Beat depression before it beats you?
Are You Feeling Depressed?
Depression is an intense negative feeling of sadness and despair lasting for over two weeks that interferes with effective day-to-day functioning. It takes control of your livelihood and influences every decision you make and action you take. In short, it’s not a pleasant emotional experience. In fact, it’s a very limiting state-of-mind that can lead to some very dire consequences including serious health concerns and suicide.
What Causes Depression?
Some people are biologically predisposed towards experiencing depression. This of course doesn’t mean that they must resign to their fate and accept the fact that they have no control. They in fact do have ample control over how they feel, however they are just more prone to suffer depression because they naturally experience lower levels of energy, suffer from poor concentration, make slow and agitated movements, and are often very difficult to cheer up.
This form of depression is known as Melancholic depression. It is a more severe form of depression that is often treated with antidepressants and other drugs. However, the good news is that only a very small percentage of people are diagnosed with this form of depression.
The vast majority of depression cases are due to psychological causes, and can often be linked to stressful events in a person’s life. Likewise depression can be triggered when dealing with some form of loss, or when indulging in limiting thinking patterns that tend to overemphasize the negatives and diminish the positives. This non-melancholic type of depression can also result from having inflexible rules and can often be linked to social pressures. For instance, not meeting social expectations coupled together with unhelpful thinking habits, can very often lead to states of depression.
Symptoms of Depression
Depression is often diagnosed only after you have experienced the following symptoms for a period of two or more weeks in succession. If its been less then two weeks, then clinically you are probably just going through a period of sadness, grief, a severe case of disappointment, etc. These are often temporary emotional experiences that you will tend to cycle in and out of throughout your life.
Here are a list of symptoms of non-melancholic depression.
- Persistent feelings of disappointment.
- Lack of concentration.
- Constantly feeling unmotivated.
- High levels of irritability and stress.
- Persistent lack of energy.
- Low self-esteem and self-confidence.
- Severe mood swings.
- Feeling socially isolated.
- A sense of hopelessness.
- Negative thinking manifesting in a dismal outlook on life.
In isolation, many of these symptoms do not signify that you are depressed. However, if you are experiencing most of these symptoms for an extended period of two or more weeks, then it’s very possible you might have a mild form of depression on your hands. This is nothing to be worried about, as long as you recognize this and you’re honest with your assessment.
You can certainly make positive changes almost immediately to break out of this limiting state-of-mind. However, you need to fully accept your circumstances and take responsibility for making these changes.
Self-Reflection Questions
Before breaking down several depression-busting strategies, take some time to think about your depression and ask yourself the following set of questions:
How does my life change when I’m depressed?
How does my view of life and my view of myself change when I’m depressed?
What do I do or don’t do when I’m feeling depressed?
What do other people notice about me when I’m feeling depressed?
These questions will help you to better understand your behavioral tendencies and thought patterns when in a depressed state. The insights you gain here will be valuable towards helping you make positive decisions moving forward that will allow you to work your way into a more empowering and resourceful state-of-mind.
Things to do Immediately
It’s important to work through the following suggestions and guidelines the moment you recognize you are feeling depressed. These guidelines will help you immediately improve your state-of-mind, while also providing you with a strong core of foundational techniques you can work through that will help build more emotional resilience in the long-term.
Adjust Your Physiology
The moment you catch yourself in a depressed state-of-mind, the very first thing you must do is pay attention to your breathing, posture and physiology.
When feeling depressed your breath will tend to be very shallow, your posture will tend to be slouched, your movement will tend to be sluggish and slow, and your overall physiology will be lacking the energy and zest that you normally have when you’re feeling confident and excited about something.
As you can probably tell, your emotions affect your physiology and mental state-of-mind. This is important because it’s also true the other way around. Your physiology affects the emotions you experience at any one moment in time. What this means is that by changing the way you breathe, by changing your posture and the movement of your body, you can almost immediately begin feeling different and somewhat better about yourself and your circumstances without making any additional adjustments. And when you begin feeling better, you will begin thinking more positively, you will begin smiling, and you may also begin asking yourself solution-focused questions that will help you to find better options moving forward.
Therefore, instead of looking miserable, force yourself to breathe deeply from your diaphragm. Encourage yourself to stand straight or sit upright, and move your body with more zest and energy. And finally, force a big smile on your face. Even a forced smile can do wonders to your state-of-mind. All of these adjustments you make in combination will immediately put you in a more positive frame-of-mind.
