Everyone has been depressed. It’s part of life. Some people suffer from a chemical imbalance that makes it difficult to ever come out of depression without a lot of medications. But, sometimes, medication is not enough and sometimes the side effects are worse than the actual depression. So, let’s check out a few ways to make it a bit easier to pick yourself up from depression.
I have suffered from “severe depression”. I started taking medication at about the age of 12. Not much was known about depression then and they just passed out the pills. I didn’t have a chemical imbalance at all. In fact, my depression stemmed from life events that were far out of my control. My mother and Grandmother died in a car accident when I was 8. I was sent to live with my father and his wife. Let’s just say that she wasn’t exactly welcoming. Someday I’ll write a book about it I’m sure. One of those books that you can’t put down and end up wondering why the author didn’t turn into a serial killer as a result.
I hated the pills and when I told them they didn’t work, well they just increased my dosage. I lied and told them they were working so eventually they decreased the dosage until I was no longer taking them and vowed I never would again. What I found was that very simple things worked for me. It wasn’t up to anyone but me to help me crawl out of that pit. I’ve added quite a bit to my list of things that helped me battle depression. Now, let me just say that my methods may not do the trick for everyone. Use your own judgement and the advice of your doctor. I don’t want to get sued simply because someone stopped taking their pills based on my advice. So I’m telling you now, if you stop your meds, you do that of your own free will and not because of anything I have written here. (Does that pass as a disclaimer?)
At any rate, I’ve written some tips that are completely free. Just some advice…really not even that, just a list of what worked for me.
If you don’t want to read all of them, at least consider some “quick tips”.
Color is a good thing. A person who is not depressed can quickly become so if they are surrounded by dark colors like browns. If you can’t afford paint or your house is all paneling, hang some pictures or pretty cloths. Have some kids do some colorful drawings.
Set simple goals every day that get you up and moving. Even if all you do is make your bed, that’s a whole lot better than doing nothing at all!
Watch children play. Try to remember when you found joy in the simple things that make them smile. One of my favorite things to do as a child was to lay under a tree and look up. I tend to forget about that until Christmas when I have my son lay under the tree with me and look up.
It’s really just simple things that can help.