To feel like life is more hassle than it's worth

@OptimismvsRealism does nothing at all bring you any pleasure/enjoyment?

I think you can be at a point when all of that seems meaningless too. I went through a stage of feeling nothing about anything. Small pleasures or big. In fact I'd have read your post with amazement that those things could possibly make someone happy. I remember once over hearing colleagues talk about their great weekends, BBQs, one had been to a concert, and thinking how can that be enough to make you happy? Turned out I was actually depressed and needed some help.

It always feels kind of terrible to say this but I'm hoping I will die relatively young. I'm currently 45 so not in my youth by any means but the thought of getting old under the current care system fills me with horror.

I have one severely disabled adult child who is now settled and happy where he is. I don't have any other kids or any relatives who will be particularly bothered about me. I'm chronically ill and single. I'm living for the day but I'm not invested in living a long life.

Mate, let me tell you a secret - that is all anyone does.

We get through the boring stuff by looking forward to the nice stuff.

lawnseed
My life's been shit and I never even got to do anything fun. I'm now too burned out to try and don't have any money anyway. I've got the next 20 years or so just waiting until it's over. What's the point? I can't even off myself because I'm religious and it's not allowed. I've drawn so many short straws I have shares in the straw factory 🤦🏻‍♀️
Doesnt have to cost anything, can you not go to a beach or a park or something? Join a local club in something you thought sounded interesting? Can you go to an art class or something? (There’s free and cheap community classes around if you look for them)

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

I've never really considered myself an overly opimosic perosn butt I feel like fucking Tigger when I read threads like this.

I am 46 and things I am looking forward to in the few weeks - going to a night where we will see one of one favourite DJs play, the a wedding of a good but less seen friend where I am going to wear a lovely skirt I bought recently, going to one of our favourite parts of France for a holiday.

Hell, I can find things to look forward to in the next few days - cooking Kung Po pork for dinner tonight, watching the next episode of a Netflix series I have been waiting for, potting out my tomato plants at the weekend.

I have two cats and I try to live my life like them! They eat, sleep, play and get (copious amounts of) attention. That's their lives and they're happy. They're not looking for meaning or asking "is this it?".

So I get up each day, do what I need to do. If I get to do something fun on that particular day then great. Otherwise I just carry on, then sleep, then it's another day. No point analysing it. In my experience, too much reflection leads to depression. For me anyway. So I just live in the moment.

Yes life is a hassle. But we have a much better experience than every other animal. Just to put things in perspective

I am actually very depressed at the moment so understand the feeling that life is potholed by fuckwits and that some parts of it feel relentless (especially get the feeling that a pp talked about how some people just come along and ruin your day out of nowhere!) but there is still joy in life. I really love nature so maybe that is helpful to me, but even something as small as flowers or grass and fresh air feel marvellous to me (except with the depression that wonderfulness makes me cry so I need to sort that out). My cat is a tiny miracle to me, I could truly stare at her all day!

Find the joy.

I felt like that at your age. Work, childcare and other responsibilities all piled on to make life one big chore. Even the fun stuff took so much arranging it barely felt worth the effort. Over time it passed. My job got easier as I got more senior. My DC needed me less and less, and are now fully independent. I've loads of time for myself and my money is my own. I go at my own pace, do as I please and prioritise my pleasure, relaxation and convenience, so theres way more good parts to my day than not, and the purpose and point of my life is to enjoy them.
Hold fire OP, there's light at the end of the tunnel.

I have been through that phase OP. I think its an age thing. You've been an adult for a long time now and it's tiring and boring and you're thinking this is the best I'm going to look and feel cos I'm only getting older. Which is not true at all but there is a sense of being past your prime. A little holiday and a new hobby or better still, new friends would help. Change your routine a bit, take an evening course or consider a career change. Nothing can change until you can make a change.

I always think of the Jack and Diane lyrics 'Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone'. Never a truer word.

Don't underestimate the power of perimenopause in making you feel this way

I feel the same. I'm going to be 42 in November. Maybe it's all of us early 40s folks born in the autumn that are feeling this?! 😅

Seriously though, I get it. I feel like right now life is just a constant boring routine, mixed with worries about aging parents, a disabled child, the other child who is a crazy toddler with no self preservation right now, spreadsheets (work), cleaning the house constantly, watching TV, eating, sleeping. Rinse repeat. Ugh. Even our holiday the other month was more stressful than relaxing as DC1 was stimming v badly (screeching banging wailing) and we got a noise complaint even though we tried hard to control it, the DC2 (the 2.5 year old) kept running away and one day nearly got hit by a car. I came home and now I'm just back in the normal routine but feel like...what's the point? I think this general apathy feeling is quite common though. I agree that being human sucks. I watched the mammals programme on BBC and would much rather be a big cat or an elephant. We are ruining this planet.

Is there anything that you would rather be doing OP? Or do you feel rather 'meh' generally?

@EmeraldRoulette nobody loves cleaning as such - not even cleaners or influencers. But completing a job like hoovering a house makes you feel good for so many reasons - sense of accomplishment, control, gratitude. Op put hoovering in her opening post (and the one after) and that's why I referred to that specifically.
It's little (or big) jobs and challenges (yes, exercise and walks) that improve the way we feel about our lives. Reframing and putting the effort.

I wouldn’t mind being reincarnated as a cat owned by me. That would be a fun existence.

It’s a hamster wheel that feels at best ‘meh’ and for the most part hellish.
I don’t like people much anymore either, which doesn’t help. I think being human is absolutely shit and I think I would have preferred my go at life being a dolphin or something.

My life's been shit and I never even got to do anything fun. I'm now too burned out to try and don't have any money anyway. I've got the next 20 years or so just waiting until it's over. What's the point? I can't even off myself because I'm religious and it's not allowed. I've drawn so many short straws I have shares in the straw factory 🤦🏻‍♀️

I couldn't go through life again 🤣 I could think of a million things I'd rather do than do life again!

Maybe it's an autumn baby thing, I'm 37 in October!

One word I'd use to describe life is relentless. Not long after or whilst you're dealing with one thing, another equally rubbish thing pops up. Inbetween that it's working, cleaning, cooking, bills, errands. It doesn't stop and there's not a lot of time for much else. Once our daily jobs are done, we may have time to watch something for an hour, then bed and back up to do it all over again.

Unless something dramatic changed, I wouldn't do it again 😆

I’m with you regarding sleep, looking forward to the long one. Complete oblivion.