How do you motivate yourself?

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VALIS

Well-Known Member
#1
It's been a pretty slow summer but things are about to get super hectic with school and other things. Having a rough time taking care of what I was supposed to take care of-- am fighting depression-- not so much laziness as fear or something

I am wondering when you're depressed, what do you do to get motivation to do things you have to do? I dunno, errands, cleaning, excercise, phone calls...? It's closing in on me and I don't know what to do.
 

Illusion

Well-Known Member
#2
Music is my #1 motivator. Something thats upbeat & cheerful like Pop, Trance or something. :D
Once I start cleaning a lot as well that keeps my mind off of being depressed & helps me feel accomplished.
 

Growing Pains

Well-Known Member
#3
Well, my dogs always helped me. When I was in my continuing education class, I would write each of my dogs names on the front of my notebooks so that I'd see them if I ever felt like it wasn't worth it.
Music helps for certain things. If I need to write an essay, for example, music gets my muse running so that I can overcome those writers blocks so commonly caused by depressive episodes.
This one might sound cheesy... but you know that sticky note program Windows has now? (I don't know if Mac and other operating systems has something similar - I imagine, though) I'll sometimes leave myself inspirational quotes on them so that I see them as soon as my computer turns on.
Motivating myself is hard, I confess. I try, though, and sometimes those things work.
 

roscho

Well-Known Member
#5
Valis,

I post-it... I make post-it notes of my shorter term goals. Then I make myself make daily to-do lists. If I'm really suffering, I have to put stupid details on it so I can have some success, like - eat breakfast, check my gas gauge, do I have enough food in the house.... Hopefully you see what I'm saying - give myself things to check off.

Good music always helps relax me.
 
#7
I know how difficult it is but try to find something or someone that inspires you, and do the little things that other people have mentioned while you're searching for that. Also, the feeling of accomplishement is a good motivator because it gives you the confidence to do other things.
 

Joshua2803

Well-Known Member
#12
VALIS, i would recommend that you break down your tasks that you need to do. Maybe alloting a few tasks for each day, making each days activities much more manageable, and each day only focus on the assigned tasks for that day.

At Mathew 6:34 Jesus said: " so, never be anxious about the next day , for the next day will have its own anxieties. sufficient for each day is its own badness."

So try to focus on just one day at a time. Also keep in mind the rewards of activities like school and excercise. That will help to keep you motivated or encouraged.
 

rae

New Member
#13
Hikes through the forest or somewhere alone out in nature has been the only thing to uplift my spirits and center myself again.

With all this damn rain and lack of sun, I have been down in the dumps lately though.
 

allison

Well-Known Member
#14
Oh depression really sucks for motivation, doesn't it?

After about a week of just moping around doing nothing, it's pretty much the frustration at myself for not doing anything that "motivates" me to just get up and do what I have to do. But I realize that this isn't exactly a good thing, either, and that "getting over" the depression as much as you can till you're in a good/happy place again is the only thing that feels right and good.

So I guess the only way is to get yourself out of the funk. Music also works for me. I'm a rock fan so fast, lively rock songs work like a charm for me.

Tidying up your room/house works wonders. Once you see it all neat and orderly and you think to yourself, "I did that. I did something to improve myself," I guess it gives you a sense of pride and satisfaction.

Watching shows or movies you absolutely love (stay away from sad ones). They don't need to be comedies. Most of the time I pick from my favorite movies of all time.

Reading used to work for me, but these days it just feels lonely. It can depend on the book, though. If I find that it's a really good read, I just let it distract me for an hour or so then stop and see if I feel like doing the stuff I need to do. Not very effective most of the time, though, but it's worth a try.

This last one may be a bit weird, but it always seems to work for me. If I'm feeling depressed, suicidal, like self-injuring... I Google it. In your case, I'd read about depression. We've all probably read a lot a lot a lot about these things--enough to have the symptoms, treatments, etc. memorized but... I don't know. Even though I've read the same articles over and over again, reading about it for about thirty minutes or so helps getting me feeling back to normal (as normal as things can get, at least).
 
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