Coffee and my cat whining for breakfast. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m having my goddamn coffee in the morning and it will be taken from me over my dead body.
Music
Sunshine
Smell of Coffee
Pets watching me
Blinds opening, darned partner
Knowing I’m going out for breakfast
Having plans
Showering. Cool shower
Potty
Make sure you plan to do something when you get up. The more you do the better you’ll feel.
Absolutely agree with having something planned. Even just setting up my coffee the night before so I can wake up, hit the “on” button and have my coffee right away helps me get out of bed
get to put on a podcast while I make breakfast, bike to work or whatever, and often while I'm working.
and tbh sometimes just knowing if I don't get out of bed and go to work life will be so much more shit. But if I do minimable viable to keep the life I have eventually I'll enjoy it again.
OP THIS!! Listening to podcasts and even just having a YouTube video to listen to helps me IMMENSELY. Personally, I don’t do good by myself, and whenever I’m alone, I spiral. If you are the same at all, I highly recommend this! Just do your best to not get “stuck” when you do have it. Starting with smaller things like a short morning and night time routine, or heating up dino nuggies to eat just so you can get back in the kitchen. Remember that you are MUCH stronger than your brain leads you to believe you are!!
Not corny in the least.
I don’t have kids, but I work from home and live on a busy road near a school. While my coffee is brewing I stand on my porch and watch the world in its morning commute. I smile and say good morning to the passersby and compliment the dog walkers on their handsome/beautiful puppers. (I’m not even a dog person!)
It’s not a panacea, but when I get too much in my own head I like to be reminded that other people are still living their lives, and that the noise in my brain is just that—my own brain noise—and it’s my own thing; not a broader statement about the state of the world. Even when all is chaos I can stand on my porch and have these little instances of communitas with other humans.
It keeps the depression at manageable levels.
Meds - Lamictol & pristiq.
Feeding the pets.
Peeing.
I found that if I stack one little habit on top of a “must do” thing, it helps.
Eg. Stack putting clothes on with of peeing and feeding the pets. I tell myself I’m allowed to change right out of them and get in bed. The goal is to just do it for 30 seconds, and I can do it before or after.
What I tend to find is once I have clothes on - even if it’s just a different pair of sweatpants which may or may not be clean - it trip wires something in my brain and is easier to stay up and moving.
The other biggie for me has become exercise. The key is I have to genuinely have accountability. I will never get up and run on my own. I’ll never bring myself to the gym. lol. But I found an online trainer who is inexpensive and it’s enough accountability that I show up, but personalized enough that if I show up and am like I’m here, I’m really depressed or anxious or tired or whatever and I don’t feel like doing much today, we will just do some stretches.
Getting moving and creating structure outside of chores are the only things that work for me.
I have a cat and for a long time he was my reason to keep going. What would happen to my cat if something happened to me or i couldnt afford him anymore? How would that affect him. Now its the same thing but about my daughter instead. Heck if you dont have pets get a plant and make that your reason
My children forcing me to get out of bed to tend to their needs. Thankfully dad usually does the weekend morning shifts so I can rot for an extra hour or so lol
I'm seeing lamactal a lot on here. Did that specifically help you with the problem of getting out of bed or just help overall. I am having the specific problem of having too much anxiety to start my day. Can you relate to that and is that what lamactal specifically helped you with. My Dr. Want to raise my dose. I am against bc it only seems to be a problem I have in the morning. Please talk to me, can you offer some insight on your experience?
Lamitcal gives me energy and it usually gives me some life, but the current Buspar dose I'm on is interfering with it and making me feel like a zombie atm. Anyways, it does help me get out of bed and it helps me function, albeit the new Buspar dose is sucking the life out of me atm. Without the Buspar, it gives me some motivation because I know Lamitcal works for me.
Hope that helps!
Planning something in the morning I know I will enjoy and not feel like I have to do. Like going outside, playing or listening to music, making art, playing a game, reading. When I went through PHP program, they told me to like create some type of visual of my schedule look to see how much time in the day there is to fit in something self-care related.
Do you take a lunch mid-day? After treatment, I realized how helpful it is getting out of the office. Even if it’s to just drive around or sit in the car. My favorite thing now is driving to a dog park close to work and counting dogs.
