Strange sense of loss

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I wonder if someone can help me make sense of this. I’ve been experiencing this weird sense of loss for at least a couple of years, but I’m not sure what it is that I’ve lost. It’s like being homesick for a home that isn’t real, or missing something you’ve never had. I’ve almost entirely lost my sense of humor since high school (I’m 25 now), and that is really mysterious to me. I have no idea why it went away or how to get it back. I feel as though I was somehow more complete and happier back then, and that now I’ve lost whatever it was that made me happy.

Has anybody else ever gone through something like this? It’s true that a few very despairing things happened in my life after high school. Could it be that? Is there perhaps a spiritual component to this? Is there anything else you can think of that would cause this kind of feeling? I know this all sounds vague but I am still trying to shed light on it myself. Thanks for any help you can give.

Chris
 
It might be a spiritual issue or a symptom of some mental thing or other. Loss of a sense of humor sounds like something a therpist or psycholgist should be consulted about initially. Google tells me it could be depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or even a vitamin B deficiency. If it is depression or something, you can be treated. At the same time you can pursue the spiritual aspect, perhaps going to a retreat? Investigating religious vocations? Revving up your prayer life?

all the best and God bless you
 
simply by the nature of the decade between 15-25 there is alot of loss. There’s also alot of maturing.
I highschool you didn’t have to worry about bills, jobs, etc. And even in college those worries were minimal. I agree with the above poster to make sure there is no medical reason, but also realize you’ve changed ALOT and that ages 15-25 is years of what I consider the most rapid and signifignant personal change…up until you’re 12/13 almost everything is decided for you. Highschool is the age where you have alot of freedom and not resposibility.
My advice, physical/mental ailmemnts aside, would be to take a vaction, hang loose or simply allow yourself to have fun. I know many 25 yo’s who are too caught up in their work world simply becuase thats what’s expected of them as young and single people.
Your “loss” may just be an emotinal tapped out.
 
Contact your diocese and see if they have an upcoming Young Adult retreat. Sometimes our souls are restless until they rest in God, said St.Augustine. Sometimes volunteering will give you the “helper’s high” and that’s what you needed all along to lift your spirits. Believe me, this really works!

Real depression also requires seeking medical attention. Sometimes it is just a matter of diet or exercise changes for our bodies, sometimes it takes more. Get a good checkup and talk to you doctor about ways to improve the way you are feeling.

The fact that you have identified something is half the battle. With all things, begin, end and all the days in between with prayer. Just don’t despair…all things are possible with God!
 
if you think you also have signs of depression, of course see a doctor, but meanwhile, try making a lifeline, linear on a sheet of paper, or as a wheel. put in key dates, birth, baptism, graduation, confirmation, other key events in your life, then key events that affected your family life. The family moved to another city, death of a grandparent, suicide of an uncle, dad los this job, best friend moved away, stuff like that

you are looking for actual areas of loss and grief in your life that you may not have acknowledged, or might not have given yourself persmission to grieve over. Until the grief process is complete you can’t move on.

then pay attention to your spiritual life, beginning with basics, daily prayer, Mass, sacraments, reading your bible, adoration.
 
If it’s psychological in origin then I suggest talking with a psychotherapist. Asking on an internet message board may yield responses from people who are well-meaning but who lack professional expertise.
 
Thanks everyone, you have shed light on the problem and I am much closer to figuring it out.

Chris
 
one further thought, in reading CCC on prayer in prep for HS CCD class
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in You” is a truth stated by Augustine and many other saints. He also went through a period when he lost everything that had formerly been important in his life–mother of his son, every aspect of his former way of life, prestige, position, even all his core beliefs were shaken. He was, like many of the saints, brought through the interior action of the Holy Spirit to a point where he had to give up every idea, notion, belief, foundation formerly held and allow himself to be emptied so that he could make room for God in his heart.

spiritual direction is indicated for a person undergoing such an experience, perhaps it indicates an inner cleansing, detachment from desire for earthly things in preparation for new desire for God, what St. John of the Cross calls the Dark Night of the Senses. Without knowing more about the person’s spiritual state–a topic not appropriate for discussion here–this is mere speculation, but certainly if this person were my child or student I would counsel spiritual direction from a competent priest or other director.
 
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