Motivation

Feel like your life might be getting out of control? Haven't eaten breakfast in years? Can't find reasons to get out of bed? This post is for you, friends.

Staying functional during a depressive funk is a difficult, difficult thing; why would you try to do it alone? Here are some resources I've found that have helped me keep my life in order even when that didn't really seem possible, as well as some of my personal tips.

Websites:

HabitRPG: "Your Life the Roleplaying Game." Earn gold, weapons, pets and steeds, and magical powers by completing regular habits. Want to make sure you eat something green every day? Make it a "daily." Want to curb your junk food habits? Create a "minus" that takes away some HP when you indulge in too many Oreos. Highly customizable, and the pets are cute.

stickK: You want hardcore motivation? You got it. You can (but don't have to) put money down to motivate your goal. If you don't make it, the money goes to a friend, a charity you love, or--and I love that they thought of this--a charity you hate!

Apps:

Unfortunately these are only for Android. :(

The Fabulous: This is a wonderful, wonderful lifestyle app. It's very motivational, gives you baby steps to start out, and it's just so beautiful. There might be some fluffy spiritual stuff in there, but hey. I love it. Highly recommend this app. (Also their live motivational support is kickass.)

I Can't Wake Up!: This is. By far. The BEST alarm app I've ever found. I hate it. I hate it so much. When it goes off, you have to go through several thinking activities (matching, city-naming, memory tasks, math) in order for it to shut off. The more you don't do anything, the louder it gets. And literally--there is NO WAY to escape this alarm short of smashing your phone with a hammer. I hate this app so much. You'll hate it too. Get it. You need this in your life.
Best part of it: you can store bar codes (say, from your shampoo bottle or toothpaste) and one of the tasks is that you need to get up, go find the things, and scan the bar codes. Then you've finished turning off your alarm, and look! You're already in the bathroom. Might as well shower.

Tips:

Monthly calendars. They're a thing.
I've been a weekly-planner girl since middle school, but that's begun to change. Now that I'm doing adulty things, which are often larger and more long-term projects than middle school worksheets, I've found that it's better for me to see the bigger picture. Also, it helps me plan ahead. And I feel good when I feel like I'm ahead. Go here to print out custom monthly calendars, especially during one of those months, where everything gets super piled up.

Buy new office supplies!
I know, this may not be the healthiest thing. But it works wonders for me. If I go out and buy myself a pretty little notebook then goddamn I am going to use that thing ten times a day and find myself unintentionally being twice as productive in the process. Also works with packs of gel pens. And accordion folders. And binders. (I have an addiction.)

Clean.
Make yourself notice the dirt. We often don't realize how dirty things really are because we see them so often we simply become accustomed to their filth. I apologized to Bryce once about all the hair in the bathroom (it's EVERYWHERE) and he said, "What? Oh, I didn't notice."
Not only that, but there's really no way to get discouraged while cleaning. Everything is positive. And it's so satisfying.

Prepare, prepare, prepare.
When you're done with the day, all you want to do is go to bed. Shut your laptop, turn off the light, snooze. But that makes waking up quite the difficult task. You lay in bed and think "ugh I have to pack my bag, oh and I should bring a bag lunch today for the meeting, I'm really hungry but probably don't have time to eat breakfast, do I have any nice clothes that aren't dirty? I'll have to look, but somehow I doubt it."
Put your stuff together. Find your outfit. Pack any lunch the night before. Decide what you're going to make for breakfast. It makes your life 1000 times easier.


As before, feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments! I'm always looking for more!