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Motivation...what did you do today?


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I am in a major slump. :glare: I have no idea why other than that I am prone to depression, I tried coming off my Lexapro, and had to go back on it. It could be my body adjusting and readjusting to the meds...or it could just be the gorgeous sunshine and me not wanting to be stuck in the house. OR it could be that this is the last week of school, ds is getting ready to go spend a week with his dad, and I NEVER deal well with changes. :001_huh:

 

Anyway, I have noticed, over the last few days/weeks that I want to spend all my time online. I want to shop constantly even though I have all the curriculum I need for next year and I am happy with my choices. I can not seem to get my bottom out of this chair to even get the housework done and it is starting to show. I mean, I do the minimal to keep it functioning, but then I run back to the computer. I have no idea why I do this. If it is depression, fine, but I don't feel depressed really.

 

So...what do you all do to motivate yourselves to LEAVE the forum/computer/tv/bed and get your stuff done for the day (even when you really don't feel like it)? And, please, don't tell me that shop therapy helps. LOL That may just be the push I need to go over the edge. :tongue_smilie:

 

P.S. This post is not about school at all. We get school done everyday without fail. I am talking more housework type stuff.

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So...what do you all do to motivate yourselves to LEAVE the forum/computer/tv/bed and get your stuff done for the day (even when you really don't feel like it)? And, please, don't tell me that shop therapy helps. LOL That may just be the push I need to go over the edge. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

I have to have a list of stuff I need to get done, especially the things I don't really want to do and keep pushing off. I leave it out on the counter where I can see it every time I go into the kitchen and the reminder that I have those things to do, does help. Otherwise, I either forget and get sidetracked (usually online) or just end up not doing those things.

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You could pick your favorite CD and turn it up pretty loud, clean during the time it plays, then you can surf for a bit as a reward.

 

I also like the "5 things or 5 minutes" rule where you put away 5 things or work for 5 minutes.

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If it makes you feel any better, I have really done nothing. I got up and went shopping for my new produce co-op (we shop at produce wholesalers and get ridiculous amounts of produce for excellent prices), then came home, made lunch, vacuumed, and got ready to mop the floor. Then my back really hurt from picking strawberries yesterday so the kids and I took a nap. I started snapping some of the green beans and trying to get ready to make strawberry freezer jam but haven't gotten very far. My kitchen floor is ready to mop but then I realized I have beans to freeze and jam to make.... and my inlaws are coming tomorrow!

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I think to-do lists are great. They do help me remember what I considered important enough at some point to actually put on the list.

 

I get spring fever pretty bad....and I go with the flow. During the spring gardening season, my house piles up. But the flowers and yard outside look dynamite. :D Which makes me want to spend more time outside....

 

Sometimes when I can't do the housework anymore, it's a signal that I need to rearrange the furniture or make some new throw pillows or freshen things for the coming season. A little decor rearranging can breath fresh life into your home 'blessing' times.

 

Good luck...eat right, get some exercise in the sunshine and remember, this too shall pass.

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That is hard! I feel the same way a lot of the time. I detest housework, so that makes it a lot easier to skip it when I feel blah. But I have found that doing a little every day really helps. I know it sounds so simple, but it does work. I have a cleaning schedule. The only problem is that the house is never completely clean, but it is almost always decent. And I make my girls help a lot. They have their own cleaning schedule as well. Some days no cleaning (other than the dishes and wiping up all the spills :001_smile:) gets done. And that's ok. As long as everyone is fed and schooled, I feel like I have done my best.

 

:grouphug:

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So...what do you all do to motivate yourselves to LEAVE the forum/computer/tv/bed and get your stuff done for the day (even when you really don't feel like it)? And, please, don't tell me that shop therapy helps. LOL That may just be the push I need to go over the edge. :tongue_smilie:

 

P.S. This post is not about school at all. We get school done everyday without fail. I am talking more housework type stuff.

 

Honestly, when I am behaving in the way you describe, which I have been battling for a couple of months to one degree or the other, I ask God why. I ask Him what it is that is eating at me that causes me to want to self-medicate with a distraction like the computer or the phone or a book or obsessive compulsive homeschool catalog shopping (yes, I am guilty too). He pretty much always tells me if I ask. Then I pray over the matter and invite His healing, find scripture to write on notecards that pertain to what is bugging me, spend time walking and reading said scripture while He builds up the walls of my mind again. I've learned to ask then listen, then pray with the help of His Spirit that lives in me. Sometimes it takes longer than other times, but He always does it and I always come away from it more whole and more free than I was before. :)

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I have been feeling the same way, so I have been doing it in chunks. I set the timer and work at cleaning until it rings, then I spend 20 minutes reading, or lesson planning or whatever. It is not getting done at fast as it usually could but it is getting done. Today, I was feeling like I wanted to sit online all day so I took the kids to the park for 2 hours instead. THe big kids ran and played while the baby napped in the van and I sat in the van reading TWTM and putting more plans together for next year. When we got home I started cleaning again refusing to even step foot upstairs(which is where my computer is) for another 2 hours.

