What to do when you are depressed? Tip #1: Have self-discipline
To get out of the vicious circle of depression, it makes sense to take concrete and pragmatic action by splitting up tasks. When you’re in a bad way, everything seems difficult, the slightest task to be accomplished becomes an insurmountable, even impassable obstacle.
So how do you go about it? Get to grips with one thing at a time and do it by focusing on it alone. Start with small things (tidying her desk, sorting her papers, reading a few pages of a novel, doing the dishes, going for a walk in the fresh air) and they will evolve on their own. You will find the taste to do things gradually.
For this, do not hesitate to have a personal discipline if it reassures you, helps you or stimulates you. The to-do list allows you to organize yourself and prioritize. Moreover, they relieve the memory. In addition to this list, make your agenda your best friend. Make your routines as positive as possible, don’t see them as a constraint or a source of stress.
On the contrary. This self-discipline will make you feel like you’re moving forward.
What can you do when you’re depressed? Tip #2: Take care of your body
Our body can be our main ally as well as our worst enemy. It feels our emotions, both positive and negative, and when we are depressed or in a state of low morale, it can send us signals to warn or alarm us. We must listen to it and take care of it. This is difficult to do when you are feeling bad and you don’t want anything anymore. Often the body is the first victim of our malaise. It is either mistreated or neglected.
So take care of your body in every possible way. A depressed person will lower their shoulders, look at the ground, walk slowly, have little energy. So modify your body expression by adopting a straighter posture, looking ahead, showing more dynamism and especially by smiling. This will influence your emotional state.
Just as mental state relates to physical state, body expression also plays a fundamental role on mood.
Remember to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Opt for foods rich in omega-3s, proteins and vitamins that help fight depressive states. Without throwing yourself on sugar, also pay attention to cravings and hypoglycemia attacks if you don’t eat enough.
By eating better, you will have more energy and be able to be more active. You will thus enter a real virtuous circle: the more active you are, the more you want to exercise and do sports, the more endorphins are secreted, these hormones of well-being and pleasure, and therefore the better you feel.
Sleep is also a major element of well-being.
Our states are very often linked to our fatigue. Fill up with sleep, sleep at night, live during the day. This simple advice is essential. Studies have shown that going to bed late or getting little sleep leads to an increase in negative thoughts.
In short, we can never say it enough, sleep is the guarantor of good health.
What to do when you are depressed? Tip #3: Relaxation in daylight
Doing something that you love even if you don’t feel like it right now is important. Reconnect with a source of relaxation, your passion. Or take the opportunity to indulge in a new manual, creative, sporting, relaxing activity, whatever. Concentration, pleasure and escape will help you forget the low morale of the moment.
Sometimes, a breath of fresh air is the best way to get your mind back on things. Airing out, going out for a walk allows you to think better, to forget the sources of stress. Go for a jog, go shopping or just go for a walk, anything to avoid being locked up and moping. The longer you stay within your own four walls, the more depressed you become and the more likely you are to develop a form of agoraphobia.
Going out is essential to fight depression. Indeed, haven’t you noticed how time plays on mood?
Therefore, try to sunbathe as much as possible during the rainy and winter seasons. This advice may seem simplistic, but our body and mind, like batteries, need light to recharge. So don’t neglect your exposure to daylight.
For a better awakening and to face seasonal depressions, light therapy lamps are effective. So if you can’t stand the lack of sunshine in winter, artificial lighting, working at night and rarely see daylight, this is the solution for you.
However, it does not replace real light, so enjoy every ray of sunlight whenever possible.
So your morale will be high again!
What to do when you’re depressed? Tip #4: Rely on your sources of pride
Focus on your sources of pride and success. What did you achieve today? Yesterday? In your past?
When we get depressed, when we feel bad, we focus on what’s wrong, on what we did wrong, on our sources of sadness and disappointment to the point of forgetting all the good things we did or what made us happy.
So bring up those good memories. Those successes, those accomplishments, and feel the emotions and confidence flooding back in again. You already have many victories to your credit and many more to come. Don’t doubt it, even if at the moment it is still fragile. But your efforts are gradually bearing fruit.
To believe in it and to re-motivate yourself, stick to what is positive. Perhaps you have photos of these joyful events? Why not consult them?
Plunging back into old happy memories is a very effective technique to bring back positivity in yourself. To reverse the trend of this depression that has set in.
So close your eyes and relive an old memory where you felt happy, completely fulfilled. Try to remember this moment using all your senses. By plunging deeply into your memory, you will gradually feel this feeling of well-being, forgetting your blues of the moment. And to help you do this, photos, messages or letters are welcome.
What to do when you are depressed? Tip #5: Sorting out your relationships
Feeling bad is not necessarily the fault of others, of course. But when we go through a period of discomfort, when we get depressed, we question things and our relationship with others is part of it.
The goal? To cut the toxic ties that bind us to people who are rotting our lives. But also to solve problems with the people who matter to us in order to ease possible tensions and start again on a good basis.
A good way to succeed in doing this sorting?
By forgetting and/or forgiving. This is a very good technique to stop being depressed because of a resentment that prevents us from moving forward. To forgive is not to show weakness, and one does not do it for others but for oneself, in order to free oneself from toxic bonds of attachment that pollute us.
The technique of the match men can help you to do this work. This way you will no longer get stuck in the past and destructive relationships, you will stay focused on the essential. Staying stuck in such relationships, in resentment, is toxic, sterile, and it plays on morale.
So forgive, forget, detach yourself from it and you will be set free!
What to do when you are depressed? Tip #6: Get closer to positive people
On the other hand, what should you do when you are depressed? Spend time with the right people, the positive ones. Who help you, advise you, encourage you, listen to you, stimulate you. Who get you out of the slump and lead you towards a better future. So don’t hesitate to contact them, to spend time with them.
In the discussion, bring up subjects that you like, listen to them, thank them for their presence.
This social and emotional involvement will put your moods and cravings into perspective and boost your morale.
Meeting happy and positive people attracts good vibes and invites the joy of living back into your life. Of course, don’t just take without receiving. Real family and friends are there to listen and help you, but not to complain. So accept their point of view, accept to be pushed around a little. This is to make you react and get better.
When you do, remember that every relationship works on a reciprocal basis and that you will owe a “debt of heart” to the people who were there for you when you were at your lowest point.
What can you do when you are depressed? Tip #7: Open up and express your feelings
Depression and low morale are generally accompanied by a strong desire to withdraw into oneself. However, talking openly about one’s discomfort to those close to one’s heart and explaining how one is feeling is a good way to get out of this state. We all need this person who is there for us when we are depressed. This special friend.
This allows us to analyze what is causing the problem without even realizing it, thanks to a nourished and constructive exchange.
In any case, talking can only help you get better; shutting yourself away in silence is the worst thing you can do to get back on track.
We simply free ourselves. Communication allows us to better identify the causes of malaise. Moreover, feeling your interlocutor take an interest in you and try to bring us solutions is a great comfort. So don’t hesitate and confide in us. In complete freedom, in complete confidence with people who do not judge you. To speak is to put words on your emotions. And it frees them and takes a huge weight off your shoulders.
Thanks to this and the rest, little by little your depression will fly away.
