5 Steps To Help Yourself If You Feel Depressed

Feeling depressed is very unpleasant and painful. You feel unmotivated with no energy and no desire to be with other people. This is combined with despair, a sense of guilt, mistrust, lack of hope, and physical and mental exhaustion.

In these circumstances, your way of thinking and seeing the world also changes, and it now seems like an inhospitable and hostile place. Fear doesn’t allow you to think clearly.

“Whoever has seen everything emptied, knows what almost everything is filled with.”

-Antonio Porchia-

You can regain control

Many people believe that depression is only solved with pills and specialized treatment. However, to reach a clinical depression that requires this, you must have been through a lot. If you are able to fight your depressive states before they get to this point, you can often regain control.

We all have bad times. The problem is that in many circles it is frowned upon to say that you’re going through a bad time, or that you feel depressed and sad. But sorrow is not bad. In any event, overcoming it or not is in your hands. You cannot just leave it to others or wait for it to go away as if it had something to do with luck.

Depression as something learned

Our attitude towards life is something we learn; something culturally or socially learned. Stereotypes, the upbringing received from our parents, observing our environment or assimilating our beliefs all play a fundamental role in our attitude.

If we add to this stigma, which for many means depression, we find ourselves with a bomb that is difficult to manipulate and deactivate. To regain control we have to re-learn and be critical by learning ways of behaving and reacting to circumstances, and learning to love ourselves more.

How can you help yourself if you are depressed

When you feel the world is crashing down, it is very easy to get carried away and even resort to medication. But medication will not always solve your problems. In any case, treatment with medication should be prescribed by a specialist and accompanied by adequate therapy.

Perhaps you cannot control certain events, but you can decide what to do with them. Let’s take a look at some strategies to overcome a depressed state so you can feel better.

1. Admit it

Do not be ashamed. Recognize the fact that you feel bad, you’re sad, or you feel your world is crashing down. You don’t have to tell the whole world, you just have to admit it. It’s natural, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Some will tell you things like “don’t cry”, “it’s alright”, or other cliches. But you have a right to feel the way you feel. No need to be embarrassed. Plus, going through a bad time doesn’t mean you have depression.

2. Do not focus on the negative

Once you recognize that you feel depressed you start to break free. In depression, we tend to focus on the negative as something permanent and consider the positive things we recognize as temporary and ephemeral. Now that you know, you can change your way of thinking.

If you feel bad, it will be the negative that weighs your mind down the most. Don’t focus on it, just let it pass, and try to find positive details around you, as subtle and ephemeral as they may seem. Show gratitude for the little things, no matter how small they are. That will help you to not concentrate on the negative.

3. Move

When we are depressed, we feel a heaviness that makes it difficult for us to move and be active. We want to hide, but this only feeds into the negativity and worsens our mood.

However, if we fight against that reaction and get moving, the depressive state begins to fade. In fact, it has been shown that intense exercise is much more effective against depression than medications, especially if the exercise is done outdoors and in sunlight.

Exercise not only helps us fill our brain with oxygen, but also helps produce hormones that make us feel good and helps us fight the effects of negativity and sadness, and charges us with energy.

4. Put stress management techniques into practice

The accumulation of stress depletes us so much that it can make us feel depressed. We could say that a depressed brain is a stressed brain. In this sense, the depressive state would not be the result of negative thinking, but the prolonged accumulation of negative and stressful thoughts.

Therefore, applying stress management techniques can be very beneficial to overcoming depression and feeling better in no time.

5. Take action without thinking why

Do not fall into the trap of trying to rationalize your feelings or evaluate whether the tips above will help you. No matter what the reasons are that led you to that state. That’s water under the bridge. Now you have to try to get out. Don’t try to understand how exercise or gratitude or any other advice that we have given can help you either. Just simply put it into practice. It won’t do you wrong.

The depressive state closes our minds and makes us distrustful. But, if you look into the bottom of your heart, you will find a little light that tells you “try it, you have nothing to lose.”

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