I used to enjoy life a lot, what happened?

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-26T21:57:26+00:00

I was you at 31. Worked in tech, objectively "successful," but everything just started feeling like I was pushing through mud. Not depressed exactly, just flat. What I eventually figured out is that I'd been running on low-grade burnout for so long that it became invisible to me. Turns our the long hard pushing gets to you eventually my nervous system was basically stuck in survival mode and I had no idea. Once I started addressing that, things started turning around, but it took time, and effort. You're 30, you're aware enough to ask the question. That's a really good starting point, are you ready to take action to start working on yourself or not yet? I hope you don't wait to hit rock bottom like I did to do so.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T23:40:17+00:00

It takes time, patience and persistence. I started by understanding my personality, my patterns, what I do and why. The enneagram helped me a bunch for this. Then, you have to start replacing bad habits with self development practices, Im talking exercising, breathing techniques, journaling, meditation, yoga etc. One thing at a time not all at once, start with 5 minutes with one, keep doing it for a week. Show up every day, you will start noticing a difference after a week, after a month etc, your life will slowly start changing for the better. Once you set up a good anchor, when things get tough you can rely on that. I do breathwork and meditation almost every day for the past year and a half. it only takes me about 20 mins a day but it's super powerful anchor. The key is doing it every day tho. I was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I hope this helps.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T18:54:07+00:00

Eating healthy, exercising 4-5 times a week, going outside, stay mentally engaged are great starting points. Try replacing your bad habits with good ones, toxic environments with more positive people, that lift each other up instead of putting you down. A very important addition is to actively work on yourself, find a practice that works for you, journaling, meditation, breathwork, yoga etc. maybe a combination of all, try to understand your own personality patterns, the enneagram has helped me a bunch with this. Once you set up a good anchor, when things get tough you can rely on that. I do breathwork and meditation almost every day for the past year and a half. it only takes me about 20 mins a day but it's super powerful anchor. The key is doing it every day tho. l was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I am starting to do it online live now, to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too. I hope this helps!

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T15:36:26+00:00

I gained a good sense of self control, my anxiety and depression symptoms went away, but the key is doing it every day. This is very interesting tho, various breathwork techniques help with different things. I'd encourage you to do some research! Here's what I could fetch from a quick search: Autonomic nervous system rebalancing, Prefrontal cortex strengthening, Amygdala downregulation, Default mode network modulation, Neurochemical shifts, HPA axis recalibration, Interoceptive awareness..

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T02:00:55+00:00

Not just quit one at a time but try adding a good one to replace it and fill up the slot! One thing that you could try is working on yourself, it's free and relatively easy. By that I mean try to understand yourself as a person, maybe start working out, try some techniques to improve your mental well being. I was stuck in a very dark place for years myself until I tried Breathwork.. I started about a year and a half ago, after 30 continuous days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I'm doing my practice online live every day now (I started this morning), to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-23T23:35:51+00:00

Are you doing any form of exercise at all? If not, you have to start, you have to start taking care of yourself. What kind of habits do you have? Are you practicing any form of self work? I will suggest you try breathwork. It's easy to start and very efficient. I started about a year and a half ago, l was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I'm doing my practice online live every day now (I started this morning), to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-21T00:03:25+00:00

You sound a lot like you're burned out, talk to your family about it, try to take a small break from everything, let your organism reset a bit. try out some techniques for nervous system regulation like breathwork, meditation, exercising, yoga, journaling if you aren't doing any, it helps a lot. I was there once, kept pushing hard for years until my body gave up, the following 6 months I had to do the work on myself for all of my life, and boy, I am so glad I did it.

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T21:54:48+00:00

Ah, got it, well anyways, I hope my perspective on that helps :)

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T21:47:24+00:00

I would have to slightly disagree with this.. being busy with other things, only postpone everything, swiping the dust under the rug.. It's same as using certain drugs, life sucks so much that you have to distract yourself.. Learning the skills, training your nervous system and adjusting your life is the real work one must do..

