I am getting very depressed and have no motivation for doing things I used to think mattered. I don't know how to get out of this funk. Nothing seems to work.
I don't understand why I cannot get out of the downs! I've had a tendency to be depressed and anxious all my life. I thought it was getting better as I got older. Now I'm back in a bad slump and have no idea how to get out of it.
Good Morning to you! I suffer from both anxiety and depression. As I am unaware of your situation or history of depression, I am not sure if you have a psychiatrist and/or therapist. If you do not, that would be my first recommendation to speak to a doctor and definitely look into therapy. My afflictions seem to get worse as I get older perhaps because I am a 47 year old woman and we go through hormonal changes. I understand exactly what you are feeling. You have to basically force yourself to do things. I know how hard it is. There are days I never left the couch and watched TV all day long. I could not focus on work or any task and I got to the point where I could not work it was so overwhelming. Nothing seemed to give me pleasure. I avoided family, friends and responsibilities that usually mattered to me, not on purpose, because I did not want them to see me at my worst, I could not seem to fake the smiles anymore. I still go through this cyclically after a major event or trauma and have had to changed medications periodically because they stopped working or made my symptoms worse. I try to keep my mind occupied and stay busy. It is very hard because I get antsy and then tired of being restless. I pray a lot to be honest. I also speak to people who give me encouragement and get me out of my head. I am trying to find a support group as well because after dealing with this for 20 years; I kind of know what works and what does not. Speaking with people who understand helps me, maybe it will help you too!
Thank you for your share, this group I've learned so much. The care and support is awesome. For me I started my day with praising and prayers. Ur right the older in age it seems to feel worse. This round has been way to long, to much harder to deal and work through. Same as u change meds when they weren't working anymore but now they add. Glad to meet you. Healing love, peace.
Yes, thank you for responding. I really do hope to find support here, too.
Hi Libragirl, I turned 65 yesterday. I'm not bummed out about my age or my birthday. I do worry a lot about losing my husband, who has serious heart problems. I live in dread of this. I hope I go first. I am an organic homesteader and an artist. I am not seeing nearly as many birds, butterflies, and other pollinators in my gardens as I used to. I love birds and pollinators, and this hurts a great deal! I painted pollinators in my last art show (Memphis Botanic Gardens) hoping to bring awareness to the plight of pollinators, but frankly no one cared. People liked the paintings, but didn't seem to care much about the point of my art show, which is to care about pollinators. I get down about the environment and all the pollution globally and in my area! It's like saying goodbye to nature. I do tend to be introverted and sensitive and I think that makes me more prone to depression. I feel my art work is pointless, because when I paint birds, for example, it's like I'm saying goodbye to them. And that is really depressing!
My boyfriend of 7 years whom I lived with passed away 6 years ago this August. He was 49 years old. I don't think I have been right since. He was sick for 5 months and I was among one of his two caretakers. I actually lost several people prior and was able to get through it but this made me angrier than I could have imagined. It brought a lot of anxiety and depression on and off since his death. Our beloved dog died two and a half years later which broke me even more, so I understand loss and the possibility of it. Beyond that, your artwork I assumed you did for you. It was your way of expressing yourself and your thought process. The point is you cared enough to do something. Not everyone will relate to everything you do, say or feel. As long as you care about it, that is all that should matter because you matter. I would look at your art as memorializing birds, butterflies, etc. in a happy way not in a sad one. Look at it more like a celebration than a funeral. Sending hugs and prayers to you!
Thank you
So sorry for your loss.
Thank you. 😊
Don’t despair! There are many many people in my area who are planting pollinator gardens! You Don’t usually find them at art shows tho. Most of them I know belong to garden club’s. Try there.
From your name, I assume you are a creative person. Are you having trouble finding creative things to do? I am hoping I can find distraction in creativity. Starting slowly with knitting. I am also making myself go outside more. I hope you feel even a little better soon.💛
Thank you for caring. I am an organic homesteader and an artist. I am not seeing nearly as many birds, butterflies, and other pollinators in my gardens as I used to. I love birds and pollinators, and this hurts a great deal! I painted pollinators in my last art show in September 2020 (Memphis Botanic Gardens) hoping to bring awareness to the plight of pollinators, but frankly no one cared. People liked the paintings, but didn't seem to care much about the point of my art show. People in my neighborhood and my town do not care about birds and butterflies. They spray tons of pesticide, herbicide and fungicides which weaken birds' immune systems which can lead to illness and death. These pesticides kill countless butterflies and bees. I get down about the environment and all the pollution globally and in my area! It's like saying goodbye to nature. I do tend to be an introvert and I am quite sensitive, and I think that makes me more prone to depression, especially in this insane world! I feel my art work is pointless, because when I paint birds, for example, it's like I'm saying goodbye to them. And that is really really depressing!
We have less birds here in CO too. So sad. I moved to an area with more wild floral and fauna and latley we have baby deer dash through and that cheers me up. I am happy to know you are organic and support pollinators. I do my best but feel it is like walking up a long hill when others don't seem to care. I am starting to look for the one thing that brings it back to feeling good. It is hard sometimes. but I need to be ok with that too. I am pulling for you .
Lovely photo. Thank you for your kind words.
