Can't get life back after workmen

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On 18th November workmen came into my apartment to fit a new kitchen. What with one thing and another, the work only got completed on 16th december. During that time I stayed at a B & B, and also with 2 friends.

I am now back in my apartment, but it is absolute chaos. A friend helped me to sort some stuff and put in in the new kitchen cupboards, but then I felt compelled to put it all back in the boxes again so that everything stays the same.
Also I am still living out of a suitcase, which is at the end of my bed.

I am feeling as if the only solution is to move everything out of my apartment, decorate the flat, clean all the furniture, and then move back in again.

The last few weeks have been very different in lots of ways; one of the newest things is sleeping in the same bed as friends. By "sleeping" I mean sleeping, and not anything sexual going on. When the work was going on in my apartment 2 seperate friends 'put me up' but I had to sleep in their bed with them. In fact I liked the closeness to another human being.
One of those friends stayed over mine last night as he'd offered to help me get my flat in order. We just larked about, and in fact I've spent the last 2-3 hours tidying and cleaning up from that instead of getting my apartment straight from the work that has been done.

Everything is absolute chaos. the routine I had is completely gone, and everything is just chaotic & random. I just feel like walking out and never coming back.

Yeah, I get like that.
Can you do one room at a time?
Leave the Kitchen empty, clean it or decorate whatever you need to do, then move the stuff in their then empty another room so you can so the same with that.
Dont think of it as one big mountain but a range of small hills.

I had no idea how disruptive a renovation could be until I had one. I had heard people talk about problems living with all the chaos and everything upside down, and then trying to get it all back together and relax, but I thought they were blowing it completely out of proportion. Until I had new floors installed in my house. Which took me a good 6 months to get back right from.

It feels like you aren't making progress, like why even bother, like it's useless and it's overwhelming. It feels like it but that's not the reality of it. You are making progress and it's not useless.

Pick one area every day and do it, and make sure you keep it cleaned and the way you put it. The next day pick another area. Slowley but surely you will get things back together.

Ugh, you have my sympathy. That sounds really uncomfortable and annoying.

I second the idea of just one room at a time. You should start with a room you can spend time in--the bedroom, maybe. Clean it, move everything back in, have it the way you want it--use it as a refuge from the newness and chaos while you work on the rest of the place.

I just keep going out a lot. I need to sort my house out.

Commiserations, StarCity.

I've just been through a similar experience, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. I had to have my flat redecorated, which involved putting all my stuff in boxes so the painters could shift the furniture around. My particular brand of OCD doesn't like other people in my flat, let alone other people touching my stuff, so in a way I was glad that everything was in boxes and I at least knew it wouldn't be touched by anyone. But my, the amount of cleaning I had to do once they were done...

It's been a week now since the work was finished, and while the place largely looks right again, I still feel as if all sorts of things were all wrong. And yes, I had no idea how disruptive and stressful the whole thing was going to be. I feel like I'm still a little in shock from it.

Perhaps you can approach the situation as if you had moved out and back in again? Sort out one room/area after another, like Nambo, OliveOilMom and Callista have suggested, doing whatever you have to do to feel comfortable there again. You could consider the rooms/areas you've done "yours" again, and everywhere else like the B&B or someone else's flat, i.e. somewhere you're not all that comfortable but can cope with for a limited period of time. That more or less worked for me anyway...

Also, I don't know if you can do this, but I find that when I'm in that "totally disrupted" state I can change things I wouldn't otherwise go near - throw stuff away I wasn't actually using anymore, perhaps rearrange the cupboards if that's required, that sort of thing. So as a tiny upside it can be an opportunity to establish better routines, if you feel able to.

Good luck!

Oh, Starcity, I can soOoOOoOoOoo relate...

My apartment complex remodeled all their units this past year and forced us all to move into temporary units. First, they were going to move me in February and I had to box everything up and be ready on a certain date, which they changed at the last minute without telling me. I had to live an entire month in my own apartment, living out of boxes, before they moved me to the temp.

I was only supposed to be in the temp for a month, so there was no point in unpacking. Except I ended up having to stay there for more than three months. Then they tell me that when the work is done, they're moving us all back into different apartments, like a giant game of musical chairs. That's when I came unglued and filed a discrimination complaint with HUD, that they were ignoring my Autism disability and exacerbating my Anxiety Disorders. They finally relented and put me back in my original apartment. It took me another three months before I had everything put back together properly, but I'm so mentally exhausted by the whole thing, I would just as soon move away and find a whole new place as continue living here.

I can't relax anymore, because I can't help but wonder what outrageous thing they're going to do next to completely disrupt my life.

Start with going grocery shopping and restocking your fridge.
Then clean all your dishes. First the tableware, then the cookware.
This will help you adjust to the new kitchen by being in there while doing routine activities.

And the fridge and pantry are where you get your energy for life. This is the center of your body balance.

Then wash your kitchen curtains and rehang them. Or buy new ones. RECLAIM your kitchen.

Then move on to the adjacent room, and do what you usually do in that room, etc.

Thank you OddFiction as my GP also said that ensuring I eat is the most important thing. This evening I have cleaned up after a freind who was supposed to have helped me actually caused more chaos & mess, and now I am about to clean my fridge freezer.
At the same time the washing machine is on, and gradually doing a mountain of laundry.

Thank you also to everyone else who offered advice.

Today I was at "Crisis point", and felt like kicking off. I am so thankful for the ADHD meds as they help me to stop, think, & realize how stupid it would be to smash stuff up.
I went to a Christmas party, but just sat in the corner. I wanted to wear a badge that said "Please don't talk to me", but I still went along.

I am a fighter. I am a survivor!

I feel for you

2 summers ago I helped do renovations on a schizophrenic mans apartment
I could tell it was driving him nuts
escpecially when he had to move his bedroom to the other side of the apartment so we could work on that room