 We've all been there. Your teacher assigns a huge assignment due in a month. Next thing you know, it's the night before it's due and you haven't even started. Procrastination is something that happens every now and again, but what happens when it becomes frequent and problematic? You may be labeled as lazy or uncaring, but what if it's more than that? What if it's a sign of a bigger problem? In this video, we will be exploring signs that your procrastination is because of depression, not because you're lazy. You have unexplained physical symptoms. Depression is sneaky and affects you in ways that you may not realize. Emily Cronkleton from Medical News Today in 2021 explains how depression can manifest itself in various ways inside your body. Many people with depression will report alongside their psychological symptoms, digestive issues, problems falling asleep or sleeping too much, and increased pain that cannot be explained by another condition. It can be hard to motivate yourself to start a task and maintain focus when you're not feeling well. In the same article, Cronkleton states that these physical symptoms arise from various physiological changes in the body. In other words, what happens in your brain affects the rest of your body. If you're noticing that you're feeling out of sorts, it might be time to make an appointment with a healthcare provider. You are fatigued. All the time. According to psychologist Dr. Ernesto N. Lera de la Rosa, PhD from the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, up to 90% of people struggling with depression will experience chronic fatigue. You may find yourself feeling sluggish. It doesn't matter how much coffee you drink or how much sleep you get, you're always yearning to go back to bed, while we all have an off day from time to time. With depression, you may find that these off days are frequent and that you're always falling behind. This lethargy can make it difficult to start work, let alone speedily finish it. The excess sleepiness can look like you're being lazy, but in reality, it may be your body's response to inner turmoil. You can't motivate yourself to do anything. Feeling tired can definitely make it hard to start tasks, but with depression, there's more to the story. You may find that you're unable to start and carry through a task no matter your energy level or how much you want to deep down. It feels like you're unable to get yourself moving and will put things off, so it's a later problem. This may be abolition, meaning that you lack the motivation to bring a task to completion. This can make you think you're lazy or that you simply don't care enough. Cameron Murphy, a licensed marriage and family therapist, explains that depression promotes these negative thoughts, making it difficult to control your emotions and further making it difficult to finish out tasks. The lack of productivity can accelerate these feelings, creating a cycle. While your lack of output may look like laziness, deep down you're finding it difficult to bring yourself to do anything, despite your best wishes. You feel a sense of dread or hopelessness. Dr. Shana Pollard, a licensed clinical psychologist, states that self-defeating thoughts can make it difficult for you to want to progress. She also says that you may have the thought that, if you're not going to succeed, you might as well give up. Thoughts and questions like, why am I doing this? Why does it matter? Accompanied by other feelings that something bad will happen, or that things will never get better, can weigh you down more. If you are constantly having these thoughts, you'll likely stop what you're doing, seeing as there is no benefit. This can put your progress at a standstill. While these thoughts can be overt, it's also possible to have a negative outlook on life without knowing or being aware of problematic thoughts. Starting a therapy program can help bring these thoughts that appear normal to you into perspective, while procrastination is a part of life. And we all experience it from time to time. It can quickly escalate into a problem when it's frequent. Depression isn't always obvious to you or others, making it easy to slap a lazy label on something that's a bigger issue. So what do you do about it? Mental health is not a one size fits all, and can manifest itself in many different disorders and symptoms, if you're struggling with your mental health. A great first step would be to get in contact with a professional. Getting problems diagnosed and treated, both in your physical and mental health, is a great first step to getting your life back on track. There you can get access to resources and strategies to better your situation. If you find yourself relating to the points in this video, what are some things you can do right now to improve your situation? Thank you for watching, and remember to like and share this video if you found it insightful. Also, remember to subscribe to Psych2Go if you're curious about more mental health topics. Take care.