You and Your Future: What to do When You Have Nothing to Look Forward to
How to Find More Meaning in Life and Stop Feeling Empty - Youtube
Ok, no bullsh*t short-term solutions. Here are 4 long-term solutions for when you have nothing to look forward to.
This is relevant to all age groups and demographics.
If you genuinely feel as if you have nothing to do and that you have no future - read on.
If you’re a teenager who doesn’t enjoy school or are unsure of your future - read on.
Index:
Many people wake up unexcited and uninspired. On any given week, they go to the same job, hang out with the same people, enjoy the same (potentially unfulfilling) indulgences, talk about the same topics, dwell on bad past experiences and feel like life is passing by without them getting to fully enjoy it.
If this sounds like you - you’re in the right place and we’re gonna change that reality today.
Firstly, what’s likely to be the problem? How about this.
Here’s a quick story…
2 years ago, I was an anxious wreck who overindulged in media like Tiktok, Youtube and pornography. I went from feeling like I was failing and not reaching my potential to always having something to look forward to. Today, I feel in control of my life and my time is used wisely.
This was my solution:
I began implementing specific habits on specific days of the week, which gave me a sense of purpose and intention.
Finally, I had something to look forward to the next day. Both when I lay my head down on my pillow to sleep and when I woke up in the morning.
Some examples of these habits were and still are; working out for 30 mins every 2nd day of the week, making a weird post on Instagram on a Friday, beginning a new blog on a Sunday, and now posting on YouTube on Saturdays.
These habits are actually productive and don’t comply with the common things people tell you when you feel unhappy with life; like “watch a movie”, “hang out with friends” and “get outside”. The habits have a dedicated place in my life and meaning behind them.
I’m going to emphasise this now. This advice and similar advice such as going for a walk, exercising regularly, doing things you enjoy, eating well and getting 8 hours of sleep, only make up the FIRST step of the equation.
The second is EFFECTIVELY implementing them.
Do you find it easy to commit positive habits like these just because someone told you to? No? That’s likely because you see them as hobbies and quick-fixes or remedies, rather than a way of life.
These activities work, but doing them simply because a health professional or the internet told you will not help your situation.
Further, treating them as methods to make you feel immediately better about your life will take away their meaning and you may quickly feel unfulfilled again.
So what’s the answer? It is these two things:
Address the root cause of your uninspiring, unfulfilling life.
Use the methods outlined in this article to successfully implement positive habits in a way that transforms the WAY you live and the WAY you think.
2. Set Habits on Set Days
This is what I mentioned before with workouts, Youtube and blogging; appoint specific habits to specific days.
Here are 4 examples you could follow IF you followed the basic advice people give you to find meaning in your daily life…
Instead of “going for a walk”, dedicate 30 mins EVERY Friday to walk through a suburban, city or beach area you like while listening to music, a specific podcast or an audiobook.
Instead of simply “hanging out with friends”, dedicate time at least once EVERY weekend to sit with your family, do something you genuinely enjoy with one particular friend (or your group) or even take yourself to an area with people. One you like.
This habit is important because, as humans, our brain releases chemicals such as oxytocin and serotonin when we’re around people.
Even if you’re anti-social or introverted, there will be some specific social circumstances that your brain will release these chemicals and improve how you feel. Therefore, regular habits like these almost can’t fail to improve your wellbeing.
Instead of “doing a little bit of exercise”, consider a strategy that’s worked well for me. Every second morning, I use a single barbell and my bodyweight to work out for 30-35 mins. The catch is, one of them is leg-focused and the other pushup-focused.
I both look forward to doing something that contributes to my physical strength, physique and mental fortitude and further look forward to getting different sensations depending on which workout is coming up next.
If we want to look at brain chemicals again, I look forward to the release of endorphins, which give you a type of high, instead of pain when you work out.
Instead of partaking in “something you enjoy”, try dedicating 15-20 minutes every night to learning something new. I know people say this a lot… but I’m serious. I’m not just telling you to search up how to do random things, rather, you should think about what makes you feel intrigued and interested and seek knowledge.
For example, I’ve always loved writing stories and delving deeper into understanding topics. This is why I started writing blogs once a day and now spend time every day/night learning about copywriting (writing to persuade).