Attend to Your Automatic Thought Patterns
Have a think about the thoughts that you are currently allowing to dwell in your mind. These limiting thoughts are making you feel a certain way at this very moment, and most of them are tied to your emotional experiences, your worries and concerns.
It’s critical you recognize that indulging in these thoughts is not helping you feel any better in the moment. It’s actually hurting you — maybe even more then you realize. It’s therefore paramount that you immediately take some time to have a think about the thoughts that are you giving your attention to. Reflect on these thoughts and ask yourself:
What emotions am I experiencing?
What am I thinking about?
How am I thinking about things?
Are my thoughts positive, neutral or negative?
How do my thoughts make me feel?
How am I likely to behave as a result of these thoughts?
What are the consequences of this behavior?
How could I choose to behave differently if I tried?
These questions will hopefully help you recognize the incredible influence that your thoughts have on your state-of-mind. And maybe that’s all you need to make the necessary changes that will help you flip the switch in a more positive and helpful direction.
In addition to this, it’s important that you immediately challenge your limiting thought patterns, your interpretations and your perspectives of the situation. Do this by asking yourself:
Does it help me to think this way?
What’s another more positive way to look at this situation?
How might other people view this situation?
Here you are throwing doubt on your current interpretations of reality, and this is helping you see things in a slightly different and maybe even a more empowering and favorable way. In fact, the more perspectives and viewpoints you can find, the more likely you are to begin shifting your view of the situation, which might very well help you dig yourself out of your state of depression.
Get Social
While feeling depressed it’s natural to avoid social situations and just sit and wallow in your own problems and negative feelings. However, this is rarely if ever helpful. Instead, make an effort to connect with other people on a social level. You could for instance chat with a close friend in person or over the telephone, or share your thoughts with someone online, or maybe even volunteer your time to help someone or to a good cause. Any one of these options will be helpful. The worst thing you can do is bottle-up your emotions inside and isolate yourself from the world.
While you’re at it, be sure to connect with positive, happy and inspiring people. There is no point talking with someone who is negative and pessimistic most of the time. They might in fact make you feel even more miserable. Avoid these kinds of people like the plague, and connect instead with people who have the ability to lift you emotionally beyond your current state-of-mind.
Simplify Your Life
Simplifying your life will help you focus on the most important things — the things that matter the most. It will allow you to re-prioritize your choices, decisions, commitments, responsibilities and actions.
The reason you should start simplifying your life immediately is because the process of simplification will help you to figure out what’s most important in the moment. It might be that what you’re feeling depressed about isn’t as important as you initially thought. You are simply giving it too much thought, priority and attention. Instead simplify things and remove anything that’s unnecessary from your life including thoughts, responsibilities, tasks and other things that might be weighing you down emotionally.
Use Positive Language
The language you use is intricately connected to your state-of-mind. What this means is that how you talk to yourself and/or others is a reflection of the emotions you are feeling in the moment.
When people feel depressed they will tend to use limiting types of language that discourages them emotionally — making them feel absolutely miserable. It’s important you don’t fall into this trap.
Using positive language and self-talk alone will of course not get you out of a depressed state, however it will most certainly help you to view and interpret your circumstances in a more empowering way. Therefore instead of holding your head down and blaming and criticizing yourself, focus instead on looking at the positives of the situation.
Even if all this makes sense, it’s sometimes difficult to get into a positive frame-of-mind when faced with emotional difficulties. In such instances it will help if you play inspiring music in the background. Music can be a powerful motivator and can quickly shift your emotions in empowering ways. Play some inspiring music in the background and allow the music to move you into a better place. Once there, get yourself in front of a mirror and talk to yourself in an encouraging way. The physical act of looking at yourself in the mirror is powerful because it’s probably the last thing you want to do when in a depressed state. However, it is one of the most important things you can do as long as you approach the process with a positive frame-of-mind.
And if after all this you are still struggling and find it difficult to find the courage to talk to yourself in a more positive way, then make an effort to find some gratitude. Ask yourself about all the things you are grateful for in the moment. However, don’t just stop there. Find out why you are grateful for these things in order to discover how that really makes you feel. If anything, gratitude will help to refocus your mind on the things that matter most.
Curiosity: Ask Better Questions
Curiosity is the one key that will open doors of opportunity that depression keeps you from accessing. Being curious means having the courage to ask important questions that will help you to explore different perspectives, viewpoints, possibilities and avenues for moving forward. Being curious is the act of attempting to think a little differently then normal, and then taking the necessary steps to make positive change that will help improve your life and circumstances.
