Title: I [28M] got broken up with by my partner of almost 4 years a couple weeks ago. I thought she was the love of my life and I would marry that woman. I&#x27;m also in the last year of my PhD in a sub-field I have never envisioned myself in and somehow slipped into due to Covid and my own passiveness and weak sense of self. The PhD is also not going super well and I&#x27;m stressed about not having enough research to finish in time. I also grew up in a dysfunctional family environment (toxic parent relationship, some narcissistic&#x2F;borderline traits in them) and have been struggling with the consequences of that on my development and mental health. I also don&#x27;t have a large social circle, and some of my friends are scattered internationally.<p>As you can see, I feel like I&#x27;ve hit rock bottom. On the outside I look all successful, in shape and doing a PhD in a prestigious research group. But most of the time in my life I&#x27;ve felt empty, doubting myself and struggling with a weak sense of self and unhealthy thought&#x2F;behavioural patterns that are hard to shed off. I feel like I&#x27;ve lost any passion for anything, and don&#x27;t know what I want or need.<p>I&#x27;ve read tons of psychology&#x2F;philosophy&#x2F;self-help over the past 10 years and it helped to some extent. I&#x27;ve also started therapy 2 months ago, but it&#x27;s going slow and it hasn&#x27;t been very useful yet. The advice so far has boiled down to &quot;do things you like&quot;.<p>I would be grateful for any of your advice or shared life stories. At the moment I feel like standing in front of a massive pile of broken glass.
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