Getting Out of Bed – Christina’s Story

The conundrum is how to find a purpose for getting out of bed when you are depressed.

Sometimes you don’t have the energy to move your body off the mattress and press your feet to the floor.

What can be done to feel better?

Some of us will need to take an anti-depressant. Others can make lifestyle changes.

After reading the disability memoir The Pretty One I took to heart how the author disparaged that able-bodied Americans rush-rush-rush around filling their days with nonstop activity.

From then on, I decided that it was okay to rest in bed for two hours on a Sunday afternoon.

The irony is that often we fill our lives with busywork that deters us from doing what’s truly meaningful. When the space of time in our days is filled up like a bursting closet something has to give.

Limiting the tasks, we take on is one way to feel better about getting out of bed. Knowing our daily calendars are jam-packed could disempower us.

Finding a purpose for getting out of bed can be made easier when we recognize that it’s okay to limit our choices as to what we want to do and can do on any given day.

My tactic is to decide when I wake up what my one “job” is for that day. I talk about the tasks I do even when at home as being “jobs.”

Sometimes it’s at the end of the day that you realize what your one “job” was that you fulfilled.

Not knowing what you want to do that day or with your life can be made easier.

Who says you have to be the same person or do the same things for the rest of your life?

Figuring out what you want to do today or in the coming weeks can be as simple as talking to a therapist. Brainstorming ideas with them or with a friend or family member.

Keep an open mind and be curious about what’s possible. That’s the first step: realizing that what pops into your head shouldn’t be ruled out before you think about it.

In a coming blog entry, I will talk about how doing “volunteer work” gave me a purpose for getting out of bed at a time when I no longer liked my job.

Purpose Powered Productivity

It can sound woo-woo if that is the term to continue to link who you are with what you do.

In terms of how acting false to get ahead will backfire. However, I stand by my assertion that acting true to yourself is the only way to live.

The Bullet Journal ethic is rooted in “purpose powered productivity.” That is in there being a reason that you’re doing what you’re doing.

The type of disability a person has shouldn’t limit them to only one type of job. Though if this disability makes them more suited for a specific job that job shouldn’t be ruled out.

It’s radical to propose what I do when I’m talking about the livelihoods of individuals living with mental illnesses.

What I propose is eliminating “busywork” from our lives. Finding our life’s purpose and doing what we can to fulfill this purpose.

And who says this purpose should only be linked to our disability?

For some of us it will be. My life’s purpose is to advance my vision of recovery for everyone. From whatever illness a person has. In whatever guise recovery comes to them in.

A simple mission with two tenets.

Why I propose that peers living with mental health issues find our purpose is because we are no different from people who don’t have a disability.

No one wants to feel like their life has no meaning. Like they are adrift going in circles or going nowhere.

Countless motivational books are written about “how to fulfill your potential.”

In a coming blog entry, I will talk about how to find a purpose for getting out of bed in the morning.

In the winding down of the COVID outbreak all of us could be faced with this choice: how to spend our time when tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to arrive?

Living for today has a new resonance.

I for one wouldn’t want to spend my last day on earth cleaning my apartment.

The Bullet Journal Method

Today I’ll talk about how a nifty little product saved my life: The Bullet Journal.

The creator of the Bullet Journal Ryder Carroll had multiple learning disabilities. His invention was born out of his need to manage his workload.

A fellow Visionary Carroll sought to control his life and overcome the obstacles he faced.

The detail about Ryder Carroll having learning disabilities impressed me the most. He “turned his trials into triumphs”–the topic of a book I’ll review shortly.

I tell you: “No you can’t” is not an acceptable answer. In the first place why should we place the direction and outcome of our lives in another person’s hands or control?

Ryder Carroll invented a product to help himself. Then he crowdfunded the journal to sell it to others.

It cost me $31 total to buy the official hardbound Edition 2 of the Bullet Journal with the blush-color cover.

