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It struck me this summer (can’t get up, weak muscle, no motivation, “mind tremor”). My doctor suggested the following steps: morning exercise, make a plan for a
by wruza 5y ago
It struck me this summer (can’t get up, weak muscle, no motivation, “mind tremor”). My doctor suggested the following steps: morning exercise, make a plan for a day/week and mostly stick to it, do everything you have to do, get regular and good sleep. No-medicine mode. I didn’t feel instantly fine ofc, and getting out of it is not the point I’m writing this comment. That state was so motivating that now I somehow miss it. For a week or two I turned into a man who can do everything because of the inner force of rigid determination which you build up at the morning and then sculpt your day around it, never missing a task, never delaying a call, never questioning a decision, never fearing an interaction. It just had to be done. It was like living under 3x gravity which would crush you once you lay down without a purpose. The most surprising part was that I can do that, can just go and do whatever was planned under the depression, and not get anxious, lazy, tired or questioning why. Now it’s all gone, and I’m back to “why would I do that, it’s fine enough already” mode. Human minds are bullshit.
- Zababa 5y agoI'll preface this by saying that I don't want to invalidate or diminish your experience, this is genuine curiosity. If you can't get up, have weak muscles and no motivation, how do you do morning exercise and stick to a plan? I feel like pressure that something has to be done could be called a form of motivation, but again I'm not sure.
- wruza 5y agoIn short, it was hate. As I said, for me depression also manifested as a set of very negative sensations (you’re almost dead, feel like sort of hangover). After doc said that I can fight it, I became very angry at it and wanted to punch it in its face even with my numb hands, and that was a big part of that morning momentum buildup. It wasn’t a positive motivation, like “If I do some aerobics I will feel better”, it was more along the lines of “I hate your rule and you will die with me”. Thinking of it more, you’re right, it is motivation, but with a non-trivial connection to the result. He probably knew me well enough to suggest the right plan, or it was just a good guess. Because anger and revolt are my base personal traits, and depression couldn’t take it from me that easy. E.g. being sometimes anxious, I often make self-exposition just to spite these feelings, instead of fleeing from their source. (Please don’t think I’m non-civilized though, it is completely internal thing.) As of formal diagnosis, yes that was completely it, in an acute form (i.e. not chronic). Edit: also I listened to Jocko Willink speeches in that state and understood them sooo well. He was so obvious. Now when my usual reasoning returned, they sound a little funny. It’s like two completely parallel worlds.
- Zababa 5y agoThanks for sharing your story and answering me.
- heyoni 5y agoIf the mind over body thing doesn’t work, try very very gradually increasing intensity without regards to time. When I’m feeling really awful, I’ll slow jog/walk less than a mile on the treadmill first thing in the morning, then come back later to do a proper run. It’s like taking all day to warm up, and it usually works if I can muster the will.
- thething1fox 5y ago“Human minds are bullshit” - true that! The mind will conjure up all the philosophy and logic in the world once it wants something. For many of us, the thing can be laziness - which can hold us back in the long term.
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoI'm not convinced that laziness is really a thing. It seems to me that what we call laziness is more often depression, adhd, fear of failure, or something else.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]