Do you feel pressured to achieve more in life?

[scorpionldr]

Do you feel pressured by yourself to achieve more in life? To "ring out" all the success you possibly can with "your time"?

I know it's frequent enough to hear our folks/spouses talk about it, but I mean, really, is it just me worrying a ton?

I personally hear a bunch of my friends tell me I have to "mellow out", but I don't know, maybe I'm fooled into worrying about 2012 lol.

I know it sounds stereotypical, but when I was 18, I had an idea of where I wanted to go. When I was 21, I had an idea of where I wanted to go. When I was 23, I wanted to be left the **** alone so I could actually do it, and now I'm 25 and (a lot of the time) I just want to forget it all and stick with being stuck behind the desk answering phones.

Sure, I could just chock it up to saying things with bands didnt' work out after a while and I've had to restart (something I'm in the process of doing), but the only things I can find are that I'm just getting weirder, inexplicably angrier, and further from mainstream to the point I can't pick up a good disc at a record store in faith that I'll listen and not simply go "this is stock, this is common, this is something I've heard before." I mean, heck, I've become an electronic musician! and not in the popular way! Is life really supposed to be getting this strange?

I just keep thinking the day that I don't worry about the life I want to produce for myself full of music and girlfriends is the day I'm going to disappear myself, you know?

*sorry to vent, but I'm just honestly confused by everything going on these days*

[Steve]

Originally Posted by scorpionldr

the life I want to produce for myself full of music and girlfriends

You could have all of that plus freight cars full of money and not be happy. You would begin to stress that one attorney, one social disease, one bad investment could take it all away in the blink of an eye.

As long as you look for happiness in the external...you will never be happy.


Just a thought from a 50 year old with more than one near death experience.

YMMV

[popinfresh]

Originally Posted by Steve

You could have all of that plus freight cars full of money and not be happy. You would begin to stress that one attorney, one social disease, one bad investment could take it all away in the blink of an eye.

As long as you look for happiness in the external...you will never be happy.


Just a thought from a 50 year old with more than one near death experience.

YMMV

+1

If you're goal is still music and girlfriends no wonder things are getting weird. If you can't be happy with yourself, then you never will be.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by scorpionldr

Do you feel pressured ....is it just me worrying a ton?

..... I just want to forget it all.....

.....I'm just getting weirder, inexplicably angrier, and further from mainstream...

....Is life really supposed to be getting this strange?

....I'm going to disappear myself.....

.....I'm just honestly confused.....

With all due respect, based on my experiences, it sounds like a bit of depression has settled in on you. Maybe some exercise, change in diet, talk therapy or meds or a combination of these things might help you out.

There are also medical conditions that can cause depression like symptoms. Thyroid or vitamin deficiency and untreated diabetes are three conditions that people I know have had to deal with. Another important one is non-restorative sleep: insomnia, sleep apnea, etc.

I suggest you get checked out by your doc with some lab work asap as a start to feeling better. Let him/her know about the thoughts you posted on TB.

Good luck!
Disclaimer: I'm not a Dr. or therapist.

[anothercreation]

look man there's good times and there are bad times. the bad times are tough ,we all can relate to that. but the good times come when you give yourself time and realize why you are realy here . 1212 may happen but is it worth stressin over? lol NO!

bottom line man. if you feel eletronic music isn't getting you where you want to be.
cause that **** will drain you the **** out!!!! lol

just relax man. stressing it will just make it worse. just stop playing music or a bit and see what happens with that.

1 you're gonna find an idea you like .
2 you may discover what you really want to do/what do you really want to hear yourself play?

take care .

-Ricky

[jdieh1]

This is funny because while all my friends seem to have aspirations in life I'm 17 and still have nothing... I'm on auto-pilot right now. I still don't even know if I want to go to college or not yet and I'm past half way in grade 12. Ugh

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

With all due respect, based on my experiences, it sounds like a bit of depression has settled in on you. Maybe some exercise, change in diet, talk therapy or meds or a combination of these things might help you out.

There are also medical conditions that can cause depression like symptoms. Thyroid or vitamin deficiency and untreated diabetes are three conditions that people I know have had to deal with. Another important one is non-restorative sleep: insomnia, sleep apnea, etc.

I suggest you get checked out by your doc with some lab work asap as a start to feeling better. Let him/her know about the thoughts you posted on TB.

Good luck!
Disclaimer: I'm not a Dr. or therapist.

Stumbo, this is actually a quite astute observation. I'm not saying it's necessarily correct, but it sounds about right to me. I went through some major depression about two years ago, sort of felt the same things, and started digging myself into a self-destructive hole. What got me out of that hole? A Harley-Davidson believe it or not.

I bought my bike and haven't stopped smiling since.

To the OP: I'm not saying go out and buy a bike, but make an effort to change one thing in your life for the better. Take a cooking class, learn to weld, or something... who knows what it could be, but you might find that a new skill, or a change in your life is the inspiration you need to feel good about yourself.

As to the OP's question: yes, I feel pushed to succeed and it's incredibly stressful as I've spent the last four years of my life in college, preparing for the real world which doesn't want me. I feel I'm overqualified for most jobs that I'm applying for and aren't even getting any callbacks. How's that for stressful? Society's telling me that I need to have a job to be worth anything, while I'm living with my mom and my dad. They're on my back about getting a job, but nobody with a job opening is taking me.

I'm about to submit to start flipping burgers... yes, that's worse than any job I ever had in high school.

[Unrepresented]

I am pretty happy with life. There are aspects I wish I could improve, but most of those will hopefully come in time, so long as I make an effort.

