How To Get Rid Of Depression
Struggling with your mental health is an everyday challenge, and sometimes, we wonder what could we do to get rid of what’s keeping us from moving forwards. I know that feeling, I’ve been there.
It’s not a secret that we aim for answers, but what if those answers aren’t what you would’ve like to hear? Or worse, what if there aren’t any answers? Let’s find out together the response to what we came here for, but first, let’s take a quick look at some important factors.
Perspectives
The internet can be such a fun and distracting way to get away from your everyday battles, even if it’s just for a couple of hours, but what happens when we get dragged into the online world of social media?
Social media has its nice, fun, and entertaining aspects as well as its toxic and negative ones. For example, while I was looking through my Facebook feed, I noticed someone had shared a post about how mental illness is just a thing that we “decide” to struggle with. How insane is that? There are people out there that actually think that you can just put your mental illness in a box and throw it away. They think that being mentally ill is a choice. I mean, of course, it’s a choice. I decided on my own, that I was going to be mentally unstable. This wasn’t because of my childhood life-long trauma, nor the abuse I was forced to go through, all throughout until I reached my twenties. That has nothing to do with my mental state. At least that’s what some people actually believe.
Can you imagine a world where one decides what health problems you’d have to deal with for the rest of your life? I mean, if some scientists would love to dig deeper into this idea, I would love to be a volunteer. Dealing with a mental illness is in no way something that we decide to live with. It’s not a label we stamp on our foreheads for people to be sorry for us, to judge us, to make fun of us, to invalidate what we’re dealing with; believe me, no one wants that.
In What Aspects Does Depression Affect Us?
People often think that depression is just a phase, others think that we’re just faking it because it can’t be that hard, much less “that serious”. Other people think we’re just being weak and lazy, they think that it’s something that we can just forgive and forget. They really don’t know the amount of work it takes a depressed person to even manage to live another day; believe me, it’s not a phase.
Other common misconceptions people have is that they think depression it’s just in our heads. They really don’t know how wrong they are.
Depression can also affect your physical state. Some days you don’t want to shower, other days you’re just too drained to even eat, much less get out of bed. Your muscles tense and you feel your chest tightening. Your skin feels like it might break just by the simple act of touching it. You just feel miserable in your body and you wish you could just disappear for a few seconds. That would actually be a dream come true, right?
How To Get Rid Of Depression?
That million-dollar question that has been circling in your head for so long and it still keeps bugging you so much…
Many people will tell you to exercise, apparently, yoga is good for relaxing your body and concentrating on that internal peace people are always telling you about – that relaxing feeling you’ll feel after doing a yoga routine. I have tried yoga and it just makes me even more depressed and anxious not being able to do all of those moves. My body is not strong enough, much less I have balance.
Other people will tell you to go out more so you can meet new individuals and get out of your comfort zone. Sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong. It’s a trap.
Being around people only spikes up my social anxiety which leads to more hibernation and depressing thoughts on my end
After hearing of all of these magic cures that people are extremely confident that they’ll work, but they just don’t. You just keep asking yourself, once again, you’re left with the unanswered question of how to get rid of depression.
I don’t want you to get too excited, but I think I finally found the answer. Are you ready for it?
There is no cure.
You read that right. There’s no magic cure for depression. If there was then we’d all be cured by now. Trauma, abuse, poverty, family issues, financial problems, illnesses, toxic environment, misunderstandings, work, society…those are all contributing factors for the decrease in our mental stability, and sadly, there’s no cure. We can’t throw those thoughts away, nor the situation that we’re currently in. It’s just not possible. No matter how much you try telling yourself you’ll be free someday, it’s just something that your subconscious will carry for a long time. I’m not saying that nothing will ever change, but there’s a slight chance that you will have to live and carry this cross on your back for the rest of your life.
Alternatives
As we all know, there might be certain things that work well for some people. Things that won’t cure your depression but they can help you understand yourself and live a more fulfilling life.
Keep in mind: all of these things won’t work on every individual. You’ll just have to find what’s good for you and see how those things go and how you adapt to them, if you see any improvement then you can later upgrade your game to something that could be even more helpful. Believe me, you can see results.
