Keeping myself entertained when possible to be happy

[Kcbell92]

Maybe a confusing way to put this but I noticed how I don’t seem to get excited or passionate about things I do for fun that use to excite me or be more memorable to me, whether it be theme parks & anticipation or sports games & movie premieres or showings. All public fun events I like or like to look forward to, I don’t know if it’s because I’m older or if I’m just overthinking the level of excitement & not enjoying it,

[Carooba Manooba]

Hi. Bit of both I'd say.  Our level of interest in things change as we age. But also, it's understandable that if your life is getting messed up with obsessive compulsive behaviour you are also going to be feeling **** overall.  When I was struggling I lost interest in stuff.  When I was at rock bottom it wouldn't matter what the event or whatever was, I just didn't have the interest.  When you recover, you naturally come out of it enjoying certain things in life, but also there are things that you no longer like as much as you once did, simply coz we change as people as we age.  

So I would not try and make yourself enjoy something.  Sort out your obsessive compulsive behaviour and let things unfold naturally.

[Kcbell92]

Yes I do get what your saying, I used to love going out places but I guess going out places gets boring after a while when it’s the same thing, even though I’m a passionate sports fan & theme park go Er, I find it more fun when I take longer breaks from it 

[dksea]

On 25/06/2019 at 09:49, Kcbell92 said:

Maybe a confusing way to put this but I noticed how I don’t seem to get excited or passionate about things I do for fun that use to excite me or be more memorable to me, whether it be theme parks & anticipation or sports games & movie premieres or showings. All public fun events I like or like to look forward to, I don’t know if it’s because I’m older or if I’m just overthinking the level of excitement & not enjoying it,

Our interests can change over time, what used to excite us may no longer be of special interest to us anymore, I think thats pretty normal in life.  I mean one would hope that as you get older some of the stupid things you do as a youth are no longer so appealing 

In my own personal life I find that I go through cycles of interest too.  Maybe a particular video game will grab my interest for some time.  I'm really in to it, play it often, have a lot of fun.  But at some point the interest starts to wane, so I move on to something else.  It can even be a change in activity, from say playing a game, to watching movies, to reading books, to listening to music.  Its totally ok to change.

I think Carooba has a good point too, when we are struggling with anxiety/depression/frustration etc. we can lose some capacity for fun.  All our energy is focused on the problem area, our brain just doesn't seem to have as much time or energy for enjoyment.  One thing I have found when I am in those kind of situations is that I sometimes have to "fake it", to force myself to do things I would otherwise enjoy as a way of kickstarting me out of my slump.  I may not be looking forward to going out on the weekend to that party, maybe all I  want to do is sit at home and do nothing, but more often than not, I find that when I do push myself to do these things I end up enjoying them, at least somewhat.  Thats not to say you ALWAYS have to go be social, self-care and time to rest and recover is important too, but its very easy to fall in to a pattern of avoidance and isolation that makes things worse, not better.  Sometimes you have to "fake it until you make it" so to speak with enjoying things and being happy.

Finally, another problem I have encountered is that overanalyzing a situation can take the fun out of it.  Constantly examining your feelings and reactions to see if you are happy "enough" or feeling the way you are supposed to feel pulls you out of the experience.  Its like seeing a beautiful sunset and rather than just appreciate it, you worry if you can take a nice enough picture of it to share on your social media.  Instead of being in the moment you miss the moment.