When you’re depressed, you will tend to ask questions that are riddled with self-blame, self-pity and self-criticism. This is a very dis-empowering means of asking questions. These kinds of questions will just keep you stuck in your miserable emotional place, and nothing will ever change. Instead, you must ask questions that will allow you to explore your options moving forward. Also ask questions that will expand possibilities and open doors to new opportunities. For instance, ask yourself:
What’s interesting about how I’m feeling at the moment?
How is this situation potentially helpful? Why could this be the case?
What’s the opportunity here?
How can I use this experience to help move myself forward in a more positive and empowering way?
Given my answers to these questions, why do I think it is of value that I am going through this experience?
These questions might not single-handedly get you all the way out of a depressed state-of-mind, however they will certainly open doors that will allow you to explore new paths that might very well provide you with the momentum you need to make positive changes in your life.
Challenge Your Core Beliefs
You are at this very moment feeling depressed because you believe certain and specific things about yourself and your circumstances. These beliefs are crippling your ability to make positive changes in your life, and preventing you from moving forward.
Have a think about what specifically you believe about yourself and about your circumstances that has led to your current state-of-mind. Ask yourself:
What do I believe about my circumstances?
What do I believe about myself?
What do I believe about myself in relation to these circumstances?
What do I believe about myself in terms of my ability to effectively work through these circumstances successfully?
Your beliefs will continue to hold you back unless you commit yourself to doing something about them. However, eliminating these beliefs requires you work on weakening the strong-hold they have over you. One way to do this is to challenge these beliefs by asking questions that will hopefully make you doubt the validity of each belief. Ask yourself:
What experiences do I have that show that this belief is not completely true all the time?
I realize I’m feeling depressed about this situation, however what if my interpretation of this situation is completely wrong?
How else could I potentially interpret this situation?
What else could I believe about this situation? How could this be of value?
What do other people believe about this situation?
What if I believed…? How would that change how I feel about this situation?
Behavioral experiments begin with “What if…” scenarios. “What if I believe…? How will that change how I feel about things?”
Ask yourself “What if” questions and then run a variety of scenarios in your mind to determine what could be the best course of action moving forward.
Groom and Pamper Yourself
This is probably the most straightforward suggestion, however it can become the instigator of very quick and positive change.
Depression is a state-of-mind. In the long-run, you will only feel better about your circumstances when you begin feeling better about yourself. This change must of course come from within, however it can also be triggered externally.
When in a depressed state, it’s easy to overlook your external appearance. And yet how you look on the surface can affect how you feel about yourself on the inside. Of course that shouldn’t be the case, but it is — at least for most people. For this very reason it’s absolutely paramount that you look outside yourself.
Take time to groom yourself to improve how you look. Also pamper yourself to improve how you feel. In combination — looking and feeling better — will help put you in a more positive state-of-mind that will then allow you to work through your core beliefs and self-talk far more effectively.
Additional Suggestions for Beating Depression
Beating depression isn’t always a straightforward process, and can often take some time, dedication and effort. In fact, beating depression in the long-term requires a strong desire to want to make the necessary changes that will help you improve your life and circumstances for the better. Without this desire, there will be no motivation, and motivation doesn’t come unless you have meaningful reasons to want to make changes in the first place. It’s therefore absolutely paramount that you are open to the possibilities and that you take the time to find reasons why it’s important for you to begin making positive changes to your life today. Ask yourself:
Why is it important for me to change?
Why is it important for me to make positive changes right now?
What are the benefits of making these changes?
How will I benefit specifically?
How will others benefit?
How will my life improve as a result?
Only once you have successfully answered these questions and found honest reasons to change, should you now begin implementing some of the guidelines listed below.
As you work your way through some of these guidelines, keep in mind that simple things can often be incredibly beneficial. Therefore it’s important that you don’t judge the book by it’s cover, but rather work your way through these guidelines with an open mind and a willingness to try things that on the surface seem very simple and straightforward.
Visualize Your Desired Life
Take some time to visualize your desired life and circumstances. Visualization is a powerful tool that can help put you into the right frame-of-mind.
The problem with depression is that it blocks you from seeing any value or benefits in the future. Instead, in a depressed state all you tend to see is further problems, anguish and misery. For this very reason, it’s absolutely paramount that you take time to visualize the desired life that you would like to create. Visualize the things you would like to do, be, have and possibly achieve. This might be difficult, however it is necessary. It’s after all almost impossible to feel depressed about the future if there’s something worthwhile waiting for you around the corner.
