THAT Depression Elimination Post
Most depression is worsened by environment. Like the friends around you, your shitty boyfriend, the godawful job you have, the crap diet you're eating, the 4 hour crappy quality sleep every night. It all contributes to your life. And it's damn time you take all those under your control and take control of your reality and reshape your mindset.
It's ridiculous how there are so many depressed people out there, and it's time to spank things up and change that.
You want to heal, you want to be happy. Which is understandable but you can't rely on keeping buying makeup for that temporary boost in mood or popping in the prozac pills and doing JACK SHIT besides those fleeting pleasures. All they give you are temporary solutions, if you don't attack the fundamental problem it will always persist. Clear and simple.
FIX YOUR GODDAMN SLEEP.
Go to bed at the SAME time everyday
Wake up EARLY AT THE SAME TIME.
If you lacked sleep on your previous night, GO TO BED EARLIER. No 'maybe' or 'I don't wanna go to bed so early!' WHO SAID THEY WANTED TO HEAL UP AND BE FUNCTIONAL? Do it immediately, for the NEXT night. People are gonna understand if you say you want to sleep earlier, trust me. Nothing more attractive than someone that takes care of her wellbeing.
No cellphone 1h before bed. No peeks, no last texts, nothing. You close your phone totally one hour before bed. That's it.
Your brain is a stupid simple organ, if you associate a place with anything than its intended purpose, the brain is going to associate that place with the unintended use. The more you do it, the more your brain is gonna make the alternative undesirable association. That's why you never "lounge" in bed, because you're destroying that association bed=sleep which makes you sleep quick and fast. Bed is only for sleep and that's it. If you wanna lounge, go to your living room or chill room. Never the bed.
If you can't sleep or have anxiety around bedtime, rise up from the bed, leave the covers open so it aerates, go read a book for 20 min then come back. A chiller room also is incredibly helpful for bedtime. If it doesn't helps, look into weighted blankets.
Wash your bedsheets every week. I do them every Sunday, that's my routine and I can start my week with fresh sheets that feel SO right. The more your life is routinous, the better it actually is for the mental because there's LESS DECISIONS to make, and the brain is LESS overwhelmed. Fresh sheets and well made bed are a great foundation for great quality sleep.
Don't dismiss the influence of good sleep and bad sleep on your mood. Bad sleep makes you rave more junk food that makes you feel like shit afterwards, bad sleep affects your patience and mood and you're more likely to be sad and have depressive behaviour.
DRESS THE FUCK UP AND GROOM YOURSELF.
Clothes ABSOLUTELY influence your mindset for the day. If you dress in sweatpants and ripped t-shirt you're gonna feel like shit for the day. I JUST KNOW IT, BECAUSE I FELT IT. If you're broke and have nothing clean and intact to wear, check out the thrift stores for basic clothes like black pullovers and so on. Minimal, easy to wear rand always looks chic and gonna make you feel chic.
Etablish a ROUTINE (Routines are KEY to good mental health) for the laundry. I wash my clothing every Saturday, but you can choose the day of the week that works best for you. Start some music to fold and tuck away your cute clothing, associate that with POSITIVE VIBES. Hard to enforce habits are made easier by bringing in positive vibes into the experience.
Clean clothes, clean body, good smells signals to others that you like yourself and that they can't push you down. It's your weapon.
What is your favourite scent? Your favourite color? Pick a shampoo, soap and conditioner that has those scents. Again here, if you have difficulty showering yourself and grooming yourself, it's all about positive vibe association. Your favourite scents are in your shampoo bottle so you're more likely to go wash yourself. Same thing with other grooming accessories. My favourite colors are pink and lavender so I pick grooming tools in those cute colors to make me more likely to do it.
Just a water shower is better than NO shower at all. If you don't have energy to go wash yourself, go stand under the water for 5-10 min and just enjoy yourself under the warm water. I swear the shower is like a glowup machine and makes one feel so much better. I've never seen someone become WORSE after a shower.
A bit of brushing is better than no brushing. If you hate having to brush yourself or that you have a difficult time doing that, pick a wet brush, they make detangling so easy and have TONS of cute designs to make yourself more excited about that time. Brushed hair is going to make you look and feel better.
If you can't wash all your body, focus on the armpits, underboobs and privates area. Washing them is the minimum and neglecting them is going to cause smells which are gonna make you feel worse about yourself. You don't want this. Wash those areas.
If you got body complexes, a way to partially fix this is WELL FITTED UNDERWEAR. Tight panties cut into the hips and give you a muffin top even if you're skinny as hell. Too tight bras or bralettes give a similar effect. More comfortable underwear is going to make your figure look fantastic. In a time like this no need to worry about looking sexy, you need to feel comfortable, so don't shy away from "grandma panties". (Flashing news: guys don't give a fuck about your underwear.)
