With the onset of autumn, decreasing daylight hours and the onset of cold weather, many face depression, and sometimes it is not seasonal at all. Depression drains your vital energy, making it difficult to take steps to help you feel better. Overcoming an illness requires effort and time, but it is not impossible. We'll tell you how to deal with it.
Dealing with depression requires action, but taking action when it's already consuming you can be difficult. Sometimes even thinking about going for a walk or exercising can be tiring. However, the most difficult actions at first glance are what really help. The first step is always the most difficult, but it is the basis of the second, third and all subsequent steps. Your energy reserves are quite enough to go out for this very walk or just pick up the phone and call your loved one. By taking the following positive steps every day, you will soon overcome depression and feel stronger and happier.
Get out of yourself and stay connected.
It is important to get support from friends and family. But the very nature of depression makes it difficult to accept help; you become isolated from society, staying “to yourself.” You feel too exhausted to speak and may even feel ashamed and guilty about your situation. But it's just depression. Communicating with other people and attending various events can bring you out of this state and make your own world more diverse.
Depression is not a sign of weakness. It does not mean that you are a heavy burden to others. Your loved ones care about you and want to help. Remember that we all feel depressed from time to time. If you feel like you have no one to turn to, it's never too late to start a new friendship.
Seek support from people who make you feel safe. The person you are talking to should be a good listener, not an advisor. You need to speak out so that you are not judged or given advice. During the conversation, you yourself will feel an improvement and, most likely, will find a way out of your condition. The act of communicating with another person is important so that you are not speaking into emptiness.
Try to stay close to like-minded people, even if you don’t feel like it right now. Yes, you are comfortable being in thoughts, thoughts, and so on, and sometimes this really does good and enriches you, but not when you take a wrong turn and bury yourself.
It's also good to provide support to other people. Research shows that your mood improves even more when you help someone. Helping makes you feel needed. You can be a listener, help people in various situations, and even take care of animals. Everything will work out for the good.
10 tips for the first step:
1. Talk to a loved one about your feelings
2. Offer your help to someone with a similar situation.
3. Have lunch with a friend
4. Invite a loved one over and start a tradition of doing it once a week.
5. Go to a concert, movie, or event with friends
6. Send an email to a friend who lives far away
7. Go to a workout with a friend
8. Think through and write down plans for the week ahead.
9. Help strangers, join a club or society
10. Talk to a spiritual teacher, someone you respect, or a sports coach.
Do what makes you feel good
To overcome depression, you must do things that relax and nourish you. This includes following a healthy lifestyle, learning something, hobbies, hobbies. Try attending a fun or original event that you would never attend. You will definitely have something to discuss with your friends.
Although it's hard for you to force yourself to have fun right now, you need to do something even if you don't like it. You will be surprised at how much better you feel when you are here in the world. Gradually you will become more energetic and optimistic. Express yourself creatively through music, drawing or writing, return to a sport you used to enjoy or try a new one, meet friends, visit museums, go to the mountains. Do what you like.
Aim for adequate sleep and maintain your health. If you sleep too little or too much, your mood suffers. Monitor your stress. Find out what's bothering you and get rid of it. Make it a habit to practice relaxation. Try yoga, breathing practices, relaxation and meditation.
Come up with a list of things that could improve your mood and try to implement them. If nothing comes to mind, try something from our list:
1. Spend time in nature, have a picnic in the forest or on the lake
2. Make a list of things you like about yourself.
3. Read a good book
4. Watch a comedy or TV show
5. Sit in a warm bubble bath with essential oils
6. Take care of your pets, bathe them, brush them, take them to the veterinarian for examination
7. Listen to music
8. Arrange a spontaneous meeting with a friend or spontaneously go to some event
Move
When depressed, you may have difficulty getting out of bed, let alone exercising. But physical activity is a powerful depression fighter and one of the most effective recovery tools. Research shows that regular exercise can be as effective as medication in relieving symptoms of depression. They also help prevent relapse after you recover.
Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Start with a 10-minute walk, and then work your way up. Your fatigue will go away, your energy levels will improve, and you will feel less tired. Find what you like and do it. The choice is great: walking, dancing, strength training, swimming, martial arts, yoga. The main thing is to move.
Add an element of mindfulness to your activities, especially if your depression is rooted in an unresolved problem or psychological trauma. Focus on how your body feels, pay attention to the sensations in your legs, arms, and respiratory organs.
