This is weird...

Ever since I've come back home, I've been in this weird funk. I feel lost on the internet...such as when I get on here, I don't know what there is to do. I feel like doing things by myself a lot more often, and I don't know why. Just seems like I want to be by myself a lot more. Maybe it's because I lived with 40 guys in a barracks for over a month, I dunno. Anyone have any suggestions to help me get out of this funk?

Depending on what area of the country you live in, you may be affected by the weather. Here in Cincinnati, Ohio, we've had a lot of cold, gray days, and it makes us feel "funky" too. Robin and I feel like we have no energy, just want to sleep a lot. We work, we run errands, we come home, and go to bed! It's not at all like that when it's warm and sunny. This only happens to us in the winter time. Also, some people get depressed over the Holidays. Expectations of having a perfect Holiday Season, nothing going wrong, relatives behaving perfectly is much too high. When it doesn't happen that way, people get depressed. Having no expectations whatsoever, of yourself or anyone else, can alleviate that problem, especially when dealing with the pressure of gift-giving.

You also came back from an intense environment. You no doubt saw some pretty ugly stuff happen. That would be enough to traumatize and depress anyone! Of course you want to be alone and feel a bit reflective. You're going through an adjustment period. Just be good to yourself and maybe make yourself go out with some friends, even if you don't feel like it. You'll end up lightening up a little and feeling better as time goes on.

Well, I am no expert, and as it sounds like you had quite a stressful/traumatic time there, mayb it just will take a bit to adjust to "normal" life .... :)

If you really feel it is continuing like this, you might want to consider seeing a doc and checking if you might suffer from a situational depressive episode - ... he/she should be able to see if some treatment might be helpful.

It could just be the case that you are feeling a bit disorientated with your life because you were looking to spend some time doing military service and now that you are out, you haven't found a new perspective ;)

I felt like that that after my PhD - a bit of a "hm, wtf - what to do now?" kinda thing ;) If so, my advise would be to think of where you want to be in 10yrs time, imaging your life then ;) and start making a plan on how you get there ;).

This is actually a pretty hard exercise when - like in my case - you pretty much have done everything you ever really wanted, lol - but I would bet that at your stage in life you will come up with a couple of things you still want to do ;) and this might get you start with a sense of direction again for which you can get "active" and interested again ;).

Well, not sure if any of this is useful - so just pick, chose and feel free to dismiss ... :D

Best of luck either way ;)

Polly and C both give some great advice. You are definitely in a time that was unexpected...and that can cause some serious stress and anxiety. Perhaps you are feeling directionless...or you just don't know who you are as you've just recently lost one definition of yourself. If you have health insurance that covers some therapy, I would suggest doing it. Not because you are crazy but because it might help you figure out what's going on in your head RIGHT NOW and help you to get out of your funk. They have the perspective to ask questions that you might not have within yourself.

Good luck and feel free to pm or email me if you'd like.

Maybe, Romial, you just need some time to adjust to being back home again. First you had a huge adjustment going to basic, and now it's an adjustment back home. And, maybe you have alot of feelings associated with the whole experience that you just need time to sort through.

My best advice is go out with some friends and have some good conversation. Hope you're back in the swing of things soon.

I agree with everyone else. You were expecting to reprogram your mind to such a strict, controlled environment such as the military and now you're at odds as to what to do with yourself.

I know that once the sunny days of fall move into winter and the days start to get grayer and shorter it depresses me. I have seasonal depression for about a month. Then the holidays are in full swing and then I become depress because its another year with no one to ring in the New Year. Once Daylight savings ends and March rolls around I start to get better. I'm definitely a summer baby. The hotter the better.

But hopefully sometime in the next few months either Florida or Puerto Rico will help my blah days. So hang in there. You're not alone.

Paris