When you feel like you've caught every fish in the pond

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Metaphorically speaking.

Is it as simple as moving on to another pond? What if you really like the pond? What if you just had your fill of fish?

I'm having a hard time getting interested in things that should interest me. Maybe it is malaise since I seem unable to pin anything down as to cause. I just know that the curiosity I've had all my life seems to have abandoned me and trying to feign interest leaves me feeling exhausted.

Has anyone else gone through something like this? What did you do and how did it turn out?

ps: I'm not talking about this forum....at least not just this forum but rather everywhere and everything. I just don't feel interested. Have I lost my zeal for life?

 

[Agent Intellect]

One bit of advice: don't try drinking alcohol to make things more interesting.

Honestly, one thing I've found, is that forcing oneself into obligations helps (at least for me). When I know I can do something on my own "whenever I feel like getting around to it" I can't work up the ambition to get to it (lets just say I've been writing the same 3 novels for about six years).

I also have a similar problem to what you're describing, but I would describe it as more of a lack of motivation. I know that something is interesting, and it interests me, but I just feel so lethargic I don't want to pursue it.

This was even worse about a year ago, until I decided to go back to school (which was almost exactly a year ago). School helped give me that obligation, so that it wasn't that I could do things "whenever I feel like getting around to it" but it challenged me to have to do it.

Since going on summer vacation and back to work full time, I sort of picked up where I left off with the drinking (as evidenced by some of my posts in the 'INTP's on Youtube' thread). I've been thinking about forcing myself into some other "obligations" - I was thinking of taking guitar lessons and perhaps even joining a martial arts class (two things which I've never done before). I'm thinking the 'obligation' feeling and the novelty of the activities will help with my own malaise. I've also thought about buying one of those programs for learning another language, as well, but since that's an "at home, on your own time" sort of thing, I can just imagine that gathering dust.

Anyway, I guess to come full circle to the OP, my advice would be to find something new to do, and try to make it more obligatory for yourself - maybe take a college class on something your interested in? Learn a language? Learn an instrument? I think getting in a routine is probably the worst thing for a person, so novelty might be the best medicine (and if you're anything like me, you'll require something extra to "force" you to do it).

 

[Cavallier]

I think the best word to describe what you feel is "ennui". I agree completely with AI. I tend to turn to...alternative behaviors...when I get bored. I go stir crazy and do stupid shit. I find that forcing myself to get out and do something positive helps. For example, I love to read. I read everything I can get my hands on. However, when I start feeling like you do it's incredibly difficult to just pick out a damn book and get started on it. Yet, when I do I always enjoy myself.

So I guess my advice is to kick yourself in the ass and just do something even if it feels like faking for a while. Local newspapers or other grassroots papers often have local stuff that might be interesting. Go see a band. Find a pool hall. Whatever.

 

[Words]

@OP

My advice is that you look backwards towards your most basic needs and your basic motivations of living. If you can try temporarily removing your monetary funds and proceed with the challenge of "where to get food? etc."---things that will inevitably matter to you. Or just try another environment and/or location.

I've experienced this and I've solved it by simply talking to interesting people who had interesting things to say. Fe is motivation I believe.

 

[AlisaD]

The only thing that really works for me is staring at the pond silently and waiting for the new fish to grow. It sometimes takes a really, really long time, but the little motherfuckers usually emerge somehow. Forcing myself to trow a hook into an empty pond caused only frustration.

On the few occasions when it turned out that the pond wasn't merely exhausted by too much fishing, but actually poisoned (by the toxic waste of my soul, I guess) and no little fishies emerged for really long periods of time (over a year), I switched to a now pond - literally - changed countries.

 

[KazeCraven]

I think this happened to me: a lifelong passion of mine essentially went dry, and I had to move on. It wasn't completely empty, which was the worst part since I could justify staying a little, but I had to accept that it would never be the same again.

Essentially what I ended up doing, after lingering by the pond for an extensive period of time, was to drop the tackles and do nothing. That was a good long period of nothing, might I add, before I started randomly exploring more ponds for no other reason than do something.

