That sounds exactly what I was going through for the past 15+ years. I had many strong interests, but everything seemed like more work than it was worth doing. Depression and anxiety accompanied the low motivation. I chalked it up to being in a bad mood, and tried lots of mental health related things to fix that, with little progress over years of consistent effort.
Within the past two or three years, some health concerns started showing up - daily headaches, a near-constant lightheaded feeling, nausea, trouble focusing my eyes, stuff like that. Eventually, the near-constant nausea forced me to try some dietary changes.
It turned out that gluten was the cause of all those more concerning health issues. But to my surprise, it was also the cause of the attention and motivation issues that had plagued me for most of my life. After 3 or so days off of gluten, my mind suddenly felt so much more clear, and since then, I've been much more able to pursue my interests. I didn't get diagnosed, but the closest disorders I could find are gluten-induced brain fog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7454984/) and the beginnings of gluten ataxia (https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/74/9/1221).
I'm not saying that you have the same thing, but it could definitely be a medical condition if you don't respond well to therapy or antidepressants. I wouldn't overlook the physical side of things.
I've tried the no gluten thing, and really felt no difference what so ever. I really had high hopes that was the issue since a lot of friends also reported feeling much more energy and motivation.
I did try going completely carb free for a week one time. I had no energy crashes which was great, but, I never really felt dramatically different mentally. While I wasn't crashing, I also wasn't suddenly feeling much more focus or "energy" (motivation, interest in work).
I was just kind of, stable low energy / motivation. Rather than, mostly low energy / motivation with some occasional really deep crashes caused by carb blasts.
Have you tried fasting? I have found it an effective antidepressant and stimulant. There are also some interesting health benefits (mostly to do with autophagy, cellular and subcellular cleanup mechanisms).
But yeah, I am also ill suited to modern life, and I'm working towards being able to spend as much time in the woods as I need.
I haven't actually tried fasting. The longest I've gone without eating is something like 20 hours.
I should give fasting a try though, I believe in the research. My hesitation has been that I am pretty low BMI. I seem to struggle to keep weight on even if I'm eating a normal amount.
Within the past two or three years, some health concerns started showing up - daily headaches, a near-constant lightheaded feeling, nausea, trouble focusing my eyes, stuff like that. Eventually, the near-constant nausea forced me to try some dietary changes.
It turned out that gluten was the cause of all those more concerning health issues. But to my surprise, it was also the cause of the attention and motivation issues that had plagued me for most of my life. After 3 or so days off of gluten, my mind suddenly felt so much more clear, and since then, I've been much more able to pursue my interests. I didn't get diagnosed, but the closest disorders I could find are gluten-induced brain fog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7454984/) and the beginnings of gluten ataxia (https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/74/9/1221).
I'm not saying that you have the same thing, but it could definitely be a medical condition if you don't respond well to therapy or antidepressants. I wouldn't overlook the physical side of things.