Not working - how do you spend your time?

Hi @bluegum in a very similiar situation not working or actively looking due to mental health reasons and often have too much time on my hands leading to very long drawn out days especially when my depression spikes. I also live in a very small rural community so not much happening around the place to keep occupied. I do force myself to walk each day and other days ride my bike. I try to keep busy with my garden and housework but sometimes it’s best just to sit and do some meditation, to rest, to heal and be calm. This way you stop running and struggling and simply be and that’s ok.

Thanks @fluffylight I will check out Topic Tuesday. I’ve never been on forums as a way of keeping social.
I appreciate your thoughtful response

Hello @bluegum @Krishna @fluffylight I also struggle. My mh challenges and work history are similar to how you've described yours @bluegum but I succumbed to unplanned early retirement. I'm now pushing myself to do more in house and garden and I walk every day. I need to rediscover interests and connect with community but vision impairment limits my options - I don't drive. I take a keen interest in current affairs and occasionally lobby local state and federal representatives. My downfall is wasting time doomscrolling. Most of my interactions are text-based, which isn't necessarily bad in itself as my brain and reactions are slow, but I miss human contact and conversation.

Hello @bluegum

Love your name. Love a bluegum.

I am a bit like @Krishna focussing on house and garden, and @Dimity in early retirement.

I have not structured my days much and let it be pretty free form but I try and structure my week and month.

Sane forum has been helpful for me to learn to socialise again. Even being able to say, 'a friend online, said yadayada ...' without divulging the mental health aspect has helped when socialisng generally. But mainly just getting to know the range of people on here and being able to do it as needed.

@bluegum I’m also not working at the moment, I resigned from a job that was bad for me and taking a mental health break for little while before starting to look.

In my case “not working” is not sustainable financially but this is the second time recently that I’ve been unemployed so it’s a bit less scary in some ways. I know I have some personal work to do on my mental health and it’s important to sort that out rather than rush into another role.

Somehow I’ve kept the anxiety at bay by having a medium/long term plan and giving myself the space in the short term to improve my mental health and do what makes me happy (pleasure and happiness are different, happiness includes a feeling of fulfilment).

I have no end of “projects” that usually get procrastinated for ages and ages due to lack of energy/motivation (and mild depression). Looking at unfinished projects (or thinking about un-started ones) makes me feel worse about not doing them. Knowing that my “space” has a time limit has focused my motivation on ticking off some items.. and each item achieved comes with a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. Getting stuff done and seeing progress is pulling me out of the funk I was in.

Your situation is different but I think setting achievable goals and ticking them off can help. Even better if you write them down and put a line through it when done, then it’s visual.

For social anxiety, interact in a way that is either comfortable or only moderately uncomfortable. Comfort zone shrinks over time so you have to gently push the limits out, but do it in a sustainable way. These forums are great, try and find a hobby/interest group or volunteer work then you have a natural common “topic” to talk about. Contributing to a group, even online, will help your mood.

Avoiding things is also something I do (and trying to unlearn), sometimes you just have to pick the easiest thing on your list and say “I’ll do it for (5,15,30,60) minutes”. Once you’ve started you usually keep going past the set time.

Hi @bluegum @due to physical and mental health aspects during 30min Ute lunch break I decided to retire early, completely unplanned.

not long after retiring I commenced voluntary work which involved me being part of a group of people where each person was rostered for approx 3 hours one day each week. Option was also there to drop in during the week at anytime. Most weeks I was going to the business 2days a week. Due to decrease in my physical health I ceased there early this year.

I don’t have anything set in concrete. What I try to do is house work in the morning, something for enjoyment in afternoon (craft, walks etc), evenings spent relaxing on couch watching something on tv, usually couple hours of dvds. Amongst people I’m an introvert. I have couple people I see in person few times each year. Majority of my way of ‘communication’ is via social media eg Facebook, the forums either here or beyond blue

hope this gives you some other options and ideas

Thanks Bluebayou

sounds like a nice routine you’ve got going.

Bluegum