STEPHEN FRY

Hello,

One thing I found helped was joining a taught salsa class. (I read you tried the go out and do things - bear with me) salsa's energetic enough to give some exercise and you have to dance with a string of random partners. I find sometimes I have almost no conversation, or I assume people will find me boring, but that's not an issue because the class forces partners to rotate every few minutes anyway.

I find actually dancing with other people can be nerve-racking, so making myself go rather than avoiding it is a bit of a battle/an achievement if you want to look at it in that way, It took a couple of months to beat that kind of feeling and take part properly.

What can be genuinely uplifting is when you notice the person you're with enjoys themselves and they thank you afterward. If I'm down then I can have rather negative views of myself and situation, so having someone running on a level keel give a contradictory opinion is a pleasant surprise, it makes you stop and think. Dancing is spending an hour in company and concentrating on getting the steps right. My mind is not big enough to hold both things at the same time so by forcing one in I can exclude the other. well that's something which helped me.

Keep looking for things to re-kindle your interests - if you're in education and there are clubs / societies you could join at the start of term, maybe that's a thing to explore? good luck & god bless you, & please take care.

Thank you for the tip, I really appreciate it. As it happens my flat is located above a salsa studio (it's also above a pizza parlour, although that is neither here nor there). I will certainly look into lessons or open sessions. Most of the activities I've been engaging in to "go out and do things" have been solitary activities or at least activities that don't require any sort of interaction beyond paying at a till - maybe an activity where interaction can't be avoided would be just the thing?

i think that sounds like a good idea, to be in more situations where other people keep you moving, keep you talking, and keep your mind off your own thoughts.

i'd also suggest volunteering, especially if you can find some one-time type of opportunities to put your toes in the water. i volunteer for a film festival and take tickets and say hi to people. hoping to maybe do something with kids for halloween, too. they're small things, but i've been looking forward to them for weeks.

let us know how things go.

Thanks Banjo. I will look into volunteer stuff too. I didn't realize there were one off volunteer opportunities, I'll have to look around here (there must be something).

I'll let you know how things progress. Assuming they progress - I feel like I'm stuck in neutral with no chance of shifting out. :/

I totally understand what you mean about wanting to sleep just so you don;t have to be conscious, though of course that is worrying in itself.

Sleep when you are tired, the rest of the time just try and keep occupied as much as possible, even of you're doing something boring [or even if as you say everything is boring you].

I know how hard it is to do that, when everything seems pointless and there's no reason to do anything but you gotta try. That amount of sleep is probably not great for your body even, what about some exercise, even walking, if not outside, even around the house, up and down the stairs or something.

I love sleep too. It is when I am my happiest. However I get little...

Boredom is my nemesis. I can certainly understand it pushing someone over the edge because it has done that to me many times. I think it can come from being quite intelligent, and having the ability to concentrate/think about many different things, meaning lots needs to be going on to prevent boredom, hence a low boredom threshold.

Keep busy. That's what I have to do. Buy lots of books and DVDs and magasines and music, and do several things at once to occupy yourself.

Take up smoking. No, avoid the evil ciggies.

KSx

that's a great thing to do! that's how i got my banjo. kind of a random choice... but my roommate had one and i liked the way it sounded. a few months later i bought my own. if there's anything you've been doing to fill the time, see if you can do that activity with a group. i know it's difficult and awkward...

i have slept like that before, too. i used to "put myself to bed" when my thoughts weren't doing me any good. i hope things get better for you. feel free to beat my butt at scrabble as much as you like.

i don't know if this site runs in canada, but in the u.s. there is a site called volunteermatch.org. where places list events or things they need help with. craigslist does as well, if your area has a well-established craigslist or something like that.

from your description of your second job, i doubt that's helping. no talking, no music??? yikes.

I've been having sleeping problems more and more lately. I don't sleep very well at night. I take forever to drop off and then I'll wake constantly throughout the night randomly. I don't feel well rested the next day. I spend the whole day lacking energy and motivation to get anything done. I feel tired all the time. If I'm not doing anything between 2 and 3 in the afternoon I will fall asleep and struggle to wake up again before 6.

I've also decided that I'm going to quit my soul sucking second job. I spend every morning currently re-shelving books in a library. We're not allowed to listen to music or talk or do anything but shelve and listen to the eletronic overstock shelves roll back and forth. Maybe it will help?

I had a terrible job like that once. All I'd do for 8 hours is stockpick clothes and if the work finished early I'd wander around like a zombie. We weren't allowed to take in our walkmans or anything and the work was so dull I went nuts. I don't do well in jobs where I get bored quickly. I start becoming aggressive and weird (even for me).

Hi guys:
Amil, your sleeping-pattern has been mine since I was...12 or 13, maybe, it´s exhausting. Somehow, I got used to, and also got used to have wonderful siestas on Saturday and Sundays. First thing my shrink made was giving me sleeping pills to try to follow a healthy sleep pattern every night (7-8 hours), seems to be very important for moods swinging and so on...maybe you should talk to your doctor...

I spoke to my doctor just over a week ago and he doesn't want to put me on sleeping pills. He suggested exercise. Easier said then done. I've been struggling to get back into the habit since autumn 2006. I want to do it but I rarely manage to force myself to do anything. I wanted to do some today. Never happened. I didn't do anything today, not even my studies. Or yesterday. Or for the last few weeks for that matter. I'm just not managing to start anything anymore. I'm struggling to get out of bed, get dressed, open my curtains and eat breakfast. I haven't any motivation to do anything anymore. It's got to where I never even know what day it is until someone else reminds me.