How To Cope Through Depression

Depression is a mood disorder that affects the way a person lives their day to day lives. A depressed person can feel sad from time to time without being able to pinpoint the exact reasons causing their sadness in some instances.

It can be caused by a wide range of issues such as uncertainty, finances, traumatising experiences, the loss of a loved one, failure among others.

Depression may lead a person to withdraw from normal society, to lose their appetite which can affect their weight and overall health, it can lead to poor hygiene where they may feel unmotivated to perform simple tasks such as taking a shower or even brushing their teeth. Continuous neglect of such hygiene issues may lead to long term health problems such as skin problems and tooth decay.

Depression may affect the way a person performs their job. They may perform poorly, quit or even get fired which could end up affecting their finances and destabilising their housing leading to homelessness.

Depression is not easy to overcome and it may even last years if untreated or when the issues causing the depression are unresolved.

Unhealthy coping mechanisms

To cope through and to mask or numb their feelings, some people suffering from depression result to harmful habits such as gambling, alcohol, drug and sex abuse among others that could lead to an addiction. These habits make things worse. As they could be expensive to maintain some people may find themselves pulling tricks such as muggings, theft or unsafe sex work to be able to afford them. In a turn of events, they could also be arrested for engaging in these illegal activities and could end up serving prison terms.

Healthy coping mechanisms

As some of the factors causing the mood disorder could be slow or difficult to overcome it is important to find healthy ways to cope with depression.

I have suffered bouts of extreme sadness myself from time to time and engaging in some of these activities has helped me cope through.

The outdoors

As much as feeling depressed might make you want to lock yourself inside and stay in bed all day, engaging in outdoor activities might be helpful. Taking short or long walks through your neighbourhood, cycling, driving or taking a walk to the local park, farm or through nature could help alleviate your mood.

It provides a breath of fresh air, interactions with other people and animals even though minimal or passive, and also helps give your body some healthy exercise while offering some healthy distraction to your mind.

Encountering a sneaky squirrel on your nature walk might just make your day.

Listen to soothing and uplifting music

Listening to music that will soothe or uplift your spirits is also recommended. Tuning in to a radio station that provides this or creating a personal playlist of your favourite music and listening to it on the regular will help lift up your mood. Songs with messages on motivation, survival, purpose, strength and overcoming are very helpful.

Dance songs are also great as they have upbeat sounds and rhythms that can get you dancing which is an activity that could bring some happiness to your life.

Listen to audio books or podcasts

As listening to audio books requires less physical activity that reading, it is an activity that is recommended to distract your mind and to offer alternatives on what it could focus on.

Audio books and podcasts with plots and uplifting messages are also recommended as they will provide you with something that captures your attention and also provides some motivational support.

Watch some comedy

Comedians and comedy shows are funny and they will leave you laughing and feeling happier. Some of the skits and jokes are not only funny but also relatable and might make you feel like you are not alone. Find some comedy shows on YouTube or your favourite channel and watch on the regular to laugh and uplift your spirits.

Doing this on the regular could help ease the feelings of sadness.

Watch videos of babies and children

Babies are cute and everything about them is bound to bring a smile to your face. Their cute little hands or feet, their cute outfits, smiles and giggles and their adorable baby steps are very captivating and can warm your heart.

Children also say the funniest things and watching them go about their child-like and carefree activities can be very pleasant and uplifting. There are many channels on social media that have kids being kids and they are very helpful in bringing some happiness.

Visiting children of friends and relatives can also be helpful. A simple act of giving them candy can bring so much joy to their lives and seeing this joy while receiving their high fives, hugs and nudges can uplift your mood.

Be careful though to not take care of children when feeling low because they can also be irritating and annoying sometimes and your bad mood can cause you to lash out at them which could end up harming the children and make you feel bad which are all unhealthy.

Listen to soothing sounds

Soothing sounds such as baby laughs, birds chirping, rain falling and the seas and oceans are very helpful.

You can find these sounds on the various social medias and on YouTube particularly. As insomnia may come about as a result of depression, listening to the sounds of rainfall or a waterfall can help calm and soothe you to sleep.

Get a fluffy toy or stuffed animal

As they are soft and warm, stuffed animals can offer some physical or emotional support to a person that is feeling sad. They are good for snuggling, cuddling or hugging and they may make you feel as though you are not alone.

