Sorry to intrude in the BP forum but maybe I'm allowed since I have had mania in my life. Heh. Anyway.

I'm into simplicity so I have no extras. Sure I like scents but more burning incense or adding a little fragrant oil to when I scrub floors (I don't use perfumed products but a pinesol like thing that is sold here that is a byproduct from pine, it has a slight pine smell is all). I'm not into gels and butters and lotions and all that. I never saw the point. My skin doesn't dry out to need lotion because I only shower when I need to. I have long enough hair to use excess shampoo on my body and if I need a little more I use soap. Because I need a palmful of shampoo anyway. All extra I use is conditioner and only if my hair tends to knot, or I rather not use it.

So those things simply cannot lure me into the shower. I'm sitting here putting my shower off until tomorrow.

I noticed with decreased mental or physical energy, something happens with socalled simple tasks. I came to realize they are not simple. What makes them hard is that when down or tired, the clustering up behavior might fall apart. So what was just one thing, take a shower, ends up many things. It includes... take right sock off, take left sock off.... etc... step into bathroom, get into shower, get the water temp right... it is an endless DO DO DO. So no wonder it feels like a chore!

I'm not sure what the real cure is here. I'm very sure that if this is a constant problem, it's needed to do MORE to trim up that autopilot again. I noticed that with cooking. When I more or less stopped cooking for a long time, I lost the flow with it. Getting the flow back it no longer feels like a total mental PAIN. I'm happy it takes no energy to make a meal.

If the autopilot is intact, another problem might happen, lack of stimulus. A shower is a time alone and those times can be uncomfortable. I have not felt that in shower so much since above happens to me, but it happened for a long time when I was supposed to get to bed. I could feel sleepy, then I thought of being in bed ALONE WITH MYSELF and I suddenly felt a strong resistance and I no longer wanted to sleep. Because I didn't want that time just for me inside my head. Showers can be the same. Then if you don't like a lot of self care and shower more like I do, maybe you need a distraction. Even if I hate showers because all the "steps" I have a little time of doing nothing when I'm actually sort of done doing and just let the water flow. For a while I had a battery radio and took baths. It had to be talk radio and not junk. These days I sort of have a topic. I usually have it set before the shower. Then I think about that for as long as I need. The topic needs to be something that interests you but doesn't upset.

Also, one thing I noticed when I'm not really in a good shape for showers or chores and whatnot, is that I build up dread. All the awfulness about the task, I torture myself in my head with. So I actually get phobic. I actually sometimes find myself doing it realizing the dread was worse than the task. So as long as I remember to, I forbid myself to think about what I need to do. I tell myself it doesn't get done just because I think of it. Because not only can it make me do things "twice", thoughts about how I'm lazy not doing it sneaks in and of course those thoughts don't help. So instead, I put what I need to do on a list. I kind of need that not to forget. Then I cant dwell on what I need to do until it is time to do it. If I put it off a little I can't dwell, I have to do it at once or let it go. For me it does save mental energy.

We're all different so any advice is good. What helps one might not help another but if many people have advice maybe some people can find advice that suits them. So I' definitely not saying scents are bad, I'm just saying for me personally it's not my thing.