Eat healthy
What you eat has a direct impact on how you feel. Reduce your intake of foods that can negatively affect your brain and mood, including caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, and foods high in chemical preservatives and hormones.
Don't skip meals. Long gaps between meals make you feel irritable and tired. Minimize sugar and refined carbohydrates found in sugary snacks, baked goods, pasta and French fries, which quickly lead to low mood and lack of energy.
Include foods that contain B vitamins in your diet. Take a course of supplements or eat more citrus fruits, leafy greens and beans.
Get your daily dose of sunshine
The sun increases serotonin levels and improves mood. Go outside during the day and walk for at least 15 minutes a day. Even if you can't see the sun behind the clouds, the light is still good for you.
Go for walks during your lunch break, take a thermos of tea and drink it outside, have a picnic if the weather permits, walk the dog more than twice a day. Try going on a hike in the forest, playing outdoor games with friends or children. It doesn't matter what it is, the main thing is to get sunlight. Increase the amount of natural light at home and at work, open blinds or curtains, and organize a workplace near a window.
Some people become depressed due to the shorter daylight hours in the fall and winter. It's called seasonal affective disorder, which makes you feel like a completely different person. However, there are many things you can do during the colder months that will make you feel better.
Challenge negative thinking
Are you powerless and weak? Can't cope with something that supposedly isn't your fault? Do you feel hopeless? Depression negatively affects everything, including how you see yourself and your future.
When these thoughts overwhelm you, it is important to remember that they are a symptom of your depression and these irrational, pessimistic views, known as cognitive distortions, are not realistic. You cannot break out of this pessimistic mind by telling yourself, “Just think positively.” It is often a part of life's thinking that has become so automatic that you are not even fully aware of it. The trick is to identify the type of negative thoughts that are fueling your depression and replace them with more balanced thinking.
Become an outside observer of your thoughts. Ask yourself questions:
What is the evidence that this idea is true?
What do I say to a friend who has these thoughts?
Is there another way to look at the situation or an alternative explanation for it?
How do I look at the situation when I am not depressed?
When you challenge your negative thoughts, you may be surprised at how quickly they crumble. In this process, you will develop a more balanced perspective and help yourself move out of depression.
Get professional help
If you have taken self-help steps and made positive lifestyle changes and still feel like your depression is getting worse, seek professional help. This will not mean that you are weak. Sometimes negative thinking when depressed can make you feel lost, but depression can be treated and you will feel better.
However, keep these self-help tips in mind. They can be part of your treatment, speeding recovery and preventing the return of depression.
Ekaterina Romanova
Often during the first meeting with a person who has asked for psychological support, I hear complaints about weakness, laziness, lack of vitality, and the fact that there is no joy in life. People explain dissatisfaction with life by uninteresting work, age, health, weather, actions of a particular person, etc. People tend to distort cause-and-effect relationships and look for the cause of dissatisfaction with their own lives in the outside world. In fact, the reason is inside. And the external world and the events of our life are a reflection of our internal state.
Since childhood, our thinking has been split into two parts: black and white, bad and good, heaven and earth, it is possible and it is impossible, heaven and hell. A small child does not yet have such polarities; he is holistic, undivided. But gradually society accustoms us to duality and ambivalence. And we no longer become whole, and life energy begins to flow through this gap.
Where does life energy go?
- to hold a closed door with the words “I can’t”, “I can’t”, “I can’t do it” (instead of opening up to myself);
- to be at enmity with parts of oneself (instead of accepting parts of oneself);
- tossing from one part of oneself to another (instead of restoring the integrity of oneself);
- to implement other people's plans (instead of living your own life).
Let's talk about how to restore integrity.
The outside world (parents, teachers at school, friends, strangers) has “nailed” a person to a certain place in its system, telling you how little you can do, that everything pleasant is indecent, that wanting a lot is bad, that the world is cruel. and unfair. As a result, everything you wanted and dreamed about (once, when you were still whole) turned out to be hidden inside you, locked up along with the energy necessary to realize your desires. A certain internal code has been formed in you, a set of rules by which you live, often perceiving this as your own belief system.
In search of lost integrity, people often go in search of a “soulmate.” You can read what comes of this in my article
What kind of people do we need in society? Quiet, calm, obedient, hard-working. A huge number of people live their whole lives according to this code, monotonously, without joy, without taste, without pleasure, believing that this is their own life.
