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Countless people waste their lives away, often without realizing it. They spend years trying to satisfy others, conform to societal expectations, and chase fleeting pleasures.

While these pursuits bring short-term satisfaction, in the long term, they doom you to a life of mediocrity and dissatisfaction.

There are several signs you are wasting your life that can help you reflect on your current path and make adjustments, if necessary. By clicking on this article, you have taken an important first step first step towards improvement, and that’s worth commending.

In this article, we’ll discuss 8 signs you’re wasting your life, how they affect your future, and what you can do to obtain lasting fulfillment. Let’s begin.

Worrying Signs You’re Wasting Your Life

You made the correct decision by clicking on this article. If you have any of these signs, you have the opportunity to fix them and build a more meaningful future for yourself and others. But first, we need to see how these signs manifest themselves in your life.

The most evident sign you are wasting your life is lack of satisfaction with it.

1: You Don’t Enjoy Living

A happy life is a life where you enjoy every moment, feel grateful for things you have, and amplify your joy by helping others. It is the ideal that many pursue, but fail to obtain.

At all times, somewhere at the back of your mind, you always feel like something is missing. You rarely experience joy, constantly doubt your decisions, but are afraid of change.

This signifies that you don’t enjoy your life, and therefore, don’t live to the best of your potential. Everyone feels lost and uncertain from time to time, but being in this state chronically is a sign you’re wasting your life.

Being dissatisfied with your existence, you can also overindulge in escapism, trying to regain the joy your life lacks.

Recommended article: What to Do When You Feel Lost in Life

2: You Overindulge in Escapism

There’s nothing wrong with occasional escapism: everyone needs to rest from their problems to solve them more effectively.

Escapism becomes a problem when it gets excessive. Playing a story game for 2 hours every weekend is different from playing 10 hours of Dota or CS every day.

Gaming isn’t the only form of escapism, of course. Doom scrolling, constantly listening to sad playlists, frequent partying – none of these actually solve problems. All they do is pull solutions further away, depleting your energy in the process.

It may sound obvious, but the only way to improve your life is to face the obstacles, make consistent, correct decisions, and keep moving forward despite the pain.

Constant escapism not only keeps your problems alive, but makes reality even more disappointing each time you go back. It’s a good idea to stop, take some deep breaths, and figure out how you’ll face your demons.

It’s difficult to stay motivated when you believe your efforts won’t make a difference. And that is another sign you are wasting your life.

Related article: 9 Bad Habits That Will Ruin Your Life

3: Your Job Feels Meaningless

Back in the day, most people didn’t care about the meaning of their work. They were more concerned with getting by, feeding their families, and continuing their existence.

Now that we have more free time and energy, however, we want more from our work. Consciously or not, we desire to make an impact, contribute to the world, and feel like we matter.

Think about your job for a second: do you feel satisfied with it? Can you measure the positive impact it makes, and the problems it solves? Do you feel like it improves the world, or merely creates income for your higher-ups?

Unfortunately, only 10% of people enjoy their work and sense its contribution to the world. Feeling like you are of use to someone is one of the most important factors determining your mental health and self-confidence.

If you’re in the bottom 90% of workers, you should reevaluate your professional life, and work to find a cause to commit to. Think of skills you possess (or can acquire), problems that matter to you, and seek for ways to solve them.

4: You Overthink Everything

Another sign you’re wasting your life is indecisiveness. As I said before, everyone goes through uncertainty and confusion. When you doubt your every move and decision, though, countless problems appear:

Constantly overthinking “should I do this or that” paralyzes you, making you unable to make correct decisions on time. As a result, you lose great opportunities and waste time instead of improving your life.

In case you’re afraid to change jobs, start working on that passion project, ask that girl out, or begin weightlifting, remember this: you won’t last forever. Our time is limited, and should therefore be valued like gold.

If you take the chances and try, there’s a high chance you will gain courage and succeed. Even if you fail, nothing catastrophic will happen. On the contrary: you will learn valuable lessons, and perform better in the future.

Get rid of overthinking, for it only creates more problems. Aside from this, remember: you either succeed, or you learn. Adopt this mindset, and you’ll cure your indecisiveness.

Another sign you are wasting your life is lack of training and fitness.

Recommended article: How to Erase Negative Thoughts For Good

5: You Neglect Your Fitness

Your health is one of the most important assets in your possession. Without it, you can’t work on goals, enjoy life fully, and appreciate the bright side of life.

While it is a problem for many people, neglecting fitness puts you in a great disadvantage. By smoking, drinking, eating junk food, neglecting sleep, and avoiding exercise, you destroy yourself in exchange for momentary pleasure.

While this behavior may seem illogical and erratic, it’s often caused by dissatisfaction with your own life. Focusing on fitness becomes easier when you address the root cause of your bad habits: poor mental health.

Instead of focusing on the ugly side of the world, try to look at its brighter aspects. Express gratitude for what you have (preferably through gratitude journaling), walk in nature, and try to always be in the present moment.

Then, gradually integrate exercise into your daily routine: do 30 push-ups after waking up, walk 10000 steps daily, and go to the gym 3 times a week.

These changes are simple to make, and can greatly improve your quality of life. All you need to do is push through initial discomfort and stay consistent for 21 days.

Another potential sign you are wasting your life is having a toxic social circle.

6: You Hang Around People You Dislike

Socialization is essential for mental health and happiness, even in little amounts. But not all socialization is created equal. There are some people that are better avoided than befriended.

It’s infinitely better to be alone and work on yourself than stay with friends who pull you down. Sadly, not all people know or understand this fact.

