EconDiva, I just want to mention that my mom, who has that passive type of personality I mentioned, is a champion at 'just about to' discussions. She was always talking about plans to exercise more, eat better, job hunt (or when working, look for job with benefits), take some specific financial action, go to the doctor for a check up, go out and volunteer, etc etc etc. I believe she even sort of wants to do these things (or at least, she wants to be the sort of person doing those things). But when it comes to it, she just talks unless someone physically drags her out to do stuff, or sets up the situation so all she has to do is show up. A few years ago, when we still had hopes of her being able to find some work, she had 1 full year of living with us, with access to computers and tutorials, and nothing whatsoever expected of her to do apart from improve her job skills, apply for jobs, and go on interviews. After 3 or 4 months of waiting, I finally wrote up her resume and cover letter, and began applying for jobs online for her. She never did do the tutorials to learn how to use Microsoft Office. At that point, she was old enough that it wasn't so surprising she didn't get picked up for the few jobs that she interviewed for.
I'm dead serious: could/would you be willing to job hunt FOR your mother, and if you did so, would she go on interviews and take a job if it were offered? With mine, she would do the latter, just not the former.