Should probably cook something...

[Sapphire3]

But I don't want to leave my room. Seems like it's the only place I don't get anxious, wound up and stressed these days. Why am I feeling like this? I've always held on to that little bit of willpower to try and go out and about and try to socialise and have fun. But it seems even this is leaving me

[Gambit62]

Hope you did manage to make it out of your room and cook something. If not the night is still young and there is plenty of time.

Hope you are managing to eat properly - know that doesn't necessarily mean eating warm things - I love cold curry and will always over-order a take-away so I'll have some cold curry to eat later

[Sapphire3 in reply to Gambit62]

Hi Gambit, no I ordered take-away They are really handy and I love a curry, but I've been having far too many lately. And to think my new years resolution was to go on a diet! If I don't start cooking or at least eating anything but take-aways I'm gonna be piling on the weight! Anyway, even without the food thing, I do tend to spend most of my time in my room these days. I live with two other students and I hardly see them/talk to them at all.

[ThemysciraDrive in reply to Sapphire3]

I was exactly like that at Uni! Barely spoke to my housemates and hid in my room. It's a self-perpetuating state - but I guess you know that already. The therapy I've been doing lately has gone through a lot of stuff to do with that. Basically when you're depressed/anxious you have to do things first to feel motivated. We did this exercise where we had a weekly timesheet and recorded what we did and ranked each thing out of 10 against three aspects - achievement, closeness and enjoyment. You start to notice patterns of things that contribute a lot towards one of more of them, and then you move on to scheduling your time as much as you can so you have a good mix of all three.

It's quite a useful thing, you learn a lot about how to manage from it. I found out that I cope best when I start the day doing a few achievement-based things, then I feel motivated for the rest of the day. So on weekends I get up at a reasonable time and do something housework-y. And those days of being cooped up in my room all day have mostly started to go.

There's always a few cheats as well - could you watch a film or something with your housemates? That way you spend time with them and get the benefit....but don't actually have to say much

[Hidden]

Hunger can feel like a panic attack.

My "too stressed to cook" diet is really simple. I have cereal and milk with tinned fruit, varied with vegetable soup from a tin and toast. I eat bananas and oatcakes with cheese for snacks or pots of yoghurt. Baked beans on toast is good for the protein

Believe it or not, you can get a pretty balanced diet on just these things

[Sapphire3 in reply to Hidden]

That sounds quite handy, and definitely a lot less calorific than the take-aways I'm relying on at the moment!! Thank you for your advice

[Hidden]

Hello Sapphire

You know I wish that I was young and daft, When I was fed up I would have a Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney Pudding.

followed by a couple of bottles of brown Ale, it was something really crazy even then.

Find something you want to do and leave that room, you are young and there is a lovely unpolitically correct world out there to find. It is a Saturday night I would have gone out by now and having a drink with friends then going dancing till 2:00 in the morning

Stop worrying, enjoy

BOB.