Eventually, I started getting curious again. It wasn't very strong for long though, which is what led me to my current state: how do I push my own buttons? I've gotten considerably more eccentric, to try to spice things up, and I don't really care enough about what others think about my actions (on a small scale) to do otherwise.

Oh, and this was also the reason I casually considered suicide (Steppenwolf style, not depressed/emo style).

 

[speiss]

When you generally lose interest in something, which is something that I have indeed experienced, I don't know, I tend to find myself lingering around the pond, glancing in once in a while to see if any fish have popped up. Usually my curiosity and passion fades when I'm distracted by something else, a something else that usually just wastes my time away while I could be doing something productive. Once that something else was taken away of course, immediately fish began to sprout up again, droplets flying across the water as they dipped in and out. Your disinterest may be spontaneous, and in that case, casually move on to another pond. The fish are still there of course, patiently waiting for you in the cold, dark bottom, but for now you're allowed to try something new. You can't possibly try everything out there, and you can't really assume what will interest you and what won't. The only way to know what you'll enjoy doing is if you go out there and do it. Maybe you'll develop a passion for hiking once you force yourself to go out on a trail, or perhaps making and editing independent movies will pique your interest, and encourage you to pursue something. Really, I know boredom is something that seems difficult to escape, but once you take a look around and see how many ponds there are, it's impossible not to find once that's abundant with eager fish.

 

[Moocow]

Keep looking into the pond, but not at the fish.

 

[echoplex]

I feel like I'm one of the fish, always getting caught.

So no, I don't think I can relate. I find nearly everything to be damn interesting, but I'm always having to deal with mundane things. Perhaps the interesting things are simply the things that aren't happening yet.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Thanks for all the responses.

Alisa, Kaze and speiss (welcome btw) seem to be describing what most resembles what I'm feeling like. But here's the problem: My circumstances have recently changed but not my seeming inability to find anything interesting. I've moved (states, not countries) and am doing more different things. Yet it still hasn't jump-started me.

It's not lack of motivation. I've been trying but nothing seems to spark the engine of curiosity, which for INTPs is a major driving force. Perhaps my opening metaphor was mistaken. It's more like; "When you're just not interested in the fish you catch anymore" or something to that effect. I'm still trying to fish but I'm beginning to get anxious about what I might catch next. The more I catch that doesn't spark an interest, the more worrisome it becomes.

Fish is nicknamed brain food. Food is fuel. My engine of curiosity is out of gas. The fish aren't fueling anymore and this metaphor isn't interesting. Perhaps the engine is conking out on me...

 

[Oblivious]

Maybe we actually need someone to order us around

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Maybe we actually need someone to order us around

Uh...I have that and um, no.

Just no.

No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No (Am I going on too long with this?) No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No

 

[AlisaD]

The only thing I can suggest is to ride it out and hope things get better on their own. I really don't think that forcing yourself to be curious is likely to get you anywhere.

You might want to try and go back to watching the Lifetime channel, soon enough, you will either get bored enough to consider anything else interesting in comparison, or you will simply end up a brain dead TV zombie, who has no issues with the lack of curiosity - it ain't pretty, but it's a win-win scenario.

 

[Cavallier]

Did somebody really just suggest we need to be bossed around? Egad. I'd much rather die a long horrible death thank you which is what being bossed around would do to me anyway.

It's not lack of motivation. I've been trying but nothing seems to spark the engine of curiosity, which for INTPs is a major driving force. Perhaps my opening metaphor was mistaken. It's more like; "When you're just not interested in the fish you catch anymore" or something to that effect. I'm still trying to fish but I'm beginning to get anxious about what I might catch next. The more I catch that doesn't spark an interest, the more worrisome it becomes.

Fish is nicknamed brain food. Food is fuel. My engine of curiosity is out of gas. The fish aren't fueling anymore and this metaphor isn't interesting. Perhaps the engine is conking out on me...

Ah, yes. I misunderstood before. It's not a lack of interests so much as an inability to be interested in the the things that do pop up? I understand this. This is the closest I usually get to depression. I actually find this feeling rather disturbing because it's not one I deal with regularly. I wish I had an answer for you on how to affect a change. Generally in the past I've just wallowed in it until something managed to crank up the engine again.