Get a pet or a plant

Taking care of a pet or plant may provide you with something to care about which may prove helpful. A cat may want to play or to be fed and a dog may want and need to be walked. This will give you something to do and a will make you take walks yourself which could be helpful to both your physical and mental health.

Watering a plant regularly and nurturing its growth can help bring you happiness and can also provide hope for your personal situation.

Do an activity you enjoy

Even though depression may make you loose interest in the activities that you enjoyed, taking the time to engage in these activities on the regular may help in providing some joy and relief in your life and could prove helpful in your journey to recovery.

The activity could be playing a game, gardening, riding bikes, fishing, cooking, spar treatments, ice cream plots or volunteering among others.

Create

Encouraging and pushing the mind to create rather than negatively focusing on the sad aspects of their life can be helpful for a person dealing with depression.

Painting, drawing, writing music, creating beats, making pottery, knitting, writing etc are creative activities that one can engage in to cope. The outcome and outputs of these creative activities can be very rewarding and can help bring happiness in the depressed person’s life which is helpful in their journey to recovery.

Avoid the triggers

Avoiding the factors that make you feel sadder can prove to be helpful. Keeping a healthy distance from a person that makes you feel unhappy, unworthy or sad can help avoid triggering your bouts of sadness.

Keeping off or limiting your social media usage and avoiding gatherings that makes you miserable can also prove helpful for your mental health.

Changing jobs when you feel burned out or moving to a healthier and safer neighbourhood can help improve your moods.

Eat healthy foods

There are several foods that can help improve the mental state of a depressed person. Foods rich in vitamins and antioxidants can help improve a person’s mood. Avoiding the foods that make you feel sadder or those that have negative effects on your body and mind is also important.

Stock up on fresh fruits

As fresh fruits come in ready to eat and do not necessarily need to be prepared, they are very helpful for a person dealing with depression as they are easily and readily available and can be consumed immediately.

As they provide nutritional needs, most of them also contain sweet juices that also help provide the water needed for a person’s health. They are also sweet to consume and provide a pleasant taste and experience and can bring some joy to a person dealing with depression.

Stock up on healthy snacks

Just like fresh fruits, healthy snacks are also helpful. Because they are ready to eat and do not need any preparations, a person going through depression can enjoy them and use them to meet some of their nutritional needs even when they may not be feeling to be in the mood of preparing food or can’t afford to order some.

Make the effort

Overcoming depression may prove to be hard and may require deliberate effort on a person’s part.

Making the required effort to not lay in bed all day, to wake up, make their bed, make breakfast, take a shower, brush their teeth and take a walk can be hard but is necessary for recovery. Making the decisions at an individual level to leave toxic relationships, draining jobs, negative habits etc and to follow through to the end to start anew for the purpose of healing can bring a huge difference in the journey to recovery.

A lot can be done through medication and other support systems, but the efforts at the individual level can prove to be the most helpful.

Create a checklist

In order to follow through with the healthy activities that can help one cope through depression and on their journey to full recovery, creating a checklist list may come in handy.

Did you brush your teeth today? Did you comb your hair today? Did you make your bed today? Did you feed your cat or walk your dog today? Did you write a story today?

Continually ticking this checklist may be evidence of the little everyday triumphs, it may bring some sense of achievement and joy and may help a person to take the step by step approach of the journey to overcoming the bigger ones.

Seek help from a professional

Seeking the help of a certified professional is very helpful for a person dealing with depression.

On an individual level, beginning by acknowledging the problem, wanting to seek help and to follow through with it is one of the healthiest ways to cope through and eventually overcome depression.

When such help may be unreachable because it may be expensive or the professionals may be unavailable, seeking it through healthy peers that overcame it, through community initiatives such as faith-based organisations or other online resources that are helpful is recommended.

Treat yourself with love

Treating yourself with love and gentleness and understanding your situation on a personal level is also a big step to getting better.

Caring for yourself and ensuring that you eat healthy, clean yourself, take walks, focus on healthy thoughts, avoid triggers and bad habits, seeks help from a professional and follows through with the medication and advice is vital.

No one can understand, love, and care for you like you can. And all these steps will help you cope and eventually overcome depression.

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This article contains the personal experiences and opinions of the author and should not be taken as professional medical or mental health advice. Please consult a certified professional when in need.