- Write – Writing is so deeply therapeutic and an amazing unwinding method of detoxing your brain from all of that negative energy that you’ve been feeling. You can even start your own blog and share your expirences and accomplishments with the world.
- Exercise – I know, you’ve heard about this a million times and you probably think it doesn’t work, but it does…until it doesn’t. You see, once you start working out, you’re motivating yourself to be active, while you work-out you’re listening to music which puts you in an even better mindset. It all goes down when you either become obsessed with your body, or it becomes another everyday routine – to which you don’t want to be part of it anymore.
- Cooking – If you’re like me, you’d probably burn the house while pouring milk into the cereal, so this might not be for everyone, but it does do the job of distracting yourself even if it is for an hour.
- Therapy – Yes, I know it sounds scary and I know that some of you may be too anxious to even consider making an appointment with a therapist, not to mention, how much money you’d be spending. I don’t know if you’ve heard about online therapy but if you haven’t I recommend you checking them out. I made a Talkspace review some time ago, maybe it’ll help you bring some insights on what all of this is about.
- Watching TV shows – This is actually my #1 thing to do as a coping mechanism. Which for me, actually works really well. If you have Hulu I would definitely recommend you trying these shows.
That’s honestly it. Depression makes you feel powerless sometimes and there’s never really a way to cope with how your head manages to process the circumstances around your surroundings. I have learned to do what makes me feel something…anything. Grab it and hold on to it. That small thing can sometimes be the only thing that’s keeping you here.
So, What’s The Cure?
I have bad news for you, my friend. There is no cure for depression. I’m pretty sure I’ve already said that before, but I think it’s important for people to know this and to not get their hopes too high because there’s really nothing to do when you’re dealing with this illness, with the exception of the few small things that can make you feel comfortable, happy and confident.
Don’t fall for “this will cure your depression” scams. They’re not worth any penny of yours. The world has endless possibilities and endless resources, to which many people don’t use, maybe we won’t see it in our lifetime, but who knows, maybe someday there would be an actual high-functioning and effective cure for depression. For now, let’s stick to what we know and what makes us feel like it was worth waking up in the morning.
• Why Do People Isolate Themselves?
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for bringing this issue to light, I think all of us have been depressed several times in our lives. In our time this is more and more common, we live in a stressed world, if we turn on the news for some time, we’ll be stressed, in fear, etc.. Exercise has you said helps, you need to do something you like, even a walk in nature, in sun, music. The cure will come with time, time is what heals everything, meanwhile there are natural supplements you can try, like omega 3, zinc, B6, magnesium, they don’t hurt you and if you feel better, cool.
Be happy,
Isabella
Thank you for your recommendations, Isabella.
I went through depression for a few years when I had burnout. Depression is a terrible thing to go through and although I healed from burnout, and I am happy and filled with a zest for life, depression is never truly gone. It lingers deep in the subconscious, ready to leap out at any time when my psyche gets a new blow. To stay on top of that you need to continuously work on yourself, well, that’s what I do. I am always outside. Fresh air gives you energy. I love to cook, and cooking is creative, as is writing, two things that you mentioned. I believe that once you get your creative juices flowing, you start feeling much better about yourself and happier.
Like you, I tried yoga too. I felt good when I did it, but by the time I got home the effect was gone. Meditation works much better for me, and going for walks, spending time with my dogs and cats, writing, cooking.
Friends who have never gone through depression can say the most horrid things. I have heard some “well-meant” advice that left me shocked, “advice” that left me feeling worse. “We all got sh..t to deal with”, “just get over it” … So, I understand what you mean, I really do. A therapist is a much better person to talk to. I saw a therapist when I went through burnout. They are people who are trained to help and who will not judge us for what we have been through. Friends should be left for friend activities but you can’t always share everything that’s going with you with them, certainly not things like depression … unless they’ve been through it themselves.
I have also been through child abuse, and it affected me for decades. Forgiveness helped me heal from that, but there are still mental scars. It isn’t easy to get such damage out of your system.
Very good post, and very sincere. There is no cure, true; there are only methods that can help you cope and live your life as well as you can.
I am so sorry for all of the things you’ve been through. Surely there are methods out there and people who are willing to help us, it’s all just a matter of understanding and one’s will to get better. Take care of yourself!