04/30/2022
Yes! I talk about this often. I believe it is important to set goals and hold yourself accountable AND what I know is that demeaning yourself and putting yourself down is not going to motivate you to do work it instead motivates you to give up. Depression loves this- you try and depression helps you pick out why you shouldn't keep trying because depression loves to feed itself. In therapy I make sure to focus on what people accomplish and how to build on this. Often people think if they haven't accomplished the major goal they are failing instead of seeing what they have improved on. Small and steady progress is the way to true change and commitment. Yelling at yourself, saying you can't do it, seeing only your failures, reinforcing powerlessness does not help. Instead notice what you did differently than yesterday. People focus on things like "Yea I did it but only for like 5 minutes" or "Yes I got it done but 2 days later" or "I guess I did it but not great" and so on. These can all be progress! When you try even for a moment and even if it doesn't "work" (which is a whole other post) you are still moving towards your goal. It serves you to focus on what you have done and what you can build on this reinforces hope and depression hates that so you have to push hard. Set very small and focused goals and focus on what you CAN do. Be kind and gentle to yourself while also staying focused and committed.
