Being a person who has a hard time getting out of bed every morning, the announcement that school, businesses, and my job were being partially-shut down was, in some ways, music to my ears. I was able to take advantage of the lack of structure and schedule in my life and sleep in as long as I wanted to or take a nap whenever I pleased. Other than online assignments, I didn't have anything else that I needed to do. I was free to sleep or sit on my phone or binge a new show on Netflix or rewatch "Rick and Morty" for the fifth time. After a week or two, it no longer felt like I had the freedom to do or not do whatever I wanted, it felt like I couldn't bring myself to do anything at all.
I found myself waking up at two in the afternoon, getting tired by around 5:00 p.m., and having an internal debate as to whether or not I wanted to take a nap.
This quarantine makes it difficult for people like myself to find the motivation to do things and be productive.
So, as difficult as it is, I started setting an alarm again for 11:00 a.m. every morning (I know it's not that early, but it sure is better than two in the afternoon) and immediately opening my blinds to force myself to get up. I started at 12:00 p.m., woke up at that time every day for a week, then took off a half-hour once I was used to getting up a bit earlier. I have been doing this for the past few weeks in an attempt to slowly get myself back into some sort of routine. Doing so has helped motivate me to find projects to do in order to be productive.
After three years of my family saying we were going to completely redo the backyard, I was finally able to bring myself to take the first step and do some work outside raking leaves, cleaning out the shed, and planting flowers. It's the first thing I do every morning, and getting outside in the sun helps to wake me up and keep me going for the rest of the day. I make it a point to walk my dog at the same time every day, instead of just taking her for a walk when I feel like it (which normally isn't every day). Doing these small tasks has helped create structure in my life again by giving me a routine schedule to go about my days. I cleaned out every single crevice of my bedroom and got rid of all sorts of clothes that I was able to donate. Being in a clean and neat environment puts me in a much better mood and helps motivate me to get out of bed, which is usually a pretty difficult task for me.
Despite the cabin fever, I have learned a lot about myself in the endless free time I have.
I've figured out new ways to get up out of bed and find the motivation to be productive. I'm typically an all-or-nothing type of person, and once I want to accomplish something or a couple of things, I get impatient and try to do everything at once. One of the most important factors in creating projects for myself and getting up earlier was taking the implementation of a new routine slowly and gradually instead of trying to accomplish a whole new list of things to do at the same time. This way, I have developed and maintained habits more efficiently and can continue to do so, as long as I take my time doing it.