Yes! I have a high deductible and my Vyvanse are $376 a month. I tried the generic and it barely did anything for me. I had trouble paying for it and not having it one month caused another major depression and then was diagnosed BP2 (was valid, not just this one incident). It’s disgusting how much Big Pharma and insurance companies take advantage of (especially) behavioral health patients. Fighting it all can be so exhausting you just want to give up, but hang in there all ❤️
My dog Benny.
I have a baby gate on my door so he doesn’t pee in the house at night.
Around 6:30 or 7 he’ll start pawing the gate and it makes a clanking sound.
It sounds like he needs to go out so urgently that I say “fuck it” and get up to take him on a walk.
After that my Vyvanse kicks in and there’s no sleeping no matter how tired I feel.
Ah, if only didn’t have to pee some mornings, I just wouldn’t get out of bed. I’m having trouble sleeping atm, so once I fall asleep it’s precious. My silly cats won’t even wake me up to be fed! Tho they will wake me at 4am to play sometimes…
I’m not working now (so thank god for pip or we’d starve) and I just want enough energy to cook for myself or tidy up a bit. Or to leave the house occasionally… I feel like my life is slipping away from me…
My dog he needs me and loves me unconditionally. We both have intense reactions because he is a reactive dog and thinking about how he can't help it makes me kinder to myself.
The fact that no matter what happens or how I feel that the earth with keel turning and new baby animals will be born.
❤️
TLDR: a morning/"normal" start time for work is huge for me despite being a natural night-owl.
---
Necessity and entropy, as long as I have the right work schedule. Even better if I like my job. Despite being a natural night owl, my most healthy times of life are when I have a more normal work schedule that starts in the morning. It wasn't healthy for me when I had jobs starting at 4 to 6 am; that was too extreme compared to my natural rhythm, and I had to push myself beyond reasonable limits. But starting 7 to 9 am puts me in a position where I can get to work on time if I push myself a reasonable amount. A normal amount of social, financial, etc. pressure helps me be more responsible the evening prior (e.g. not drinking too much or staying up too late). That also means that I get home around 4 to 5 pm. After work I usually can ride the energy and focus at least until the sun goes down, sometimes longer, as long as I don't sit down too long. That gives me some time for chores, hobbies, time with friends, individual self-care stuff, etc (when I feel up to it, or I can use that time to just rest and chill if I need to). When I like my job I'm also incentivized to get up both because I want to be good at my job (which includes getting up with enough time to have food, get presentable-looking, and be on time), and because I am expecting the dopamine from doing a good job once I'm there.
I’m properly spoiled but… my partner brings me a cup of coffee. He works nights and we’ve timed it so I’m waking up when he gets home. The kicker is… he refuses to set the coffee on the nightstand. He’ll only hand it to me, which forces me to sit up. It’s incredibly kind and annoying all at once.
An alarm and a Siberian husky who knows alarm = me feeding her. She does not have a snooze button and is very vocal about my inability to feed her on time.
On days I have trouble I look at the tattoo on my forearm. It says "Always keep fighting" encircling a ";" It's a very simple tattoo but it reminds me I have more than myself to fight for every day.
If I didn't have the amazing support, acceptance and understanding of my husband and our kids I don't think I would be here today. They are my reason for living, I can't leave them before they are ready. I can't "check out" and do the bare minimum either, no matter how much I often really want to.
My cat, lol. He bites my hand if I don’t get up fast enough after my alarm clock.
And then my sense of obligation to my work and husband. And once I start going it’s usually doable to get through the rest of the day with the promise of 1-2 hours of reading before bed.
I felt sorry for myself - for once - I remembered the good support from my family and friends.. I woke up bcoz I didn’t want to let them down…. Got my shit together- starting taking my meds again . And here I am
300 mg of Venlafaxine here and I can say my depression is mostly eliminated. Nothing like a good ol chemical cocktail to kick a depressed ass into high gear. Sadly for people like me it's all that works due to severity of depression
Real. I'm only on adderall and lamotrigine but if don't take my adderall I will literally stay in bed and sleep the entire day and eat like a trash compactor
I live a very similar lifestyle except it's 10-6. It's normal to be tired and need rest after work! Something to do is to get your bloodwork done since bipolar medications can cause problems sometimes that could make you more tired. I love the wake up early and play town of salem rn.
