My personal philosophy of depression is overwhelm mixed with chemicals going wrong in the brain.
Sweet Goofy, I don't think there's anything wrong with turning down the volume on the answering machine for awhile anyway. Or with turning the ringer off. And caller ID was created by angels I think. I was advised to leave an outgoing message today to the effect of-- Hi, we are family focused and we check our messages every couple of days. Please leave a message and we will get back to you in one or two days.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one that feels this way, but modern technology has contributed to depression. I think that a lot of us (If not all of us) need time away from constant contact. Life seems to be moving too fast.
But I do love technology for another reason. It allows me to contact who I want, and if they choose to respond, then great! One of the reasons I love the internet and email. Hate the phone. It is so intrusive.
As for the laundry :) I have no advice on that. Mine might start walking soon and I don't think I'd shed a tear. Maybe I can teach my answering machine to do that too. I'll let you know how that goes :)
It amazes me how we avoid the things that weigh on us the most. I am so glad that you got those things taken care of...Congratulations! I don't answer my home phone, I do have an answering maching that is turned off, I don't want to hear it. I never considered it isolating, just preference. Maybe it is isolating as I didn't used to do that pre-depression. I don't think I'm going to change that for now; but will keep it in the back of my mind. My cell phone, I am picky there too.
Laundry - I think they should make - wish I was creative and knowledgable enough to do it myself- invent disposable clothing. Enough said. It sucks!
I feel a little better today. I decided to finally listen to my phone messages...... I had 147 messages. That was huge for me because I've been isolating and (obviously) not wanting to talk to anyone. I took care of my car payment. It was about to be repossessed but now it's paid off. No more car payments. It's going to sting this next month with that huge payment, but at least it's done.
I also finally called the student loan people back who I have been avoiding like the plague because I had no idea how in the world I was going to make the payments (half my income). When I called back in May, they told me there was no plan I qualified for, and so I buried my head in the sand and have worried about it everyday since. I was behind $11,000.00. Talk about depressing. Well when I talked to someone today, there is a plan I qualify for that wipes out that $11,000.00, and I was able to process all of the paperwork in one day. Talk about a half-ton truck off of my back.
So it was a fairly productive day and I'm feeling a little more connected to life. At least I was able to take care of some important goals. Laundry be damned :) That's always waiting around anyway.