Every year or when the stock runs out a new color is introduced for the cover.

Keeping the Bullet Journal saved my life. I had checked out of the library the Ryder Carroll companion book The Bullet Journal: Track the Past Order the Present Design the Future.

The purpose of keeping and using the Bullet Journal is to align your actions with your values. It’s “A mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system.”

The Bullet Journal Method book is available in over 20 languages. If you sign up for the Bullet Journal emails you get 15% off your first journal order.

There’s true empowerment to be had in this story.

I’ll end here with what resonates with me the most:

Ryder Carroll was not afraid to risk acting on his vision to help others by selling a product he invented first to help himself.

Executing a plan despite fearing what others will think of your vision is the only way to live.

It’s not easy to dream of doing something that you’re told can’t or shouldn’t be done. Having the courage to follow through with doing this thing is vital to your happiness.

T.S. Eliot is quoted: “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

The older I get the more determined I am to go after my goals with gusto.

Using the Bullet Journal, I think I can achieve what I set out to.

See these links:

Bullet Journal Website

Plans vs Goals vs Resolutions vs Intentions

Identity Compass

A Remedy for Neoliberalism

Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment exposes the life cycle of a pair of jeans from production to selling to our disposal when we no longer like them.

President Reagan first advanced the neoliberal political ideology. Sending clothing manufacturing overseas was supposed to elevate the income of workers in those countries.

A curious line of thinking when the ulterior motive was for American businesses to cut costs. To allow them to reap millions if not billions of dollars in revenue.

U.S. clothing companies have the money to afford to pay workers a higher salary in other countries and in America.

So does a company like Verizon that I won’t do business with because their union workers went on strike twice in 10 years. To get better pay and working conditions.

In the 1970s commercials on TV told clothing buyers to “Look for the Union Label” in clothes made in America.

Sadly, the neoliberalism that took root under Reagan continued to flourish through Clinton’s term as president and ever since then.

The “trickle-down theory” fails in real-life practice.

In the counties where Amazon sets up distribution centers it gets multi-million tax breaks to do so. To recoup this money the local government imposes higher taxes on residents.

At Amazon warehouse jobs workers have been killed by machinery. Amazon isn’t fined. Amazon doesn’t pay benefits to the families of the workers who were killed.

What can a person in rural America who doesn’t have a college degree–and doesn’t want to move to a big city–do?

An Amazon warehouse job should not be the only job in town.

There’s a solution that lies right in front of our faces. The remedy is to stop viewing an elite Ivy or other college degree and a standard set of prior jobs and skills as a predictor of who to hire for a job.

In an internet news article, I read how hip employers are seeking out job candidates who don’t have this kind of homogenous background.

The result was that more women and BIPOC individuals were hired.

In coming blog entries I’ll talk about cutting-edge ideas and solutions for peers with mental illnesses.

In April I expect to host another Podcast to go live for blog readers to listen to.

Finding Gratitude in the Daily Grind

I’m here to say that there’s no shame in being happy to be alive. This is an okay feeling when you’ve either survived the worst or are still struggling in other regards.

Finding gratitude in the daily grind is possible. This is a cognitive reframing approach to changing your perception of what’s going on in your life.

In a book I just read titled Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment the author Maxine Bedat exposed the brute monotony of sweatshop labor.

Each woman (a woman!) sits at a machine in a row of something like 60 machines. One woman sews the hem. The other woman sews the leg. Another sews the waistband. And down the line it goes.

The term “deaths of despair” was coined to describe how individuals are taking their own lives. When their work is not meaningful and purpose-driven.

Creating “jobs of joy” should be the goal for ourselves and others.

So how can you and I make our work livable if we don’t always like our jobs?

Take up a hobby. Cook. Paint. Skate. Blog. Shoot photos.

A happy medium exists between “warehouse worker” and “CEO” in terms of the kinds of jobs out there. Finding these jobs will be the topic of other blog entries.

