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A masterpiece

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5 Things to do when you catch yourself starting to fall into a state of depression

1.      Ask yourself what has changed in your life that most likely is the cause of your sadness

Being sad about something that has happened in your life is completely normal and healthy. When your sadness becomes constant and starts to affect your physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual health, is when it becomes a problem. Sadness comes in all types of levels. You may become sad because you didn’t get accepted into an educational program you wanted to get into, it could be due to a break up, or it could be due to a loss of a loved one.

There is always a variable that has contributed to your sadness. Whether it’s obvious, or you need to sit down and figure out what is causing this slippery slope into depression. It also is normal to have one or several contributing variables.

Identifying what is causing your sadness will not fix the problem, but I believe it is the first step towards healing. Sadness is such an amazing emotion. It teaches us that something mattered to us. When you lose what matters to you, usually what people will tell you is “everything happens for a reason.” I hate that quote, no matter how real it is. I hate this quote because when I am sad the last thing I want to believe is that there is a reason this happened, like why does sadness need to teach me a lesson? Why do I have to experience this sadness? Did I do something wrong? But as much as I hate being told that… that quote has helped me grow from pretty dark situations.

When you identify the main issue; reminding yourself that you did nothing wrong can really help you from falling into a state of depression. Take the time to experience sadness and allow yourself to heal from it, but do not let it begin to ruin your life. It is important to remember that you can’t experience true happiness without experiencing true sadness. Identify the issue, experience it, be stronger than it, and remember that sadness is only a temporary emotion that you are capable of overcoming.

2.      Don’t be alone, Talk about it!

When you are sad, and have come to find yourself to be falling down a slope that could lead to depression, I can’t not stress this enough but… DO NOT BE ALONE!!!

I know for myself, not only do I over think the situation that is causing my sadness while I am alone, but I then begin to create made-up scenarios in my head as well. Being alone has made me increase my time spent on social media (which watching people happy, doesn’t help my sadness get any better). If I am sad due to a specific person, being alone has led me to send text messages that I wouldn’t have sent if I was with people and not in my head.

I believe that when someone spends too much time alone, while in a state of sadness, it can cause irrational thinking and irrational behaviors; in which they are a lot stronger than. It is hard to reach out to others when you’re sad. One reason could be because you don’t even know what is causing the sadness… so how do you reach out? One could be because you feel like a burden, and lastly one could be because you feel safe in your isolated bubble. It could be hard to get yourself to stop being alone, and to go talk about what your feeling, but that really is a big way to break the domino effect towards depression that you have started falling into.

I urge everyone; from someone who suffered from depression, and from someone who has experienced sadness and has took steps forward to not let it destroy me… if you want to be alone while you’re going through a situation that has made you sad; you might as well open the door to your depression right now.

3.      Get yourself to do at least one thing for yourself each day

Everyone has activities that they enjoy. Whether it is reading a book, arts and crafts, working out, playing a sport, taking online classes to learn, etc. I believe every individual has something they love to do that gives them a sense of purpose in life.

When someone is in a state of sadness you may begin to lose interest in those things because your mind is clearly occupied with something else. I know first-hand that it is extremely hard (almost impossible) to just say okay tomorrow I won’t feel down any more and I will get back into the activities I normally love to do.

 I challenge everyone to not just wake up and go back into their normal routine. But to each day do one thing that you enjoy to better your mood. Small steps in the right direction can lead to you falling back into the routine that you love. Those small steps could be… reading 1 page in your favorite book, do 10 jumping jacks in your room, doodle your name in a book with markers, or listening to your favorite song. Everyone has the ability to turn their daily routine into a healthy one; and I believe everyone that is feeling sad and as though they can’t… will surprise themselves with how much inner strength they actually possess.

4. Do NOT over sleep

When you’re feeling down it is easy to just want to lay in bed. You notice the clock ticking, more hours are going by. All of those activities that you needed to get done today, you are telling yourself you can push off until tomorrow because you are “too tired”.

If you know you are in a state of sadness, I believe a small step to getting yourself happier and healthier again is just setting alarms. Tell yourself to be in bed by a certain time with the television and lights off, and set an alarm to wake up by a certain time as well. Let your blood flow, let your mind see and experience new things outside of your closed bedroom door, and break your trend downwards into depression.

5. Don’t blame yourself!

I am going to get real with you on this one. I am going to focus in on a break up for a minute, and I am not just talking about a romantic break up. This break up could be with a family member, a friend, a job, etc. I highly believe that everyone out there has had to walk away from something they didn’t want to walk away from, but knew they had to for their own well-being.

Now you walked away, and you begin to ask yourself… was it really all that bad? Maybe I should have tried harder? Maybe I was wrong? I wonder if they hate me, miss me, etc for leaving? The whole time you were in that situation before you walked away, all you thought about was how much you need to walk away. Then when the time came to walk away, now all you can think about is what if you stayed.

This cycle of questioning your decisions, questioning your gut, and what you deserve, and questioning your actions that helped you stand up for yourself… it will drive you crazy! When one is experiencing sadness because of a situation like this, it is very easy to allow these thoughts to consume your mind. Then before you know it, that is all you are thinking about, and you begin to miss out on actually being present… and in the blink of an eye you’re falling into the slope of depression.

           Remembering that your relationship with yourself comes first, is very important. You need to trust yourself before you trust anyone or anything else. If you believed that a situation wasn’t right for you, then trust your gut. You’re allowed to be sad due to this leading to a change in your life, but you need to remember not to blame yourself.

Take a step back, allow yourself to feel, and then take a step forward! There is too much life ahead of you to allow yourself to fall down the slope into depression!!!!! 

-Kaitlyn Schickler, 22

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I GOTTA GO

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tru

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(Your Secret)

i belong to no 1 

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o my

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i consider gct home

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There is nothing prettier than a city at 5 AM with its empty streets and cold wind.

(via perpetualinsight)

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