I can't do anything sometimes...

[Cymbrii]

New here, first time asking for help on anything so I'm not totally sure I'm posting this in the right place but it seems like the most fitting place for this since it seems like a mental health issue...

I've had an issue for a huge portion of my life where I just can't make myself do things. It's kinda hard to describe... basically, I'll just think of something I want to go do or something I really should do, and then not do it. It's like I'm just locked where I am and I can't make myself do what I think I should do. Hard to describe, like I said >.> In other words I will need to do something and then sit on it forever instead of acting on it.

When I was younger the most common way this would come up was I'd wake up in the morning for school and I just couldn't make myself get out of bed. I know everyone's had this problem to a degree, but for me it got.. pretty bad. Led to many stressful mornings where I'd just be lying there and my mom would be constantly bugging me to get up for hours until it was way past the time school would start and I'd just end up missing the day (IIRC I missed like a month straight at one point). I dunno how normal this is, but I'd guess not very. Lately it's coming up as... in the short term, I'll just sit around for hours instead of doing things like eating, going to the bathroom, sleeping, or brushing my teeth (I just about never brush my teeth, which is definitely something that needs to change). Long-term, I have next to no motivation to study to get a GED or to learn to drive so I can get a license.

What's weird is sometimes, on very rare occasions (every few months or so) I have this short stretch where I feel really motivated, like I can take on the world, do whatever I want, get things done easily... but it never lasts. The feeling goes away after a couple days and I go back to never doing anything.

I dunno what to do about it... I'm in therapy and this is one of the main reasons, but nothing has really helped (I'm on Zoloft right now). It's a huge problem. x.x Does anyone have any suggestions? I really appreciate it, thanks in advance for any help.

[Z3ni]

Wow, thats totally me!!!

It feels like this is me, going to be me forever, just to think and dream of what I want to do, but will never do it, like something is stopping me.

I always hated getting up for school, and ended up being late, getting up at the last minute, lying on the bed looking at the minutes go by just lying there, now I do it with work, I have that same feeling of school, which makes work feel shit, but not as bad.

But then again I had/have depression.

[Cymbrii]

Yeah, exactly :/ I have all these visions of what my future is gonna be like and how much better things will be then... but it just seems so far away and I don't know how to get there.

I still think I'll get there eventually... but having that super-motivated feeling all the time would sure help. @.@

[Pilgrim is hot]

To me this really sounds like manic depression, it fits in with you one moment believing you can take on the world then the next not wanting to do anything at all. In terms of the best solution that's a lot harder, seeking medical advice like your doing at the moment is a good thing but if something is seriously stressing you out it will be hard to make progress.

[Cymbrii]

I'm not sure of that because I don't have mood swings. The high feeling occurs very very rarely, most of the time I'm just kinda eh. Or maybe I'm just misunderstanding what manic depression is like, exactly?

[malachite]

Anti-Depression meds take a while to start working. You said you're in therapy, so try bringing this up your counselor.

Also don't tag ever bit of procrastination with depression everyone puts stuff off.

[time4change]

Sounds a lot like me and right now I'm in one of those funks...

[squally89]

Not sure if this really helps but when I am blue and down on ground zero of reality and just feeling like absolute crap and unmotivated to feel my existence even worth anything, I let myself drown in that emotion. I would usually feel sad, upset and then angry for reasons thats not even valid to my emotions at times.

During these periods I would write lyrics, listen to music and simply compile my feelings into an art form (thats the outlet for me). Usually within 24 hours, I feel great because I created such a wonderful master piece (well to me at least) and I look back at it and laugh at WOW I am capable of feeling that crappy.

For me is amazing how complex we are, emotionally, and I am grateful I had the opportunity to feel this spectrum of emotions~

[Cymbrii]

@malachite: I've been on them for months. Counselor usually brings up cognitive behavioral therapy... guess I should try it sometime, need to understand how exactly to do it...

@squally89: It's not that I'm depressed (I am, but that's not the issue I'm talking about here), more just that I'm content to just sit there doing nothing repeating the same things over and over like refreshing sites constantly and chatting with people, instead of getting up and starting to do those things. I'm not a very creative person either, so I'm not sure that's useful for me, but thanks for sharing anyway!

Maybe I should just set up an interval timer to play a sound every x amount of time and every time I hear that sound I need to get up and walk around a little. That might help my getting locked into doing the one thing over and over.

[squally89]

Maybe I should just set up an interval timer to play a sound every x amount of time and every time I hear that sound I need to get up and walk around a little. That might help my getting locked into doing the one thing over and over.

Psychological Conditioning!

[Cymbrii]

o.o Yeah, um... see... I've been thinking I should do that timer thing like I said. For almost two days now. And I haven't done it yet.

Great example of what I'm talking about. XD

Guess I oughta do it now. Will edit this post shortly.

edit: Kay so... I've got this set up to play a sound every 30 minutes. My current thoughts are whenever I hear the timer go off I'm going to make myself get up, stretch a little, etc. I'm also going to ask myself if there's anything I was thinking I need to do but haven't done yet. If so I'll go do it. Would prefer if the interval could be random instead of every 30 minutes, because then I wouldn't be anticipating when the sound is going to go off, but oh well. Thoughts?

[Cymbrii]

little update if anyone's interested... the timer is actually working really well so far. The noise is really helping me from sitting around for ages instead of getting up to do something. If this continues (which hopefully it will), this problem might be solved. :P