It Took Me Six Weeks to Put Away the Laundry
By: Georgie Lucy
Tags: Laziness, Motivation, Depression, Mental Health Awareness

It Took Me Six Weeks to Put Away the Laundry

But it’s not because I’m lazy, I lack motivation.

I can be lazy now and then — I might wait until the morning to put the dishes away or wash them two hours after dinner instead of right away. But when does ‘laziness’ become a noticeable issue? For me it was when 1.5 months of laundry had piled up onto the couch. I couldn’t find my clean clothes among the pile of dirty ones.

Photo by mohsen shenavari on Unsplash

Laziness can often be seen as someone being just that — lazy. But what if something else was going on? For someone such as myself who suffers from major depression just like millions of others around the world, it’s normal to let the house become a mess for weeks on end. My mother would call it a pigsty rather than a mess, though. I procrastinate simple tasks because I just don’t have the energy to do anything that I would usually do, which makes me appear lazy.

According to the American Mental Health Counselors Association, the symptoms of depression such as lack of motivation, lethargy, and less energy may seem like laziness to those who do not know what is really going on. Even to those close to you may not realize that you’re going through something.

I was well aware that I had depression before I was walking on laundry and running out of sofa space. But the build-up of clean and dirty clothes is what made me realize that I needed to start trying a little harder.

“Medication will only do so much,” my therapist said, “you also need to make some changes, no matter how big or small they might be. Medication allows you to put in that effort and make changes for the better.”

She was right. I knew medication wouldn’t solve everything, but it certainly helped me get out of bed in the morning which means it was working for me a little bit.

Ellen Scott in Metro Lifestyle felt something similar:

‘Without antidepressants I wasn’t able to get the motivation to get out of bed. I was so consumed with heavy thoughts and the weight of being alive that I couldn’t look after myself. Antidepressants have done the trick in bringing me up just enough to function normally – they’ve allowed me to go after happiness, but they haven’t magically given me the gift of being content.’

It’s true. Medications don’t magically make things better, they just make it easier to function so that you can try to be happier.

I realized that I needed to try harder around the house, not only for my partner who is tired of the mess but for my well-being too. Getting up and going while you’re depressed feels like you have heavy weights attached to your body. It’s such a drag at times.

But what could I do to stop the laundry piling up again and stop myself from feeling like a lazy mess? I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it.

Eventually, I put away the six weeks worth of clothes, but the following times I needed to do laundry, I only did small loads. Loads that were just enough for what I needed during the week, but not large enough to encourage me to throw them onto the sofa. I did small bits of laundry, which inspired me to do other small jobs as well. I did one small thing at a time because it felt like it required less effort, and in the end, I was still getting shit done.

I’m sure it’s not like this for everyone who has depression, takes antidepressants and has a lack of motivation. Still, for me, it was a way to start saying goodbye to ‘laziness’ and start finding the path to my happiness a little bit easier — my house was cleaner, so my head was clearer.