Low mood vs tiredness?

Since this has come up for me more than once, I figured I'd make a post of it. I have troubles sorting out low mood from tiredness. I'm also not sure if it matters? Wondering if others have similar experiences, thoughts or opinions.

I feel the same quite often.
 
yep

I have to do the whole "is it ptsd,depression,age or fibro" quiz when I'm exhausted. Sometimes I can guess and get the right meds, sometimes I give in and spend the day on the couch, someday I just try to power thru.

The one thing I have figured out is that regardless of what starts the fatigue spiral the fact is that they are all interconnected. So it becomes less about which title is to blame and more about trying to see what I was doing yesterday, or the day before, or whenever it all started. Did I do too much physical activity? Did I have an upsetting conversation? Am I having flashbacks or I'm triggered? Did the weather change?

Mostly I'm just chronically exhausted fighting all the crap in my life, so of course I'm tired.

One of my big aha moments was learning there are times that I shouldn't try to just deal with it and move forward.
And lemme tell ya, as a workaholic that was a bitch of a lesson. But sometimes my brain and body just quit - and all it really means is I need to rest. No thinking, no working, no living (unless day of playing video games counts! 😁 )
Just.rest.

Guru and I had many conversations about that - depression vs pity party vs self-care and what the difference is between them. So now when I'm just...blah I give myself 24 hours to be ....blah. At the end of that 24 hours I'll ask myself again - what's up? Sometimes I need another day or two - but most days if I am able to make it thru without expending a shit ton of energy beating myself up for being lazy? My energy comes back a little at a time and I can get back to the world.
 
Personally, when I feel lost or unsure, I find that spending more time on things I enjoy can help lift my spirits. I read a good book, go for a walk, or even plan a new trip, focusing on activities that bring me joy can often help improve my overall mood.
 
Low mood: inability to do the things I want to do. And vicious cycle as that then makes me feel lower. And less likely to do those things. And lower. And even less likely to do those things. Etc etc etc
That pretty much describes me now. Thanks for this definition. How do you cope/break from this cycle?
 
That pretty much describes me now. Thanks for this definition. How do you cope/break from this cycle?
For me - planning to do things. Once its planned and scheduled - it gets done because I committed to do it. Doing it brings a sense of accomplishment, raises mood and most important - it stops the spin cycle of rumination - because you have something to focus on besides the usual. Planning - scheduling (I use google calendar with reminders) and doing all break up rumination and all that.

Plus you get the satisfaction of doing something - no matter if its just tidying up, doing a few dishes, whatever. If you are motivated - do a paper calendar - give yourself a gold star. Use doing as motivation for doing more.

But watch yourself and adjust how much you do - say like me it's anniversary time - one thing a day is good. When things are better two and sometimes three things a day are OK. I had lots of trouble telling what was "too much" in the beginning but if you start with one thing - you can judge how much that one thing affects you the next day and adjust your schedule.

It's a habit thing for me. I used to do planned maintenance for machines so - like Skipper (Penguins of Madagascar) says - you can't not do planned maintenance that's planned and scheduled.......
 
@Freddyt Yeah in general a very good advice, but I struggle with planning. I was also using Google Calendar with reminders, but it caused only anxiety due to notification pop-ups when I was already doing something else. I need to work more on this.
 
@Freddyt Yeah in general a very good advice, but I struggle with planning. I was also using Google Calendar with reminders, but it caused only anxiety due to notification pop-ups when I was already doing something else. I need to work more on this.
It's a delicate dance.

One thing I do is review my next days calendar to prepare for the next day everyday. I also make a mental note of what's optional or you can reschedule. Because even if today is good and I had a good day - who knows if you sleep or not, or you have other symptoms show up or whatever. Being able to clear your schedule when you are not great REDUCES your anxiety unimaginably. Since you reviewed you know who to call, email whatever to unload your schedule.

At some point you get better judging what tomorrow will be like from your today. That's the single toughest part in all this - judging your bleed over from today to tomorrow for PTSD stuff, and how your night will be. You will never know for sure if you will sleep or not, how your dreams and nightmares will be until you get there.

....and sometimes you just are not going to get stuff done like you want to, but respecting how you feel vs. powering through is usually the best option.

Because power through? Likely means the result of doing that will bleed into tomorrow, and you only want to do that when you have self care planned for tomorrow to deal with the bleed over effects AND if you add a bad night to it you are still going to be OK.

So in a lot of ways your schedule is like the PTSD CUP, and it needs to be managed the same way.
 

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