Hey, i got out of bed at about 4pm yesterday lol.

So anyway all week i've been rolling out of bed at bout 1pm on average this week. And even before that i was getting up maybe 10am/11am for the month prior. Struggling to get out of bed all my life, but particularly the last month.

How do you get yourself out of bed? Gimme some ideas

[saywhat?]

I wish I could give you some good ideas, I need some too! I just wanted to let you know you're not alone in this dilemma.

In my case, the ONLY thing that ever makes me get up is my kid. When he's not home there's nothing that motivates me except my bladder
I hope you get some good ideas so I can spy on your thread!

[danii24]

I wish i could advice you but i cant. I used to have a hard time getting out of bed because my depression. I didnt want to get up and face the day for me i would lie in till really late so i could say ive done another day, got through another day.

Fortunately now i have not been as bad as this for a while. It took 9 months for that feeling to go but i dnt no what happened to make it go. Im still not living i get up but dnt really leave the house. I dnt no what to tell you but can i ask you a question

Do you lie in because your sleepy and not able to sleep well at night or is it that you cant face getting up because you dont want to face the day ?

[Gently1]

That is a difficult stage to be at, I made a work around, following www.flylady.net on how to do amazing things like be organized, I have a list of the basic morning and evening routines in my bathroom.

Setting the alarm for what I think is a good time for me, 9:00 not thinking about getting up helps as the getting up becomes overwhelming.
I say to myself outloud "fly lady" and I do as much as possible on the list, and allow myself to go back to bed to 'reboot' on those especially difficult days.

My list starts with get out of bed, make bed, pray/meditate, go to bathroom, ....

According to a sleep study, setting your wake up time is the key to having a schedule. I started at 1 or 12 when most under the influence of depression and just started setting the alarm earlier by 15 minutes. After a few months I am now waking up at 730 on my own. (It is summer and that may change in winter) but my alarm is set for 9:00.

I am still sleeping 9-12 hours at night, I try to make 9:00 my bed time, and still have naps during the day, less now that I am really trying to pay attention to my anxiety level and not get past the point of no return.

A few minutes of focus breath work, making sure it is not past 3 hours without protein, is really helping to even out my day.

I have always been a morning person.

Hope there are a few ideas, that you can adapt for your needs.
all the best
G1

[Indie'sOK]

I've the same issue, but it's because I am more of a night person and like to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning. What time do you go to bed? If this is the case and it's quite late, try to adjust your sleeping schedule by setting back the time you go in by a half-hour or so each night. It's important to do this gradually so that your body clock has time to keep up with the adjustment. Doing all this in one night might make it hard for you to fall asleep.

Hope this helps. I usually have to do this beginning the second week of August for school, but I have to be to work at 10 am for the next couple of weeks, so I've got to start tonight! Fun's over for me I guess.

[Willcat]

Originally Posted by Gently1

Setting the alarm for what I think is a good time for me, 9:00 not thinking about getting up helps as the getting up becomes overwhelming.

Yes, not thinking about getting up helped me too. If I laid in bed thinking for too long, I would think myself out of getting up. That was one of the worst symptoms of my major depression, my mind was against anything about doing stuff. Even simple things like getting dressed for the day.

[Gently1]

Originally Posted by Willcat

Yes, not thinking about getting up helped me too. If I laid in bed thinking for too long, I would think myself out of getting up. That was one of the worst symptoms of my major depression, my mind was against anything about doing stuff. Even simple things like getting dressed for the day.
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Willcat I hear you!
Then trying to not say I used to... do all these things without guilt. There is so much that the illness creates that is complicted by not thinking correctly.
At my worst I felt that my brain/body had been taken over by the Borg- star trek - I could remember how I used to feel or think about something, like the importance of using a tooth brush, but did not care. As if I was disconnected from the me I knew before.

That is why having a list of self care positive steps to start and end your day where you do not have to think. Like you said I can think myself out of getting up, paying bills.
Finally after a few years I am seeing a light at the end of the dark place I have been.
Like starting a camp fire, I need to remember the small flame needs a small breath to grow, and not to overwhelm and put out the flame by sending the flame more than it needs to grow.
As my long standing habit was to go until I drop, this is the new challenge for my recovery.
G1

[Inedible]

The days when I had something I was looking forward to doing, it was easier to get out of bed. Some days it was harder than others to think of something.

i have decided that the first step is to get to bed at a godly hour. Reading in bed makes me sleepy so i'm gunna read a book then get to bed at a good time and take it from there.

