I Can't Seem to Motivate Myself

fatherof3 · #1 23-08-2007, 03:44 PM

I am a husband with three kids and a wife with ptsd. I have basically been a single father for about 3 months. I find it very difficult to motivate myself to clean my house and take care of my kids. Today all I could do was to sit back and watch them trash the house. I didn't care either. I want my house to be clean but I am having a lot of depression and anxiety when I think about all the work that needs to get done. I don't want to neglect my kids, but at times I feel I will explode and start yelling and that is not what I want to do. How does one find the strength to just put aside emotions so strong in inhibits them from doing anything. I feel there is so much to do that I don't know where to start.

I do have days where a can chug a redbull and actually get something done.

Dan

anthony · #2 23-08-2007, 04:01 PM

The hardest part to anything is starting it... not doing the act itself. Force yourself to start, then once running you will typically be just fine.

veiled · #3 23-08-2007, 04:03 PM

I am going to keep this short as I am very low energy/thinking wise right now myself. But it sounds a bit of exhaustion and depression. My husband did that too.

A good way with little ones to control the mess and get needed exercise to reverse the depression is the park, fishing, sprinklers outside... Get you and the kiddos outside. The kids will wear them self out and you will get sunshine and exercise. It is win win. I have 4 kids, in the past 8 months two moved out. But I know messes with little ones and depression. This may turn your world around in a week or two in that aspect. Just force yourself redbull free into this. It is way easy once the ball gets rolling. Getting up and out is the hardest part, rest is a blast.

Damiea · #4 23-08-2007, 11:18 PM

about the messy house.. I totally understand!! can't pick stuff up or wash dishes fast enough before more is messy again! I tend to find doing just ONE thing helps.. spend one day just doing dishes then stop.. knowing you got that done at least! Then spend the next day doing laundry or something. Also not sure how old the kids are but give them jobs to do! Its funny how even the little ones love helping with the dishes even if its just drying them as you put them away. Also try making it fun to pick up! turn on some music.. make a game of picking up the rooms dancing around and laughing. Its amazing sometimes how you can use the children's boundless energy and make it something like a stress relief game!

Hope things get better for you.. life as a single parent can be hard even without other stress involved.