1. Hyperbole: Motivation


"One of the most terrifying things that has ever happened to me was watching myself decide over and over again - thirty-five days in a row- to not return a movie I had rented. Every day, I saw it sitting there on the arm of my couch. And every day, I thought, I should really do something about that...and then I just didn't." Allie Brosh.

The subtitle of the book is "unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened." Do you see her "motivation" as a flawed coping mechanism?  Is the negative self talk an attempt at coping with depressive symptoms? Why or why not? Reply to these questions, and to at least one of your classmate's posts.



Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 29, 2017 at 7:12 PM

    I can see how her “motivation” or lack there of, could be a flawed coping mechanism. She writes: “Most people can motivate themselves to do things simply by knowing that those things need to be done. But not me. For me, motivation is this horrible, scary game where I try to make myself do something while I actively avoid doing it. If I win, I have to do something I don’t want to do. If I lose, I’m one step closer to ruining my entire life. And I never know whether I’m going to win or lose until the last second (pg 35).” She is always trying to talk her self into doing something but never succeeds at it. She usually ends up not doing whatever it was she was trying to talk her self into doing. I would say that it is a big part of the depression that she is experiencing. I wouldn’t say that the negative self talk is her trying to cope with her symptoms, I think it is just her trying to get her body to do what her brain wants her to do. I think that with her being negative towards herself, she thinks that she will be more apt to do what she needs to do versus being nice to herself and putting it off for another day.

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    1. UnknownMay 30, 2017 at 3:53 PM

      I think we all can relate to this to an extent, days when we just really don't want to do anything. We leave a dirty cup on the side table and continuously walk past it several times without taking care of it haha but the thing that really makes her coping mechanisms flawed is the negative self talk. I agree I think she believes that this will help her feel more apt to do what she needs to do but I think its harmful to her well-being.

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    2. AnonymousJune 1, 2017 at 6:08 PM

      I completely agree with Kylie! That we all at one point or another in our own lives have gotten to this point. We make these lists of activities or chores that need or should get done and will eventually get done but take way longer than they should. I too agree that by her being negative toward herself will help to do get tasks done sooner than later.

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  2. UnknownMay 30, 2017 at 3:43 PM

    She tries so hard to motivate herself but yes I believe that they are flawed coping mechanisms because it's like she is trying to use reverse psychology and make herself feel bad about not doing something so simple or easy when really her depression is holding her back. She asks herself, "I wouldn't just NOT do something this easy, right?" She is trying to cope with something much more than returning a DVD. Needless to say, her motivation is a little flawed. Her negative self talk to me seems like she is trying to talk herself out of her state of depression. Like maybe if she did something or what seems like an easy task that she would feel better? She says it herself that she has to get so close to failure before she panics and decides to do it.

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    1. AnonymousMay 30, 2017 at 6:05 PM

      I agree with you that her negative self talk could be her trying to talk herself out of depression! It's her way of coping with it and possibly trying to take ahold of it so she can try and control it the best she can.

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    2. AnonymousJune 4, 2017 at 1:03 PM

      YOU: "she is trying to use reverse psychology and make herself feel bad about not doing something so simple or easy when really her depression is holding her back. She asks herself, "I wouldn't just NOT do something this easy, right?" She is trying to cope with something much more than returning a DVD."

      ME: I completely agree with this sentence(s). For some people, negative self talk could be beneficial to motivate someone internally. However, I do not believe it would be successful in her case because she literally said "35 days in a row, everyday I thought- "I should really do something about that". If someone can get their mental state of mind to realize what their tasks are, ESPECIALLY 35 days in a row, they should be able to find the motivation and just DO rather than avoid....

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  3. UnknownMay 31, 2017 at 11:17 PM

    I do not see motivation as a flawed coping mechanism. I do not think there is any such thing as a flawed coping mechanism. Some people may not have as efficient coping mechanism as others, but that does not mean that they are flawed. Everyone struggles with motivation, some more than others, but it doesn't mean you're more flawed than another person, it just means you might need some more help to get your motivation back. Negative self talk is not an attempt at coping with depressive symptoms, it is a way of communication. We all need communication and Allie was not receiving it in the way she needs, so her body naturally reacted and fixed the lack of communication. Negative self talk is natural. Any person would be lying if they said they only thought happy thoughts about themselves all the time.

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  4. AnonymousJune 1, 2017 at 6:15 PM

    I do not see motivation as being seen as a flawed coping mechanism. Everyone at some point in their life had struggled with motivation and some have figured what motivates them quicker than others and that is okay! I also do not think that her negative talk is an attempt for coping with depressive symptoms, but a way to motivate herself. She says that she's gone through plenty of experiences of failure that when she feels failure coming is pretty much when her motivation kicks into gear. Just because she uses negative talk to motivate her doesn't mean it has to do deal with depressive symptoms. It would be unnatural for someone to say they constantly think happy thoughts and always being positive when it comes to themselves.

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    1. AnonymousJune 3, 2017 at 1:54 PM

      I also think that her negative talk is a way to motivate herself. It doesn't mean that she is using it to cope with her depression. And I like the point you made about it being unnatural for someone to be happy 24/7 and never think negative thoughts. It's completely normal for a person to have negative thoughts about themselves from time to time.

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  5. AnonymousJune 3, 2017 at 1:47 PM

    I don't believe that her motivation is a failed coping mechanism. I think that everyone is motivated in different ways by different things. We each know what works to motivate us as an individual and Allie has figured out what that is for herself. It may not be the most beneficial way to motivate herself as it involves believing in a negative self-image and causes her to have low self-esteem. But it is not flawed, because in the end it eventually causes her to be motivated enough to complete the task. I don't believe that her negative self talk is a way to cope with her depressive symptoms. I think that is a natural thing that everyone does. And I believe that often times we are our own worst critics.

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    1. UnknownJune 3, 2017 at 9:47 PM

      I loved when you said, " I think that everyone is motivated in different ways by different things." I definitely agree with you there. I do not believe motivation is a failed mechanism, I think it is normal to not be motivated sometimes and then to be extremely motivated other times. I think as a society we think it is ok to "judge" another person and their way of thinking or doing something, but in reality, we should be judging ourselves for taking interest in a person's life that we should not be.

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  6. AnonymousJune 3, 2017 at 5:39 PM

    I don't believe her motivation is a failed coping mechanism. Motivation is something every single person struggles with and everyone has a different type of motivation. Allie has found a way to use negative comments towards herself to get her motivated. It's interesting to think that this strategy maybe for coping with depression because Allie Brosh is actually dealing with depression as she released this later on in her blog. I honestly think this could have been the start of her battle with depression, but that doesn't mean that because someone copes like this they will have depression.

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  7. AnonymousJune 4, 2017 at 1:11 PM

    35 days in a row- everyday I thought "I should really do something about this". Yes, in my opinion, I believe at this point her "motivation" is considered a flawed coping mechanism. I believe this to be true because throughout the reading, she demonstrated several times of wanting or knowing what she needed to complete for a chore, or task, in order to be successful. Instead, she contemplated on what she should have done, but avoided the idea of complying with her plans.
    She expressed her emotions with negative self talk stating what she knew she needed to complete, but did not do them. She admitted waiting 35 days, sitting on her couch, starring at the DVD she needed to return but didn't want to. In her situation, or mental state of mind, negative self talk appeared to be ineffective. She clearly needs more, or different coping mechanisms in order to successfully complete her goals and tasks on time.

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