 

The only reason I am on now is because my 2 littles wanted to have a bath before dinner so I am upstairs checking in while listening to them play in the tub.

 

I find the best thing for me has been to completely shut my computer down, I have it password protected to just to log back on and get it up and running again usually irritates me enough to not bother unless I really have a need to be online at that time. This has meant that I am getting more cleaning and more decluttering done than I had been for a while there.

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My dh is very patient with me. He simply says when I get this way. It's just a phase. It will pass. NOT. But I find that I simply am just TIRED of housework, cooking, laundry, etc. I have a lot of kids and for a lot of years I've been homeschooling and you know what? Things GET OLD. While I still very much enjoy my HSling I am way burned out on the house stuff. Hopefully, I am in a phase right now because I still have ALOT of kids at home and a long time to HS still.:)

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I absolutely have to use a list. If a list is on the kitchen counter where I have to see it, I know what needs to be done next. With homeschooling (which comes first), and all the activities the kids are involved in, our house is not as clean as it used to be. It is always at least totally picked up once a day and totally cleaned once a week. I have found I can live with that.

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Honestly, when I am behaving in the way you describe, which I have been battling for a couple of months to one degree or the other, I ask God why. I ask Him what it is that is eating at me that causes me to want to self-medicate with a distraction like the computer or the phone or a book or obsessive compulsive homeschool catalog shopping (yes, I am guilty too). He pretty much always tells me if I ask. Then I pray over the matter and invite His healing, find scripture to write on notecards that pertain to what is bugging me, spend time walking and reading said scripture while He builds up the walls of my mind again. I've learned to ask then listen, then pray with the help of His Spirit that lives in me. Sometimes it takes longer than other times, but He always does it and I always come away from it more whole and more free than I was before. :)

 

 

Wow. Thank you! :grouphug: I need to do this.

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I find the best thing for me has been to completely shut my computer down, I have it password protected to just to log back on and get it up and running again usually irritates me enough to not bother unless I really have a need to be online at that time. This has meant that I am getting more cleaning and more decluttering done than I had been for a while there.

 

I will have to try that! It is definitely a pain to wait on it to boot up first. And it also takes away that instant e-mail ding that always sends me running to check messages. (My dh thinks I am nutty when that happens).

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My dh is very patient with me. He simply says when I get this way. It's just a phase. It will pass. NOT. But I find that I simply am just TIRED of housework, cooking, laundry, etc. I have a lot of kids and for a lot of years I've been homeschooling and you know what? Things GET OLD. While I still very much enjoy my HSling I am way burned out on the house stuff. Hopefully, I am in a phase right now because I still have ALOT of kids at home and a long time to HS still.:)

 

Yeah, I need to stop complaining. There is NO WAY I could keep up with even just the laundry alone for 12 kids! Much less food, and cleaning the dishes, baths, heck...keeping toilet paper on the rolls is probably an astronomical feat around there. I can't even imagine. Hat's off to you for sure!

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I often feel like I am drifting and not getting the most from my day. It is hard and discouraging.

 

As for the ladies mentioning lists... I love them. They never get completed but keep me focused and challenged. Might be great thing to try.

 

As for flylady... she might be too much at times, but she is an excellent resource, motivator, and worth trying out! You can learn alot, even if you can't do it all.

 

I am currently working on "organizing". Our house has been for sale for 18 months with no end in sight. I had put things away to make it more appealing & less cluttered. Disaster. I can't find anything.

 

so.... I am making a card catalog of our books and getting them back on shelves & NOT in boxes and 15 different spots. Next spring cleaning! I must master the cobwebs & piles of winter clothes that need to be sorted & handed-down etc.

 

Good luck. I wish I were a well filled with great inspiration!

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Motivation for me is to invite someone over for supper... someone I don't know well but want to get to know better. Believe me, it works.

 

Another thing, I turn on a movie for the children and then have uninterrupted time to clean. Nothing is more discouraging than cleaning one area and knowing another area is being messed up.

 

HTH,

Deb

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