Everyone has plans for your life: parents, children, relatives, society, the state, a clothing store and a supermarket. Everyone wants something from you: for you to do well in school, graduate from college, get married, vote for the president, buy new clothes all the time, get your nails done, eat food from this or that brand, earn money for your child’s education, and then for a car, etc. You want to live a joyful, calm, fulfilling life, have a good income, a family, develop spiritually, do what you like. And they want you to work at a low-paid job, keep a low profile and fulfill other people’s desires. In life, only one plan can be realized - either your own or someone else’s plan. Most people are engaged in fulfilling other people's desires and realizing other people's plans. Where does joy come from here? It is impossible to realize your plan and your desires until you have your own integrity. But to restore one’s own integrity, and to take care of oneself in general, will be hampered by the emotions that are so skillfully imposed on us, programmed into the personality. This is such a vicious circle. Many people say: “I don’t feel any guilt.” The tendency to deal with other people's tasks and not deal with your own is a consequence of feelings of guilt. If you often help others instead of solving your own problems, if you often get bullied, then you have a strong feeling of guilt. A person will unconsciously block his own desires, those very “his tasks”, because if he takes them on, he will unconsciously experience a feeling of guilt. The world gives you energy for YOUR tasks. And you can use this energy if you are free from guilt. Then joy and contentment returns to life.
What can you do to ensure that your joy of life, contentment with life and vitality return?
Our brain functions in very interesting ways. His main task is to leave everything as it is. If nothing threatens survival, then he will not budge. And if there is a threat to life, he will do everything possible to eliminate this threat or remove the “body” from the source of the threat.
In other words, you are alive now, which means there is no threat to your life. When you start moving towards yourself, a feeling of guilt is activated (for the majority). The brain sees this unpleasant feeling as a threat to life and stops movement. If you managed to cope with the feeling of guilt, then as soon as you open the door with prohibitions, your needs, desires, and external events begin to change. The brain begins to block change. Possible rollbacks. At this stage, many people retreat: “Like, I tried everything, nothing helps.”
But there are tactics that allow you to “deceive” the brain so that it does not recognize the changes and does not begin to block them. I open the door to myself, find integrity, cope with feelings and start living MY OWN life.
Your psychologist, Larisa Artamonova
50Health 08/02/2012
Today I would like to touch on a very important topic, in my opinion - the joy of life. Over the past 20 years in developed countries, the number of people who have lost the ability to enjoy life has increased by 25%. Scientifically, the loss of the feeling of joy from ordinary life is called anhedonia. This disease has occurred at all times, but with the development of society its frequency has become much greater.
It has been noticed that people who suffer most from this are those who have achieved a lot: they have had a successful career and can afford almost everything. The main reason for anhedonia is the change in our lifestyle and the availability of entertainment.
"Benefits" of civilization.
If you remember, some 50-70 years ago, Russian women had to carry water in buckets, heat it in the oven, wash everything by hand, prepare lunch every day, which could not be stored until tomorrow in the refrigerator. Naturally, a simple moment of rest brought them joy.
Now we have everything. Or almost everything. Machines do a lot for us, and we spend all our free time either on work, which may exhaust us, or on entertainment. Moreover, all this begins to become boring, especially when it is available.
What makes everything worse is the huge information flow that we do not have time to “digest.” And it turns out to be a vicious circle - dissatisfaction with life plus mental fatigue. This is why many people now lose the feeling of joy from books, favorite music, and even from a loved one. What does it mean? Are we all so callous?
Dangerous consequences of anhedonia.
Probably each of us has noticed that after a change of scenery, after a rest, everything is seen in different colors. This way, the feeling of joy can return to us, without the need for a psychotherapist.
However, andegonia can develop into real depression. And this is already scary. Without receiving pleasure hormones from traditional things, we can look for them in food. Moreover, often without realizing it. So excess weight is one of the possible reasons for loss of joy in life. And even hypertension and diabetes, arthritis and peptic ulcers are all a consequence of the loss of positive emotions.
How to bring back the joy of life?
If you can’t figure out all the problems yourself, you can recommend turning to a good psychologist for help. But often, for some reason, we don’t want to go to him, and finding a good psychologist is a problem. What to do in this case?
A more effective method of combating the loss of joy in life is considered to be creating artificial stress .
