The state of apathy is familiar to one degree or another to all adults, because from time to time a feeling of indifference and unwillingness to do something visits each of us. Unfortunately, only a few manage to enjoy life every minute and feel the desire to act, and the psyche of most people from time to time needs a rest from constant mental and stress.
Despite the seeming harmfulness of apathy, it is this state that gives the psyche of a healthy person the opportunity to "reboot" and recover. However, if a few hours of blues and idleness, as a rule, do not affect the quality of life of a modern person, then constant apathy can cause many difficulties in all areas of life, from the loss of important social ties to problems at work. Therefore, those people who have lost interest in life need to find a way to get rid of apathy and return an active life position and desire to act.
Apathy: causes and features of the course
In order to understand how to get rid of apathy, you first need to determine the reasons that caused this condition. The emotional sphere is an integral part of a person's mental activity, so every day we experience hundreds of emotions - for example, the pleasure of delicious food, the joy of meeting good friends, satisfaction after the successful completion of any work, irritation due to bad weather, etc. Normally, the psyche must cope with all external signals and felt emotions, however, situations are not uncommon when either due to the abundance of information and stimuli, or due to a strong shock, the nervous system is "overloaded" and ceases to cope with incoming signals from outside. And according to the observations of psychologists, The most common causes of apathy are:
To protect against "burnout" and subsequent harmful consequences (diseases of the nervous system, psychosomatic diseases and mental disorders), the human psyche begins to work in the "energy conservation mode", that is, does not respond to most incoming signals. While a person is in a state of apathy, not only his nervous system is restored, but also the entire body, since the energy that was spent on emotions and intellectual activity is spent on self-medication. And precisely because the body needs as many energy resources as possible to recover, apathy and laziness are often inseparable.
In a state of apathy, a person has no interest in life, he often neglects household duties, refuses to communicate and previously loved things and practically does not experience any emotions. The symptoms of apathy are in many ways similar to, however, unlike a depressive state, apathy is not accompanied by a decrease in self-esteem. Normally, apathy for life does not last too long: depending on the cause that caused this condition, the body and psyche can recover from several days to 3-4 weeks. However, if the state when interest in life is lost, there are no emotions and does not want to do anything, lasts for months, a person needs to think about how to get rid of apathy and return the "taste" of life.
7 steps to getting rid of apathy
Apathy that is not accompanied by more serious mental illnesses (drug addiction, schizophrenia, etc.) is rarely treated with medication, since psychotherapists are sure that a healthy person has enough moral strength to get out of this state on their own. Therefore, psychologists recommend that all people who have lost interest in life take the following steps to get rid of apathy:
Admit there is a problem
... As a rule, people in a state of apathy do not want to admit that they have this disorder, but write off their behavior on external factors - bad weather, lack of interesting activities, etc. But in order to get rid of apathy, first you need to admit the presence of this problem. and also try to determine its cause.- Give the accumulated negative emotions a way out. Since apathy is often rooted in stress, these feelings need to be lived through. For example, if a person “closed in himself” due to the grief that happened, he needs to share with someone the pain that has accumulated in his soul and cry, and if the cause of apathy was chronic stress due to overload at work, he needs to feel sorry for himself and throw out anger and frustration, alone with yourself, having spoken out loud the claims to the bosses, the team, etc.
- Please yourself with pleasant little things. Listening to pleasant music, buying and eating your favorite sweets, letting yourself sleep an hour longer - these and many other little joys in life are a great way to fight apathy. It is they who are able to awaken the emotions of a person and allow the psyche to begin to gradually come out of an apathetic state.
- Make a list of urgent things to do. Since apathy and laziness almost always accompany each other, during the time when a person indulged in despondency, he probably had a lot of unfinished business, from small everyday tasks to large projects. All these things need to be written down on a piece of paper, setting tight, but real deadlines for each of them, and then get to work. It is better to start fulfilling the assigned tasks with the most insignificant and simple things - for example, first deal with a mountain of unwashed dishes and cleaning the house, and then proceed to settle matters related to work.
- Make it a rule for yourself to spend at least half an hour in the fresh air every day. Fresh air and sun rays stimulate the endocrine system of the body and contribute to the normalization of cerebral circulation. Therefore, leisurely walks in the fresh air, especially in sunny weather, have a positive effect on both physical and mental health.
Spend as much time as possible communicating with nice people.
Coping with apathy with the help of relatives and like-minded people is much easier than dealing with this disorder on your own, so people who have lost interest in life need to force themselves to communicate with loved ones more often. Scientists have long proven that communication with loved ones stimulates the production of hormones of joy and happiness, which are necessary for normal human mental activity.- Make your life more interesting and fulfilling. The surest way to get rid of apathy once and for all is to let life sparkle with new colors and learn to enjoy every hour you live. And in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to make sure that there are more reasons for joy in life. Therefore, new hobbies, interesting acquaintances, self-development and an active lifestyle are the best medicine for apathy and laziness.