I do sympathize with you. I have been there, but it was a long time ago.

My advice is to turn it into a 'game'. Laugh at the condition and take it as a challenge or 'experiment' to find out which is the stronger .... the disability ..... or your desire to have a better life.

Here is how to do that ...... make a quick list of things you feel you should do but for some reason (actually depression) you 'just can't' get it done. Now .... pick the simplest one ..... and tell yourself .... 'not getting this done is interfering with my life and mental state. I really don't want to do it, .... but actually, it won't take long and I will feel better after I get it done. My illness is making it sound worse than it is ... and that is foolish. Screw it, I am going to slam this whether it is something I don't really want to do ... get it done .... and out of my way."

Then, clean up the kitchen. Get DETERMINED ... and get it done ... it will probably only take about an hour (but who cares how long it will take?). You will feel SO much better .... and be INSPIRED to head on into gaining HAPPINESS. It FEELS GOOD. All you have to do ... it clean up a kitchen ... to get started on a rehab program of your own ... and once started .. it gets easier ... fast.

Do this for yourself. It is not as hard as 'depression' tells you it is.

I've been in that mess, and all sounds so familiar. Parallel lives? Hmmmm..... It's so hard when everything seems out of control. Where do we start? When I was at my worst, I tried to accomplish three small things a day. That's it. Just three. Even that was tough, but it was doable. If I had your set of circumstances, I might try to study for that quiz for 30 minutes, return the library books, and empty the sink, for instance. No huge feats of daring for us. We can't handle it right now.

I also reminded myself that I was sick, although maybe not in the sense most people think of sick, but very sick nonetheless. And sick people don't feel like cleaning. Phyllis Diller told a story of keeping a bunch of get well cards on her mantle so if anyone came over, she could point to her illness to explain the state of her house!

When you feel up to it, you may want to look at flylady.org. It's an all-free site that is for the organizationally challenged and those of us who hate to clean and get buried under the prospect. It's light-hearted and non-judgmental and it helped me a lot. She talks a lot about baby steps, and I couldn't manage anything more.

Just some thoughts. What helped me may not help you. Whatever you do or don't do, remember you aren't alone. There are more of us than care to admit who struggle with the same issues daily. I wish you all the best. My kitty is currently lying on the electric bill, by the way. :-)

reply #2 is great advice ... and also doable ... and EFFECTIVE.

thanks to both of you...I'll try...

I'll check in later and let you know if I got it done...for now, I'm off to study for that quiz....

thanks again...