Well, capitalism has been hinted at here, but as far as I can see, nobody has suggested that we try to change society so that it’s less oppressive. I realized a while ago that profit doesn’t motivate me, and it sounds like you might have as well. I suggest (in addition to following the excellent medical advice) that you seek out your local socialist organization. Life doesn’t have to be this depressing.

That’s why we need to strive toward working less hours in general. Full time hours take up most of your waking hours when you factor in prep time, commute etc

What you do with your free time can make a world of difference of course but the math just doesn’t work out when you get home and have like 4 hours to do everything you need to do before you have to go to sleep.

Do you know if you snore? You may have sleep apnea where basically you stop breathing multiple times a night. Makes for chronic exhaustion and is very under diagnosed . You should look to get a sleep study done. It’s easily treatable with a cpap or apap device.

Life advice:

a) if you eat stupid food you get tired and ill. Avoid gluten and corn syrup and acquire paleo + protein.

b) you get tired doing exercise you don’t want to do. Folks doing work they enjoy can do it all day long.

In addition to what others have said, I think a lot of people would agree that their 20s were the most difficult time in their lives. It’s a stark contrast from your life leading up to it, where everything from nap time to senior prom has been planned out for you, your job is simply to attend. Around your age this changes and you’re “given the keys” and have much more freedom to choose your path. (This is very much an oversimplification and does not apply to everyone)

This will sound kinda strange but for most people, at ~20 you still haven’t really settled into the person you will be for the rest of your life. Your brain is still developing and changing. It’s a time for turbulence and self-reflection for many, and I absolutely would not take your current outlook as “this is it.” You still have a lot to learn about yourself and the world, and I mean that in the best way.

It does sound like you could be overtaxing yourself, but others have covered that already. Try not to take things too seriously, and make sure to stop and smell the roses. We’ve heard that so many times that it’s easy to overlook what an amazing piece of advice it is. All of the happiest people I know are the types that do literally, and figuratively, stop to smell the roses.

Anhedonia or depression.talk to a professional

What’s your diet like? Everyone is different, but for me eating fewer carbs and more veggies helps keep me from getting lethargic.

Find out when a frat party is planned, get some friends, and crash that shit. Wake up hungover the next day and swear you’ll never drink again. Go get a big greasy Mexican breakfast. Go to the mountains and take a long hike. Find an attractive person and ask them out. Do the sexytime. Then come Monday you’ll have done a bunch of cool shit to get you through the week.

You sound burned out and/or depressed. Are you doing the things you really want to do? Or are you just progressing down a track for the wrong reasons?

Video games and guitar don’t give inherent meaning to life, but they are good examples of things that people do because they want to. Of course work is work for a reason, but It’s important to think about whether you have genuine passion for your current path.

I’m in a similar boat, and am working on managing my dopamine set point. It’s tough, but it def helps, I recommend looking into that!

Edit: simile -> similar

I don’t have any energy or motivation to play games anymore, even though I used to play avidly.

That sounds like me. You know what was happening to me. I was diagnosed with depression. I’m not a doctor and I can’t diagnose you over a internet forum post, but you might want to to see a doctor for potential health issues, or perhaps you might be dealing with a depression issue, like I am.

I used to write and worldbuilding for my story, but ideas have run out and I just have no energy to continue writing. That’s probably due to depression.

Asking for the meaning of life? Lemmy’s great and all, but I don’t think I’ll find it here lmao

The meaning of life is what you want it to be. The universe has not given us one.

Biologically? It’s to reproduce. For your DNA to continue existing (or at least part of it).

Evolutionary? For our species to survive and go on conlonizing the solar system, galaxy, universe… etc. (hopefully doing so peacefully unlike in the past)

Technologically? To achieve immortality.

Philosophically?

To find happiness. Do what’s pleasurable to you (Hedonism).

To be a good person. Make the world a better place (even if only slightly).

To acquire more knowledge for yourself and share the knowledge to progress humanity. (Eg: Conduct science experiments, find fossils, identify unknown species (there are still a lot of unidentified species, oddly enough), etc.)

Personally, I just try to find happiness, being happy makes everything else more meaningful for me.

If this is to close for comfort for rule 3, feel free to delete mods

There’s also another community where you can just talk [email protected] about life and stuff.

Also, I know you are busy with college and stuff, but when I had an existential crisis, I found this show called The Good Place, it helped me process some thoughts regarding existence and stuff. You might want to watch it when you find the time to do so.

Yes, there is more.

You sound like you are experiencing burnout and as a result anhedonia and depression.

Burnout is a very real clinical condition caused by the demands you are operating under being dysfunctional in some way. It is very real and can lead to a dangerous depression.

Anhedonia is the loss of enjoyment in things you previously enjoyed. For example, when I had anhedonia video games because uninteresting, boring even, and the effort required to play was too much and there was no reward to playing.

You need to deal with this before it escalates into full blown depression and burnout. It can take much longer to fix than it will take to stop now, so get started ASAP. Starting an antidepressant may be helpful, it may not, but it is just one tool and I personally would avoid it having done it before.

The other steps for managing burnout are largely about changing the demands on you, the level of connection to other people, and what you do to relax. Exercise is a really helpful tool and honestly is what makes me resilient against another bout of burnout now.

Good luck

In short, is there something I’m missing here, or is work-eat-sleep-repeat all there is until I retire?

You might die before then. I definitely saw “bottlenecks” in my mid-20s and late-40s where friends dropped like flies and some never got back up again.

Anyway, it sounds like you are having a crisis - people talk about the mid-life crisis but they can happen at any age but often a turning point:

• Late teens - wait! I have to grow up and get serious?
• End of Uni - wait! I have to get a job and all that other adult nonsense?
• 30 - wait! I should really be married and having kids by now.
• 40 - wait! My biological clock is ticking, I haven’t been promoted like I thought I would and my body is starting to creak.
• 50 - well that didn’t turn out how I wanted but there’s still time.
• 60 - where did my life go? Ah well, retirement is looming, I can’t wait for all that free time.
• 70 - death is looming, where did all that free time go?

Unfortunately, the meaning of life is what you make of it, so start managing your expectations.and don’t measure your happiness against other people’s - they’re probably less happy than they appear.

I can’t claim to have any clear answers but find.out what you love doing and build your life around doing more of that. Don’t let your worklife eat into your personal time. Stop caring what people think about you, but that’s not a license to be a dick. Make the world a better place for having you in it. If you need help, ask. Eat well, don’t smoke, drink in moderation and wear sunblock - these things will help your later life be more worthwhile.

Life is what you make of it. If you’re not happy, better change things. Nothing wrong with a blue collar job. You can always return to uni later in life. Whatever you chose remember there will always be times when you wonder what it would have been like if you chose differently.

Death.