Hi Jimmy. I saw your post right after I saw the new Habits Forum that Doc John created.

I'm not sure I have any advice, but what you said about not being sure if your anxiety and depression are the cause or the effect of your problems rang a bell with me.

I think they can be both, in an entwined sort of way.

I take medication for depression and go to psychotherapy. I will get better for a while and start to make a little bit of progress on life goals, but then the depression gets worse again and I lose a lot of the progress I've made for a while.

It's enormously frustrating. I'm not trying to say that this will be what happens to you. I have chronic medical problems that complicate my issues with depression.

It helps me to make progress toward goals if I make myself accountable to someone else, even though I don't like to do this, because I worry about feeling badly if I can't make it to the goal.

Right now, I suppose something I'm trying to do is to write down my goals and put them where I can see them. I tend to have problems with depression making my mind feel very scattered. If I don't have a "book of goals", six months later I'll have forgotten that I ever made a promise to myself to work on something.

There are lots of books and articles and apps about creating good habits. I'm not exactly sure why habits have become a focus right now. It may have something to do with the distraction we all experience from internet and other electronic media.

I'm trying to think of a goal to put into the new Psych Central Habits Forum. I'm feeling sort of down this week, so it's hard to think of one.

I think that to keep trying and to keep setting goals for yourself is the most important thing. I see posts on this board sometimes from people in their late teens/early 20s. They ask if people can be content with an "ordinary life, nothing special". I thought exactly the same thing when I was that age.

Now, 30 years later, I think that having an "ordinary life" is a great accomplishment. Just showing up and being present for each day of our life and experiencing it is not easy. It takes courage and determination to live an ordinary life.

Okay, I'm rambling. I suppose I'm just trying to say that you're not alone.