I get a decent amount of pressure from others that I could be doing more "intellectual" work, but my goal isn't to satisfy the needs of others vicariously living through me.

[MJ5150]

Not really.

No one really pushed me to be "successful" while I was growing up. I was told to be happy and content, but never given a set of generic standards of success and told my success would be measured by them.

-Mike

[WRXbase]

Originally Posted by jdieh1

This is funny because while all my friends seem to have aspirations in life I'm 17 and still have nothing... I'm on auto-pilot right now. I still don't even know if I want to go to college or not yet and I'm past half way in grade 12. Ugh

I'll say my biggest post high school mistake, was not pursuing playing music like it was oxygen. Beyond working things out in my relationships, nothing is more satisfying. Now, 15 years into a Navy career, all I want is to play in a band on weekends.

Originally Posted by tplyons

...I bought my bike and haven't stopped smiling since.

There's a saying, "You never see a motorcycle outside of a therapists' office." I don't own one, but when I have ridden, that is some serious self/higher power communion time.

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by WRXbase

There's a saying, "You never see a motorcycle outside of a therapists' office." I don't own one, but when I have ridden, that is some serious self/higher power communion time.

That, and spending hours at a time trying not to be killed by New Jersey traffic is enough to make anything else seem insignificant.

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by jdieh1

This is funny because while all my friends seem to have aspirations in life I'm 17 and still have nothing... I'm on auto-pilot right now. I still don't even know if I want to go to college or not yet and I'm past half way in grade 12. Ugh

Here is my advice from a guy that was pressured to go to university right out of high school. Take two years and work a job. In those two years you wont make a lot of money, but you will find out what is important and what your real goals are.

I dropped out after my first year. Now, two years later, I am going back in the fall for something completely unrelated, but much more interesting.

lowsound

[acubass]

I feel you, I have BS and have worked in my field for 4 years now, and I'm not into it. I'm, planning on getting a Masters in a diffrent field. But that would involve moving a way from my girl, and our dog and my family. Im stressing pretty hard about adding 60+K in debt and moving to a different city. But I feel like I need a new challenge, bigger things, less material stuff. But the way I see it, Im not very happy now and i'm not in a different city, i'm not away from my dog (i really love my dog) so hell, why not go be unhappy in a new and different city.

On a side note:
I really need to change my username so that it isn't really "my name" Can this be done or do i need to create a new account?

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by joeybyron

I feel you, I have BS and have worked in my field for 4 years now, and I'm not into it. I'm, planning on getting a Masters in a diffrent field. But that would involve moving a way from my girl, and our dog and my family. Im stressing pretty hard about adding 60+K in debt and moving to a different city. But I feel like I need a new challenge, bigger things, less material stuff. But the way I see it, Im not very happy now and i'm not in a different city, i'm not away from my dog (i really love my dog) so hell, why not go be unhappy in a new and different city.

On a side note:
I really need to change my username so that it isn't really "my name" Can this be done or do i need to create a new account?

PM JT.

lowsound

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

With all due respect, based on my experiences, it sounds like a bit of depression has settled in on you. Maybe some exercise, change in diet, talk therapy or meds or a combination of these things might help you out.

There are also medical conditions that can cause depression like symptoms. Thyroid or vitamin deficiency and untreated diabetes are three conditions that people I know have had to deal with. Another important one is non-restorative sleep: insomnia, sleep apnea, etc.

I suggest you get checked out by your doc with some lab work asap as a start to feeling better. Let him/her know about the thoughts you posted on TB.

Good luck!
Disclaimer: I'm not a Dr. or therapist.

A couple years ago, I'd have thought you were nuts. But I recently discovered that I've been suffering from depression and didn't even know it. I thought I was just angry over outside factors. But I discovered it was me. I still have bad days and good days, but at least now I know that when I have a bad day that it's possible it could be depression kicking back in.

[MatticusMania]

Life will continue on with or without me, it doesnt stop or slow down. I do my best to keep afloat until the time comes where its sink or swim. Luckily I learned how to swim long ago. Until then I'll continue to float on.

[SteveC]

Yes.

[JNowiski]

nope. i've pretty much already let everyone down. i can only go a little bit lower on the food chain anyways.

[scorpionldr]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

With all due respect, based on my experiences, it sounds like a bit of depression has settled in on you. Maybe some exercise, change in diet, talk therapy or meds or a combination of these things might help you out.

There are also medical conditions that can cause depression like symptoms. Thyroid or vitamin deficiency and untreated diabetes are three conditions that people I know have had to deal with. Another important one is non-restorative sleep: insomnia, sleep apnea, etc.

I suggest you get checked out by your doc with some lab work asap as a start to feeling better. Let him/her know about the thoughts you posted on TB.

Good luck!
Disclaimer: I'm not a Dr. or therapist.

lol well I finally got back in the gym....I'm starting to look better. As far as therapy goes.......yea....actually thats been on my mind a while. I thought things would get easier after college but lately it's just nuts. So now we've all seen how I think on Sunday nights (or as I call them "Holy ****, I'm going back in to work insurance claims with the daily 'your ****ing fired' talk tomorrow" nights). I get stuck on the entire "what if I turn out like my supervisors" deal. 150 simultaneous claims being worked at the same time and getting more paperwork than a tree's worth stuck in folders.

And of course chicks and music aren't all there is, but I'm always watching these bands getting signed in my area and I'm still going "dude, how did you pull that off?"

anyways, there's more, but I gotta get off here for some more.

[ADbassman]

Yes, but I'm doing pretty well for myself. I made a lot of good decisions in life.