Jermaine Jamero
Depression is usually associated with sadness. A great sadness that can cripple a persons life. For better or worse, that isn’t really true. Depressed people can certainly be sad, but it’s more of a “nothing”. Depressed people can be lost in the thought that there’s nothing good out there, or never will be. That isn’t true at all and thinking about that is a trap.
So, here are some great ways to help fill up your void with a “something” instead.
1. Meditation
One of the best ways to take control of your mind, is to take control of your mind. Wrestling down the demon that plagues you every day is a great way to improve your outlook on life. This is much like how running a marathon will make walking around easier. You’ll gain skills and habits that help drive away depression as you go about your day.
2. Amiable Ambiance
Music always sets the mood and it’s pretty hard to ignore. Listening to upbeat music, energetic music, or epic music will have an impact on your emotions. Fast paced music can help with lethargy, and waking up. It also makes it awkward to think negative thoughts when on in the background.
3. Touch Therapy
The mind is easily influenced. Using therapies that work by psychology are amazingly effective at changing your mood. The brain is especially responsive to physical therapies that involve the body. This includes acupuncture and even breathing exercises. They can help to improve your outlook on life.
4. Vitamins
The brain is a material thing and it need the right resources to work. It’s not uncommon for many people to suffer a lack of omega-3 fatty acids. These acids are commonly associated with mental acuity and happiness. Fish oil supplements are a simple solution.
5. Escape From Negativity
While it is good to learn from your mistakes, it is bad to dwell on them. It’s difficult make progress, improvement, and be happy when you are always thinking about the bad. It’s also fairly easy to convince yourself that small flaws are major problems. When ever you find yourself over focusing on the bad things try to change topics.
6. Avoid Negative Tunnel Vision
In much the same way, it is important to not focus on negatives in the future. Many people manage to convince themselves that everything will go wrong. This can lead to missing the good paths in life. It’s possible to be trapped in a tunnel of your own making if you don’t look for the positive paths leading out.
7. Find Something Else to Focus On
Distractions are amazingly powerful as anyone who ever had a deadline can attest to. Try to find a good set of distractions that you can rely on. Then, whenever your thoughts get the best of you, you can distract yourself until they go away. Dogs are usually ready to play and make a good choice. Having a pet can drastically improve your mood.
8. Brighten Your Day
Humans are amazingly responsive to daylight. Having a good amount of light, especially daylight, can make you feel like the day is yours. The brain is hardwired to control it’s activity based on daylight, from sleeping to mood. Staying in the sunlight lets it know that it is time to be up and awake. It’s also good to get some vitamin D in your life.
9. Analyze Your Thoughts
A good way to avoid bad thinking is to find out what leads to it. Cognitive Therapy can help identify what makes you think negative thoughts. By identifying these things you can start to avoid them. Preventing problems is much better than fixing them.
10. Write it Down
Writing down your thoughts makes you work through them. It’s easier to see where they come from and how they tick. Most importantly, it also gets them out of your head. Start a journal, make a comic, or just write them down on scraps of paper. Then, put them away and think about something else.
11. Make Friends
Friends are very effective at keeping you active. They tend to distract you from your thoughts. They can help you when you have problems. Just knowing you have friends makes getting through tough times easier. Spend some time outside getting to know people.
12. Get Some Rest
Sleep deprivation is a well known cause of all kinds of issues. From mental disorders and stress, to health problems and weight issues. Meanwhile, getting enough rest can improve your memory, increase your energy levels, and help you feel normal.
13. Forgive and Forget
Harboring negative thoughts of any kind, even grudges, will only ruin your day. Learn to forgive problems and inconveniences. Learn to forget the larger things that you can’t change. You don’t have to give the world a free pass to walk all over you, but don’t help them either.
14. A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body
The brain is a part of the body too. Its health and fitness is tied to your overall physical health. Getting in shape makes your brain healthy, this keeps your mind healthy. The extra mobility, strength, and life expectancy are nice bonuses.
15. Never Give Up
Progress can take time and is easy to lose. As tempting as it can be to call it quits just for one day, it’s never just for one day. Giving up makes it harder for tomorrow. Make sure to keep fighting to improve your life and never slide back down.
16. Beware of Social Media
Social media promises to connect people. However, it also connects their negatives. This comes in many forms. Companies constantly flood your feed with negative events. Bad actors start drama amongst friends. People start debating politics. Even the good parts have flaws. It’s far to easy to compare yourself to the best people you can find, only to fall short.
17. Live Your Life
It’s all to easy to focus on others to the detriment of yourself. Living your life around the thoughts and opinions of family and friends is a common trap to fall into. However, this doesn’t often lead to happiness. It’s important to remember it’s your life, not theirs.
18. Don’t Live Their Life
People do it to themselves, too. They see how others live their lives. They see the success others have and the best qualities about them. Then they compare themselves to that and find themselves lacking. Don’t try to live someone else’s life. Don’t compare yourself to others. You are you, they are them.
19. Eat Right
One of the modern world’s biggest plagues is unhealthy eating. It’s an easy trap to fall into and leads to many problems. Eating poorly can lead to poor health and feeling terrible. You don’t need to cut out tasty foods, but you do need moderation. You also need to get enough vitamins, fiber, protein, and even fat.
20. Communicate
Don’t seal yourself off from others. Even if they’re strangers, just saying hi can improve your mood. It’s all to easy to get lost in your own little world and forget the rest of the planet is out here. Keeping up a good communication line is vital to staving that off.
21. Make Some Goals
Having a goal to work towards gives you something to do. It also gives you something you have done. What you have done is a reminder that you were there. It reminds you that you improved something in your life. It also gives you something to improve moving forward, so you don’t have a large nothing on your horizon.
22. Develop a Hobby in Something Big
Taking an interest in things like astronomy for example, can help give you some perspective on your problems. Seeing the things that bother you dwarfed by something else, either conceptually or literally, it can help you get over them.
23. Take it Slow From Time to Time
Make sure to set a time in your day for you to just relax. Modern life can be a frantic existence. That builds up stress. Don’t do anything hectic, don’t watch TV, just relax. It doesn’t need to be long, just enough for you to gather yourself together.
24. Work For Your Future
It can be tempting to wait until you are ready for something. Delaying things until it gets easier never works. You won’t make progress in your life, your work, or your happiness, unless you work for it.
25. Get Another Perspective
Sometimes what you need is to just shock your mind out of it’s rut. So, get up and move out of that rut. Literally, just get up and look around. Go somewhere where you don’t usually don’t go and see what things look like. Even if this doesn’t change your world view, it’ll make you focus on something new.