No Purpose, Passion, Or Motive

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Nothing really drives me. I don’t have any sort of project or hobby that I can spend countless hours working on. I don’t have any real plans or life goals. I just exist, and it’s awful. How am I supposed to figure out why I’m here on Earth? How long will it take? What am I supposed to do until then? I just feel empty all of the time. I’m at the point in my life where so many people in my age group (I'm 19) are starting to figure their life out, making amazing art, stories, music, etc. You can see a bunch of it right here on the Internet. I’m not doing anything! I contribute nothing of value, and I guess that I don’t care enough to change anything, because I’m still here feeling demotivated and awful.

I suck in art. I write okay, not great. I don’t feel I have any “purpose.” I didn’t have a “career”—only a job.

Yet here I am, almost 60. Alive and kicking.

I believe in the Epicurean ethos: try to have as much fun as possible without hurting anybody else.

I actually have given advice on this to a few people, so maybe this advice will help you too.

Don't worry. Most people haven't got a clue about anything in your age. Some pretend, and some of those who seem to have their act perfectly together will later find how wrong they were. Also, you don't know what your biggest contribution to world will be in the great scheme of things. Rosa Parks, for instance, just took a seat in a bus when she was weary after work... Since we can't figure this out, it's best to try to think that the one thing we are really excellent at is being ME, and experiencing your particular life. Like Richard Dawkins put it: the potential amount of people who could have been born to your parents instead of you, is greater than the amount of grains of sand in Sahara. Certainly, among those ghosts, there would have been great artists and scientists and leaders. But instead of them, you were the one who won the lottery and arrived into this world. Being the best you there is and adding to your unique experience of life to the whole of this universe, is a perfectly good "meaning". You are a human being, therefore your value is not defined by what you "do" or how much you "contribute" in the everyday scale of things.

As for what this might mean...since I assume you are an Aspie, I'd say that you need to find your special interest. One good way is to think about the very long list of things that are wrong in this world. What is the one thing that you could help fixing, if you were given the right education? The examples you mentioned about people of your age are about people who express themselves via their art. You can express yourself through doing something completely different. Find the right problem. Then find, what YOU might be able to do about it, given the right education. Usually, there are plenty of options, and that's where your talents and interests might come to play. For instance, if you want to battle sickness, depending of your talents and interests, you could become a doctor, a nurse, a cleaner working in a hospital, or even an engineer working on health technology. If you want to feed the world, you could become a farmer, but also a researcher, a politician, a logistic expert etc.
Find your problem. There are plenty to choose from! Then, find a way you could contribute in solving it. If finding "your cause" seems to take years, you can always aspire for a more general education (such as law or mathematics), and keep on figuring things out while you get to experience the world from the new perspective provided by your education.

Most importantly, remember that great majority of people doesn't have their life figured out in your age, and many of who seem to have, will later find out that they were wrong.

Are you asking for ideas of projects to get involved with?

Since when have you been feeling this way?

Are you going to school/work right now or are you at home? Sorry, I have no idea about the corona-situation.

I can tell from my own life, that I started to get to know myself better at the age of 21. This is when I discovered my true passion and potential. I started doing real stuff.
But I had a bit of help back then and a lot of changement was going on.
I personally always need changement in order of things to move in my life, otherwise I go back into that state where you are right now. Because passion and interests keep changing...
Maybe you need some changement in your life too?

I am also 19 and I feel the same way you do. I have lots of things that interest me but for many, many months I’ve been feeling kinda dull. I wish I could provide you with some solid advice but I think maybe it might help just to know that someone else your age feels the same. I believe that we’ll probably figure it out eventually. We’re living in some crazy times right now and that probably contributes to our feelings more than we give it credit.

I'm 31 and I'm still trying to find fulfillment. People who say they already have usually have simple and happy lives or lack larger dreams. Look up executive dysfunction. It's basically when you want to do something and then don't do it. It's been holding me back my whole adult life, but especially in the last 6 1/2 years. If I didn't have it I'd be writing science fiction. I've been working on the same book since 2013 and I'm constantly rewriting things with no end in sight. I mistook my executive dysfunction for laziness and lack of motivation for years. Maybe you genuinely aren't motivated, in which case I second what the other people in this topic have been saying, but maybe you're like me and just can't start even if you want to. Since joining this site I've met at least 2 other people who are somewhat the same. It seems to come with autism sometimes.