I also have a hard time with self-care when i'm depressed in the Summer, Fall and Winter. I find myself showering every other day in the evening. It's too hard to face a shower when i wake up. My doctor says i am on 'The European Plan.' I start getting up later and later, until i'm getting up at noon and dozing away the afternoon. Then i'm awake until the small hours of the morning.

Just this evening i was miserable loitering in the mall -- one of the few activities i can do with my stinking schedule -- and i decided to make a change. I'm going to start getting up at 7:00am and keeping a schedule and showering every day first thing. The extra hours of light will help with my depression and i will have a more predictable day with less of a sense of chaos. I'll eat regular meals and get my dog out regularly. I'll be able to tackle stubborn chores like laundry.

I started watching what i eat on March 7, so that's been improving for a month now. I started formally dieting on April 1 and that's going well, with a loss of three pounds. I've exercised a couple times as well, so i've made progress in these areas of my life and now i just have to start keeping regular hours again and stop being a vampire.