If visualizing your future in a positive way is difficult to do, then take some time to reflect back on your past successes. Think about all your past successes, achievements and accomplishments. Consider how you managed to create these incredible experiences. Once you’re there and living through each of these moments, consider how you might be able to take the lessons you learned from these accomplishments and apply them to your present circumstances and future desired outcomes.
Both strategies bring you to the same point, where you’re visualizing a desired future free from depression. This will hopefully provide you with the impetus you need to begin making positive changes in your life today.
Associate with Positive People
Enthusiasm, optimism and passion is contagious. If you’re not feeling these things, then you will need to begin associating with people who can infect you with these positive traits.
Purposefully associate with people who inspire you to be a better, more positive and passionate person. These are people who have problems just like you have problems, however they are emotionally resilient in the face of adversity and can help you see things in more opportunistic ways.
Take time to really get to know these people, to learn about what makes them tick, and what motivates, inspires and encourages them to move forward when faced with emotional difficulties. In fact, talk with them about your experiences, about your problems, and about your emotional challenges. Seek out their advice, and then go out into the world and make positive changes with purpose and conviction.
On the flip-side, take time to help other people. In fact, give your time generously to make a positive difference in other people’s lives. The act of helping others can in fact make you feel much better about yourself and circumstances. Who know? Maybe by helping another person you will gain some valuable insights about your own life experience and circumstances. This by itself could help you instigate positive change.
If you can’t find positive and inspiring people to associate with, then take time to play with animals and/or children. Children in particular can potentially help open up a whole new world of experiences and perspectives that you might previously have never considered. In fact, dare yourself to ask a child to provide a solution to your problems. They will most likely give you the most unexpected answer. And yet, it might be exactly the answer you are looking for — the answer you need to move forward in a more positive way.
Live a Healthy Lifestyle
You are far more likely to stay cool, calm and collected during difficult moments of your life when you’re healthy and fit. This of course doesn’t mean that you won’t ever go through emotional struggles. You probably will. However, what it means is that you will be far more emotionally resilient when faced with emotional difficulties.
Living a healthy lifestyle requires eating a healthy and well balanced diet, sleeping well and exercising regularly. On top of this, pay particular attention to your levels of Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a valuable source of energy that is very important for long-term health and wellbeing. To get enough Vitamin D into your body, expose 70 percent of your body to the sun for 15 to 20 minutes per day. Not only will it provide you with long-term health benefits, but moderate sun exposure can also help improve your mood almost instantly.
In addition to these suggestions, you can also take supplements to help ease the feelings of depression such as St John’s Wort, Kava Kava, and Lemon Balm.
Avoid Stressors
Depression and stress are difficult to deal with individually. In combination they can be lethal. For this very reason it’s absolutely paramount that you avoid aggravating your stress-levels throughout the day. This might of course mean cutting down on your commitments and responsibilities; it might mean simplifying your life, tasks and projects; it might mean delegating more responsibility to others; it might mean changing your schedule or routine; it might also mean staying away from very intense people who tend to drain you emotionally.
Some things you might of course not be able to avoid. In such instances, you will need to learn more about how to manage stress more effectively throughout your day.
Avoid Addictions
Most addictions provide you with an escape from your emotions and circumstances. On the surface and in the short-term, this works out quite well. When you’re distracted you’re no longer feeling depressed. However, in the long-run they are rarely helpful and can actually hurt you.
Addictions are a form of distraction. They never deal with the cause of your problems and/or emotions, but rather provide you with a temporary relief. It’s like taking a painkiller for a headache. The problem is still there. Of course you can’t feel it, but you haven’t really fixed the underlying cause for your headache which could very well be stress related. It’s therefore absolutely paramount that you avoid addictions at all costs and instead find more effective ways to handle your depression.
Focus on Creative Self-Expression
Find as many ways as you can to express yourself creatively throughout the day. Creativity will help you release pent-up emotions in productive ways, and may even provide you with the flexibility you need to overcome your problems successfully.
Expressing yourself creatively might include taking art, dance or drama classes, writing short stories or poetry, playing music, etc. The more you allow yourself to let-go and express your creativity, the higher levels of self-control you will have over your emotional tendencies. The activity is not important here. What’s important is your willingness and desire to focus on something that helps unlock your passion and enthusiasm for living once again.
