For four decades I rolled around threw pity parties one after another and just lived in a low level depression - Through choices made life just became worse as time marched on and when thinking this has got to be the lowest level of life - it just became deeper and thoughts of suicide crept in and overtook my mind, body and soul. I didn't even know that you could live a life cloaked in absolute depression and that's what it was complete and utter clinical depression.
What do you do to over come depression? You quickly and drastically change your life - You literally rip of that mental handicapped Band-Aid and change yourself immediately and with no looking back. First things first - start some daily activity the completely engulfs your mind and body. Something that will not give you time to think about anything else but what is in front of you at that moment.. Things like learning to ride a motocross bike, rock or mountain climbing, kick boxing, or karate. I chose motocross because it requires the most physical abilities that you can muster and you have to be laser focused at all times to stay up right cross the finish line. Not to mention the flat out thrill you get from making thirty to fifty foot jumps and catch some air to boot.
Change your eating habits to one that will fuel your new activities properly. Eating lots of carbs and sugars and caffeine will only keep you in a cycle of being a loser. Drink tons of water and take plenty of vitamin supplements. Eat more seafood, raw veggies like broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, onions, etc.
Get out of yourself and help others - Join organizations like Habitat for Humanity, get involved with your neighborhood charities and church. Helping others helps you by seeing that you really do not have it that bad at all.
To recap: Plenty of Activities, Healthy Diet, Help Others and you have to make these three things a habit - "Thirty days makes a Habit" they say. In the past we have made a habit of doing and thinking negative things and this had become our life - You can chose what your habits are in life. Getting rid of depression starts by ridding your lifestyle of unneeded mental and physical handicaps we have imposed on ourselves.
Another must do is get professional help - Shop around for a therapist - not all are a good match - and believe it or not some therapist live in depression and do not even know themselves. So find a positive up beat person that you can see weekly or even daily if need be at first. Get everything out on the table with them - no secrets - cleanse your mental inventory and let them help you rebuild and reclaim a good healthy happy life without depression.
The above sounds good and in a perfect world we could just do it and there would be no problems - but our body and mind reject change a lot of times and this is where the fight for a good life comes in and must be paid close attention to. When it's time to exercise, eat, work, or interact with family and we "don't feel like it" - that's the little guy or gal inside of you that holds you back and wants to keep you in your funk or depression. You literally have overcome all obstacles and get out of your comfort zone to accomplish this mental health miracle.
Changing your career may be a part of you healing yourself. For years I worked in a office and gained weight until I was almost 500 pounds of depressing blubber who only thought about the next break to get more food. Changing to a job that required lots of physical activity and being outside for eight to twelve hours a day was a huge key in getting rid of depression for myself. I slept better at night from being physically exhausted from a hard days work.
Sadly my spouse had to go as well - she was in the same boat I was in but did not want to overcome her depression. For several years I tried helping her to become a mentally healthy person - but her misery was her best friend and she did want to let go - Even though leading by example and showing her how my life had turned around, she only wanted the comfort of her helplessness and shroud of misery that was kept alive inside of her. Her eating habits also had her teetering at the four hundred pound mark and her heart problems and diabetes were caused by this unhealthy lifestyle.
Folks it not easy for everyone on this rock we live on - But it can be better by the simple choices we make. A woman that works for the same company as myself is one of the most positive and happy people that I have had the opportunity to meet in my life. Quite honestly we all thought she was on all kinds of medications to make herself this way. But getting to know her by talking on our lunch break, it turns out that she long ago decided to be happy no matter what life threw her way and it became a habit. Her mother suffered from severe depression and she decide that she was not going to live the life her mom had chosen.
Yes there are things that happened to us in childhood that deeply scar and crush our want to live or even survive. Some of us hang on these memories like a badge of honor as so to explain away why we are the way we are and live. "Stinking Thinking" is a habit of depression that helps us perpetuate the downward spiraling lifestyle.
Changing one's life is a fight or flee type of feeling you get - In the past I would flee when change came upon my doorstep. Now, it gets a mental black eye and is not allowed to loiter in my mind. Constant change for the better can be made a great habit in it's self to help you overcome depression and it will if you so chose to let that be your truth today.
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