It is not without reason that passion for extreme sports is growing all over the world, especially among wealthy people. Many consider trips into the wilderness and voluntary renunciation of the benefits of civilization to be the whims of rich people. But in fact, this is one of the most effective ways to regain your feeling of happiness. Agree, this is better than looking for lost joy in alcohol and drugs. Not all of us have this opportunity, of course. But if you wish, you can look for extreme sports in more accessible things.
Another very effective way to deal with an emotional state is to play sports. You can also bring back your joy in life by listening to the best affirmations. Pleasure hormones are restored. It’s so simple, but we don’t always get it.
Well, medications for anhedonia do not always help. They only work in cases where the loss of joy is combined with depression or other more serious disorders.
So we ourselves are responsible for all our emotions. Sometimes we don’t see, and we don’t want to notice, the simple joys of life; we don’t know how to be grateful for everything we have. The other day a friend called me and told me that she had buried her husband. I was left alone with two children. I don’t want to condemn anyone, I ask you to understand me correctly, but how much was once said about everything, how many problems there were, how difficult everything was...
Let's think again about what we have and what we don't value. And now I want to invite you to read one parable. Parable from Sergei Shepel. I introduced you to this amazing man. Here is the parable itself.
Parable of LOST HAPPINESS.
Happiness lived in a person, lived, did not grieve. It loved freedom, space, flight, beauty and love. It saw the inner, potential beauty, light and purity in everything and wanted the person to see them, and he poked her nose at today’s external imperfection and ugliness and covered her eyes with this “dirt.” He tied her wings with ropes of grievances and claims and set up barriers of conventions.
And so happiness stopped flying, either because of the tied wings, or because of the barriers of conventions, against which it injured its large wings when they were not tied, or because because of the dirt in front of its eyes, it could not see where to fly. But fortunately flight was necessary; without flight and freedom it was suffocating. And from such a life, happiness began to wither, it became indifferent to everything.
Time passed, and it changed so much that people stopped recognizing it. He became sad without happiness and began to call him:
-Happiness, where are you?
“Yes, here I am,” it answered.
-No, you are “not happiness.”
-Who am I then?
-I don’t know, but the fact that you are “not happy” is for sure.
- Yes, how can it be, take a closer look, here I am - your happiness.
-No, no, you are “not happiness.”
So, invisibly, this new nickname was attached to happiness - “NOT HAPPINESS.”
The man began to wonder where this “misfortune” came from and where, in fact, did “his” happiness go? Not finding “his” happiness within himself, he began searching for it in the outside world. And everywhere the man looked for him and tried to attract him with everything, delicious food, money, jewelry, a car, and a luxurious apartment with furniture, but nothing helped. So man still wanders in search of it and cannot find it. And how will he find it if it is not there outside, if it is where it was before - within himself?
And I really want to shout: “Wake up, man. Stop looking for your happiness where it doesn’t exist. Look, here it is in you. Yes, yes, what you now call misfortune. What? You will not know? So maybe you should try to wash it from the dirt with which you smeared it, free its wings and remove the barriers of conventions to give it the opportunity to fly? Maybe then you will recognize him?
I hope you will hear me, man, and help your happiness to regain freedom and become yourself.
This is the wisdom from Sergei Shepel.
Today is a heartfelt gift from me Elena Frolova Straw of love . I introduced you to this singer. This is my favorite song from Elena's repertoire. I won't write anything. To be honest, I don’t even know how I can complement such music and such performance. Listen to it all for yourself.
I wish everyone to hold such a straw of Love, enjoy life, take care of loved ones and appreciate everything that we have.
see also
50 comments
- LISTEN TO YOURSELF. If at this moment you feel sadness and melancholy, surrender fully to these difficult feelings. You have a right to them.
- FIND A SUITABLE ACTIVITY. Perhaps it's time to watch a sentimental movie or look through your diary from ten years ago. Or just cry into your pillow. By the way, tears have a cleansing effect.
- THINK THAT THIS WILL PASS. No matter how bad it gets, you should always look for a thread to cling to. This thread is our hope for tomorrow, that everything will change for the better and we will be in great shape. Think about good things even in the most difficult periods - and they will certainly happen to you!
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Andrey
23 Mar 2017 at 9:45
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When the world turns gray and indifference overshadows all feelings, the surest way out is to find something you like
Why does the desire to dream and create suddenly disappear?