I will touch on this very same point more in the 4th long-term solution to when you have nothing to look forward to.
Ultimately, setting specific habits on set days will make those days feel more purposeful because your activities will have more intention behind them. If you’re like me - this will help you. Now let’s continue…
3. Implement “Associative” Habits Based on Pre-existent habits
Do you enjoy a morning coffee? Brush your teeth in the morning? Make breakfast every morning? Shower at night?
These are unrelated, except for one thing they have in common. They are COMMON activities.
This brings me onto one of the best practices that I have found helps you implement positive habits in step 1. Habits that you can look forward to on set days.
By MIXING new habits like we’ve discussed with the things you already do, they will more easily become instilled in your brain. Your life will shift before your eyes within months.
This is because our brain works by connecting the dots in our life. We learn by drawing correlations; such as when a puppy begins to associate a word (it’s name) and you patting your knees, with you calling it to run to you.
Your brain will associate doing the normal activity with the habit you’re introducing.
Let’s look at some examples:
In the mornings, I associate a 10 minute flexibility routine, with a following barbell workout, with a short run - before making my morning coffee. It surprised me how many habits you can quickly instil by using this method. That’s technically 3.
In the nighttime, I associate doing deep mindfulness with finishing my nightly skin-care routine and brushing my teeth.
If you drink coffee or tea in the mornings and are interested in both feeling fitter and learning something, you could try this:
Do a 10 minute mobility or yoga-type routine to wake you up and get you feelin’ flexible. Search Youtube for one.
Make your tea or coffee
Sit at your laptop (or with a book if you want) and research the thing you want to learn. I chose copywriting because it relates to my interest in human psychology and marketing. It’s also important. Think about what would work for you.
If you could take any advice out of this article to change your life for the long-term, these are the key takeaways; set habits on set days and associative habits.
4. Fill Voids Created by Past Loss
I’ve got a favour to ask you.
Can you look around at your life right now; yes, up, down, left right.
And answer me this - are there gaps you’ve left open?
I mean gaps of time and energy that you do not use. These could have previously been filled by a significant other, a friendship, an activity you used to enjoy or a job.
If you’ve experienced loss of some kind, like a breakup or a friendship breakdown, that may be a reason why you feel less fulfilled in life and a decreased sense of meaning or excitement. That gap or void can now be filled with something else that you can dedicate time and energy to.
This resolves the greatest misconception many people have toward hobbies and life. They think that taking all stress and responsibility off their plate will make them feel better. This is untrue - those hobbies and responsibilities give us purpose.
What can you fill in these gaps, you ask?
You can fill them with the set habits and associative habits we’ve spoken about up to this point.
Now, time for the 4th and final long-term solution for when you have nothing to look forward to and are unsure of your future…
5. Find Something to Learn
This one has personally helped me immensely. Although I will say, I’m not sure what examples to give. What you’ll want to learn completely depends on you.
Regardless, the point is that a lot of what has gone into this article - both the content and how I’ve written it - I learned from the internet. There is an abundance of knowledge out in the world now and it lies at your fingertips.
No matter what your interests are, you can pin-point specific skills to learn and knowledge to acquire that will allow you to make your life more exciting.
The internet both inspired me to start a blog and to start reading books, which furthered my knowledge and made me greedy to maximise my potential and construct my life as I wished.
So actually, I do have examples of what you could research. Although I want to clarify, seeking knowledge is life-long and has an exponential effect. Knowledge truly is power. The time starts now, my friend.
Anyway, let’s cover the examples:
If you play soccer, you could look into the best methods of both building muscular endurance and increasing your shooting accuracy.
If you play piano, you could research the most effective methods of hearing pitch or of playing faster tracks by improving your hand-movements. I don’t know - I’ve never learnt piano.
If you’re a math or computer person, you could research how apps are coded and build up that skill. A skill that has made many people rich from smaller things like creating mobile games to those like Zuckerberg who coded Facebook.
Essentially, that’s it!
These steps all interrelate. They are used together.
Take action, future warrior.
If you want to see more information like this - it’s literally what this blog and my life is about.
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Take care, my friend.
Riley.
