u/Illustrious_Heat6561

You would think that as I get older, I would feel more confident about hiring contractors for work and projects with the home, but sadly, it feels like choosing any contractor these days is a massive gamble.

Tons of missed appointments, no-shows, poor communication and empty promises. Even for the contractors who do show up and seem onboard, I'm left with a massive range of opinions and prices. I've seen prices differ as much as 600% between the low and high bids, and the poor communication and scheduling I experience from most contractors makes me worry even if their work or references look good.

To make matters more confusing, I've been burned by reputable or costlier contractors absolutely doing shit work and running away, while I've been pleasantly surprised (sometimes) choosing a sketchier or lower cost contractor and having them do amazing work. But again there's no rhyme or reason here, I've experienced vice-versa as well.

All that said, it's left me with zero idea how I actually can objectively choose the right contractor anymore. How do you guys choose contractors? What qualities or factors do you feel are most important or representative of someone who will actually show up and do the job right? What are some green or red flags in making a decision for who to hire?

This has been going on for years, but I’m only now noticing the pattern. I usually fall sleep around 11–12 and wake up at 7AM. Mornings are really rough—super hard to get out of bed, feels like I could fall right back asleep. Once I’m up, I feel awful for most of the morning and early afternoon: low energy, no motivation, body aches, brain fog, low mood, just generally unwell all around.

The weird part is that around 3PM, things start to improve a lot. By evening/night (7PM–midnight), I feel great—this is when I have the most energy and feel my best. I could easily stay up until 2–3AM, but I can’t because of work/kids.

It feels like a drastic shift between the first and second half of the day, and doctors haven’t really had answers. I’ve been diagnosed with depression/anxiety and sleep apnea, but I used a CPAP for 2 years with no improvement. I’ve wondered if this is related to depression (I'm taking 20mg amitriptyline to manage symptoms), but it’s confusing since I feel so good later in the day. I am also in a pretty high stress situation with young children and very long hours at work, so maybe stress is a culprit?

Otherwise, I’ve tried improving sleep habits, morning showers, and exercising early—none helped. I drink one cup of coffee around noon (only caffeine), and moving it earlier didn’t make a difference. I've found vitamin D and Iron deficiencies I've since corrected (a long time ago), but again no improvements after correcting and maintaining appropriate levels.

Has anyone experienced something like this or have ideas what might be causing it or what I could try? Ideally the goal would be to feel good for the full day!