Joy inspires and gives a feeling of fulfillment in life. But suddenly something breaks and she leaves. Do you know the feeling of hopelessness and apathy? To cope with it, you need to understand its true cause.
Fatigue – the simplest and most common reason that the world around us ceases to be enjoyable. Feelings become dull, everything seems gray and monotonous. And the only recipe in this case is to have a good rest.
Sometimes we think that we live a very boring life. “The lives of artists (showmen, politicians, journalists...) are interesting and rich, not like mine,” we think. The paradox is that writers, artists, performers, and pop stars are all equally tired of what they do every day. No matter who you are, from time to time you need to break out of everyday reality and change the picture. Take a vacation and go further away - to another city, another country. Free yourself from your usual routine. Breathe the air of freedom. Learn new things. Often this step can restore strength and bring back the joy of each day.
But it happens that the blues become chronic. Complete disappointment, reluctance to do anything, awareness of the meaninglessness of life - these are the symptoms of this condition. “We lose joy in one case: when we cannot use life to satisfy our needs,” says psychoanalytic therapist Eduard Livinsky. – A person perceives the world through the prism of what he can influence. And if he satisfies other people’s desires and sacrifices his own, then he feels frustration. But this is exactly how we are raised! You go to work where no one is going to think about your personal needs. You live in a society that is focused on the accumulation of capital, and if you have different values, you have to break yourself. Joy is always the joy of doing one’s own work, being active for oneself among like-minded people.”
6 ways to shake yourself up and want to live
If everyday life has become boring, you need to look for a way to diversify it. Just don’t sit idly by: apathy doesn’t go away on its own!
Go on a trip. A change of environment and new experiences expand the boundaries of perception. All sensations become several times sharper. And there is time to think about what, in fact, is important to you.
Get a pet. Caring for a small defenseless creature - even a turtle - gives each of us the necessary feeling of being needed. The animal is entirely dependent on the owner: you will begin to receive joy when you feed it, stroke it, communicate with it.
Go to church for a service. Even if you are not a religious person, try to attend the service, listen to the prayers and understand yourself better. People often find peace and harmony after attending church. It's not even a matter of ritual, but of returning to oneself.
Invent a new hobby. Ask yourself: what is important to you, what have you always wanted to do and what have you denied yourself? And take this step: sign up for a dance class or a theater studio, start learning professional photography. There is nowhere to put it off any further.
Mini home renovation idea. At least rearrange the furniture and redo the wallpaper. Firstly, you will undoubtedly be distracted, and secondly, by transforming and updating your home, you yourself will want to be internally renewed.
Help those who have a harder time. When we do good, we always feel joy. We are transformed, becoming cleaner and brighter. A visit to a sick friend, help for your mother, a few kind words to your neighbor... And maybe some volunteer work.
Pamper your body and your soul will thaw
Bodily pleasures can be an excellent therapy for apathy. To do this, turn everyday procedures into a pleasant ritual. The simplest things that we often do in a hurry can give moments of genuine joy. For example, peeling: there is so much pampering and sensuality in treating the body with a fragrant scrub! The same can be said about Ayurveda’s favorite ritual of oiling, for which any slightly warmed oil is suitable (you can take olive oil and add a few drops of essential oil to your taste). It makes sense to take a course of oil massage or several sessions of stone therapy - massage with heated stones. During such procedures, we focus on our sensations and learn to enjoy touch and tactile contact. The body relaxes, unnecessary thoughts go away along with tension. We take care of ourselves - and this gives us confidence!
With a taste of sadness
There are times when sadness just rolls in. Psychologists advise not to hide from it under fake fun, but to fully experience the emotions.
Take a brush in your hands
Express your feelings through creativity and understand the essence of the problem that worries you, provides the opportunity for art therapy (“healing through art”), a method of psychotherapy that has been popular in recent years. Blues, apathy, lack of interest in life are direct indications of it. The simplest technique is to try to express your emotions in a drawing.
Depict, for example, your melancholy, and then your joy - and compare these two pictures, mentally transferring yourself to a field of joy. If you are overwhelmed with negative emotions, you can even create a sculpture from paper, old newspapers, pieces of wallpaper, and then paint it in sunny colors - try to transform the negative into positive. What is good about art therapy? Firstly, you express your emotions, which means they do not accumulate inside you. Secondly, you pull the problem out and distance yourself from it. And thirdly, the creative process itself is healing and will completely capture you! In addition to isotherapy, there are many other techniques: music, dance, fairy tale, photo, game, drama and even sand therapy.
sitting at home
After a serious operation, I lost faith in myself and in life.
