How do you plan?

[99spottysocks]

I would love to know how you manage to survive not only on a daily basis but during school holidays etc.

Both myself and DH work shifts sometimes were off together and other times we won't see each other for days.

My mental health isn't great but I do have a lot of support.

How on earth do I cope with the daily routines, homework, after school activities etc as well as filling long days during school holidays. All I want to do is hide away in silence and can't plan/book anything more than a few hours in advance as I cannot be sure I will be ok or well enough to go.

Most days I don't get dressed or leave the house unless I absolutely have no choice.

It can be tough and I try to have a loose plan. I have a notebook from Amazon ( The calm & mindful notebook) it has suggestions in it for exercises you can do to help your mental health, and, it has pages you can write in so, what you have achieved, how your mood is, what self care you did etc.
I find it gives me focus, I don't do it everyday as I don't always feel like it.
I always make sure I get dressed everyday and do my hair/make up I know the days I don't do this I am heading the wrong way.

I take myself out for coffee, walk around the park, I love listening to audiobooks too.

Have you spoke to your doctor?

I’ll check Amazon for that book Thankyou!
I have been looking for something to document daily progress but due to having several mood changes in a day, most books make it hard to track as it’s usually just ‘how I felt today’ with one place to one option.

I feel in the evening I will have all these ideas about how I will be more motivated in the morning, write lists of things I want to do and then by the time morning comes, the thought of even getting up and starting the day again becomes the hardest thing ever.

Yes I am under the mental health team and on several medications but feel like things are slipping recently.

I completely understand about loosing the want/ability to take action in the morning but it's about building small habits. I like this book as it has loads of space to write so you can add things later in the evening, and as I say miss days out completely as I get this to. I just add the date to the page.

I am on a couple of medications and have just finished counselling again! I am able to recognise the signs that things are going wrong and try to take action. It does not always work and that is ok, you just need more good days than bad.
I had some time off work last year as this is a big trigger and I dreaded going back however, I did and whilst it's not all good I set myself some rules.
I literally sat and wrote out what a day at work would look like so timings of getting up/getting ready and leaving the house. I didn't really look at it again but it gave me a bit of control.
I try to plan nice things for my days off too, might be to paint my nails, go for a coffee or shop for a new recipe. The one non negotiable is getting up and dressed/make up and hair every day, might be after a lie in or when the kids are getting up, it gives me purpose. I do recommend this one, my DH knows I am not good if I don't do this.
How old are your DC?