They keep talking to people who drink, smoke, constantly complain, mock them, and even commit crime – all for the sake of not feeling lonely.

If this is you, listen: loneliness doesn’t arise from being physically alone. Instead, it appears when you don’t feel connected to yourself and the community you live in.

Therefore, to cure loneliness, you don’t need to be around toxic friends. What you need to do is build a great friendship with yourself and contribute to society, one way or another.

Bad friends are like crabs in the bucket: they’ll get frustrated when they see you make progress, and try to pull you back down. Identify them, cut them out as soon as possible, and improve your character to attract better people.

It’s hard not to cling to toxic people when you feel hopeless about the future. And that’s another sign you’re wasting your life.

7: You Feel Hopeless About the Future

Do you believe you’ll have it better? Do you believe that every good moment and pleasant memory still lies ahead? Finally, do you feel certain you’ll achieve your goals?

If not, it’s likely you don’t live life correctly. By this I don’t mean conforming to societal standards, but rather living in full accordance to your values and preferences.

When you know who you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, what you want, and how you’ll achieve it, you enjoy the Present and gladly await the future.

Constant uncertainty appears when you subconsciously know what you’re doing is wrong, and have no clear direction to move towards. This is not a way to live. Instead of letting life blow you around like a leaf, you should be able to direct your own movement.

Figure out your personality, strong and weak sides, dreams, passions, and aspirations. Get yourself a journal, and reflect on your life for 15 minutes every evening.

Journaling isn’t only good for introspection, but for your health too. Research suggests that regular journaling lowers blood pressure, eliminates stress, and improves your mood.

This habit is simple, but it will help you know yourself, helping you regain direction and feel more confident about the future.

Finally, the last sign you are wasting your life is erratic or insufficient sleep.

8: You Don’t Get Enough Sleep

We sleep one third of our lives, and it’s for a good reason: without sleep, you can’t form long-term memories, perform complex cognitive tasks, and clear wastes in your brain.

By neglecting sleep or sleeping without a schedule, you interfere these functions, impairing your body’s rest in the process. With little sleep, your mind generates more negative thoughts, lacks focus, and is chronically tired.

Then, when these conditions become chronic, you pay less attention to fitness, perform worse at studies/work, and get worse at talking to others.

These eventually cause a downward spiral that affects your career, health, fitness, relationships, mental health, and self-confidence. All for the sake of watching some more funny videos (or worse, porn) until 3 AM.

Do not get me wrong: it’s ok to be a night owl as long as you sleep well and get stuff done. But regularly staying awake until 3, 4, or even 5 AM is proven to be harmful to you, so you should consider improving your sleep quality:

• Open your window for ventilation 15 minutes before bed
• Avoid eating big meals after 8 PM
• Don’t work or do other tasks on your bed (to associate it with rest)
• Reflect on your day, and set goals for tomorrow
• Change your alarm tone to a calmer and smoother track
• Go to bed at the same time everyday (e.g. 10 PM- 6 AM)

These changes are enough to help you rest better, feel motivated, and be ready to achieve new heights. Big achievements start with little decisions, so make sure to make correct ones daily.

Now, if you have 4 or more of these signs, you’re probably wasting your life. It’s time to discuss the strategy that will help you get out of the rut and launch an upward spiral of achievement.

How to Escape the Downward Spiral

• First and foremost, start with fitness. Quit buying cigarettes and processed foods, like frozen pizza from Aldi and artificial sweets. Have 45-60 min long gym sessions 3-4 times a week, or if you can’t afford a membership, exercise with your own weight. Fix your sleep schedule using tips above, quit bad habits, and gradually reduce screen time. By regaining health, you’ll find it easier to achieve other things.
• Second, focus on your finances. Track your expenses, see what unnecessary things you can stop buying, and spend less than you earn. Spend some of your free time on a purposeful side hustle, or start investing (be careful not to fall into MLMs or cryptoscams).
• Finally, once you have a healthy body, mind, and good income, you can focus on making your life more exciting. Start doing some useful hobbies, invest in quality self-care goods, and travel to places you’ve never been to before. Read books you’re interested in, meet new people. In short, live your life to the fullest, and do it healthily.

These steps are all you need to get out, really. Just remember: consistency is the key, and happiness is not the goal. It is something that appears when you are Present, grateful, and contribute to others. It’s not hard to achieve, and it only needs a few small, but significant changes.

The Bottom Line

Most people aren’t satisfied with how they live. They may feel occasional joy at social events or celebrations, but for the most part, they don’t feel content with themselves.

There is an alternative to it, though: absolute control over the mind, great mental health, high fitness, and constant sense of peace and wholeness. To achieve it, though, you first need to determine if you’re on a wrong path based on these signs:

• You don’t enjoy living
• You overindulge in escapism
• You don’t find meaning in your job
• You overthink everything
• You neglect your fitness
• You hang around toxic people
• You feel hopeless about the future
• You don’t get enough sleep

These are clear signs you’re wasting your life. If you have several of them, don’t worry. You can change your life’s trajectory with few simple changes:

Spend more time in the gym and in nature. Start working on a cause you believe in, or find new meaning in your current job. Cleanse your social circle, and leave only the best people there. Read books, research stoicism, and learn to control your mind.

By achieving little victories every day, you’ll build self-esteem and self-respect, adopt better beliefs, and slowly transition to a slower, healthier lifestyle.

Remember: the foundation of all prosperity and success is seemingly insignificant, but consistent daily actions. Work, train, read, sleep well, and show compassion to others. Good luck on your journey, friend.

If you liked this article and found it useful, make sure to share it on social media and leave a comment below. See you next time.