What to do when depressed?
When you get depressed, when you start thinking about how unfair life is, how sad it is, when there is nothing or just few things that make you smile and you feel that everything is pointless…Shift your focus away from yourself because the truth is Life is not just about you but whom you going to help, whom you going to make happy, whose heart you will touch and whose life you will make significant and count. There is nothing more rewarding than helping each other and building those relationships. Try yourself, help someone who is in need, and I guarantee you will feel so much gratitude from that person that your mental fog will disappear, until you choose to go back to that again. It is all about a choice. It is all in our hands. It does not require years to get out of that state of mind, this is your rule you either created yourself or took over from someone. You can change those rules instantly.
I remember when I was studying NLP, our teacher said that there was once a study conducted in the US and the question was, what makes us happy the most? (Sorry, I don’t remember the name of the study) And it was not the house, the comfortable lifestyle, the travels etc, of course that makes our life more exciting and easy, but we will not survive without the relationships. All sorts of friendships, partnerships, colleague relationships, relationships with ourselves. Even one truthful Thank You and a Smile from those whom you helped can initiate a change in you. Even if you helped yourself or done something good for yourself, it is equally important, give gratitude.
In a state of depression, I know how hard it is to reach out and help someone because all you want to do is hide and be in misery and be left alone. But you have to ask yourself, in 10 years time where do you see yourself when going this road you’ve already travelled? Do you like the picture or do you want to change it? If not for you, for you kids, for your wife-husband? You have one life to live, when you are old and you feel you are about to leave this world, do you want to say you had the best life ever and everything you craved of doing, you did it or do you want to leave in a bitter state of mind? Take responsibility back to yourself and make that choice to believe in yourself that it is not the only reality that exists. Imagine the version of You who is living a fulfilling life, what does she/he do on daily basis, how does she/he experience a day, what emotions are dominant, what are the needs and how does she/he meets them? You create your own reality and you get to make a choice now, no matter how abusive, how unfair, how painful your past was.
Cherish your life by lending a helping hand to those who are worse off than you, and you will be thanked beyond what you expected. It will help you even more so than the one you helped, if you truly did this kind act from the heart. Choose to see the beauty of life rather than the obstacles and the unfairness of it. There is always a hidden blessing even in the worst times of all. You got to find it and give your gratitude to it.
Love you much,
Oksana