Partake in Your Favorite Hobbies
Think about all the things you love doing. Do you love collecting certain things? Do you enjoy reading books? Do you appreciate a great movie experience? Do you have a passion to partake in a sporting activities? It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it brings more joy and happiness into your life.
These hobbies you partake in must be enjoyable, relaxing and above all, fun. They are of course a form of distraction from your problems. However, distractions can be good if they help you expand your horizons and open doors to new perspectives and opportunities. In fact, the act of “getting out there” and connecting with other like-minded people who also have a passion for your hobby, can open a whole new world of experiences that might help you view your life in a more positive way.
Find Ways to Relax More Often
When you’re depressed, it’s difficult to relax and feel good about yourself and your life. For this very reason it’s absolutely paramount that you find ways to relax throughout the day. You can relax in simple ways through meditation, or maybe you would prefer to just sit quietly in the park and observe your surroundings? Likewise a massage can help relax your muscles and release pent-up tension. You could also try Yoga or Tai Chi. Or maybe just take a walk along the beach, play with some animals, or go for a swim.
It’s important that while you’re relaxing that you take control of the thoughts and emotions running through your head. To do this, become mindful of the moment. Just enjoy the present moment in all its glory without regretting the past or worrying about your future. Just be still in the moment. Within this moment there is no need to feel regretful, fearful, sad, worried, stressed or depressed. Within this moment there is nothing but the pleasure that you are receiving from these moments of relaxation. Enjoy these moments fully and absorb yourself completely. Then when you’re done, approach your life with a renewed energy and vigor that will help you make better decisions moving forward.
Live with a Sense of Purpose
People who live with a sense of purpose and who live true to their highest core values, rarely if ever feel depressed about life. They live instead with a passion and zest that drives their energies forward towards ever higher levels of achievement. These people gain satisfaction and fulfillment from doing something of value — from focusing on something that they’re passionate about. This sense of purpose helps them gain a sense of control over their life and circumstances, and keeps propelling them forward in exciting new directions.
To live with purpose you must first have a plan. You must have a plan about what you would like to do, be, have and achieve in your life. You must have inspiring goals with clearly defined deadlines. These are the things that will get you out of bed in the morning, and the things that will encourage you to stay up late at night. And most importantly, these are the things that will keep your spirits high when other things are not working out in your life. In fact, your sense of purpose is the one thing that will give you reason to keep moving forward when everything else seems to be going terribly wrong.
Find Inspiration in Books and Movies
Oftentimes reading an inspiring book or watching an inspiring movie could be all you need that will help you to shift your perspective about how you think and feel about your life, yourself and your circumstances. In fact, there are so many great movies and books out there about people going through similar problems and life experiences. And the great news is, that most of these stories end in happy endings. And even if your read a book or watch a movie that doesn’t quite present a mirror reflection of your life, you can still in fact gain valuable insights from the movie or book if you can find a way to relate the story back to your life.
One method that works best is to view the movie or book as a metaphor or an analogy about your life.
Imagine that this movie and/or book was specifically written to provide you with clues about your own life. Everything you see or read, simply relate it back to your own life experience and circumstances. See how the characters are working through their problems and envision how this relates to your own problems. Only in this way will you truly gain value from your experience.
Change Your Surroundings
Certain feelings and emotions are often anchored to specific environments and situations. In fact, you will probably find that you feel more depressed within a specific situation or environment. This is very common. It signifies that you have emotional anchor attachments to certain things, people and/or places. This is very important to note, because it suggests that by changing your environment you are likely to also change or at least slightly improve your emotional state-of-mind. And with an improved state-of-mind, you can begin to think more clearly and make better decisions moving forward.
Use Aromatherapy
Have you ever smelt a certain fragrance and found yourself immediately teleported to another place, time or simply another emotional experience? There are certain smells that anchor you to specific emotions. Likewise there are certain smells that have a natural calming effect on the body.
Aromatherapy uses essential oils and other aromatic plant compounds which are aimed at improving your health and mood. What this means is that certain smells can in fact be used to awaken very specific emotions that can help to improve your mood throughout the day.
Aromatherapy is a very interesting alternative form of medicine that might be well worth exploring in further detail.
Smile More Often
When you’re feeling sad, lonely, disappointed or depressed it’s difficult to force a smile. And yet a simple smile could be exactly what you need to instantly help improve your mood. It certainly won’t solve your problems, and won’t turn your life around, however it might give you a ray of hope. It might even help you recognize that maybe you are taking life a little too seriously. Maybe you just need to be a little more lighthearted.