One day my mother brought a set for creating figures from beads. Without inspiration, I started making a heron. But the process captivated me completely. Soon I ordered books on beading online and now I am creating wonderful things. There is no time to be sad. Stranger Yoli
Where to look for life energy
To bring color back to the world, you need to start doing something. Not for anyone, but for yourself. Find the area where your efforts will not be fruitful. Seeing the result of your work, you will want to live again!
The work that does not bring joy and serves only to earn money, relationships in which the sharpness of feelings has long been dulled, constant busyness and haste, many small everyday affairs... How to break this vicious circle? You need to find an area where you can fully realize your abilities, and your perception of life will change.
the main task any of us - to allow our “I” to do something valuable for ourselves. Therefore, any activity that brings you pleasure can relieve you of the blues! The most difficult thing remains: finding something for the soul. The trouble is that we often deactivate our own “I” so much that it loses the ability to create desires. In this case, psychologists recommend remembering what brought you joy in childhood. Sewing outfits for dolls, creating collages, sculpting, drawing - it was sure to be an exciting activity. And then cast aside doubts and false shame (they say, I’m no longer a child) and indulge in what I love! Even if you don't feel inspired at first.
Very important don't isolate yourself. Find people with similar problems so you have someone to talk to. Look for those who share your hobbies, fortunately now this is easy to do using the Internet. But communication should not be limited to the virtual world: it is imperative to go into reality!
Each of us needs so that his activities are appreciated and accepted by others. Therefore, find an opportunity to participate in those collective events where your activity will be welcomed! “A single person can go on a group tour of the city: a friendly atmosphere, an exchange of opinions - and now you are no longer alone! For a young mother who feels like life is passing her by, it is enough to organize a party at home, invite friends with children - and she will perk up, advises Eduard Livinsky. “A life without meaning is a sure path to depression.”
Set goals for yourself and achieve them, and this activity will bring you out of your emotional stupor. Write down five goals focused on your own needs - what you will do for your soul and good mood.
IMPORTANT!
Any communication with children will bring you pleasure and sincere joy if you put aside all matters and devote some time completely to the child. Teach him something, discover a new meaning for his favorite activities. Nothing pleases us more than the success of our children.
Give children joy
The most common cause of apathy and depression is infantility. A person expects life to give him all the joys, not wanting to act on his own. Meanwhile, life requires effort, otherwise it turns into a swamp. Look for new meanings of existence for yourself. One of them may be caring for children who do not have parents. If you're lonely and not too happy right now, give some warmth to those who really need it! Going to the nearest orphanage on the weekend and reading a fairy tale to the kids, talking to older children - this will not require any special expenses. But the impact can be very strong. You will feel that someone needs you, that someone is happy to see you, someone is waiting for you. Which means there is meaning to live!
The Art of Gratitude
Any person feels happy when his efforts are accepted, whether at work or in the family.
Imagine that you prepared a delicious lunch, having spent the whole day fussing over the stove, and your family ate it with blank expressions and didn’t even thank you - where can you be happy? Therefore, at home - in our microcosm, where we ourselves establish the order - we need to cultivate a culture of gratitude.
Teach your children, husband and learn to appreciate what they have done for you. Saying “thank you!”, feeling this warm feeling inside yourself. And thank life for what it gives you.
Experience difficulties. And overcome with honor!
Everything is good, but everything is boring - the blues of satiety, there is no other way to put it. She's being treated!
Live in extreme conditions. For example, go camping with tents. The world will turn upside down. You will begin to notice things that you did not pay attention to before. And many problems will turn out to be unimportant.
Start running. Minimum 3 km per day. It’s not easy to tear yourself away from the TV – the favorite pastime of all those who are moping. But what joy you will feel every time you finish your run! Including the fact that endorphins are released into the blood during running.
My niece brought me out of my apathy
Just two years ago, Poltava resident Diana (26 years old) was seriously depressed. She, pregnant, was left by her loved one. She lost her child from frustration. And these were not all the trials that befell her!
At first everything worked out wonderfully. Having learned that I was expecting a child, Denis proposed to me. We had already invited guests to the wedding, when suddenly at night we quarreled over a trifle. And Denis... disappeared. And I soon ended up in the hospital. The baby was not saved.
