Let’s face it! You can sleep well, take all your medication, exercise regular, eat good, and think positive thoughts constantly. Yet, your chemical imbalance can still have its day, and a depressive episode can literally hit you! You can have the best day of your life, go to sleep, and wake up the next day in mental hell. One hundred to zero, real quick.
For me personally, as my depression has gotten more manageable, rather than feeling sad all the time, I tend to have these episodes, and they can last from a few hours, to a week! Therapy can be expensive, although truly worth it if you can; even so, you can’t always get help on demand. And so, in an already terrible mental state, you have no choice but to GET YOURSELF THROUGH IT!
Never fear, it can be done.
Personally, I do a few things every time that help me feel better, or at least give me the strength to weather the storm.
First, I make sure I know I will get through it. When a depressive episode hits, it’s very easy to feel like this one is truly the one that will end it all. So I repeat, “Kiswana, you know what this is. You have gotten through this before, and you will again.”
Next, I forgive myself. I speak to myself kindly, gently, and constantly, until I understand that it is not my fault, and that there is no reason to feel bad for feeling bad. Sometimes, I feel like my sadness is trivial, especially when there are “real problems” in the world. But at the end of the day, sadness is unfortunately a universal feeling, and depression is out of my control. So I say to myself, “Kiswana, it’s ok to feel sad. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
Finally, I allow myself to be sad. In my life, I am surrounded by take-action people who always want me to make something of my sadness. And I’m sure that’s a technique that helps many people. For me personally, however, I can barely stay awake when I’m sad. I’m not going to write a symphony, or have my best workout yet, and I have come to terms with that. So I just let myself feel it. Lie in bed, listen to sad music, eat, sleep, cry. But only temporarily. I say to myself, “Kiswana, today (or however long I feel I need) you are allowed to be sad, but tomorrow we will try to be happy.” And, after much practice, usually I do.
I am by no means a professional, these are just some things that help me!
depressed and well dressed 