Some days we just don't feel like doing anything. The day can feel challenging just doing the typical things we call normal. It can be challenging to decide if we want to opt-in with friends and connect with others. It can be challenging deciding if we feel strongly about pizza or burgers for dinner. We may just default to whatever our partner wants simply because we are indifferent about what we want.
What can transpire, over time, is that one day can turn into two days, then three, and so on. Before we know it, the feeling of "not wanting to do anything", "indifferent" about activities and choices, can become a pattern of thinking and a pattern of "not" doing much.
While many friends, family, and practitioners may be quick to label and assign the experiences and symptoms as depression, grief, dysthymia, anhedonia, lethargy, apathy, etc. It may be something else.
Without a thorough investigation one is left wondering - "what is going on with me?"
A good place to start begins with taking a self-inventory across a few areas of yourself. Based on that self-inventory it may be possible to tease out a few insights. First, develop a few hypothesis, then create a reference point for how you feel currently, test/learn through trying something different, and slowly but surely rule out what works and what doesn't work as you compare the results vs. your original reference point of how you feel.
The key to the exercise is TRYING and DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT. If you don't do something then the current situation will stay the same. To do something, you may need to recruit external resources to help play a part in disrupting the current mental impact and pattern of behavior.
Which means an additional key ingredient in this exercise will involve vulnerability, courage, and taking a risk putting oneself in new/different environments, trying different things, and asking others
for support.
The SELF INVENTORY is an exercise that spans across:
- Environmental conditions...
- Contextual experiences...
- People, places, and things...
- Triggers and activating events...
- Identifying if past traumas exist...
- Mindset and self-talk...
- Beliefs, stories, and narratives...
- Evaluation of identity and self-esteem...
- Health, nutrition, and wellness...
- Physiological markers...
- Hormonal and Neurochemical indicators...
- Impact of life adjustments and transitions...
- Stage of life, felt sense of growth, vs. feeling stuck...
- Identifying if burn-out is occurring...
- Exploring sources of overwhelming stress...
- Sleep and exercise...
The DOING part will involve:
- Taking small steps...
- Planning and executing...
- Celebrating efforts, attempts, and achievements...
- Re-visiting prior hobbies, activities, etc..
- Practicing a neutral mindset...
- Working through the mental knots and behavioral stuck points...
- Being Open and willing...
- Connecting with others and helping out...
- Seeking novelty...
- Moving the body...
- Exploring health and medical related influences..
- Attempting new self-care modalities...
- Traveling and exploring different contexts, new places, etc...
The most challenging part of the DOING will be convincing yourself that you HAVE TO try. There has to be INTENTION, there has to be a PLAN, there has to be STRATEGIES and TACTICS established as SCAFFOLDING to support the PRACTICE.
Without those additives, more than likely, the state of being will continue and a cloud of mystery will remain. ind
