I've entered college this last year and it's become readily apparent living away from home that I Do Not Know How To Take Care of Myself. I don't eat unless I have classes that day, I don't do laundry, showering once a week is an achievement, I've used the same tube of toothpaste since September (it was part way empty then), I can't sleep regularly, I'm not doing my work for classes. I have been able to remember to take my antidepressants and sleeping aids the last few days, with notes to myself and many alerts on my phone. But the task of doing that for everything I need to do is overwhelming. Does anyone have their own strategies to keep them on track/remember things/make themself do things?
That sounds like severe depression in a number of ways, might be worth checking with docs about dosage/meds. See whether college has a student support thing and go talk to them. Basically, report problems early, and your chances of being able to get them fixed improve.
I'd start as small as possible. Focus on the eating and the sleeping. Setting timers is a really good way not to lose track of time for those. If need be, just set a day(or two) as cleaning/hygiene days. I promise you'll be okay if it doesn't happen often at first. I also keep a list on my phone for "things I need to do". I add to it when I think of things. I personally tend to get kinda brain foggy and feel like there's something I should be doing, but I can't remember what, so that's when I look at my list. Edit: I also have more specific advice for tips/tricks on doing the eating/sleeping if you desire.
Mm, I know I have depression, but I also have ADHD. And I've had these troubles my whole life? It just didn't matter quite as much cause I was living with my parents. At home I had a schedule for me: I'd wake up at 6:30, eat breakfast, go to school, eat lunch there, eat dinner with my family. I still had trouble with showering and brushing my teeth and doing my homework. I only started realizing grades were a thing around seventh grade and I was already bad with homework. :/ Sometimes I have energy and I know I have to do something and I end up stuck standing somewhere because I can't go through with it, or even think of how to start it. I have been remembering to write things down a little more, recently, so that's good. It doesn't mean I'll follow through with everything, but. It helps. Any tips you can give are appreciated.
Maybe carrying protein bars or trail mix or something with you would be good? That way you can get a bite whenever you think of it without having to expend extra spoons/chance getting distracted?
Alright, so the first thing I would do to set up a schedule is write down what things you have to do(work, classes ect). My work schedule changes time to time, so I have to re-evaluate it every now and then and decide where to put things. You should be able to find some vague patterns to fit things, like times to eat and when the best time is to wake up/go to sleep. Set an alarm for these things so you remember to do them and try to keep it as consistant as possible. The consistency helps get your body on the same page. Sleep things: I've got lotsa little rules and requirements for sleeping. Some may help you, some may not. For reference, my schedule is currently in bed at 11:30-12, awake at 9ish. It's messed up at the moment, but I am getting it back on track. Rules: I don't eat sugary things after 8, I don't have caffeine after 5. I'm kinda sensitive to these things, so it's something you'll have to experiment with to see how they affect you. Things for helping getting to sleep: I keep my room dark with light blocking curtains because the light bothers me. This was a really big problem for me and helped a lot with my sleeping. Going to bed at the same time every night actually trains your body to fall asleep. You want to keep it within the same fifteen minutes for best results. I'm told you want to wake up about the same time too, but it's harder for me when I can't determine my exhaustion level. Don't spend time in your bed, unless you are sleeping. This is another brain training thing. If your brain is spinning, write it down on something. It doesn't have to be detailed, just enough to get it out of your head. I type it on my phone personally, but some people use little note pads. Having a little bed time routine helps as well and is a convenient place to put hygiene stuff, if you'd like. Eating: There is a lot of trial and error here, because everyone's different. If possible, eat something within an hour of waking up(it also helps train your sleep schedule). I suggest making sure you get protein in this meal. If it is too hard for your brain to do something big/fancy in the morning, keep it small and simple. I am currently having a cheap blueberry waffle with peanut butter for breakfast. When I had the means to do something bigger, I made up little steak chunks, hashbrowns, and an apple. If you eat small, your body will get hungry pretty quick, so plan on having lunch in a couple of hours. Typically, people eat every four hours, so if you need a general increment of time to start off with, it's a good place to start. Uh... How good are you with time management related to cooking/eating? Do you cook? Does your body tell you what kinds of food it's craving? And do you need any help with figuring these things out?(if not, ignore) In general, it may take a week or two to figure out if something works for you or not. If you are doing okay/better with something, try adding another aspect to make it better. When you are comfortable with what you do have scheduled, it's a good time to add another thing(like the hygiene). Don't worry about screwing up. It happens. I usually mess up on one of my things atleast once a week, but most of my schedule stays intact. It will take awhile. Also, you can try using HabitRPG to keep track of things. It doesn't do timers, but it is a good way to write down your routine goals and keep track of how well you are doing them. If you get overloaded by keeping up with it, it is a very good sign that you are trying to do too much right now, and should decrease the rules on your schedule. Little note on homework, if that's a thing you are still doing. You can try joining it with other things, like eating. Like, some times it helps with homework if you have icecream or something to eat whil you are doing it. (And who wouldn't want "eat icecream/treat" in their schedule!) Anyways @_@ if my giant wall of words was any help, feel free to ask me questions! I very much love schedule/routine making.
A personal thing on sleeping ive found is that I have a hard time sleeping if I´m hungry. I know a lot of advice things for some reason recommend not eating close to bedtime, but for me it just makes sleeping harder.*shrug* So maybe schedule a snack or something reasonably close. Generally, starting out with a generally accepted scheduling is fine, but if it makes you feel bad, you are not doing anything wrong by changing it to work for you. (I had to learn that the hard way.)
Do you know people on campus? Or anyone from your classes? Even a casual acquaintance. I ask because during my freshman year in the dorms, my now-best-friend would forget to eat for days on end and also forget showering. She started eating more regularly because I get hungry and need to eat and so we'd have lunch and dinner together. Doesn't need to be the same scale of thing, but if social pressure helps you get things done and doesn't just make you miserable when you don't do it, it might be worth seeing if someone from one of your classes would want to have lunch with you on weekends or maybe do a study group type thing, and showering could be a thing you definitely do before you meet up with them. Another option, if phone alarms have been working but putting them in all at once is daunting, could be to, after doing a positive thing (showering, brushing teeth, eating on a day you don't have class), deciding it's repeatable and sticking in an alarm just for that thing for however often you want to repeat it. And a third option: ChoreWars! I and my roommate set up a campaign (which we've kind of abandoned, whoops), and you can set whatever you want as a task. Taking meds and showering were both worth points, as was making tea and doing laundry, and you could claim points every time you did them.
If you get distracted or forget things, it might be easier to have a big visual reminder that you don't have to check (like agendas/lists tend to be). I've used post it notes like this.... write in big letters "HAVE YOU EATEN?" and put it on a door, or perhaps "SHOWER!". The tone of your post it notes can help or make you feel more stressed, so you might have to experiment with what things you want to put on them, what tone (do you want them to be happy flowery things with smileys? Do you want them to be in all caps? Or just a word and not a sentence?) and where you put them (I put mine above my bed for easy access and visibility). That way there is always a visual reminder to see if you want to eat something or shower or do homework.