In each day that we get up and go to a job or not go to a job we can find pockets of time to do what makes us feel fulfilled.

It could be as simple as watching YouTube videos on your cell phone on your afternoon break.

Or going outside to a coffeehouse to buy a hot chocolate and confetti cookie.

In my life the route to on-the-job happiness started when I asked a former supervisor to send me to the workshops so that I could be trained to give customers resume and career help.

After this I took on the role of mentoring teen interns.

The point is when you can carve out new things to do that keep you fulfilled at work that makes all the difference.

The rise in Amazon fulfillment center jobs that wreck a worker’s mental and physical health is a runaway trend that should be halted before “deaths of despair” increase any higher.

In a coming blog entry I will talk about the root of labor injustice: the neoliberal economic policies that elected leaders advanced and continue to back.

Time to Start Spring Cleaning

The first-ever article I had published in a newspaper column was titled Time to Start Spring Cleaning.

In January 1990 I proposed doing spring cleaning at the start of the new year to get rid of your mental clutter as well clothes and other items.

In this first week of February, I filled four donation bags to have the Salvation Army truck driver pick up in the spring.

Letting go of what no longer serves us in our lives is the gateway to setting our intention for what we want to achieve in the coming year.

What I discarded in terms of clothes was telling: a lot of gray and brown items. Realizing that those dark drab colors only served to make me feel tired and depressed.

Bring on magenta! Hello yellow! Blast off in blue!

Injecting color into my wardrobe was one method to give me the energy to go after my goals with gusto.

You might look stunning and feel great wearing gray and brown.

Figuring out what to trash and what to keep is a personal decision. This will require taking an honest look at what you’ve bought–and the myths you’ve bought into–over the years.

Letting go of weedy overgrown thoughts. Changing negative perceptions about what you can do.

Replacing the old and outdated. Getting into a new frame of mind. Seeing clearly that you have options.

This I’ve found for me starts with cleaning out my closet and drawers. A clothing purge is the first step I take to improve my thinking. This enables me to feel that I can achieve what I set out to do in the coming months.

In the next blog entry, I will talk about finding things to be grateful for even when your job might be challenging.

On the cusp of my birthday, I’ve figured out ways to have fun on my job and outside my job.

I’ll talk about this in more detail as regards measures to improve our mental health. What I firmly believe is that you don’t need to buy and own a ton of stuff to feel happy.

The opposite I’ve learned is true: having an overstuffed closet of clothes can make you feel depressed and overwhelmed.

Enjoying life is as simple as the connections we make with other people. It doesn’t cost a ton of money to talk on the telephone or meet on a park bench.

Pandemic Life Lessons

Showing up to a job through the pandemic has taught me life lessons about the nature of work.

Sadly emotional labor is often relegated to women. Working in a “pink ghetto” you’re often not paid what you’re worth.

What I’ve learned is that starting to fund a retirement account as early as possible–ideally by the time you turn 25–is the difference.

This is the difference between retiring when you’re 65 with a wad or cash. Or having to wait tables when you should be winding down all paid work.

The goal should be to be able to retire by the time you’re 65. The current age to take your SSA retirement benefit checks is 67. Signing up at 62 for this monthly check you will receive a reduced SSA income.

Watch out for a cheery letter from the CEO or President or Executive Director praising you for your hard work and dedication at the job through the pandemic.

Where is the hardship pay you might ask when you read this flowery email?

Part of being tied to our jobs is the result of engaging in consumer culture. Books have been written about this extensively.

While I don’t drink tea I intend to heat up hot chocolate in the winter.

Little things can perk us up and give us pep when we come home from the daily grind.

I intend to write more in the future about having gratitude in the face of working at a grueling job.

Coming up insight into how doing spring cleaning in January can help us beat the winter blues and blahs.

Letting go of the things that no longer serve a purpose in our lives is the start to setting our intention for the New Year.

