Lack of Motivation

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I feel so much better than I used to before anti-depressants but one thing that hasn't changed is I never feel motivated to do anything. I get pleasure from simple things, such as today I was taking a break from cleaning a business that is based in a house built in 1810. I was sitting outside on the porch, eating an apple and looking under an old growth Magnolia tree at a squirrel nibbling a nut in the shade. It was nice and quiet and the weather was perfect,warm with a light breeze. For much of my life I couldn't perceive these simple pleasures. My life felt much like it was lived under a bell jar. So I don't feel dysthymic in quite the same way as I did for years and years. Still I think a good part of my self esteem issues come from this inability to muster up the will to do anything. I think about painting but the thought never manifests into action. I live in my head and peer out at the rest of the world. I'm not engaged with the world. I just do what's necessary and then I come home and nap. I'm just existing. I've never been able to figure out why I find it so difficult to translate thought into action. Does anyone have similar problems?

Of course we do. That's why some of us waste our days in pedantic postings online, rather than completing novels.

I do a lot of nothing.

There are some weeks, that I leave my chores for a week.

I hate feeling lazy. That's why I work so hard at grunt jobs I think.

Yeah, I think that has to do with the lack of proper "executive functioning".
I keep making general "plans" to do things, and go places, but most days I am totally housebound.
Sometimes I don't go out for 3 weeks.
I'm starting to realize, even though I don't like it, that writing things down and keeping a schedule is a NECESSITY for my brain.
Otherwise, not much gets done. I can't figure out what to do in what order, and how to prioritize and plan.

But yeah, with depression you get into those moods where nothing at all interests you...and its even more difficult.

I've read a lot about this, and it would seem it's really tied to aspergers/autism --

Actually, right now, our son seems to have more problems with this sort of thing, which is labeled inattentive ADD, than aspergers/autism. The lack of motivation is so hard, and yet how do you inspire motivation in someone? It's really frustrating. I feel it myself to a small extent, but I'm not on the spectrum. I see it in my son, and it seems a little like someone who is depressed. He doesn't SEEM depressed at all, but he's very similar in the "lack of motivation" area to my sister who is depressed. It's as if you just can't seem to see the point in doing much of anything, or even if you can, you just can't start the process to actually doing something.

I can sooo relate! For me, I will have a productive burst of energy that will last for an unmeasured duration where I get stuff done that needs to be done (laundry, washing dishes, bathroom cleaned, so on) and then - nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Can't get motivated for love, money or a burning building.

I guess that's why my dog is such a naggy little soul - otherwise I'd never get out of the house even!

My signature says it all.

Yes Aimless, I experience this as well. I need lists and schedules in order to accomplish anything. Before it was impossible for me to do much at all whenever I became severely depressed, no motivation, focus, I barely ate or slept. The anti-depressants (Cymbalta & Wellbutrin) help me quite a bit and I seldom get severely depressed now days. I love to sit outside and watch the birds and squirrels too.
-- Taupey

I feel like I need to be with someone else to go somewhere or do something new. Then sometimes I enjoy it. When I'm on my own I tend to get stuck doing nothing but surfing the web in my free time. Nothing else ever feels worth the effort.

It sucks as without my parents around I'm alone all the time doing nothing and I just get more and more depressed. I haven't had regular friends since college.

i definately do! we should move to a desert island together and watch squirrels all day