Ever feel like you wasted a year of life?

[Gomen]

I haven't done anything this past year. I am going back to community college tomorrow to sign up for the second part of a pretest, but cant take any class until summer.

[Phantomy]

Yes I've wasted more than one year thats for sure!

Its pointless thinking about it really, just concentrate on now and what you want in future.

The issue is the void left in your life story ! When you should've/could've been doing x/y/z you actually did jack shit! Still, its a waste of energy thinking about it. So I try not to with varying degrees of success depending on what mood I'm in.

[Misunderstood]

Have wasted a lot of years! At least you are aware of it now so you can try and make this year a better one.

[Oddity]

17 years and counting!

[Phantomy]

Originally Posted by Oddity

17 years and counting!

Snap! a great start to the 3rd millennium AD!!!

[Professor Willow]

I'd say the last five years have been a total waste and the five years before that weren't well spent either.
There's nothing I can do about now so I try not to dwell on it but there are times when it really gets me down.
The best thing to do is focus on the future and making the best of it.

[Ajax Amsterdam]

My life overall? No.
Parts of my life generally? Yes.
For many years I was not really in a position to do much more than muddle through, but there have been times when I've been better placed but not really made the most of it.

[Quicksand]

How about at least 10?! but thats great ur doing something pro-active. well done.

[Toxic]

Probably a good 4-5 completely wasted

Theres also been another 4-5 of merely "existing"

[CurbYourAnxiety]

I've been stuck in limbo for a long ass time now. definitely wasted at least a year.

[Laracroft1]

A year!!! I think I've wasted all 45! It does hurt when i think of how anxiety has dogged me all my life and stopped me becoming who i should have been. Blimey! That was deep! I'm still getting my head around it.

[Dougella]

No I don't feel like I wasted years because I just did the best I could at the time.

[Between The Bars]

Originally Posted by Dougella

No I don't feel like I wasted years because I just did the best I could at the time.

That tae me, is the perfect response.

[blancmange]

10 years and I really don't know how to dramatically change that. I feel like I've missed out on so many life experiences, basically this year I need to get out of my 'comfort zone' and push myself, regardless of how anxious or scared I am.

[newbs16]

^ Good luck dimples x

[Ajax Amsterdam]

Originally Posted by gregarious_introvert

The last 18 months have been the best of my life, so maybe those years weren't wasted as they were the catalyst for the life I have now.

That's a good point. Nothing is wasted if we go onto learn from it and use it to push us onwards later on. My lowest points have certainly driven me on to make the necessary changes that have led to some of the finest moments of my life.

[Marco]

Totally agree with you, Ajax. Maybe you and I are now of an age where we have both come through the worst of our SA problems that we can perhaps view our younger years in a slightly more constructive light, even though they were at times blighted with debilitating anxiety. I know when I was younger I really resented my lost teens and twenties, but now that I***8217;ve come through that I recognise that those ***8220;bad years***8221; actually gave me a great deal of insight about myself and ultimately gave me more determination ***8211; without realising it at the time I was learning from my SA and making appropriate positive lifestyle changes.

Don***8217;t get me wrong, I***8217;ve not emerged as a confident and successful man, but I***8217;m more at peace with myself and much less troubled now. I***8217;m still a work in progress, to be honest, but I***8216;ve learned to look more constructively to the future and think less resentfully of my past.