 

[KazeCraven]

This is also partly why I ended up studying psychology and, to an extent, philosophy (meaning I probably would have been philosophizing anyway, but almost certainly would not be studying psychology). I've found that temporarily adopting different philosophical life perspectives can be interesting, though I think it was due more to time (having tried, say hedonism, long enough to get some sort of understanding from it) than from it actually being a cure.

I agree with Alisa about the futility of forcing it: I spent a while analyzing art, trying to come up with reasons why anyone would find such a thing interesting. It's not like I didn't come up with any answers, I just didn't benefit from that thinking much.

I wonder, does everyone [Edit: most people] who experience this have a 'one-track mind' as I do? (I mean being obsessed with one particular thing at a time, though peripherally interested in several other things as my mind wanders away from the particular obsession.) Actually, ever since I stopped enjoying playing video games in general (my passion from my first memories to about 16-18) I've been focused primarily on the meaning of (my) life, mostly looking at it from psychological or philosophical perspectives.

 

[Fallenman]

I wonder if my fascination for psychology and philosophy springs from similar circumstances as kaze =P. I think I found the fascination and stuck with it long enough to turn it into a life's pursuit lol.... But now it grows wearisome as the subject matter dwindles (i'm talking about philosophy), although its only the subjects that i'm focusing on that are dwindling.

So I am in agreement with Cava on this one... What you describe I consider depression. Apathy is a form of depression and I suffered from it after my fathers death for the longest time. The way I thought I could solve this was by immersing myself in social interactions, helping others and etc, because I felt that humanitarian efforts, and interaction with people in general, is a humanizing endeavor that inspires life and soul into a person! 3 years later I'm barely starting to feel moderately better than when my father died but I don't think that interacting with people turned out to be a flop more as I think that it was a matter of finding the right kinds of interactions. It is hard to love life when you don't love anything. Perhaps we can find love in our hobbies in our daily musings, but it is my belief that when we love others we love more wholly. As a person who has lost 5 family members in the past decade one would think I'd be a little wary of throwing my eggs in so fragile a basket, and it most certainly does show as such, but in reality its all we've got. What does your life matter if everything you did only benefited yourself until your death? Living only for yourself is a poor investment.

Not that i'm saying that you would only live for yourself! I just get this undying feeling that INTP's don't care about people which makes me sad. In practice it doesn't seem so but in theory its as if we hate people.

 

[KazeCraven]

@Fallenman:

I think INTP's in general (if I can speak for such a group) tend to feel so different from the average person that it is hard to associate ourselves with people in general.

I just always find myself wanting more from humanity, which makes me frustrated. My pursuit of truth has left me with little else to hope for.

 

[Audentia]

I don't get like this very often, but when it does come around it is bad and drags like a bastard until I eventually get my usual zest and contentedness/happiness back. I agree with the other poster, for me this usually is the closest I experience to depression or loneliness.

I try to focus on physical outs and ignore my lacking zest/curiosity/mind for a while. Move, do. Go for walks, join a class like martial arts, yoga, kickboxing, cycling, swimming, whatever. Just move. Change your tastes, decor, habits. It kick starts everything after a while because the act of physical doing puts you in a more positive/open mentality and oxygenates your brain with fuel.

Other than that, the natural supplements Vitamin D (or sunshine daily), SAMe and St Johns Wort might be helpful to get brain chemistry back on track .

 

[speiss]

I would recommend, actually, joining a certain community and immersing yourself, such as helping the homeless or orphaned children. You not need go that far if you don't wish to of course, but the feeling of helping those who are in need of help, and who, without saying it, thank you so graciously with just a grateful look, is something to be pursued. If that's not something you wish to try, you could always take daily walks and see what's around. What did you used to do that interested you, but doesn't anymore? Are there various degrees of such a hobby? Are there other aspects of what you used to do that you've neglected to try? Most people, although enjoying new things, do continue to enjoy the old. If you are bored with an instrument, try another instrument. If you are bored of painting, try to sculpt, or to photograph. You could also immerse yourself around people if you're on the brink of tears; people, although worrisome and stressful, are a great relief from ennui.

edit: oh, and thank you :3