I’ve been pretty lethargic for some weeks. I expected this to happen last week; because I am about to escape the U.S education system for good.
Junk food makes the lethargy worse. I need to stop eating them; but I can’t resist and family keeps buying them anyway.
I want to dodge the capitalist mindset (“I need to work more.”, “I wish I could put more effort in”, " I need meds", etc.)
In my experience, making changes, even small ones, is hard but possible. I think it’s important to understand this at the beginning because you will struggle, and that’s ok as long as you don’t get down on yourself when you aren’t making progress. Struggle is basically a sign that you’re doing exactly what you need to do; try to frame struggle a thing that’s ok, or even positive, so long as you keep trying. It’s also important to remember that making change is hard so you can give yourself props and credit when you start seeing your change happen.
Regarding lethargy: I recently started waking up earlier, and here’s how I did it. Set an alarm and try to limit yourself to one snooze. Make getting up easier on yourself by doing things like programming my coffee maker to have coffee ready when I’m supposed to be awake. Lay out my morning clothes at night so I don’t even have to think when I wake up. Program my thermostat to turn up the heat a little when I wake up (it’s not a fancy thermostat or anything, like $10 used on ebay). Basically think ahead and remove impediments.
I used similar strategies for creating consistent meditation and exercise routines. I do both of those in the morning before work, and I frequently rationalize to myself that those things are for my benefit alone, and that it’s nice to do something for myself before going off to do wage labor; that sometimes helps me avoid talking myself out doing these things. Regarding exercise: I found an activity I can do while watching TV, so now I look forward to it bc I love watching old TNG episodes.
Again, when you struggle, do not beat yourself up because that’s literally never productive (while this seems obvious, it took a therapist to convince me this is true); struggle means you’re doing exactly what you have to do, which is to keep trying. Would you criticize a kid learning to read or throw a ball? obviously not; you’d encourage them and make them feel good for trying–treat yourself the same way. When you succeed, legitimately thank yourself and be happy as though your friend or significant other made an accomplishment.