Have you ever felt like you’re just going through the motions, not getting anywhere or feeling any pleasure in life, not happy, not sad, just empty?
Maybe the things you once took pleasure in don’t interest you anymore. Or perhaps you lose the motivation to do anything. You are lonely, confused about your life or goals, or lack a vital purpose or primary reason. In either case, the first step to better mental health is understanding what you’re going through.
What does feeling empty indicate?
Firstly, understand that feeling empty, sad, or angry is perfectly normal. Nobody can be happy, giddy, peaceful, or calm all the time. All emotions are feedback mechanisms that teach you something about yourself or your situation. Likewise, feeling empty is a sign of something, and you should approach it as one.
You can feel a void in your heart due to many reasons. But the most likely ones are significant changes in your living conditions, a traumatic or essential event, being stuck in the same routine for a long time, hormonal and biological changes, or mental health conditions.
If you feel empty, you will likely stop caring about or investing in essential activities like self-care or maintaining supportive relationships. You are also more vulnerable to bad habits, lifestyle choices, and generally poor care of your mental and physical health.
Emptiness can be a sign of depression, but if you feel not happy, not sad, just empty, it can be something else too. If your feelings of emptiness are coupled with low mood and loss of interest in activities for prolonged periods, you are more likely to have a chance of depression. In this case, or if your symptoms become too challenging, you should visit a licensed professional who can help give you an official diagnosis.
Read more: Are you suffering from depression? Know when to get help
How To Recover From Being Not Happy, Not Sad, Just Empty & Stay Healthy?
1. Introduce variety in your life: A significant reason you might feel empty is due to the lack of variety, vital goals, or a strong sense of purpose in your life. You can introduce variety by exploring opportunities you didn’t take before, meeting new people, and stepping out of your comfort zone.
2. Connect with others: Healthy and supportive people around you are a blessing. If you have recently not followed up or interacted with your old friends or loved ones, find opportunities to reconnect and show them that you appreciate having them in your life. A little gratitude goes a great way and can help you improve the quality of your existing relationships and the ones about to be.
3. Take better care of yourself: As discussed above, feeling not happy, not sad, but just empty can lead you to neglect proper self-care. You can make a system to exercise, eat good food, sleep and develop a daily routine. For mental self-care, you can take time to relax, avoid indulging in harmful habits and try to accept yourself.
4. Understand and Validate Your Emotions: One part of accepting yourself is understanding your feelings. Self-validation is a dialectical behavior therapy(DBT) technique that can help you do the same.
Read more: How to validate yourself with the power of self-validation?
Conclusion
Feeling not happy, not sad, just empty is an entirely normal feeling that indicates an underlying cause. It might be due to changing life situations, hormones, traumatic events, routine, lack of purpose, or mental health. Self-awareness is a significant part of identifying your symptoms or what you’re going through. But many people lack self-awareness and are disconnected from a sense of meaning, purpose, or a vision to move forward in life. Here is a blog post explaining the true meaning of self-awareness to help you find the same.
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