Depression is like a disease that takes control over every fiber of your body. It can make it seem impossible to get rid of. While it may be difficult to just ‘snap out of it’, it is far from impossible. The key is to take small baby steps one day at a time, and to reward yourself in the end.
Reach Out to Loved Ones
Remember that not all people care. Many are just curious. Depression may make you feel like the world is a horrible place where not a single soul cares about you or understands you. But that is far from the truth.
Your task is to filter out all the people and get a hold of those who you trust, and who are close to you. Reach out to them – it is better to share your feelings with one person at a time. Talking about your problem will help you feel lighter and will also help you find a way out of your problems. Most of the time, depression may make you feel helpless. You need to get out of that state of mind because there is a solution to every problem.
Dress Up and Show Up
Have you been declining a lot of invitations lately, because you don’t see the point of going anywhere or meeting anyone, or you think you just need some alone time to get out of your misery?
Give yourself a break already! Stop thinking about your problems for a while, and tell yourself you deserve to have fun and be happy. Don’t wait for anyone to invite you. Dress up, look fabulous, and surprise a friend with cupcakes, go bowling or watch a movie!
Distract Yourself
It is not surprising at all if you’ve been drowning in yourself in self-pity all day, every day. But know this: you are responsible for your own happiness. The more alone time you spend with yourself, the worse it will get. If you don’t want to reach out to anyone yet, it’s best to keep busy.
Keeping busy may seem like the toughest job in the world because it’s difficult to focus on everything. But look around for options, such as volunteering at an institute for children with special needs. That may help you more than you think – it will help divert your focus from yourself to other people. It may also help you be grateful for what you have and doing little things for other people will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Challenge negative thinking
Before you blame yourself for all the negativity in your life, make sure you are not surrounded by people who constantly bring you down and degrade you. You may not always notice it because some people tend to indirectly inflict negativity. Stay away from the people who give out negative vibes. Instead, choose to surround yourself with people with a positive aura. These are people who usually talk about ideas and productive things to do. They are not hard to find – just make sure you’re looking at the right places.
Most depressed individuals are perfectionists. Allow yourself to be less than perfect. Holding to unrealistically high expectations and then beating yourself up over not meeting them will do you no good. Remember: To err is human.
Take care of yourself
Many tend to stress-eat while depressed, gaining unnecessary weight. It’s not uncommon to stop caring about the way you look when you feel down. But always remind yourself: when you look good, you feel good. It’s time you stop munching on anything you can get your hands on and start watching what you eat.
Exercise daily, go for a run early morning and get the fresh oxygen in your lungs to get that blood circulating. It’ll make you feel a lot better. Invest in yourself: go shopping, ask your friends to accompany you for lunch and movies, plan a girls/boys day out and do silly things which you can laugh about later!
The Takeaway
Don’t forget that “emotion is created by motion.” If you’ve been walking in a sloppy manner from one side of your room to another, have been sitting with a glum face and moving with a turtle pace then it’s time to correct that before anything else.
Take responsibility of your happiness, but not too much to beat yourself up over it. Replace negative thoughts and people with positive ones. Eat well. Exercise daily. Socialize with the correct people and give yourself time. Nothing is impossible, let alone depression.