this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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I struggled to get up this morning and now Marge is gonna start before I have a chance to get out and do my shopping and other chores.
lil mental health rant because I need to work through it.
My brain sucks somedays. I don't know if it's exhaustion -> depression (so if I rest enough I will eventually get back on top) or the other way around (so maybe I need to push myself to move).
Either way there's dishes in the sink from 2days ago because I haven't had the executive functioning to unpack the dishwasher and my brain is currently white noise or very unhelpful bad black thoughts or is hyper focused on something that it unrelated to anything helpful). I did manage some yoga/breathing this morning which helps.
I have a good doctor and am trying to suss out what's happening this time round (this is not my first black dog rodeo) but I hate this phase. I look through some of the ADHD stuff on YouTube (don't have it but there's some crossover with depression) and it's helpful but everything related to depression is either explaining what it is or a variant on " how to beat your depression" - dude I just need to get some strategies so I can keep rolling while it sorts itself out.
I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling.
Something I found helpful was just giving myself permission to do an incomplete job of chores if the whole thing felt overwhelming. Emptying the dishwasher might feel too much, but you might but able to put away a couple of things for now and come back to the rest later. Or you might be able to move the dishes to next to the sink so you have space later to wash the individual items you need to use. Sometimes with laundry I would wash just a single set of clothing because a whole load seemed too much and it would end up sitting in the machine going mouldy. It might not be ideal, but it helps to keep things somewhat manageable.
The other thing I did when I was focused on doing something else was to use breaks in that activity as a trigger to do something else - it might be a chapter in a book, a level in a game etc., and each time I reached that I would get up and do one thing (like emptying that couple of items from the dishwasher). So there would be regular points through the day where I would get something acomplished. Never enough to seriously interrupt what I was doing, but enough that I was actually doing something.
Thanks. That's good advice. Although I just tried that trick with the book chapter and fell asleep halfway through the chapter. I am sure that physical burnout is beneath this one. But I will keep these ideas in mind. Appreciate it.
When I was in the worst of my depression I would give myself absolutely must do daily tasks, no excuses.
And I had until midnight to do them.
I did not care if I did "morning" tasks at night or night tasks at midday as long as they were done.
Thanksnfor the reminder. Yeah. I will reset the kitchen and get my dirty clothes into the washing machine today. Everything else can wait