Covid special: you can find cute special color throwaway masks that are gonna make you feel so sharp and nice. Pick those in your favourite color and every time you look at yourself in a mirror you'll like it 😘
BAD VIBES, FUCK OFF KINDLY.
If something makes you unhappy, wether it's a friend that drags you down, a irritating object, etc. Get RID of it. No pity, no maybes. Just good vibes around you thank you. If that thing is actually helpful to your life despite it bringing bad vibes, seek to CHANGE it so it fits better into your future life.
Konmari is a lifesaver for me I swear. It helps determine what really matters in your life. DM me if you want resources about Konmari. I'm not a shill, just a fan 🤣
Going out of depression starts with the mindset. If you carry on blaming life, people, objects, circumstances, etc for your depression you're going nowhere and are gonna stay in your shitty situation. The majority of things you blame for your depressive mood probably CAN be changed. You CAN seek another job if you are your current job. There's certainly another job that pays better, treats you better etc. You CAN dump a toxic friendgroup and it's actually better to be alone than be with toxic friends that drag you down. You CAN dump your abusive boyfriend, being single is BETTER than being with an abusive asshole ass. If you settle it means that they're winning over your mind and you're allowing them to work themselves into your mind. Thus worsening your situation.
If you find yourself going on a depression loop ("I feel bad, I am bad, I don't deserve to exist"), go MOVE. I mean it, GO MOVE. Go walk outside, go walk the dog, go clean up your room, go to the local cafe with your laptop to scroll Tumblr, MOVE. Those depression loops are your brain being hyperfixated on one thing because it lacks distraction. It lacks direction, it is staying too still. Go MOVE. Go see the ducks at the local park and give them some seeds, go call a friend to walk together or just talk together. I'm sure they're waiting for you to initiate something together, they're probably hesitating to call you because they don't wanna bother you. Your dog is probably looking at you hoping you'd bring her on a FUN walk and your dog is always gonna be happy doing it. Even if the idea of moving seems so exhausting it's the first steps that take the most effort but once you did it you'll feel so proud of yourself. You did it.
If you respect yourself first, by your self-care, environment and grooming, you're signaling to others that they must respect you. If you don't respect yourself, it signals to others that they can walk all over you and stample you down further into depression.
DON'T EAT CRAP AND EAT WELL.
Junk food is really comforting isn't it? But you absolutely know that it contributes to bad health overall. It makes you feel nauseous, makes you gain weight like crazy and doesn't gives your precious body cells the nutriments they crave so much. Do yourself a grace, eat nutritious meals at least once per day.
Meal prepping is your friend. Again, it spares you the precious mental energy waste and you can redirect your small mental energy on the stuff that requires it. Do 2-3 days at a time, it's so less daunting to do and doesn't gets as boring as 7 days meal prep.
Half your dish should be veggies and fruits. 1/4 your dish should be carbs like pasta, rice, etc. 1/4 should be your proteins.
If you can't muster up the energy to make nutrious meals, at least pop in a multivitamin. Vitamin D deficiencies are strongly associated with depression, and most multivitamins have vitamin D too. Consume while eating a meal for max effect.
Don't drink coffee/tea one hour before a meal and two hours after a meal as it will decrease your iron absorption (iron deficiency = weakness + lack of energy)
DRINK YOUR WATER. It's insanely important and enough water will make you feel more energized.
AVOID ALCOHOL as it is a depressant (aka it worsens the situation). All it is gonna do is give you a temporary happy buzz but it doesn't attacks the problem at the core.
No junkfood in the house, avoid bringing them inside the home. Just don't. If you family brings those in, you could discuss with them about a specific place to store them, away from immediate view.
I know it looks so daunting all those tips together but it did work for other people and for me. If you want to heal and become better, write those down on a sheet of paper and place those on your fridge, to remind you of what to do.
Those seem to be superficial tips but trust me, a shitty lifestyle only worsens the situation and makes you even more miserable.
I strongly recommend to check your therapy solutions, a good vent/cry relieves the heart and the therapist is going to give you journaling resources and advice. Check our your local universities for cheap therapy solutions, teletherapy, if you're still a student see if your school offers therapist/counselor times. You're not obligated to go every week, you can go once per month or at need if you don't have the money for that.
I am a former depressed person, and all those are solutions that helped me the most and I'm passing those on for anyone that might need a lifestyle revision. It sucks immensely, I know but don't give up. Its not always gonna be like that, the more work you pour into it the better it actually gets. 💎
