Problem with motivation?

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Heya, I wanted to know if anyone else experienced what I did. I was always a pretty good student up until the age of about 16, when I felt like I really couldn't make any solid relationships, and I became depressed. My grades plummeted, and I got mostly Cs in highschool, and Ds too. It was pretty ridiculous how lazy I got. I went to college, and got Bs sometimes, but also repeated courses a few times because I just couldn't get motivated. Then around 24 I totally pulled out of it, kicked the **** out of myself and got mostly As and Bs. But those nether years, man, what the Hell?!

Did anyone else relate, or am I the lone idiot on these boards who slacked off that bad? I really did mean well, and it did bother me that my grades were drowning, yet I just couldn't get motivated for so long.

You certainly aren't the only one. I became depressed at 14 & my grades got lower & lower. Then I started missing days of school which turned into weeks, until I eventually dropped out half way through the year. However, at least you completed high school. I can't get into many courses because of my lack of high school qualifications (none) & to be honest I'm still not motivated to try. I recently failed an entry-level course because of lack of motivation, again due to depression.
So yeah, your not alone in that.

I can relate. Throughout high school I was bored and apathetic, I considered school to be a waste of time that I could have spent doing independent studying, the only class that I was motivated in was Japanese. But now in college, I'm whipping into action and conquering all of my classes readily.
I think having the proper motivation of intellectual stimulation helps greatly.

I can definitely relate, I was getting really good grades and then when I turned 16 I messed up my eating a lot and got depressed, ever since I've been a slacker. Skipped a lot of school where I'd just be sitting in front of the school lol. I'd sit in front of my books and couldn't grasp anything. I passed most of my classes just 'cause I paid attention in class.
Took me 2 extra years to get out of high school though. I'm currently failing a bakery course(to be honest, it wasn't challenging and I was surrounded by brainless 16 year olds- I'm 22. I was the only one answering questions correctly in class etc.).

I have to go to uni next school year and I REALLY hope that I'll be able to get motivated again.
I'm actually more worried about how I'll get to uni from wherever I'll be staying. Being outside tends to bring out panic attacks and exhaust me (which in turn messes with my concentration/priorities etc.).

I can totally relate. I've been struggling with the same thing. Not just in school, but it carried over into work. I'm pretty sure everyone in my family has given up on me and the only one I can trust is myself.
I have places I want to be, but I've made some poor choices, partly because I didn't quite understand what was going on around me.
I can also understand how being outside causes panic attacks. I don't really get panic attacks, but I do get very, very anxious and withdraw to avoid it.

I found that when I got depressed, my marks went up because I wanted to focus on school instead of my life. When my depression lessened, my motivation for school lessened and now I really don't want to go to school and work My marks are still high enough though, but they've definitely dropped about 5%

I can definitely relate. Towards the end of the school year I always feel really unmotivated because I'm sick of school and the sun makes me sleepy. My grades have started slipping a bit over the past month or so. I am motivated to do things that interest me, but that's usually not schoolwork. I also have a problem where I have a bunch of deadlines coming up, and I feel so overwhelmed that I don't work much on anything. Afterward I promise myself I'll never procrastinate like that again, but I inevitably will.

I had similar experiences, though my worst time occurred toward the end of my undergraduate years. Thanks to commercials and pop-psychology books, many people have come to equate depression with sadness and laziness. Sadness is, of course, part of depressive symptomology, but many people don't realize that genuine depression distorts your view of your environment, as well as your ability to make good decisions about it. This is often misdiagnosed by people as laziness or half a dozen other problems. For some people, treatment is as simple as finding a good friend with whom they can talk and engage in life. For others, a relatively simple pharmaceutical Rx can deal with depressive symptoms. Unfortunately, we often don't realize how how bad things have gotten until our decision-making processes are already inhibited.

Please note that major depressive disorder is episodic. That means that it can go away, only to return full force some months, or even years, later. If you start to recognize these same signs in you at a later date, I encourage you to seek out help, whether from friends, or a professional.

A teacher would do something stupid and dismissive and I'd withdraw, plus there were problems in my family, plus some social groups had not worked out, plus I was getting inklings that the whole job world and corporate world wasn't all that great. Was not open like it really should be. All this happened in 11th grade and my grades went way down.

Okay, one thing, first off, only one out of nine social groups works out anyway. The odds are a guess. But it's definitely an exception for a group to work out. The norm is that, for one reason or another, the group will not work out. I am thinking of ROTC Rangers, ROTC Color Guard, Dungeons and Dragons, the teen disco, Boy Scouts, etc., etc. Or, the group partially works out and you're wondering what you did wrong. Well, that's the norm. Appreciate it for what it is.

Okay, what has worked for me

reading widely, esp. autobiographies,

political activism--besides social skills, you also learn how the world works. (You get a lot of fresh meetings of new people. You can learn a lot that way.)

sales--commission sales where you are treated as a professional and can try different things. Again, the feedback of a lot of fresh meetings with new people.

Texas Hold 'em poker--again, the same type of feedback. And I drove my car better after a poker session. I wasn't judging people, I was accepting them as they were. (Very hard to make money, the casino takes a rake which sands down a winning session, you have the inevitable ups and downs even when you're playing tight-aggressive, which is the only way to play cash games. It's a boring style, you're not well liked. Plus, it's not that fun sitting at a table with strangers. But, but, all that, you learn a lot!) Poker teaches you the feel and texture of the hand. The hand may not be perfect, but it still is eminently playable. The things you did earlier that you might view as mistakes, that's just part of the texture.

So, mix in school with real life. Try in add some fun readings to required readings whenever possible. And accept that most teachers are mediocre.

And the political activism, mainly on the left! I am very, very independent. These groups, too, about 1 out of 9. And people in general conform to a group, in fact over-conform, even people generally independent-minded and I don't understand it. I realize perhaps I should accept it, but it is something I struggle with.

When you're in elementary school, when you want to build a backyard hideout or organize a tag game in the tall grass, there's a connection between effort and results, and people want to do things, and they appreciate you making the effort. But during adolescence, people are into being 'cool' and the whole thing is much more nebulous.

I also remember a mention of Elvis Presley in abnormal psychology class, that he struggled with depression. How could Elvis struggle with depression? Well, one reason, besides biochem, is that everyone's just telling him how great he is and that he, or anyone in that situation, that you, you would lose the connection between effort and result. Besides, you're not really doing things with people. You're doing things alone on your own and they're just acting the role of spectators. You always have to be On and be Super Whoever. You can't just be human being yourself.

I'm currently going through this.
I was a good student, got good grades, even in junior high where i got some cool friends and goofed off in class (oklahoma public schools suck). When i went to private high school starting sophmore year, I got mainly A's and B's and actually found stuff interesting. College is where things went down hill.
Today is my last day of class and I'm not going, haven't gone to most of my classes over the past week. I'm dropping out and going to Kaplan Career institute, hopefully that'll be more tolerable.
Anyway, I don't know what caused this failure in motivation, and wish I knew what was going on. This will be the first time in my life that I fail classes, kind of a low point in my life.