I resonate with this. As a kid I used to complain about having to shower solely because I knew I'd just have to do it again later. Washing my hair was agonizing because I'd get a billion knots, and I'd spend an hour, two, three having my mom braid it or whatever. And every single time, I dreaded the pain. Even then, it felt pointless, because I'll have to do it again, and again, and again, and again. Nevermind the monumental amount of effort it takes to even do these things once. And it never gets any easier because this revulsion and anhedonia is coming from within me. No change in circumstances can cure what I was born with. I've been lucky, and unlucky, and I've clawed myself out of hell a few times with pretty much zero help. But no matter what I do or where I am, I am still lost.
Life feels to me a lot like swallowing my medication. My gag reflex is crazy, so sometimes it feels like I'm trying to throw up (though I'm trying not to), gagging and all that shit. I know logically that no matter how much it hurts, I probably shouldn't just stop taking meds they're supposed to make me better. Which they arguably do— but not nearly enough. T'is an analogy I like to use because I've been struggling with this from the moment I realized I couldn't just take liquid allergy meds for the rest of my life. There are days now where I don't gag like that, I only have to suffer from the anxiety of potentially doing so. Those are the good days. But I will find it difficult again, I'll gag and choke again, and I will intermittently do so until I'm dead.
So it feels like I'm stuck in a nightmare, even when I'm 'happy'. I have to wonder how people can go about their lives, not just enduring life but enjoying it, and doing so with what appears to be effortless intent. Even when I'm outside in the sun, or exercising, or trying to better my life, I feel like I'm sitting just adjacent to actual happiness, and no matter how much I try to get closer to it, I'm only able to see what it looks like and understand how damn close it is. I can't feel it.