Every time you are in a low mood, you can choose some actions just done by yourself. In addition, you can also involve in some social or group organizations or activities. Here, this passage introduces you four advices to keep you up: cultivate healthy relationships; talk to friends and family; try to keep up with social activities and join a support group.
Cultivate Healthy Relationships
A lot of your help in your recovery process comes from your personal relationships, and cultivating the right ones can take you a long way in your battle against depression. Depression has a tendency to make you feel lonesome and what’s even worse is that you won't even want to reach out for help. But you need to have contact with some people to keep the sadness at bay. Doing it by yourself can be extremely difficult; we may start losing motivation and perspective soon.
So whenever you feel like shutting everyone out, tell yourself that it is the depression making you feel that way. You might feel like you're weak for asking for help. You might be ashamed of yourself, or just simply too exhausted to make any conversation, but do it any. Push yourself a little and talk to someone. Always keep in mind that your near and dear ones care for you and will help you go through it. You’re not a burden to anyone. And if anyone says you are, you need to cut them out of your life right away. Negativity and unsupportive behavior from your people you interact with will only make it worse.
Talk to friends and family
Once every day, take the time to share whatever you are feeling with a friend or a family member. You can call them or tell it to them face to face, preferably the latter. It’s okay if they don’t say much. They just need to listen to you properly. Even talking it out can make you and your loved ones feel better, so don’t shun out these people. They’ll help you get through the difficult times. What you need to understand when you choose specific friends and family members to help you with your depression is that they have lives too. Try not to center the whole conversation on you and learn to listen because sometimes their lives are bad too and your friends and family should be able to depend upon you to listen to them, as much as they are expected to listen to you. Be cheerful, be open and if you are going to talk about your problems, make sure that they have the time to listen. Ask in advance, for example. “We got a few probems. Have you got time for this?” If they haven’t, you have given them the opportunity to tell you. The problem with plowing into your problems without finding out if they have time is that you don't know what kind of day they have had. Perhaps it’s been a very depressing day, in which case, perhaps they want you to listen to them!
What you don’t see when you contact a family member or friend is what’s happening at their end. Perhaps they really are in a moment that is inopportune and by giving them that choice, you open up a dialog where they can tell you what time is a good time for a long heart to heart.
Try to Keep Up with Social Activities
When you're depressed, lassitude plagues your lifestyle. You always feel drained of energy, and at such a time, it might feel easier to lock yourself in your shell. But that will only make things worse. Try to keep up with social activities even if you don't feel like it. Go to the movies with someone, ask a friend out for coffee, arrange a small get-together with old friends or volunteer somewhere. All of it helps. In fact, if you need to find a reason to keep up with activities, often people who are depressed think more of others than they do of themselves. Their self-esteem is low. Thus, if you have social activities that others depend upon, you can force yourself to go for their sake and that’s always useful as a motivation even when you are depressed.
One social activity that may help you is to volunteer to help out at a shelter because you may find that seeing things in perspective really does make you feel like you have something to offer. Often people who are depressed don’tthink that they have value. However, you can’t help but see your value to people when you work in an environment where people do depend upon you. A soup kitchen is also a great place and in these charitable associations, you actually get to meet some very kind people that can encourage you out of your shell and add to the positive aspects of your life.
Join A Support Group
Isolation can trigger even more depression. If you’re feeling really down, join a support group. Being around people who are going through the same thing you are will make you feel that you are not alone in this fight and that you are part of something bigger. You can even talk to the group members personally and share your daily experiences and advice on getting better. When I say support group, that doesn’t necessarily mean for depression. A support group is any group of people that gives you moral support and helps you to get through your day. I found that yoga classes gave me the support group that I needed, for example, because the people there were so positive and that positivity was actually something that I was able to latch onto and use to help me to get beyond the bad stuff that life was throwing at me.
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