid though.
T4 by itself gives me symptoms of hypothyroidism.
I also have cold feet, large veins, varicoceles, and orthostatic hypotension, which may indicate circulatory leakiness. But nothing makes my veins shrink except for acid (which makes me feel cold and shiver), atropine, cold, and hypoglycemia.
The fat souble vitamins didn't have a noticeable effect.
I get delusional and surreal feelings on caffeine like it's a deliriant.

Do you think this kind of problem can be worsened by dilated veins? I metabolize adrenalin 2x quicker than normal people according to my dentist, it may cause my large veins which may cause leakiness and low blood volume and poor brain blood flow. Executive functioning and that type of stuff is hard for me. I live fairly automatically and I manage to forget things that are apparently important, because I seem to not have the energy to see anything as more or less important. When I am in danger or may get lucky, I don't get extra mental resources to use. When on a test I got the best grade in the class as far back as middle school, I was like "okay..." and the teacher was puzzled by why I wasn't happy.
I don't respond to any kind of acheivement like that, unless it is pleasurable like food or sex or social interaction with people I like. But it's hard to even connect those things with pleasure until I get an actual taste of them at that moment. I have fun and interesting with people, then I never call them because I don't connect the pleasure of the initial experience with the next one.
Same with fear, I think. I do things regardless of future consequences. Like, I may have anxiety not being prepared for a speech. But then I don't prepare for the next one because I don't feel anxiety until I am actually in front of the class. And then, it still doesn't effect me. I still say things I know are inappropriate, because the anxiety doesn't stop me.

Anxiety stops me mostly because I know people don't respond to anxious people well, then I can't get whatever I want from them and it's a failure. But I am assertive if I think my anxiety doesn't matter. I guess I need to stop perceiving anxiety as bad, but then the good reaction from people that motivates me isn't there.

The worst part is not possessing the energy to say "do it regardless of short-term pain" or "don't do it regardless of short-term pleasure". I meditated so much and had a spiritual awakening, but still I have this issue with emotional problems.

Stop chronically masturbating.

Tried both no-fap and no-orgasm. No-orgasm isn't bad, but no-fap makes me feel stressed out. It may be a good idea to stop fapping though, to be motivated to go contribute to the world sexually. I think I'll try it. If pleasure is here and most likely not there, then there is no morivation. But if there is no pleasure here and there is a small chance of pleasure being there, then it will help in motivation. Surprisingly good suggestion.

 

[answersfound]

Wah wah! I tried this it didn't work...I tried that it didn't work...what do you mean it didn't work? You didn't do it right. Take the responsibility. You are a human being. These things work for everyone else. Keep trying. Embrace the process and learn from failure. And btw cyproheptadine costs pennies. It is ridiculously cheap.

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

You're starting with a false belief first of all. Emotions can motivate you. Motivation is not key, rituals are. No one feels motivation consistently, it only starts you off. Maybe give half (or 95%!) of your wealth to a friend on the terms that they're allowed to pay you some when you do the things you need to do everyday (and you have evidence).

For example: 1) Went for a walk in the park (send a picture to the friend), 2) the friend uses bitcoin or venmo to send you $20 for lunch :)

Burn the boats.

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

You shouldn't have the luxury of "trying" things. If you burn the boats you will either succeed or fail. Either success or failure is an acceptable outcome.

 

[Blinkyrocket]

Wah wah! I tried this it didn't work...I tried that it didn't work...what do you mean it didn't work? You didn't do it right. Take the responsibility. You are a human being. These things work for everyone else. Keep trying. Embrace the process and learn from failure. And btw cyproheptadine costs pennies. It is ridiculously cheap.

"Not doing it right"... Is not doing it with motivation, you can't tell him to keep trying go if you've never experienced no hope, or motivation or ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You can assume that the answer is "just do it" because your brain never considered that the actions you were taking weren't the reason you started to feel better but instead the confidence that what you were doing would help.

You might as well be saying that the key to getting motivated is to get motivated.

 

[answersfound]

Wah wah! I tried this it didn't work...I tried that it didn't work...what do you mean it didn't work? You didn't do it right. Take the responsibility. You are a human being. These things work for everyone else. Keep trying. Embrace the process and learn from failure. And btw cyproheptadine costs pennies. It is ridiculously cheap.

"Not doing it right"... Is not doing it with motivation, you can't tell him to keep trying go if you've never experienced no hope, or motivation or ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You can assume that the answer is "just do it" because your brain never considered that the actions you were taking weren't the reason you started to feel better but instead the confidence that what you were doing would help.

You might as well be saying that the key to getting motivated is to get motivated.

What? I'm saying he is Giving up on things too easily and expecting things to magically work. He needs to step back and understand the big picture. I know very hard to do in his state with the mind trying to override the body's intuitive signals.

 

[Blinkyrocket]

Wah wah! I tried this it didn't work...I tried that it didn't work...what do you mean it didn't work? You didn't do it right. Take the responsibility. You are a human being. These things work for everyone else. Keep trying. Embrace the process and learn from failure. And btw cyproheptadine costs pennies. It is ridiculously cheap.

"Not doing it right"... Is not doing it with motivation, you can't tell him to keep trying go if you've never experienced no hope, or motivation or ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You can assume that the answer is "just do it" because your brain never considered that the actions you were taking weren't the reason you started to feel better but instead the confidence that what you were doing would help.

You might as well be saying that the key to getting motivated is to get motivated.

What? I'm saying he is Giving up on things too easily and expecting things to magically work. He needs to step back and understand the big picture. I know very hard to do in his state with the mind trying to override the body's intuitive signals.

I was concerned I didn't know the bigger picture when posting that but I figured if there was any chance I knew what was going on it would be easier than reading all these posts and figuring it out myself (motivation problems and all that :p ) I figured if I was wrong you would tell me, pretty genius right? But, as I was saying, you can't easily just "not give up" you've gotta have one of those morale boosting speeches like in the movies. In my experience I have to argue with myself in order to get myself to do stuff.

 

[Sheik]

There is no point in attacking him or saying he's whining. He's asking for help, and some people happen to be willing to try to help him.

The only reason you would attack him is your own shame. Period. You would attack yourself for thinking that way, and so his post triggered that feeling of shame in you. You try to get rid of the feeling by attacking him, but he's not the cause of your shame. Examine why shame is there and it will go away.