advertisement
Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
Toughcooki
Member
Toughcooki has no updates.
 
Member Since: Jul 2020
Location: Texas
Posts: 221
3 yr Member
247 hugs
given
Default Aug 25, 2021 at 10:51 AM
  #1
Does the future seem unreal to anyone else? For me, the concept of the future gets less real the further away it is. Like this weekend is pretty real - I expect it to happen, and I get groceries so I will have food in the house because if this weekend happens, I'll want to eat. Next month is significantly less real, and a year from now is about as real to me as astral travel. Sure, it might exist, but *shrug* it seems very far from anything having to do with me.
I've never planned ahead, or thought about what might happen as a result of my choices, except for my kids. I just have a hard time understanding when one of my kids says, 'I want to do XYZ when I grow up' - I tell them they can do anything they set their mind to, and cheer them on, but recall that I never thought that, or anything like that. I just hoped I'd live to grow up, but felt like it was pretty much 50-50 chance either way. Once I was an adult, I just kind of floated from impulse to impulse. I take jobs when people offer them to me. I accept dates when they're offered. I've actually gotten married because, hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time. The only real thought I've put into anything has been into trying to be a good parent.
I am just now seeing that this lack of connection with the future impacts my health and ability to save money, and all kinds of stuff. Down to getting routine maintenance on my car. Why bother, when there's no future? I feel like logically that's incorrect, and basically force myself to get the oil changed, etc, but I feel like I'm wasting time and money doing these things when there's just no future in which to benefit from the time/money/effort involved in saving money, dieting, exercise, oil changes, home repair, etc.
Toughcooki is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
*Beth*, MuddyBoots, RoxanneToto, SprinkL3, Yaowen
 
Thanks for this!
*Beth*, MuddyBoots, RoxanneToto, Yaowen

advertisement
SprinkL3
Account Suspended
SprinkL3 has no updates.
 
Member Since: Oct 2021
Location: DELETED
Posts: 2,752 (SuperPoster!)
2 yr Member
10.9k hugs
given
Default Oct 20, 2021 at 02:25 PM
  #2
This sounds like derealization or some form of dissociation.

I struggle with life feeling unreal (derealization), and then me feeling unreal in life (depersonalization). I also struggle with another dissociative disorder and PTSD.

Trauma and dissociation seem to go hand in hand, and these pandemic times are traumatic. The children and young adults are especially struggling with the future - because of the older generations' lack of attention to climate change, equity needs, educational needs, and more - leaving fewer resources for the younger generations to survive with. Dissociation and trauma increase when life is truly being threatened - with natural disasters (global warming, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes), with manmade disasters (oil spills, air pollution), with viruses (SARS-CoV-2, influenza), with bacteria (malaria), with hate (racism, nationalism, ageism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia). The future also remains unclear when our own leaders cannot agree with one another, when disinformation spreads like wildfire, when even news sources and social media cannot be trusted, when corrupt disinformation is infiltrating our educational and local governmental and medical systems, when the CDC and FDA have their disagreements gone public, when the CDC and FDA change the rules and guidelines constantly (while also negating mental and psychosocial health by promoting de facto evidence on all things biological instead), etc. Times are confusing, lonely, threatening. Everyone and every being and every group are threatened. Pandemics, endemics, political wars, actual wars, confusion, sedition, coup attempts, racism, hate crimes, rapes on trains in public with bystanders doing nothing, police brutality, disinformation campaigns, polarization, division - they are all traumatic.

The future is uncertain, and it is unclear.

People have coped in many ways - but some ways are automatic. Dissociation is automatic.

Life doesn't seem real when there's this much chaos. It's no wonder that we would feel disconnected from a painful life like this.

The economy is confused, and its rapidly changing. It's hard to plan for the future when the future remains uncertain.
SprinkL3 is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
*Beth*, RoxanneToto
 
Thanks for this!
*Beth*, RoxanneToto
*Beth*
catches the flowers
*Beth* is practicing healthy breathing for brain, mind, body, spirit.
 
Member Since: Jul 2019
Location: Downtown Vibes, California
Posts: 15,701 (SuperPoster!)
3 yr Member
23.7k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Nov 16, 2021 at 05:38 AM
  #3
This sounds so familiar. My God!

__________________




*Beth* is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
SprinkL3
 
Thanks for this!
SprinkL3
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:50 PM.
Powered by vBulletin® — Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.



 

My Support Forums

My Support Forums is the online community that was originally begun as the Psych Central Forums in 2001. It now runs as an independent self-help support group community for mental health, personality, and psychological issues and is overseen by a group of dedicated, caring volunteers from around the world.

 

Helplines and Lifelines

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Always consult your doctor or mental health professional before trying anything you read here.