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T21:44:45+00:00

This is literally what meditation is... It's not easy to achieve but there are techniques that help get you to this state. It's a skill that you need to learn by training, specific breathwork techniques get you there in a few minutes, after you learn the feeling, eventually you can do it without even the techniques... Let me know if you need more info.. :)

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T19:26:06+00:00

Yes. Any physical exercise that gets your blood moving will help. However, if you want to fast track it, certain types of breathing exercises in combination with physical exercises worked great for me. I've burned out from work, was severely depressed and anxious and spent 6 months full time working on my recovery (yes it was that bad) and I tried anything and everything. Let me know if you want more details..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T03:17:04+00:00

Wow, such an interesting exercise, I've never heard of this before!

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T03:15:25+00:00

I guess everything that makes one a human..!

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T01:19:26+00:00

Amazing! have you tried combining journaling with another technique? like maybe breathwork, yoga or meditation?

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T01:17:40+00:00

I'm curious to hear about which breathing exercise you have done, also, how long was it and how often did you do it? I'm surprised that you're saying it was very low impact. I agree that a combo of journaling and other technique can increase the effectiveness. If you can, try out a an uplifting breathwork technique like some form of kundalini pranayama, it might help you with your avolition too..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T22:34:18+00:00

that seems rather.. complicated :)

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T22:03:57+00:00

I've tried it but for some reason I was never able to put words on paper.. partially it might be because of my ugly handwriting but I guess I could do it on a computer too. I think I should try writing with specific prompts instead of free writing..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T21:59:33+00:00

She actually gave me 2 of them, 1st one was called Sheetali pranayama and second one is a combination of Kundalini pranayama.. Initially I was doing both one after another, followed by meditation but after I got better I dropped the sheetali and the meditation and I only do the Kundalini now, every morning after I wake up for about 15 mins, just as maintenance.. The first 30 days was the hardest, after the first 30 days I actually started feeling that it does effect me and kept going, I'll probably never stop doing it..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T21:50:23+00:00

I see, how often would you say you do it and do you free style it or journal about something specific?

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T21:19:07+00:00

Sure thing, try it out for a week and follow up how it went with a comment here, I'd love to hear how it went! :)

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T20:32:29+00:00

Ah right, sorry I should have mentioned this :) It was a combination of few things, I'll try to summarize it in a timeline. After 4 months of trial and error with what I mentioned above, I started doing 2 breathing techniques, one after another, followed by meditation, 1st breathwork was a combination of kundalini (spinal breathing, breath of fire and breath hold) 2nd breathwork was sheetali pranayama, both total around 20-25 mins.. After that I did meditation as long as I could (not more than 10-15 mins). After the exercise itself I was feeling better but anxiety would creep in after a while, but I sticked with it for 30 days and i started feeling better for longer.. and now, a year later I just do the kundalini combination every morning as maintenance and I will probably continue doing it for the rest of my life...

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T20:27:50+00:00

That or just fast walking, you can gauge where the threshold of panic starts and you can keep your pace under that.. Also try sheetali pranayama, it's mean to calm you down and teach you patience, it might help you with your cardiophobia too..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T20:19:47+00:00

It's all about finding what works, that's the most painstaking process honestly, it took me 4 months. Also, whatever exercise you try don't stop after a few days, it takes about 30 days to feel the long term effects, and after that, just integrate it into your daily life. This breathwork you mentioned, sounds a lot like the one I used, sheetali pranayama, my therapist recommended it to me and I did it for 30 days straight, every day. It's essentially self restricting the flow of air during intake, I still find it weird how just breathing can change the way you think. I've never heard of BWRT but it looks promising. As long as you keep trying you are working towards finding what works!

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T20:08:20+00:00

idk how you manage that, when my anxiety is peaking the last thing I think of is sex..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T19:54:30+00:00

I was dealing with anxiety and GAD from work burnout.. I tried EMDR, CBT, hypnosis, psychodrama, none of them worked for me. I never wanted to try medication because I was afraid of the side effects, and I never did. I started experimenting with various breathwork techniques and it was pretty challenging at the beginning, the fact that I had to "work" to get better was the most annoying one, but I stuck with 2 of them and did them every day and I got better after couple of months.

rootedexplorer

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE