I have recently been thinking of things to help suppress the depression while I’m at home. There are so many days where I just want to come home from work and sleep. Or sit in a corner and not do anything. But, alas, I have responsibilities.
Like walking the dog, making dinner, feeding the animals, brushing the cats’ coats and teeth, trimming all their nails, and overall, just managing a household. A household of 2 humans, and 3 furbabies. No, that may not seem a lot to someone who has a house full of children and furkids, but in my experience with dealing with depression, getting just one thing done in a day is an achievement. Something to be proud of. You want to
stop the world from spinning sometimes, and just have a moment.
So, I have compiled a list of things that I HAVE to do. No matter what. A checklist helps when I am REALLY having a bad day. As long as do these things, I will feel like I have accomplished something.
– Personal hygiene: Shower, brush teeth Just the bare minimum sometimes to get through the day.
– Feed the animals.
– Eat dinner.
– Take at least 1 hour while at home to do something that does not involve work. Examples: Video game, television episode, read a book, snuggle with dog.
– Go to work.
– *BIGGEST CHALLENGE: On Saturdays, go to my doggie social class.
Bare minimum, people. Sometimes, just doing those things is a significant challenge. Especially if I’m having a bad start on my Saturdays… which is actually one of my worst days since I legitimately feel like I don’t even have to make my bare minimum list.
Does anyone else have a ‘bare minimum list’ they use to get through the day when they are trapped?
End of My Leash 
That’s interesting. I just made a bare minimum list a couple days ago. Typically nerdy, I made it into a task list in MS Outlook. … That feeling of being trapped, I think, can extend almost to everything. Just the basic deal everyone has, of living here and then meeting some scary and uncertain end … this itself feels trapping. The idea of a rat race at all, etc. … Maybe it’s like crossing over a deep crevasse. You aren’t supposed to look down, and people with depression can’t help but do it … which is very human. … But I’m learning that it’s okay to be in this moment, and okay to take up space inside it. There’s a great deal of fantasticness to experience right now, and its impermanence doesn’t make it any less fantastic.
Thank you for your comment, I know exactly what you mean. 🙂
To be honest I think I have a bare minimum list everyday – and some days I don’t even make that work, not because I’m depressed or feeling low, just because I don’t want to. Does that sound odd???? I call them my duvet-days … when I just brush my teeth and fix something to eat. I’m not a person that needs to do things all the time – and be everywhere – done that too many years when I was working. Like this post a lot. I really feel for your bad days – have a close friend that gets them for week both in the spring and autumn – she are suffering so much.
Thank you for visiting. And no, not wanting to do anything doesn’t sound weird at all. (That’s actually what I did yesterday.)
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