Maybe it was Christmas alone, Valentines Day, or retiring and not hearing from family. Struggles and trauma, your whole life? Many things can lead to depression.
Do you feel like your the only one who struggles with depression? Many people hide it so you would never know. They may smile and laugh it off, they could be hostile, angry, intimating, a know it all, which many times is a sign of insecurity, and not sure of themselves. Many throw up a smoke screen like teens do, to see if you will react. If you do not react and are “open” then the teen will feel safe to get to the real issue. People put up fronts before you get to know the real person. It takes an investment of time to get to know the real person. It takes time to get to know yourself and turn the depression around. Try the list below. Make a conscience effort to move forward. Don’t dwell on the past, Live for the moment! You can make anything work IF you really want to.
- Make a list of things you like and what you want in life? Discover who you really are and what makes you tick. Not what someone else tells you to like, what you should like or how you should think. Do you like square or round? Are you a Pool/ water Person or a workout in the Gym Person? What are you excited to work on, to do or make?
- Sit out in the sun and fresh air each day for a few minutes or longer. It is amazing how calming it is . Just getting outdoors away from electronics, children, chores, work, reconnect with nature and God. Go for a walk around the block and increase the distance, as you get stronger.
- Breathing deep for five minutes in the morning and at night. This will give your body the extra oxygen it needs to be health. Fill the lower lobes of your lungs each day and increase the time to 30 minutes a day. Have a glass of water ready when your throat is dry, drink half your body weight in water each day. If you’re 100 pds, drink 50 oz of water a day. For every cup of coffee you drink, have 2 glasses of water. Coffee is a diuretic.
- Choose friends who are what you want to be. “Iron sharpens Iron”. If you have negative, complaining people around you, then you will become that way. Miserable people want to make others miserable. Look for people who are positive, upbeat, maybe energetic. As we age the energy may be less but there is still a drive to do more and be more. Drop people who make you feel upset, negative, who irritate you. One command the scriptures tells us and many over look is “As much as is with in you, Live in Peace”. It IS your choice to live in peace or chaos, in love or anger, what will it be.
- I have a sign that I bought in Tennessee and brought back to Arizona, because I needed to be reminded of it, often. “Don’t look back, You’re not going that way”! STOP with the regrets and the what If’s. Move forward. All that negative energy you spend on the past is keeping you from a happier future. You only have so much energy and time. What will you spend it on? The past or today and the future? I find depression comes from the past and regrets or no hope for the future. Find something that you would love to do and go for it.
- Happiness is a choice.
Life coach, Nora O’Malley
www.noraomalley.com