I am a perfectionist with depression. How can I stay motivated to learn Japanese when I can't go about my normal day? I'm even so particular, that I feel like I've got to learn every basics before I can move on.
1. Don't just learn the most common words! Learn ones YOU'RE interested in. I know that there are certain words you should learn, but what I mean is, if you personally talk about, for example, go on the subway a lot, but you never eat apples, then even if "apple" was more common than "subway", it'd be easier to learn "subway" first, and by the time you'd gotten good enough to enjoy Japanese media, you might see "apple" in something and end up remembering it like that.
2. Play games you like in Japanese!!!!! For example, I really like Underworld Office, so I like playing it in Japanese and it's a really good way to study. You can also listen to music and learn words by, for example, if there's 1 sentence and you know all the words but one, then learn that 1 missing word + the English translation, and then you can remember by playing the song lyric in your head. This is how I learned "若い"! (僕の頭未だ若いだ､ もっと時間をくれない?)
3. I know you said you're a perfectionist so sorry if this isn't helpful for you, but there are some things you might need to skip to learn a language in a way that won't take you 5 years of zero motivation. For example, I'm learning French, and I decided that learning whether words are feminine or masculine is just too much of a hassle and makes me less motivated, and I could understand stuff if I didn't learn them anyway, and once I started consuming French media maybe I'd get to remember them by seeing them in media, so now I just guess.
This is a really good method, even though I have to admit that even with this method everyone will end up being unmotivated at some point - me included, mulitple times.
The only thing that helps in this situation is pure discipline and it most likely will also help your depression (or at least the results of your depression, e.g. not wanting to start working). It works this way:
When you again feel like not doing anything or feel down, set yourself a clear goal for the day. For example: -Today I'm going to take out the trash. or -Today I'm going to study for 10 minutes. Then, in the evening, you can clearly tell how productive you were today and where you lacked. And if you did well, be proud of yourself and get a little reward. We're not robots after all.
I know that depression isn't something you can just tell to go away and everything will suddenly be fine again. However, it will not change unless you decide to change it. You are the only one who can control your own life.
I wish you good luck and I'll cross my fingers for your victory over depression. I also hope you will stay on learning Japanese for a long while and don't give up! I believe in you!
I'm even so particular, that I feel like I've got to learn every basics before I can move on.