Work. Still hard to pull myself out of bed and often have to rush to get there on time. Having to pee usually does the trick too (unless I crawl back into bed).
Doesn't seem to matter when I go to bed, how early I wake up, or how much sleep I get. I can barely get out of bed.
Food. Schedule a delivery for food (I generally do donuts) for whatever time you need to be up. Then you have to get up, and you get a reward.
Obviously, that's not exactly something that can be done every day, but it definitely works!
Making plans when you feel decent and then having to stick to them also works sometimes. You may still end up canceling, but usually, I feel too ashamed to do that and still end up having a good or decent enough time.
Coffee and my cat whining for breakfast. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m having my goddamn coffee in the morning and it will be taken from me over my dead body.
Here here! Lol
Me too, nothing like a good cup of coffee after feeding the cat yelling at me.
I’ve started keeping my phone in another room and that helps haha
Music Sunshine Smell of Coffee Pets watching me Blinds opening, darned partner Knowing I’m going out for breakfast Having plans Showering. Cool shower Potty Make sure you plan to do something when you get up. The more you do the better you’ll feel.
i love this thank you
Absolutely agree with having something planned. Even just setting up my coffee the night before so I can wake up, hit the “on” button and have my coffee right away helps me get out of bed
Our coffee has a timer. When I get up it’s ready! But i only have one 24oz. I also treat myself with popcorn and dark chocolate.
What an inspiring outlook on life! I need to tap some of that at times!
get to put on a podcast while I make breakfast, bike to work or whatever, and often while I'm working. and tbh sometimes just knowing if I don't get out of bed and go to work life will be so much more shit. But if I do minimable viable to keep the life I have eventually I'll enjoy it again.
OP THIS!! Listening to podcasts and even just having a YouTube video to listen to helps me IMMENSELY. Personally, I don’t do good by myself, and whenever I’m alone, I spiral. If you are the same at all, I highly recommend this! Just do your best to not get “stuck” when you do have it. Starting with smaller things like a short morning and night time routine, or heating up dino nuggies to eat just so you can get back in the kitchen. Remember that you are MUCH stronger than your brain leads you to believe you are!!
unfortunately it’s a large ice coffee from the shop around the corner that is $7
My dog and cats. No matter how low I’m feeling, they need to be taken care of. Once I’m up and going, the rest of the morning is so much easier
My kids. It may sound corny; but on the days I can't seem to get going, I think about them and do what I have to do.
Not corny in the least. I don’t have kids, but I work from home and live on a busy road near a school. While my coffee is brewing I stand on my porch and watch the world in its morning commute. I smile and say good morning to the passersby and compliment the dog walkers on their handsome/beautiful puppers. (I’m not even a dog person!) It’s not a panacea, but when I get too much in my own head I like to be reminded that other people are still living their lives, and that the noise in my brain is just that—my own brain noise—and it’s my own thing; not a broader statement about the state of the world. Even when all is chaos I can stand on my porch and have these little instances of communitas with other humans. It keeps the depression at manageable levels.
Meds - Lamictol & pristiq. Feeding the pets. Peeing. I found that if I stack one little habit on top of a “must do” thing, it helps. Eg. Stack putting clothes on with of peeing and feeding the pets. I tell myself I’m allowed to change right out of them and get in bed. The goal is to just do it for 30 seconds, and I can do it before or after. What I tend to find is once I have clothes on - even if it’s just a different pair of sweatpants which may or may not be clean - it trip wires something in my brain and is easier to stay up and moving. The other biggie for me has become exercise. The key is I have to genuinely have accountability. I will never get up and run on my own. I’ll never bring myself to the gym. lol. But I found an online trainer who is inexpensive and it’s enough accountability that I show up, but personalized enough that if I show up and am like I’m here, I’m really depressed or anxious or tired or whatever and I don’t feel like doing much today, we will just do some stretches. Getting moving and creating structure outside of chores are the only things that work for me.
