I thought I would take a moment and write a little bit about depression. I haven’t written about it much recently, but a lot has been weighing on my heart. Sometimes it just feels like I get lost, and try as I may, I cannot get myself out. It feels a lot like being lost, but it’s lost in your own life. You can’t find your way home, to yourself, no matter how hard you might search.

Unfortunately, one of the things that I do most frequently during these times is revisit the symptoms over and over. And over again. I walk around noticing the symptoms. Taking note of them. Beating myself up over them. The messy house. The disorganized lifestyle. The lack of energy and motivation.

And that’s why depression is such a wily little bastard. The actions it encourages are those very same actions that make it worse.

And so,for my own benefit, I thought I would take a moment and visit some of those things that make it better. At least temporarily. And so here is my little suitcase of tactics to help me ease depression.

Move. Nothing in the world helps me beat any negative patterns than running. Running brings the endorphins, but it also brings me closer to myself. It is a time and a space where all that exists is myself, my breathe, and the thoughts in my head. And somehow when my feet are moving forward, my thoughts do as well.

Be productive. When I get depressed, part of the problem is that I see failures. Everywhere I turn, I find a new one. It leads me to want to sit on the couch and not move because everywhere I turn there is more failure. And of course there is the lack of energy that makes any movement more difficult. And so one of the most helpful thing to do is just do one single thing. Maybe I’ll vacuum the floors, or I’ll make dinner, or I’ll do some laundry. None of this is big, but it all reminds me that I am capable of being productive. I am capable of making things better.

Write. When I get depressed (or anxious,) the thoughts tend to loop inside my head. Over and over again, I’ll say the same negative things to myself. The more I do it, the more I feel compelled to do it. But writing is tricky because you can’t quite just repeat the same thing over and over again. The medium forces you to move forward. And because of that, it helps me see things in a new light.

Socialize. This part is tricky because some people can actually make you feel more depressed. Negative people tend to make me veer towards the negative, so when I’m depressed, I try to find people that are upbeat but who are also setting a good example for me. People who are motivated and focused but also fun and kind. Certain people make you want to be better in your own life, and they can sometimes help me change my mindset more than anything else.

Remember the lie. Depression tells you things that aren’t true. It skews the truth. It blinds you to all that is good, and more than anything, it tells you not to do those very things that are most helpful. So the more strongly depression tells me to sit on my butt, the more I have to remember to tell it to shut up. Because depression tells me that all of these things on my list aren’t worth doing. And I can’t listen to it. Because it is a blatant lie.

Depression has a lot of tools in its arsenal. But so do I. And I never go down without a fight. And I always come up victorious.

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