Can you sit with yourself?

[Foresight]

Does anyone else struggle with being still with no distraction? If you were asked to sit quietly in a room with no distraction would that be challenging? I have a real addiction to distraction. If everything is too quiet and I have little stimulation the horrors of my life boil up. I'm so traumatized.

 

[Sherri]

At the begining and at the worse of my depression all I did was lie in bed staring at the ceiling. Just alone…just alone. All emptiness I felt at the time.

 

[Snake of Eden]

I dont think it is just you. Most of us need to occupy ourselves with something. It used to be easier for me to sit with myself in the past when i didnt have so many regrets and worries to live with. Now i can only tolerate being without distractions for short periods. I like to let my mind wonder before i go to bed though

 

[Manaaja]

If someone gave me the next season of SSS or TA right now I'd be able to sit still for ten minutes in order to earn it.

I'd actually like to be in a total quietness for a tiny while right now, but the problem is that it's not 100% quiet. I can't relax unless it's totally quiet. I wish I could be inside the quietest room for 15 minutes. I'd probably sleep like for three years. I've heard the room drives people mad, and while I can understand why, I'm a person who'd love to be deaf (not permanently but every once in a while). The place would also have to be odorless. I can't relax if I hear or smell something - unless the smell is really good.

So in short: I can relax if it's totally quiet (and nice smelling or odorless) but since many places are really noisy, it's hard for me to relax. I have to distract myself with visual information in order to block the hearing because I can't hear and see at the same time (well, technically I can, but I can't focus on both at once, so I just miss 90% of the other).

I forgot to add, I can't relax if there are too many visual distractions either. This is why I need white walls.

 

[TheHatedOne]

depends on my mood. most of the time I like to reflect on stuff in quietness while looking at the walls and ceilling. it can be very calming. however, when I need to fight my demons and need to forget things, I also can't without distraction.

 

[Onkyo74893]

Does anyone else struggle with being still with no distraction? If you were asked to sit quietly in a room with no distraction would that be challenging? I have a real addiction to distraction. If everything is too quiet and I have little stimulation the horrors of my life boil up. I'm so traumatized.

In this wired, technology filled world, I think there are few people who can sit still with no distractions. (Meditators?) The only way I can sit still with no distractions is to go lay in bed, even if it's not bedtime. Being severely depressed, I do this a lot.

 

[lostautist]

Without anything to focus on? Probably not. Give me a good book or task and I can sit peacefully forever. I would be an ideal candidate to go to Mars or something.

 

[Foresight]

Without anything to focus on? Probably not. Give me a good book or task and I can sit peacefully forever. I would be an ideal candidate to go to Mars or something.

Hah, I'm jealous. I always have an underlying doom feeling. I never sit peacefully no matter what.

depends on my mood. most of the time I like to reflect on stuff in quietness while looking at the walls and ceilling. it can be very calming. however, when I need to fight my demons and need to forget things, I also can't without distraction.

I think I'm always fighting demons is the problem.

This has been interesting. It's interesting to read people's perspective on quiet moments and our relationship with distraction.

 

[lostautist]

Hah, I'm jealous. I always have an underlying doom feeling. I never sit peacefully no matter what.

I am suffering from the agony of impending doom. There is that.

 

[Ringo]

I seriously doubt it, I am very scattered and even to ramble I prefer to go around in circles, I always carry my cellphone and some headphones with me to listen to videos or podcasts since I don't like being alone with my thoughts for a long time, I end up falling into a fatalistic spiral, I prefer to remain abstracted from my surroundings

 

[FuneralCry]

For me, I need some sort of distraction otherwise I would start overthinking everything and it would make me feel a lot worse. There is no escape from the feelings of dread and hopelessness. However even when I try to distract myself I often cannot concentrate and there is nothing I enjoy anyway. I am just passing the time until I fall asleep. I wish I did not have to deal with these thoughts, I wish I could not think at all.

 

[TooConscious]

Often yes I'm quite alright with my own company as log as I'm not suffering substance withdrawal. But even then I can't be content listening to content either.
I've noticed the older I get it's as if the more comfortable I become you realize all the answers are inside if you can dig them out.
It depends how much we are being ravaged by demons in any given day.

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

Does anyone else struggle with being still with no distraction? If you were asked to sit quietly in a room with no distraction would that be challenging? I have a real addiction to distraction. If everything is too quiet and I have little stimulation the horrors of my life boil up. I'm so traumatized.

I absolutely suck at this.

Years ago I spent thousands of dollars to take an intensive mindfulness course, known around the world. People flew in from all over the planet to do it.

I was verging on miserable the whole time, thinking that if this was the answer, I was doomed to failure.

I also fell asleep many times because the few times I was able to close my eyes and try to concentrate, I couldn't. After the course was over, it was mentioned to me that my falling asleep might have been my subconscious getting in the way of of my mindfulness practice.

I am a person who has the TV on 24 hours a day.

 

[Foresight]

Oh yea, I can relate to that. Youtube is always playing for me. I waste way too much time online. I did three weeks of no distractions recently at the end of December for self improvement. I was commited and was doing awesome. I ended up having a psychotic episode right after the new year. I've never had psychosis before and the only thing I did different was shut the distractions off. Freaked out my brain apparently.

 

[WhiteRabbit]

I like a quiet room, but I'm always reading or online while I'm in one. So I guess those are distractions, lol.

 

[fatefulstillness]

Most of the time I'm completely unable to distract myself. Since this went on for years, I can sit quietly with my thoughts and welcome them... or maybe it's more like not being able to hide from them but also refusing to run.

It's not necessarily pleasant, and it doesn't always go right, either. Sometimes it ends up being quite self-destructive. I guess it happens.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

I feel insane with my distraction-addiction. I use my phone constantly, cycle through the same few websites multiple times over and over. If I sit down, my knee bounces, my hands fidget. I can't focus on one thing at all, it just totally bores me. I seem to do things repetitively. It's all aimless, thoughtless, the content in front of me not even registering half the time. Really bizarre. I hate it.

 

[Crazy4u]

no unless it is a massage chair. Standard chair? you will need to tie me up. I am restless

 

[ImsooDone1N]

Sober? Not really. I don't have ADD or ADHD, and if I did that would suck cuz I loathe sympathomimetics & most treatment is CNS stimulants like amphetamine, methylphenidate, and similar agents.
I used to be able to enjoy sitting down & watching a show. When I was using I could be comfortable with myself. Since I've stopped (ab)using those drugs [my doc are opiates] I have been experiencing something really weird. It's like I can't enjoy anything alone. With a partner or friend, it's different. But alone.. it's hard to find something to watch. I love to laugh & always loved comedy. However I have had NO desire to watch anything funny or comical in like 2 years (alone).. when I'm with someone else (family, friend, or partner) I can absolutely get into it, laugh & enjoy it.
But somethings changed when I'm alone. I'm alone a lot, and it seems to bring out the worst in me, as I really wanna just sleep forever. It's as if I'm just waiting, but for nothing. Like I'm really just "waiting for this to finally be over"… waiting for death.