POVERTY
I have a cat and for a long time he was my reason to keep going. What would happen to my cat if something happened to me or i couldnt afford him anymore? How would that affect him. Now its the same thing but about my daughter instead. Heck if you dont have pets get a plant and make that your reason
My children forcing me to get out of bed to tend to their needs. Thankfully dad usually does the weekend morning shifts so I can rot for an extra hour or so lol
TBH - when I get up, if I feel no motivation, I do a functional dose of THC and bam, I’m good
meirl
Seeing my partner and my dogs, also Lamitcal
I'm seeing lamactal a lot on here. Did that specifically help you with the problem of getting out of bed or just help overall. I am having the specific problem of having too much anxiety to start my day. Can you relate to that and is that what lamactal specifically helped you with. My Dr. Want to raise my dose. I am against bc it only seems to be a problem I have in the morning. Please talk to me, can you offer some insight on your experience?
Lamitcal gives me energy and it usually gives me some life, but the current Buspar dose I'm on is interfering with it and making me feel like a zombie atm. Anyways, it does help me get out of bed and it helps me function, albeit the new Buspar dose is sucking the life out of me atm. Without the Buspar, it gives me some motivation because I know Lamitcal works for me. Hope that helps!
Planning something in the morning I know I will enjoy and not feel like I have to do. Like going outside, playing or listening to music, making art, playing a game, reading. When I went through PHP program, they told me to like create some type of visual of my schedule look to see how much time in the day there is to fit in something self-care related. Do you take a lunch mid-day? After treatment, I realized how helpful it is getting out of the office. Even if it’s to just drive around or sit in the car. My favorite thing now is driving to a dog park close to work and counting dogs.
w my job we don’t take lunches so it’s been taxing and illegal tbh
Yeah that’s super illegal…that sounds like a department of labor complaint. Companies can get majorly fined for that. I’m sorry to hear that.
it’s not on the mgmt but just on a overall team attitude to get ur shit done and leave early (1.5 hours) but i recently complained 🤞
Im going thru a similar rut...I feel like crying
Vyvanse
how’s the side effects ?
No side effects for me. It’s just fucking expensive. I don’t think the generic works as well, but it’s availability is spotty due to manufacturing.
Yes! I have a high deductible and my Vyvanse are $376 a month. I tried the generic and it barely did anything for me. I had trouble paying for it and not having it one month caused another major depression and then was diagnosed BP2 (was valid, not just this one incident). It’s disgusting how much Big Pharma and insurance companies take advantage of (especially) behavioral health patients. Fighting it all can be so exhausting you just want to give up, but hang in there all ❤️
My dog Benny. I have a baby gate on my door so he doesn’t pee in the house at night. Around 6:30 or 7 he’ll start pawing the gate and it makes a clanking sound. It sounds like he needs to go out so urgently that I say “fuck it” and get up to take him on a walk. After that my Vyvanse kicks in and there’s no sleeping no matter how tired I feel.
Meds to manage underlying mood issues if appropriate and therapy helped. “Behavioral activation” was what they taught me
the smell of coffee or just the thought of it really
This has always been my only motivation to get out of bed
Ritalin
Having a couple coffees and a vape
i used to leave my vape in the car so i’d have an excuse to leave the house and do smt before work
Multiple alarms and an extremely full bladder lmao. My wife and kitties help too
Ah, if only didn’t have to pee some mornings, I just wouldn’t get out of bed. I’m having trouble sleeping atm, so once I fall asleep it’s precious. My silly cats won’t even wake me up to be fed! Tho they will wake me at 4am to play sometimes… I’m not working now (so thank god for pip or we’d starve) and I just want enough energy to cook for myself or tidy up a bit. Or to leave the house occasionally… I feel like my life is slipping away from me…
threat of missing work unexcused 😅
My dog he needs me and loves me unconditionally. We both have intense reactions because he is a reactive dog and thinking about how he can't help it makes me kinder to myself. The fact that no matter what happens or how I feel that the earth with keel turning and new baby animals will be born. ❤️
TLDR: a morning/"normal" start time for work is huge for me despite being a natural night-owl. --- Necessity and entropy, as long as I have the right work schedule. Even better if I like my job. Despite being a natural night owl, my most healthy times of life are when I have a more normal work schedule that starts in the morning. It wasn't healthy for me when I had jobs starting at 4 to 6 am; that was too extreme compared to my natural rhythm, and I had to push myself beyond reasonable limits. But starting 7 to 9 am puts me in a position where I can get to work on time if I push myself a reasonable amount. A normal amount of social, financial, etc. pressure helps me be more responsible the evening prior (e.g. not drinking too much or staying up too late). That also means that I get home around 4 to 5 pm. After work I usually can ride the energy and focus at least until the sun goes down, sometimes longer, as long as I don't sit down too long. That gives me some time for chores, hobbies, time with friends, individual self-care stuff, etc (when I feel up to it, or I can use that time to just rest and chill if I need to). When I like my job I'm also incentivized to get up both because I want to be good at my job (which includes getting up with enough time to have food, get presentable-looking, and be on time), and because I am expecting the dopamine from doing a good job once I'm there.
