Why cant I just do it?

My dad is coming by in an hour, and the place is a mess.
I’ve been avoiding the mess for a week now, and my fridge smells really bad, but I just can’t get myself to do anything about it.

It’s just like I wrote in that other thread about going to work, like there’s a brick wall inside my head, keeping me from reaching the motivation to do it.
It’s a daily struggle, I even struggle to shower, I shower maybe twice a week now, and that’s nowhere near enough.

I’m so embarassed, and I feel like such a slob, but I just. can’t. do. it.

Why? Why am I like this?

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don’t beat yourself up.

I also struggle with simmilar isues. Lack of motivation is a negative symptom of schizophrinia.

@Berru Finding your motivation is one of the hardest things for anyone, even normies. But what I do is make a list which makes the tasks more manageable and then I check off each task on the list as I donit and that makes me feel good. This has worked with my wife tremendously.

Now there’s the question of how to get started on the list. Maybe put some thing on there that you’d like to do or a reward like eat some chocolate so you feel good about progressing and it’s not just about the chores it’s also about enjoyment.

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That’s a good idea! I’ll try that :slight_smile:

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Prioritize your list.

Do the most difficult thing first (you’ll have the most energy).

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I do the opposite, actually. I do the easiest things first, because in the beginning I need the excitement of crossing something off the list. That gives me the energy to do more things.

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Try to achieve one or two of your aims a day. It may not seem like much initially but over a week it will start to count. Try to avoid being too harsh on yourself as it won’t make things better, and may actually make them worse. Stay positive.

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I have the same problem. One of the things I’ve found that helps tremendously is mixing in the things I have a hard time doing with the things I need to do to survive. Like if I get up to get food from the fridge (a task in itself sometimes), I’ll gather some trash on the way or wipe off the counter.
I’ve noticed, for myself at least, it’s difficult to do something if I’m thinking about it. So tacking the task onto something I’m already doing makes it easier to complete the task.

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Lately I have something blocking me as well, not sure what the cause is, I got so much stuff piling up, will make a to do list today and just try to do as much as I can.

Gon’t know what the cause is, but I hope you can find your way

I’m the same way. I struggle to take one shower a week. Everything I do is a major struggle. I have to make myself do everything. Force myself so to speak. But, it’s worth it. It keeps me as well as I can be. I have to live in an assisted living community just to get my housework done and my cooking done for me otherwise it won’t get done.

I’m sitting on the couch on my phone instead of cleaning up the kitchen after supper. I put stuff off all the time. My mom does the same thing though so maybe I shouldnt blame it on the SZ. I better get up soon before the baby gets up …

Are you on medication? On certain meds I am extremely lazy with anhedonia

Avolition…it is part of the illness, feeling robbed of all willpower. My geodon/Wellbutrin mix seems to be helping a lot with mine. It’s the first AP I’ve been on that didn’t make my neg symptoms worse

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I’m on 25mg abilify

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@Berru I think it is one of the side effects on Abilify.
On Abilify I had a good focus but felt too ‘unable’ to do much house work or even feel good about myself. For me that is how it worked. I left the dishes in the sink for 2 days once :flushed: I just could not get myself to do things.

Oh boy I know how you feel, I have a tendency to do the same thing and my room’s been a mess for weeks, but I do little things like pick up clothes or dishes I left lying around.
I feel the whole brick wall problem too, I’ve always struggled with this unless I go through my hypomanic phases.
As for advice, I don’t really have any since usually I’m bad about waiting to do things when my hypomania kicks in and gets me motivated.

If I knew the answer to this question, I’d apply it to myself.
I just pushed back a very important deadline I’ve been avoiding like the plague.
There is zero motivation to get started again.
Sigh.

I’ve tried doing the list thing, I call it my To Doo Doo list. I write down a bunch of things and promptly lose it before I can cross off the first item.
Then months later I find the hiding in some stupid spot, and reread it and laugh.

I’ve left dishes in the sink for month’s at a time before. I hate to admit it but it is true. Just recently, I started doing dishes immediately after using them. I started doing this because I think I gave myself a bad case of gastroenteritis with my bad habits. Ughh.