One for All – All for One

I reviewed the book Betting on You in here before. In this book the author talks about the right way to be a “slacker” on your job.

Elsewhere I’ve read that there cannot be justice for one person without justice for everyone.

Banding together in the workplace to exercise your rights is called for.

Have any of you like I have had your physical health savaged working 5 days a week at a job during the pandemic?

Entering the 3rd year of the COVID outbreak is no joke.

In a coming blog entry I will talk about the life lessons we can learn from surviving on our jobs without getting economic reparations for risking our health.

This ties into what I’m writing in a book about money health for peers.

So much of what sparks joy in our lives doesn’t come from a Prada purse or Jimmy Choo shoes.

Working to spend money on things isn’t the way to live. Living to spend time with those we love is.

At the start of 2022 in this blog I will also talk about doing Spring Cleaning in January to clear the cobwebs of thoughts out of our heads.

As well as how editing the contents of our closets can not only spark joy.

Weeding the old and outdated the outgrown and no longer useful elements of life will pave the road forward for success in 2022.

Rekindling from Burnout

A real-life scenario:

You receive in a plastic pouch 2 tea bags and 5 sheets of 3″ X 3″ patterned origami paper.

This token gift is given as compensation for the burnout you’ve experienced working through the pandemic.

You question the mentality of the coworkers that thought this kit was the right and acceptable way to treat staff. How will this gift alleviate your chronic fatigue that strikes when you clock out at 5:00 every day?

How will making origami suffice when management doesn’t pay you what you’re worth?

Coming to your workplace soon will be this kind of benefit that you’re supposed to be grateful for.

In light of this trend, I’m keen to advocate for worker’s rights.

Even Alphabet workers at Google have lobbied to create a union at their workplace.

One remedy is to band together as coworkers and exchange your personal non-work email accounts. You can then talk freely among yourselves via email about actions you can take to get paid what you’re worth. You can come together on the same page to demand changes like a 7-hour workday or 4-day workweek.

During the pandemic workers were quitting their jobs in droves. Jumping ship for better opportunities elsewhere.

One good thing about the pandemic is that hopefully with the rise in WFH or Work from Home jobs a person can live wherever they want to in the U.S. and work for an employer in another state.

Is WFH here to stay? In one of the coming blog entries, I’ll talk about working from home in more detail.

The status quo is over. It’s time to advocate for our rights as workers.

Coming up in the blog entries I’ll talk about my own experience and how it has framed what I think of the world of work.

You can love your job. You should simply be paid what you’re worth. Then you could afford to get a massage. Which in my view is a better way to rekindle from burnout.

I don’t drink tea. Do you? And do you think 2 tea bags is a magnificent showering of concern from management about how to rekindle from backbreaking or emotional labor?

No–I didn’t think so.

Work Won’t Love You Back

Reading the above book has gotten me interested in advocating for worker’s rights.

In here I’m going to write a blog carnival of entries with my concrete ideas about how to take back your life.

Sarah Jaffe the author claims that work cannot ever be seen as the source of love. That a worker can only find joy and happiness outside of paid labor.

In my view it’s okay to love what you do on the job. It’s not okay for management to pay workers “poverty pay.”

The Jaffe book expounds on the other books that have exposed the myth: Do What You Love and Other Lies. We Are All Fastfood Workers Now: The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages.

I read these two other books years ago. What the three books fall short on doing is that they don’t offer alternatives. They don’t offer solutions to taking back your life.

In the coming blog entries, I will detail positive techniques for enjoying what you do on and off the job.

One thing that Jaffe states at the end I do agree with: instituting fewer hours in the workday. How about a 4-day workweek? This is a move in the right direction.

Coming up in the next blog entry: how to rekindle from burnout.

Numbing yourself with alcohol or going on a vacation you can’t afford is not the way to cope with a soul-crushing job.

It’s my contention that a job doesn’t have to be drudgery.