Its happening again

I have that crippling lack of motivation again. It takes one day to do laundry, another to take it off the line and another day or two to sort it out and pack it away. My husband says his bathroom needs cleaning, and I didn’t even notice it, he had to tell me. Feel paralysed, its crazy.

know how u feel hunni. it’s awful isn’t it. can’t he clean his own bloody bathroom? my bathroom needs cleaning too, as does the rest of the house. i’ll get around to it. today, i’m going to force myself to do things. not an amazing amount but enough to make the place look tidy and clean. you can do it hunni. one little thing at a time. pick something and give yourself just ten minutes of doing it, then take a break, then do another ten minutes etcetera. you swept the house the other day. be proud that you achieved that and build on it. i know how hard it is but we can do it. little by little, step by step. who is it that said…the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step? maybe not the best analogy but you know what i mean. check back in later and let us know what you’ve done. afterall, failure is merely an opportunity to succeed the next time :slight_smile:

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I find my motivation winds down. When I have nothing to do… I get too comfie in having nothing to do, then as I stay with nothing to do… it’s hard to get moving again and then my motivation fades away.

It takes a lot of energy to get up and get back into swing of things.

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It happens, Saadiqah. Sometimes, we just do not have enough energy to do a chore. Don’t worry about it.

If you have any concerns that is putting down your motivation, just discuss them with your husband or someone you are comfortable with. Someone who is close to you. Look for a bright future by thinking this is just a phase and like all other phases this will pass too. Time does not remain same always :slight_smile:

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I have the same problem. My only two chores is to take out the trash on time and do the dishes and it usually is way over due by the time I do the two chores. I did the dishes a couple of days ago and unless I cook dinner there isn’t much dishes but coffee cups and silverware…I guess I should feel lucky compared to the cleaning you and Jayne and others have to do.?

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I only have to clean my room. My sis cleans the rest of the house and my fish tank. I hate feeling like a lump when my sis is in whirlwind cleaning mode.

I don’t know wether to help or just stay out of the way. Sometimes I have to pull her away because I do think there is a touch of OCD in that skull.

She will scrub the underside of the tables and chairs as well and is always vacuuming out the food cupboards. (to be fair, we did have an ant invasion and she’s trying to keep food bits from attracting more ants) But it looks like a lot of work that probably doesn’t have to be done every single. time.

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Wow, I wonder if I would ever get that far! I doubt it… :smile:

Progress report: Anyway, I got the basic cleaning of the bathroom done, mostly dusting (as that was what hubby was complaining of). And went to the shops with him for groceries, and to the library. Had a lot of stress in the car though, as I couldn’t find a parking by the library and then I couldn’t park properly in a side street. Then eventually we found a parking and my husband had to help me park by directing me which way to turn the wheel. Aargh, I hate parallel parking! Next time I must walk to the library, and an added bonus of that is walking via the beach.
Did the usual dishes and now cooking supper. These are the only chores I seem to have the ease in doing every day. Because I listen to music I think! :smile:
The laundry still needs to be sorted. Maybe tomorrow… sigh…

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well all i’ve done today is go to the pet shop and buy ten pigs ears for choop choop and buy a hair dye. still have to cook dinner, put a wash on, empty the tumble dryer and sweep and mop downstairs. couldn’t mow the lawn as it’s been too wet. maybe the only thing i’ll achieve today is cooking dinner…dunno. will see how i feel i guess. only for the kids though. i feel too down to eat a meal but i have to cook 2 separate meals for the kiddywinks. don’t want to give in to this avolition and get take out…but it’s tempting…so very tempting.

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I know how you feel. Lack of motivation is the only negative symptom I struggle with on a daily basis. What has helped me has been the Geodon and Seroquel. My old pdoc was trying to take me off of the Seroquel completely. When we got down to 200mg I started having panic attacks, mood swings, and lack of motivation and said we can’t do this. So I went back up to 400mg and it got better. Normally it feels like pushing a boulder up a mountain to do something as simple as put the dishes away, but when we lowered the Seroquel it was like pushing that boulder with a bigger boulder on my back. When I was in the hospital they raised my Geodon and when I came home I was like a whirlwind and got so much done. So I would recommend talking to your pdoc. It doesn’t need to be hard. :sunny:

When I used to go to Recovery meetings they talked a lot about self endorsement which basically means giving yourself a lot of credit even when you do even the most trivial of tasks. I think part of negative symptoms is that it robs us of a feeling of accomplishment that normal people get when they complete a task.

It sounds really corny, but you can even literally physically give yourself a pat on the back after you do some chore (but obviously it’s better to do it mentally if someone else is in the room). I think it’s even good to endorse for the task more than once. At night my wife and I go over things we accomplished that day and try to be grateful for them.

Self endorsement seems to be a lot like operant conditioning where it works with the reward systems in our brains. Or maybe it just helps me to associate completing a task with a good feeling. I suppose giving myself a cookie every time I do the dishes might work too :slight_smile:

The point is that it’s important to build your self esteem up on even the most trivial of tasks.

It’s not good to get too overconfident though and get manic and end up discouraged again.

Blaming oneself for not doing something is to be avoided unless it is done pretty gently.

Big tasks are really usually just a bunch of small tasks bundled together.

Keeping a journal of tasks completed (a done list) really seems to be helping me measure my progress and make changes.

I have been physically ill for the past week so I have been somewhat low functioning, but I guess I am getting better at cutting myself some slack and appreciate the trivial things I do accomplish even if it is “just” going to the bank, doing dishes, taking my dad to the drs. or cleaning the apartment. Twenty years ago these would all seem pretty daunting when I was at my worst.

(Sorry if my writing is a bit off… I hate typing on tablets)

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i can relate it might be your medication. risperdal caused me an extreme sedative feeling, and anxiety and mental blocks that could not let me get up and clean like i should