A poster believed to be a university student wrote on 5ch about struggling with a total lack of self-confidence. Saying they’ve never been able to believe in themselves since the sixth grade, and that nothing has changed now that they’re in college, the poster drew a mixed response from the board. Some were blunt, saying “That’s because you never put in any effort,” while others offered encouragement and advice like “Just being alive is a win” and “Your abilities look different depending on where you are.” The thread’s central debate became whether the lack of confidence stems from a lack of effort, or from the poster’s own traits and circumstances.
Yeah, it's tough — I can't even bring myself to make an effort.
What even is "normal," though? It's nothing like the life I imagined. Everything about who I am is the exact opposite of my ideal self, so I honestly can't stand being me.
As long as you're getting through each day reasonably okay, I think that's fine.
Everyone comes up short if they compare themselves to their ideal 🥺
Props for knowing yourself so well.
I'll give you credit for that much, at least.
Thanks. I bet it's annoying for people to deal with someone like me, and honestly I hate doing this, but this is about the only place I have — somewhere I can vent how I actually feel.
I don't think that, but there's a lot going on. I can't do it — I can't do anything.
There are people who improve the more they try, and people who absorb nothing no matter how much they do.
People who don't absorb anything are just putting on the appearance of trying — they're not actually making an effort in the first place lol
If you don't even try trial-and-error, or you try but never succeed, of course you won't gain any confidence.
Try what, exactly?
No, I never really did. This personality of mine — if that's what you'd call it — has basically been going since around sixth grade.
Before that I think I was actually pretty carefree and had fun.
Of course there are ups and downs, and I do have times when I feel good or upbeat, but when I crash I really do end up crying, unable to do anything, just staring at the floor.
So I've basically had no confidence since around that time. I guess I'm used to it by now — if anything, I get anxious when I'm not feeling insecure and pessimistic.
so don't overthink it.
Seriously, overthinking is poison.
Thanks for the kind words. But it feels like it's too late to fix now. I'm already in college.
I thought things would change once I got to college, but here I am still saying the same stuff.
And thinking about all the time I've wasted just makes me even more depressed.
Ability looks completely different depending on where you are.
Even a shogi genius like Sota Fujii would probably struggle and get written off as incompetent if he tried working as a construction ironworker.
Finding work you can do better than average, or a way of life that suits you, is what really matters for living more easily.
I see. That's tough though. Honestly, whatever I do, I'm behind other people in all kinds of ways, and just worse than them.
A lot of people are struggling, wondering why their life isn't working out, without realizing that's the reason.
It's massive, since it covers basically my whole life.
That's impressive, having that many.
Just a thought though 🙄
There's no way I could get paid for something like this.
Wait, were you looking down on OP? lol
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The thread included a reference to the statistic that “1 in 7 people fall into the borderline intellectual functioning range,” but it’s worth noting that the poster never mentioned receiving any medical diagnosis — this figure was raised purely as speculation on an anonymous forum. As illustrated by the example of Sota Fujii, there were also points made that how ability is judged can shift depending on one’s environment, suggesting this issue can’t be neatly resolved into a simple binary of “laziness” versus “personal traits.” Note that replies amounting to direct abuse aimed at the poster or at specific disabilities or attributes have been excluded from this article.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “I Have Absolutely No Confidence.”
