Am I depressed or just lazy?

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you, but I can definitely relate to what you are saying. The part that is the hardest for me personally is that I know that I can work hard and I have in the past but I just don't have the motivation to do anything even at the detriment to my future and health. I have gone days without eating just because the seemingly simple task of making a meal overwhelms me and that's just one example. Don't get me started on getting to or going to work. There are a few things that have helped me when I recognize that I am being more lazy than normal. They may or may not help, but it's probably worth sharing.

-Find the people in your life that won't judge you as being lazy and will listen to what is going on in your life. This is tough because most people will immediately judge and it took me a long time to figure out the people in my life that I could trust to open up to. Ask these people to help you be accountable. This is hard as well because you likely just want people to leave you alone and you are so in your head that having another person acknowledge that you didn't complete something is frustrating and embarrassing.

-Create what I like to call micro tasks and cross them off throughout the day. Micro tasks are things that are so simple most people wouldn't even consider them tasks because its just a part of their normal day. For example, getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, taking a shower...etc. Take your list with you and when you do something that wasn't on your list but you recognize that you did it, write it on there and cross that off. These micro tasks will build into small tasks, and then into bigger tasks. Once you start seeing a whole list of items that you have crossed off at the end of the day, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment and shows you that you didn't entirely waste your day. Eventually you will find yourself crossing off bigger goals that in the past you had trouble even thinking about.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Sometimes its just nice knowing you aren't the only one out there feeling this way and I can tell you that reading your post made me feel a bit better that I'm not the only one out there thinking and feeling this way.

/r/mentalhealth Thread