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Since the beginning of quarantine and everything shutting down, I have been struggling to find a routine that makes me feel good. I’m the type of person who needs a reason to leave the house otherwise my social anxiety takes over and I isolate myself at home. Having a job, going to school, and other activities caused me to wake up at a certain time and get ready so I could leave the house and make it to my obligations at a certain time. Since COVID, I haven’t had to leave the house and I have really struggled to wake up before noon every day and get dressed or feel productive in any way. I even have difficulty eating three meals a day because time doesn’t seem to matter anymore and I have no structure in my life.
As a result, I find it extremely difficult to get things done. I have work that I need to do but I can’t seem to find the motivation to do it because it doesn’t feel like I have to leave my house and be anywhere. So I put it off and feel awful that I haven’t done it yet while still feeling unmotivated. It is an endless cycle of feeling bad about myself while also lacking the feeling of caring about things I need to do. It is anxiety provoking to feel like there is no end in sight even though things are slowly opening back up. I don’t like to leave my house unless I need to and even when I do life doesn’t feel normal and it makes me very uneasy.
I’d love to hear any tips anyone might have as to how they deal with a similar feeling or how they continue to have structure in their life!
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Oof I feel you here. I’ve been trying to nail a schedule down since quarantine started.
What I found could help is starting small with things. For example, if your goal is to get out of the house more, maybe meet up with a friend for fifteen minutes and reward yourself after. Or, if you’re trying to get work done, you can finish a quick assignment and then spend the rest of the day celebrating that you did. Once you have this momentum set, it can carry through into bigger things.
Also, doing things at certain times can help. Like I always do internship stuff from 10-12, for example, and I eat lunch right after.
Idk that’s some stuff that’s helped me. I wish you luck in this and in finding something that works for you!