If you can’t force a smile, then maybe someone else might help you smile. Or maybe you could read a humorous story, a joke book, or watch a funny movie. It doesn’t really matter. What’s most important is that you turn your frown 
upside-down 
even for just a couple of minutes every hour.
Adjust Your Personal Expectations, Standards and Rules
You might be feeling depressed because your personal standards and expectations are simply too high, and unrealistic. You have such high expectations of yourself that they are literally impossible to live up to. You’re always struggling to keep up with what you expect of yourself, and this makes you feel absolutely miserable.
Have a good hard look at your personal standards and expectations. Maybe they are unrealistic. Maybe you need to simplify them. Or maybe these standards and expectations were never yours to begin with. In fact, could it be possible that the high expectations you have of yourself are based on other people’s expectations of you? This is certainly no way to live. You will just end up miserable. You alone must be the one setting your own personal standards and expectations. Don’t allow other people to do this for you.
On the other hand, it’s very possible that your personal standards are simply too low. You don’t expect much of yourself, and therefore there is a lack of excitement about the future. In fact, it doesn’t take a lot to make you feel miserable. For instance someone indirectly criticizes you about something relatively insignificant, and this immediately ruins your day and destroys your mood.
Your rules for feeling good about yourself are very weak and unreasonable. The smallest of problems can destroy any hope you had for the future. This is certainly no way to live. You must instead learn from people who don’t get discouraged with trivial matters, and who can find pleasure and happiness in the simplest of things.
Accept Life’s Peaks and Valleys
You will not always be happy and things will not always work-out in your favor. Likewise you will not always be sad and things will at times work-out in your favor. This is the reality of life that all of us must accept.
Life will take you through endless peaks and valleys. But it’s not so much what happens to you but rather how you respond to what happens that makes all the difference in the end.
You are feeling depressed because you have responded to the perceived “valleys” of your experience in a negative way. Another person might in fact see these “valleys” as blessings and opportunities. However, you have decided to view and respond to them rather differently. It’s your response to what has happened that has made all the difference.
Accept the fact that you will experience emotional lows. This is unavoidable. Yet you must also accept that the depths of your emotional experiences are completely in your hands. How deep you go is based on your perspective and how you handle the problems that life throws your way.
Become an Active Problem Solver
Instead of just accepting life as it is, become an active problem solver. Everything is a problem and you are the detective who must solve it. Ask yourself:
What is causing my concerns?
How could I potentially overcome this problem?
Who could potentially help me?
What creative solutions come to mind?
When you’re feeling depressed, you tend to accept your circumstances and continuously wallow in self-pity. However, when you become an active problem solver, you are always asking insightful questions about your life and circumstances. These questions help move you forward. You are no longer accepting where you are physically and emotionally. Instead, you are looking forward for answers and opportunities that will allow you to take the next steps along your journey.
Learn a New Skill
Learning a new skill can potentially open up a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities. The knowledge and experience you gain can dramatically shift your perspective and view of the world. In fact, taking the time to learn a key skill can open the door to a new career path, a better relationship, to a wider network of connections, and so much more.
Decide today what new skill you will begin focusing on over the coming weeks and months, and engross yourself fully within this new adventure.
Seek Out Spiritual Connection
When faced with emotional difficulties, it’s sometimes hard to find the strength you need to continue moving forward. And yet, finding this strength is paramount because it is the one thing you need that can help you find that light of hope at the end of the tunnel.
In such instances, turn to your spiritual beliefs. Find strength within when you need it most through prayer and meditation. Be open to receiving answers. And most importantly, be willing to let go of everything that’s no longer working for you. Open yourself up to receiving — open yourself up to a world of unlimited possibilities. If all else fails, your spiritual connection will help see you through life’s most difficult emotional challenges.
Avoid Doing Too Much Too Soon
When experiencing depression, you are likely to be in a very fragile state-of-mind. Doing too much too soon can harm you in the long-run. It’s therefore important not to try and implement everything listed here all at once. This can quickly lead to overwhelm and can create further problems and lead to more emotional upheaval. Instead take small steps daily and start simple. Choose one thing that you will work on and implement today, and just focus on that one thing. Then when you’re ready, move onto something else.
Make sure to also balance your responsibilities, work commitments and moments of pleasure. Balance will be critical for you moving forward. Balance will bring about emotional stability, and will provide you with the foundation you need to make the most effective decisions moving forward to help you move away from depression and into a more empowering state-of-mind.
