This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/cfs by /u/RandomistShadows on 2025-01-23 11:47:07+00:00.

I feel stuck, stagnant. I’m starting to get to a decent place mentally but I don’t know what to do from here. I’m 16, my goals have always just been school and maybe an after school activity. Since I got sick I can’t do either. I’m trying to get my GED but even that is a giant task. I need to learn how to drive even though I very likely won’t be able to 98% of the time. I have other trauma mixing in with this illness, as a result I keep trying to help everyone and anyone I can, even when I shouldn’t. That’s the only purpose I’ve found. I’m in therapy for that because it’s not healthy, I’m getting better, but now literally everything I’ve ever moved toward in life I either can’t or shouldn’t do.

I want to try and work for some sort of help line but I don’t have any confidence that I’ll be able to because of this illness, and I’m scared to try because every time I’ve pushed myself to do something like that I’ve crashed hard and just made myself worse. I don’t want to go back to severe.

I have hobbies and friends, but no goals or motivations. I’m just surviving and feeling joy from time to time. All of the hobbies I have that I could take further, maybe earn some money from, feel out of reach. I’m writing 2 different books, I haven’t worked on them in a couple months. I kind of want to start a YouTube channel and set up proper social media pages for art, but the brain fog makes it near impossible to be consistent with anything.

It all just feels pointless. Joy doesn’t feel like a goal, but it’s the only challenge I can succeed in, and even that isn’t reliable.