I hated men. She lived in chronic apathy. Nothing made me happy. I went to work only because I had to live on something. One day I was walking home tired and thinking: “I want to go to the hospital with a sore throat.” Our negative attitudes are coming true: I slipped unluckily and ended up in intensive care. I was paralyzed, the doctors said that now I would lie down. But a miracle happened: I got back on my feet. I left the hospital knowing that I couldn’t get pregnant for three years.
My sister just had a daughter. And she invited me to her place in Kyiv.
She offered to change her life and stay with her, help with Karina. At first I refused, but six months later I quit my job and moved in with my sister. At first I was afraid to touch the baby. But soon I could easily change her diapers and could stay with her for the whole day. Communication with this sun charged me with energy. We walked with her for a long time, played, I read books to her. Somehow I caught myself thinking that I want the same miracle! Karina taught me to smile again. The depression has passed. Now I am looking for a job in the capital and hope to arrange my personal life.
By caring, we find harmony
Caring for plants and animals is a guaranteed way to fall back in love with the world. In the acclaimed book Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, the main character, Naoko, years after losing a loved one, ends up in a closed hospital in the mountains. People who have lost their taste for life - people like her - are treated there not with medications, but with simple activities: growing vegetables, floriculture and poultry farming.
Working near the earth, coming into contact with its creations, watching how sprouts emerge, how fruits ripen, a person draws strength and is charged with vital energy, forgetting about his mental traumas. This “primitive” activity, despite all the achievements of scientific and technological progress, remains the most natural for us. But where should a city dweller look for a garden or a farm? A good solution is to grow flowers. This hobby does not require a lot of money, but allows you to fully experience the joy of communicating with nature. Flowers are beautiful, they awaken a sense of beauty in us. By caring for them, we free our heads from annoying thoughts, relax and take a break from the hustle and bustle.
Your sources of inspiration
We feel sad when we lack something. And we rejoice when we feel connected to the world and other people. And for this you need not to engage in soul-searching, but to strive to learn new things, to see the world in all its colors. And feel that you are alive!
Nature observation brings joy because it is alive. And depression is nothing more than a loss of life dynamics. Therefore, contemplation of nature is restorative. You watch how the trees bloom, the clouds float, the insects swarm, and you understand: life flows regardless of our small everyday adversities. Against this mesmerizing background, your problems seem insignificant. And nature also instills faith that you can do something as important and natural as a flower blooming or a bee carrying nectar.
Art inspires and demonstrates the diversity of life, showing that not everything around us is gray and monotonous. It also “allows” us to have our own emotions, pushing us to feel, experience, and catch fire. After all, in essence, art is emotions transfused into sounds, colors, and movements. Depression always begins with fear of one’s feelings.
Books and films with a positive plot, dedicated to overcoming obstacles, instills faith in one’s own strength. If the hero coped with difficulties, then you can do it too! Joy goes away because we cannot process the situation, we get stuck in it. And someone else’s example shows: there is a way out, we must look for it! And the only question is how to do it. If you can’t find a way out on your own, you should talk to a friend, a psychologist, or anyone who can help you look at the problem from the outside. And make sure: there is something to be happy about in life!
Beautiful landscapes evoke unconscious joy, so take advantage of every opportunity to be in nature. Alternate active rest with meditation or contemplation of awakening nature. Enjoy spring!
4 books that will put you in a positive mood
Osho. Hsin-Hsin-ming: A book about nothing
Our mind creates dreams. To wake up and experience true joy, you need to go beyond the mind. Osho tells how to “turn off” culturally imposed stereotypes, free yourself from the need for choice and begin to live an authentic life.
Anna Gavalda. Just together
A kind, wise and life-affirming novel about love and how to find joy in everyday life. All the characters, lonely at first, find their happiness at the end of the plot. And one of its important components is to help another in difficult times.
Sue Townsend. The Diaries of Adrian Mole
An incredibly funny book, never off the bestseller list, about the adventures of an English teenager who is prone to the blues and fancies himself an intellectual and a talented poet. Sparkling!
Victor Frankl. Man in search of meaning
An Austrian psychiatrist describes his personal experience of surviving in a concentration camp and shows that even if you find yourself in the most terrible conditions, you can find an incentive to continue living. A serious book that can change your worldview.