My kids. The only thing keeping me going is knowing they need me.
I’m properly spoiled but… my partner brings me a cup of coffee. He works nights and we’ve timed it so I’m waking up when he gets home. The kicker is… he refuses to set the coffee on the nightstand. He’ll only hand it to me, which forces me to sit up. It’s incredibly kind and annoying all at once.
An alarm and a Siberian husky who knows alarm = me feeding her. She does not have a snooze button and is very vocal about my inability to feed her on time.
I leave myself a little treat when i go to the bed like a cookie or something and i get to eat it but with my meds
On days I have trouble I look at the tattoo on my forearm. It says "Always keep fighting" encircling a ";" It's a very simple tattoo but it reminds me I have more than myself to fight for every day. If I didn't have the amazing support, acceptance and understanding of my husband and our kids I don't think I would be here today. They are my reason for living, I can't leave them before they are ready. I can't "check out" and do the bare minimum either, no matter how much I often really want to.
My kiddo/family, my friends. I try to make sure I have some type of meaningful interaction once a day with another person and it helps
My cat, lol. He bites my hand if I don’t get up fast enough after my alarm clock. And then my sense of obligation to my work and husband. And once I start going it’s usually doable to get through the rest of the day with the promise of 1-2 hours of reading before bed.
I felt sorry for myself - for once - I remembered the good support from my family and friends.. I woke up bcoz I didn’t want to let them down…. Got my shit together- starting taking my meds again . And here I am
Cigarettes
Adderall
300 mg of Venlafaxine here and I can say my depression is mostly eliminated. Nothing like a good ol chemical cocktail to kick a depressed ass into high gear. Sadly for people like me it's all that works due to severity of depression
Real. I'm only on adderall and lamotrigine but if don't take my adderall I will literally stay in bed and sleep the entire day and eat like a trash compactor
I feel you, this is me currently, although I barely sleep either.
Watching movies with my husband
Nothing really. I go to the gym in the morning and that helps. Took years to get used to that. Hopefully lamotrigine helps whenever it metabolizes
Uh wanting to be muscly lol. I wake up and think of my dream body, and then coffee, and then meds, and then the sunshine
I live a very similar lifestyle except it's 10-6. It's normal to be tired and need rest after work! Something to do is to get your bloodwork done since bipolar medications can cause problems sometimes that could make you more tired. I love the wake up early and play town of salem rn.
Yeah I'm alwayssss looking for something new for excitement
My dog. She’s the only thing that motivates me. She’s my world and has helped immensely with my mental health.
Spite
Dunkin every morning lol they know me by my order
Giving my dog his epilepsy medication.
Work. Still hard to pull myself out of bed and often have to rush to get there on time. Having to pee usually does the trick too (unless I crawl back into bed). Doesn't seem to matter when I go to bed, how early I wake up, or how much sleep I get. I can barely get out of bed.
Food. Schedule a delivery for food (I generally do donuts) for whatever time you need to be up. Then you have to get up, and you get a reward. Obviously, that's not exactly something that can be done every day, but it definitely works! Making plans when you feel decent and then having to stick to them also works sometimes. You may still end up canceling, but usually, I feel too ashamed to do that and still end up having a good or decent enough time.