I’ve been really struggling lately with this awful sense of guilt every time I spend even a little time “doing nothing.” It’s weird because I know breaks are necessary, and not every moment has to be productive. But whenever I catch myself watching a YouTube video or scrolling for more than a few minutes, this wave of self-hate rolls in. Like I’m falling behind in life. It’s not even that I have crazy deadlines—I just feel like I should be doing something “better.” Anyone else get this?
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I just feel like I should be doing something “better.”
I just feel like I should be doing something “better.”
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Yeah, you’re definitely not alone. I used to get hit hard with that too. I’d try to relax, then my brain would go, “You’re wasting time again,” and boom—instant guilt spiral. What helped me was reframing rest as an intentional part of the day instead of a failure to be productive. I even schedule it in sometimes, like 30 mins of guilt-free YouTube or gaming, and I respect that time. It also helped to understand that this guilt usually stems from perfectionism or comparing myself to others’ highlight reels online.
I found this thread recently that goes deep into that whole issue—especially how even the stuff you care about can feel like a burden: the liven app reviews. The OP in that post describes exactly what I was feeling, and the comments have some solid insights too.
Also, random tip: I tried a few apps like Liven (you can check Liven app reviews to see if it works for you) to track how I spent my time without judging it—just tracking. It helped break that guilt cycle a bit, because I could see patterns instead of just assuming I was wasting my life. Hope that helps.