c/depression·Posted by u/ravi_kapoor·1h ago
Is anyone else still waiting for motivation to show up before they start anything?
I have a library book on the nightstand that has been there for three weeks. I keep waiting to feel like opening it. I walked past it this morning, felt annoyed at myself, and still did not pick it up. It is not even a hard book. It is the one with the blue cover the librarian recommended, and I remember wanting it. Wanting it and starting it are living in different rooms now. The same thing is happening with a sink of dishes and a form I need to mail. I stand there as if motivation is a bus I can catch if I wait at the right stop. It does not come. Then the day gets late and I say tomorrow, when I will surely feel like a person who mails things. I know waiting is the trap. I am still waiting. How do you start when the feeling never arrives and the book is right there looking at you?
Peer discussion on askDr.app. Not therapy and not a substitute for professional care.
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u/hannah_brooks1h ago
I open it for one page. Usually stop after one page. Last Tuesday I did five by accident. Still not motivation. Just the book being open.
u/omar_farouk1h ago
The bus stop image is exactly it. I wait at the sink the same way. I started doing the first dish only, the mug, and leaving the rest. Sometimes the rest happens.
u/lila_nguyen1h ago
Do you wait more with things you actually want, like the book, than with chores? Wanting it and not starting is the part that messes with me.
u/sam_whitaker58m ago
I put the book on the kettle. I have to move it to make tea. Sometimes I read the page my thumb lands on. Cheap trick. The nightstand was too easy to ignore.