Tip: I supplement my use of Google Tasks on a computer by using the "Any do To-do List" app on my phone. It's free and works similar to Google Tasks, and very easy to move stuff around. It does offer coupons to random stuff when you accomplish a certain amount of tasks, but you can choose to decline. It also has the VERY satisfying component of requiring you to cross off the item (drag from left to right) in order to strike it off your list. I've got an Android but I believe it's cross-platform.
cptspangled replied to your post:
Dear lord, I thought it was just me doing these things to get through the day. Thanks for that!
From the responses it looks like a lot of people either do similar or think it would help them. I'd no idea -- so many people I know find organization kind of scary, and getting it all set up and getting habituated to it is a LOT of work if you're not naturally an organized person. It's why I don't usually talk a lot about it, because I'm always concerned I'll scare people off with how much effort it can be.
dreamwaffles replied to your post:
Thank you. This is wonderful, and it gives me some hope that the systems I’m working on will eventually help me cope better.
The longer you work on it, the more helpful it may eventually be. Tweaking it to your personal needs and habits is a long process, but every time something works I always feel really encouraged.
I copied this one with tags because while I toootally get the spirit of what you were saying, I have to say it, don't give up on therapy! My post was about ways to survive while in a depressive episode, but your therapist is working the longer and much more difficult road of trying to help you avoid them and escape them faster.
I don't have a therapist myself for various reasons, but if you are in therapy, remember it is a long process! :) It's like buying a pizza versus making one yourself -- the latter takes longer but is better for you eventually :)
See, and this is where the various needs concept comes in -- I have to know where things are because for me the hard part is getting myself to look for the information. Not everyone needs help just to look :D
I did get a wifi tablet that includes an alarm function for Christmas, and it took me a few months to realize that I could set an individual alarm for each day (different days have different wakeup times due to children having morning meetings at school, etc.) and never have to worry about setting the alarm again.
And here is where we are alike! It's the "not worrying about remembering a thing" that motivates a lot of what I do.
I highly recommend it, but remember to give yourself time to build it up. Start small and incorporate new things when you can. It took me years, and I'm still adjusting as new technology comes up or I develop new needs. Depression can mean that if something doesn't work immediately it's SO FRUSTRATING, but this form or organization is a journey, not an arrival. :D
Thank you! You know it honestly never occurred to me to be apologetic about it (not that you were implying that, just saying). I'm actually supremely proud of it a lot of the time, because I'm more organized than most people I know in brickspace even though I am more of a mess as a human being, biochemically speaking. :D
FYI for readers :) I was not shocked at all by my Myers-Briggs (I'm always IN-something) but it can be a very useful tool, more so than most personality tests in my opinion.
I never felt guilty per se about paying for services, though I did worry about spending my money on stuff I could theoretically do myself. It helped me to reframe depression to myself as a disability. For some reason I never think of myself as having a disability; I have to remind myself that depression is a mental illness. When I remind myself of that, it's easier to think of the things I pay for as disability aids, no different in a conceptual way from buying a crutch or a hearing aid.
Now I have a little more perspective on why “Homefront" affected me so much, and why you seemed concerned that I, a stranger commenting on AO3, was so affected.
Well, I think people who have depression are keener to sense it in others and we know how easily it is to go one way or another, so generally I try to give a nudge in the right direction if I can.
Homefront was not a conscious attempt to work through issues surrounding my depression or even to discuss depression explicitly, but certainly it helped in writing it to have firsthand experience, and mine is pretty visible in the text. A great deal of my interest in Steve Rogers, as with my interest in many characters who have suffered a massive loss (Ianto Jones, Remus Lupin), is in exploring their coping mechanisms and the way their loss changed how they interacted with the world.
I think tasks probably feels forgotten about because they have integrated the functionality into Google keep?
Huh, I'd never heard of Google Keep. It looks interesting, though I'm going to need to explore it a bit before I decide on its usefulness to me. FYI, readers! Google Keep is a thing! (It sounds so medieval.)
jabberwockypie replied to your post:
Reading this, I have strong suspicions that Steve’s love of breakfast burritos in at leas two of your stories is also based on you. True or false? ;)
Ending on a funny note :D
Actually I do like a good breakfast burrito, but I'm super picky (more so than usual) about breakfast, so I rarely eat them. When I do I want them VERY simple -- egg, cheese, crumbled up bacon, maybe a bit of sausage. Most places put sauce or potatoes or salsa on them, or they don't cook the scrambled eggs long enough (wet scrambled eggs gross me out more than they should, so I always get poached or fried when I eat breakfast out). And they're just slightly too labor intensive for me to bother with at home.
The idea of breakfast burritos being Steve's favourite food continues to crack my shit up. I just find it so funny for some reason.