For me I just do 1 thing a day then as I feel I'll try one more. I have to push myself to have a little up time. I'll be praying
Thank you for your help. I think this is a very good strategy, and it does work for me. It's just not working particularly well right now.
Yes I second what everyone is saying. I used to have creative outlets but I lost interest. I tried art journaling. Great idea if you can do it. If you have hx of depression sometimes age complicates it. But either peri or menopause ages hormones ARE affecting you.
I would be happy to share artwork that I like with anyone who is interested in trying to revive their artistic spirit. I am desperately trying to revive my artistic spirit! At the moment everything, including art, seems futile. Perhaps we could have a separate group for this? I don't know how that works.
I always love art. Never got painting down
No one gets painting down. Well, maybe a few masters. It's always a challenge. Keep trying.
I'd be glad to support doing art for healing
I did art shows too about 10 years ago. Really got into it but though my items were appealing enough and sold well, I just couldn’t make a living. I also needed help with it. I’m not sure I could face all that traveling, the tent. the rains, wind, hail. I fought all of them. Jury fees, booth fees. Pics, Setting up, breaking down…but when you find those people who love your stuff💕. It really feels good. Praise, true, genuine praise can give a depressed person a big charge. A big boost. We all want to be good at something. We all want and need to feel valued. In the long run, it didn’t work but at the time, I would have to say I was happier and Artists are fun to be around. Especially at shows. We are happy when sales go well and love to bitch together when they go south. Comradery! Good luck - Artistgardener!!!!
do you by chance have childhood trauma? Looking actively for a zoom group.
I have a lot of childhood trauma. The bad stuff.
I do also, a lot of it unfortunately.
Sorry to hear it I spent far too much of my life just trying to survive it. Much wasted time.
Mind is watch my beautiful mother in her silk night grown running from a gas explosion because of a man drunk and she was not given him a time of her.
I know it's very hard to talk about, but I'm sorry I don''t quite understand. Take care
I deal with struggling to do things because of my depression, and I also have OCD, so I kind of use my OCD to force myself to do things. Like, my apartment has gotten in some pretty bad conditions because I won't clean up after myself, because I am too down to do anything. But then it finally got to be too much, so I will clean some, then take a break, clean some, take a break, clean some, take a break.
Yes, it's become a monthly-long process to finally get to a place in my home where I can pick up my garbage and not let it pile up, where my kids can run freely (it's worse when your depression affects the lives of everyone around you), but I've finally gotten there, and it's at least help me get into a routine and a habit. Though, I do have to fight slipping up. Some days, I'll really not want to do anything, but I still at least manage to do the bare minimum. Because anything is better than nothing.
But I hope you can find a way out of your slump. It doesn't even have to be cleaning. Like someone said, your name suggests you're a creative person. I used my breaks in between my cleaning to color, or crochet, or play games while watching stuff in the background. Just to keep myself busy in some way so I'm not just stuck with my thoughts.
I am so sorry you are suffering. I do need to clean up. I do not usually let my house get so dirty. Motivation to do anything is lacking, and it's rarely ever this bad. I am struggling with grief about climate change and the loss of birds and pollinators in my gardens. It feels like death, and it's only going to get worse. I am also constantly worried about my husband's health problems. The fear of losing him.
I'm sorry that the ecosystem is causing you stress, especially since that's something we really have no control over, and I'm even more sorry for your husband's health issues. I hope you can find something that will help you get out of this funk. I understand how scary it is to lose someone, and there aren't words to express what you must be going through. I hope you can find the motivation again, and feel better mentally and emotionally. And I hope your husband's health can improve. I want all of the good things to happen for you.
Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it. I hope all good things for you, too.
Like your ideas about keeping busy at breaks so not stuck with your thoughts. Have started to try that lately, In my case I do word puzzles and crosswords, words are my thing
I love word games!
Great! I find them great to help me concentrate
I feel like I am constantly fighting with myself when it comes to bad mental health habits.
When I have felt down or overwhelmed, I try to take a step back from things or slow down. I prioritize what is actually important and examine my thoughts, dismissing the unhealthy ones and focusing on what I CAN control.
It's always nice to have healthy distractions in the form of a hobby that fills you with a sense of accomplishment (like gardening for example).
The garden does give me a sense of accomplishment in the spring and fall when the weather is cooler. Not so much in this hot humid weather. Working in the garden is an overwhelming chore right now, but it doesn't always feel that way.
So I would say don't put all the pressure on yourself to get right back into the swing of things. I know people have a tendency to try and just shoot back to where they where with no issues but that is not how things work. And more often than not by doing this we counter intuitively make ourselves worse. Take things one step at a time and start off small. Even if that small thing is just brushing your teeth, that is great. Do that so you can then find more energy to do other things later on. But again, it's about building yourself up, not just rushing back into things. Starting a routine can greatly help with this. Last, take some time for yourself. Take breaks when you need to and get outside in nature. That helps with depression over all and helps us feel less trapped by our daily lives.
Thank you for your kind words.
Bad night impact depression symptoms. How to deal with that?
How do I fight constant headaches and low energy when I am depressed?
My anxiety depression is so bad i'm passing out
How do i get out of this? 
Depression spiralling out of control.
