Setting goals

Days feels very much the same when you're struggling. I know it all too well. You get up in the morning and basically waiting for the evening to arrive so you can go back to bed. Finding something meaningfull during the daytime is a struggle by itself. I think of it as a form of cabin fever. Maybe they even overlap and it's difficult to see where one stops and the other starts. One thing on the agenda is more than enough for one day. It exhausts you. You can divide a task into smaller goals and make it more likely to achieve. Let's say you need to do some shopping. First goal is to walk to the wardrobe. While you're there you might as well get dressed. It won't hurt, right? Since you're dressed now, why not go outside? The store is only a short walk away, and you're dressed and outside. I've used this train of thoughts many times; setting smaller goals so it'd be a bit absurd not continue to the next one. I know that I can go home again if I need to, having it in my head as a safetynet.

That's how I've done it on a day to day basis. One day is a smaller goal in a longer period of tim you need to get through. I think that when a goal is far ahead you'd need something to look forward to as opposed to the coping technique previously mentioned that is more for practical dilemmas. My reward for battling depression has usually been going to concerts. It's a bit odd, though, because it usually involves travelling, spending many hours with thousands of people around me. The day before or even the same day as I'm travelling can include anxiety despite me looking forward to going. My reaction could be like that because I'm unsure about what's going to happen. I can't plan anything in detail other than the actual travelling. Being at the concert has never been a problem.

As a last thing, never compare yourself to other. There is a reason for setting the bar of those goals you've set. What other are able to do will be to set the bar way too high. Also, an accompishment is an accomplishment. Give yourself credit without devaluing what you've done. That's only counter-productive.

Please remember that ""[y]ou are enough. You are so enough, it's unbelievable how enough you are. "