Is anyone else feeling completely unmotivated to do anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been seriously trying to figure out if I am depressed and need to see a doctor. I have no interest in doing anything, the weather stinks, work is irritating.

Forgot to mention that I am so over grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking.

Why don't you hire someone to do that? What about a housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else feel like they're slogging through the same day over and over again? Make meals, clean dishes, work, make meals, clean dishes, laundry, take shower, go to bed exhausted, wake up, and repeat?

I don't *think* I'm more depressed than before -- I've gotten used to the new normal, I guess -- but don't feel happy either. Just blah. Apathetic. I can't bring myself to do anything more than the bare minimum.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been seriously trying to figure out if I am depressed and need to see a doctor. I have no interest in doing anything, the weather stinks, work is irritating.

+100

[Anonymous]

Febrsuary…. There was a darkly funny clip of a newscaster on Today show about this month. Despair.

[Anonymous]

I also feel like friendships have been harder to maintain. I’m not even sure how many friends I have left.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Zoloft helped me a ton. Therapy, exercise, getting outside, getting sleep.

[Anonymous]

Oh is this a health issue? I thought this was me being a lazy pos issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been seriously trying to figure out if I am depressed and need to see a doctor. I have no interest in doing anything, the weather stinks, work is irritating.

Forgot to mention that I am so over grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking.

Why don't you hire someone to do that? What about a housekeeper?

Or just lighten up on yourself with the meal prep. At least twice a week I feed my kids prepared food—one of the TJ frozen things or frozen ravioli or something. Just add some raw veg on the side. Sometimes I eat it too but if it’s something I find too gross, I’ll make or buy myself a nice salad. I bought a bottle of the chopt dressing and it makes me feel like I’m eating fancy healthy food. We also now do bean and cheese quesadillas fried in olive oil with prepared guac and chopped tomatoes prretty much every week—they never get sick of it, it feels healthy (I use a can of beans for 3 people), and it takes less than 10 minutes and zero thought. If we get takeout one night, that leaves me with only 3 meals to plan. (My parents used to joke I was going to the culinary institute of America for college….this is what kids have reduced me to, but whatever. )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you should get a job. You sound very depressed. You need to be busy and contribute to society.

Its literally in the first post that OP has a job.

Why don’t you contribute to society and learn to read.

[Anonymous]

I was having this conversation with my sister today. She is a WOHM and I am a SAHM, and she was talking about how unmotivated she feels. I think the problem is that for her, as a working woman or even when she was a full time student, her day was scheduled based on the rhythm of her work day or school.

Working from home for her has messed up her divide of work space/time and home space/time. A lot of her socializing also happened at work and she misses the inbuilt break of socializing that her work day provided. Her attention is divided because she is now in two work spaces at the same time - home and work.

On the other hand, being a SAHM, my day is usually extremely unstructured with a thousand interruptions. I am seen as always "available" by my family. The only way I could keep my sanity was to figured out how to do the one essential daily chore as quickly as I could, so that I could go with the flow the rest of the day. My one essential daily chore is making lunch and dinner. I basically finish all my cooking between 8am -10 am. Since the pandemic, I have been doing that between 6 am - 8am. While I was not used to my family working from home before, I can deal with the interruptions and their presence, because my one essential task (of feeding them), is done even now. I am still in my "work space" as before. My challenge is that my family is now present at home all the time...and very often that means that my quite place/time has become rare. I started walking and exercising since the pandemic, just to get a break from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been seriously trying to figure out if I am depressed and need to see a doctor. I have no interest in doing anything, the weather stinks, work is irritating.

Forgot to mention that I am so over grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking.

Why don't you hire someone to do that? What about a housekeeper?

Or just lighten up on yourself with the meal prep. At least twice a week I feed my kids prepared food—one of the TJ frozen things or frozen ravioli or something. Just add some raw veg on the side. Sometimes I eat it too but if it’s something I find too gross, I’ll make or buy myself a nice salad. I bought a bottle of the chopt dressing and it makes me feel like I’m eating fancy healthy food. We also now do bean and cheese quesadillas fried in olive oil with prepared guac and chopped tomatoes prretty much every week—they never get sick of it, it feels healthy (I use a can of beans for 3 people), and it takes less than 10 minutes and zero thought. If we get takeout one night, that leaves me with only 3 meals to plan. (My parents used to joke I was going to the culinary institute of America for college….this is what kids have reduced me to, but whatever. )

Thank you for this response to my post — much more practical than the suggestion that I hire a housekeeper! I think it would be a good idea for me to give up on actual cooking for just a little while and go to meals I can assemble. And your comment about the CIA and how your kids changed that made me smile so that is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Add me in!

I’m fairly productive but I spend a lot of time at home, and I’m definitely lonely. I miss socializing. I miss having fun. I’ve been open to hanging with friends through the pandemic, but many of my friends have gone separate ways, relocated or are not comfortable seeing others. It’s been hard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you should get a job. You sound very depressed. You need to be busy and contribute to society.

Its literally in the first post that OP has a job.

Why don’t you contribute to society and learn to read.

Then what is the problem? She is busy and she has deliverables, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was having this conversation with my sister today. She is a WOHM and I am a SAHM, and she was talking about how unmotivated she feels. I think the problem is that for her, as a working woman or even when she was a full time student, her day was scheduled based on the rhythm of her work day or school.

Working from home for her has messed up her divide of work space/time and home space/time. A lot of her socializing also happened at work and she misses the inbuilt break of socializing that her work day provided. Her attention is divided because she is now in two work spaces at the same time - home and work.

On the other hand, being a SAHM, my day is usually extremely unstructured with a thousand interruptions. I am seen as always "available" by my family. The only way I could keep my sanity was to figured out how to do the one essential daily chore as quickly as I could, so that I could go with the flow the rest of the day. My one essential daily chore is making lunch and dinner. I basically finish all my cooking between 8am -10 am. Since the pandemic, I have been doing that between 6 am - 8am. While I was not used to my family working from home before, I can deal with the interruptions and their presence, because my one essential task (of feeding them), is done even now. I am still in my "work space" as before. My challenge is that my family is now present at home all the time...and very often that means that my quite place/time has become rare. I started walking and exercising since the pandemic, just to get a break from them.

I take frequent trips to the grocery store to get away from my family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also feel like friendships have been harder to maintain. I’m not even sure how many friends I have left.

For me - the superfluous and transactional friendships withered away, the more meaningful friendships remained and flourished. Who is nourishing your soul?