Dealing with Depression

Since it is still Mental Health Awareness month, I figured why not write about depression. Not so many people understand what is meant by depression and it frustrates those who are victims of this ‘illness’ so before I go any further, let me give you a breakdown of what depression is. Depression is usually confused and compared with sadness but sadness is merely one of the symptoms of depression alongside self-doubt, overthinking, losing motivation, ignoring responsibilities and distancing yourself from others.

Depression is knowing that you are loved but still feeling as though no one does. It’s being genuinely happy then stopping yourself from being happy because you feel as though you don’t deserve to be. It’s thinking so much about almost everything at once until you are overwhelmed with mixed emotions. It is also about being sad but really struggling to figure out why. I have always thought of depression as demon that comes and visits you every now and then to mentally and emotionally harass you and forces you to smile while it does the harassing. After realizing this I thought, if a prayer can chase away a demon then there must be something that can chase away depression since it acts like a demon. With that said, here are a couple of ways to deal with depression and I hope they work for you too…

Question Yourself

Depression is triggered by the tiniest things so ask yourself, “Why am I feeling this way right now?” – the little notes matter too. Be honest with yourself, if a stranger that didn’t greet you back 2 days ago is one of the reasons then count it too and ask yourself if that really matters now. Also, question yourself what will make you feel better about it – if eating pizza or going for a swim would make you feel better then try by all means to make it happen.

Get Off Social Media 

Get off WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter for a while because that is where you find happy people. No one is depressed or going through anything bad on social media, it’s all people who are trying to convince us that their lives are flawless and when you are depressed, you will fall for that trap. You’ll only feel worse and you will feel lonely. Read a book, watch a movie or even go outdoors for a walk around the block.

Stay indoors

Don’t go out to seek comfort from other people or turn up/drink to avoid thinking. Reality is, you will be jeopardizing yourself by doing that because the next day you will have more to think about and you will probably end up regretting having a good time even.

Stop reading sad quotes

I never understood the logic behind reading sad quotes when you are feeling down and posting them on social media or as statuses/stories. “That moment when you burst out crying in your room and you realize that no one knows how unhappy you are” and “Sometimes all you can do is lie in bed and hope to fall asleep before you fall apart” – I don’t get it… How does it make you feel after posting a sad quote? It does not make sense how that would make you feel better therefore do not do it.

Learn Something New

Learning something new keeps you occupied so the only thing you get to think about is, “how the hell do I do that?” and you focus more on what you are trying to learn. Find YouTube tutorials on whatever you are interested in, whether it’s make-up, sewing or even dancing, find something and get on with it. Pinterest is where you can get inspiration if you really cannot think of anything, you will find something that will grab your attention soon enough.

Treat Depression as Just a Phase

Don’t think that it will last all your life because it really won’t, it will come and go and every time you will get better at dealing with this if you practise these ideas.

Listening to Trap Music

Trap and hip-hop music allows you to get your mind off things and get wild. Soulful music only encourages you to think even deeper, it becomes more like the background music to your thoughts that lead to depression. I have put together a mini trap/hip-hop playlist that I have been jamming lately so just press play on any of these songs and enjoy xox.