I will also open the curtains in my room so the sunshine wakes me up too.

Originally Posted by Willcat

Yes, not thinking about getting up helped me too. If I laid in bed thinking for too long, I would think myself out of getting up. That was one of the worst symptoms of my major depression, my mind was against anything about doing stuff. Even simple things like getting dressed for the day.
[/COLOR][/COLOR]

You're ****ing right, this is exactly what i do. i think about stuff that will take me almost an hour to do (like getting dressed AND going to the cafe for breakfast) and then i can't be ****ed doing that so i just go under the blankets again. Depressing lol.

idk, still struggling to get out of bed. I don't hit snooze anymore, i just turn the alarm off and go back to sleep lol

[emptybee15]

I only get up because I have to go to work or anything else I HAVE to do. Before I found my job, I would either sleep all day or waste away the day playing internet games to quiet my brain. I didn't want to clean, eat, shower, talk, look at myself, get dressed or anything.

When I hear that alarm in the morning, I want to die. As soon as I'm awake, my evil thoughts begin. The only time my brain is quiet/resting is when I'm sleep. All day long it's just bad thought after bad thought, etc... So, sleeping is my favorite thing to do, I love sleep. They say it's the cousin to death, but oh well, that's how I want to die anyway, In My Sleep!

[RomanSunburn]

So many things said in this thread describe me! I usually only get up for work, other times sleep until as late as 3 (usually only noon or 1, though). I'm also a night owl (always have been, so is my whole family...). And the big one? Sleep is totally my favorite thing to do. I like the whole limbo of existence going on....

When I was really struggling with depression and anxiety, I flipped my sleep schedule completely, not fun. Especially when you're in college...

What did help in college (when I wasn't completely backwards...), in addition to leaving blinds open and trying to go to bed at the same time, was having a coffee pot with a timer. I'd set it up the night before, and have start making the coffee just before my alarm would go off, so the smell would be in my room and it would be ready to drink while I was getting ready. If you don't drink coffee, you could still get a coffee pot with a timer and just use it to heat up water for a cup of tea or even instant oat meal.

My therapist and I were talking about relaxing techniques for going to sleep at night. She suggested avoiding anything stimulating (this includes the kakuro puzzles I currently do before bed, but also TV/computer/even phone), and trying warm milk with honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and relaxation CDs. Making a routine of these things happening at the same time every night will help train you for bed.

I'm going to have to start doing some of these things myself simply because I might be getting a job that starts at 9 am a half hour away and a 2 am bed time will not mesh well...

[kindachaotic]

Originally Posted by danii24

I wish i could advice you but i cant. I used to have a hard time getting out of bed because my depression. I didnt want to get up and face the day for me i would lie in till really late so i could say ive done another day, got through another day.

Fortunately now i have not been as bad as this for a while. It took 9 months for that feeling to go but i dnt no what happened to make it go. Im still not living i get up but dnt really leave the house. I dnt no what to tell you but can i ask you a question

Do you lie in because your sleepy and not able to sleep well at night or is it that you cant face getting up because you dont want to face the day ?

Both, but most of the time I just don't want to get up & face the day.

[Gently1]

I also had days that before I got out of bed I could not wait to get back to bed that night.

I have list printed in the bathroom and I would do what I could on the list. I would often go back to bed. This helped with the routine of getting up, and often once the movements of the day were started, I could stay up.
All days I got up to feed the cats, take meds, eat something to avoid upset stomach. If needed went back to bed to reboot. Then get up again when ready and continue with my list.

Today I needed to go back to bed, and I did for 10 minutes then remembered I have Ativan for anxiety so I got up and took the Ativan and am waiting for this to wake me up by removing the anxiety that is dragging me down.

Mostly be patient with yourself, your body/mind needs what it needs and for the longest time my only goal for the day was to get up at the same time each day, even if nothing was planned, and even if I went back to bed 5 min or 5 hours later.

For the longest time I thought I would never be a morning person again! For the longest time I was not, but now I am feeling better and waking up without an alarm clock, I wonder why I worried about things beyond my control? I think I am not happy unless worried.