Overcoming Learned Helplessness
Dec. 7th, 2025 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seeyatOne of the side effects of living a life such as the one I have, in so many facilities that encourage total shutdown on emotional and even physiological levels is developing what’s called “learned helplessness.”
Learned helplessness develops in all mammals when faced with uncontrollable circumstances in which they feel and internalize a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness.
With learned helplessness, we can face the most miserable situations and our minds and bodies can become so familiar with the suffering that we just… accept it and may even avoid things, people and interests we love and adore.
We can stagnate, repress and fall into suicidal depression in our hopeless, powerless loneliness.
This is one of the reasons I’ve removed so many worthless things from my life. Knowing what motivated and exacerbated my learned helplessness and sense of stagnating misery, I was able to assess my belongings and start building a plan for my future.
Photo and videography are lifelines for a future unburdened by hopeless depression. They offer me an evolving social framework for connection and collaboration while taking precidence over islating oaddiction, substances and meaningless video games or “selfish” investments.
Some people ask what helped most when recovering emotionally and socially.
I would honestly say that devoting myself to photography and videography while simultaneously expanding mobility hobbies like longboarding, cycling and eventually rollerblading I hope… might have legitimately saved my life.
Now, I can eventually settle down once I have a sufficiently powerful and capable editing computer, able to handle massive photo and video file sizes with ease and efficiency. I’ll then have a cozy at-home hobby once I’ve developed a comfortably capable social and community purpose.
The more I expand upon my gear, the more opportunities and hopefully dopamine drips can encourage my growth beyond the walls of depression and suicidal isolation.
Learned helplessness develops in all mammals when faced with uncontrollable circumstances in which they feel and internalize a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness.
With learned helplessness, we can face the most miserable situations and our minds and bodies can become so familiar with the suffering that we just… accept it and may even avoid things, people and interests we love and adore.
We can stagnate, repress and fall into suicidal depression in our hopeless, powerless loneliness.
This is one of the reasons I’ve removed so many worthless things from my life. Knowing what motivated and exacerbated my learned helplessness and sense of stagnating misery, I was able to assess my belongings and start building a plan for my future.
Photo and videography are lifelines for a future unburdened by hopeless depression. They offer me an evolving social framework for connection and collaboration while taking precidence over islating oaddiction, substances and meaningless video games or “selfish” investments.
Some people ask what helped most when recovering emotionally and socially.
I would honestly say that devoting myself to photography and videography while simultaneously expanding mobility hobbies like longboarding, cycling and eventually rollerblading I hope… might have legitimately saved my life.
Now, I can eventually settle down once I have a sufficiently powerful and capable editing computer, able to handle massive photo and video file sizes with ease and efficiency. I’ll then have a cozy at-home hobby once I’ve developed a comfortably capable social and community purpose.
The more I expand upon my gear, the more opportunities and hopefully dopamine drips can encourage my growth beyond the walls of depression and suicidal isolation.
