How to Deal With Depression – 6 Steps To Follow

This article was last updated on December 29, 2015

I’ve discovered recently that being depressed is a serious issue, and many people suffer from it all around the globe. The key to defeating it, or at least keeping it at bay is positive reinforcement, and the motivation to do so. I developed some exercises one night while I was huddled in a corner in my room with the lights off and seconds away from tears.

It’s forcing yourself to find complete blissfulness, and finding self-worth. Following each step one by one, you can learn or try to learn to think more positively, and live more in the moment rather than dwell on a past mistake, or fret about a future mistake. If you know someone dealing with depression, you can show this to them, and maybe help them out.

6 Ways To Cope With Depression

Step 1: Love who you are. It’s trite, and over said I know, but it’s a good first step. Insecurity is a serious demon inside of us all, it can rip our self-esteem apart little by little. Fight the demon back, stand up for yourself against yourself, and believe in yourself. Hit the gym, meditate every day, or write about yourself. You can do plenty of things to better your view on yourself.

Step 2: Accept yourself. You are human, you make mistakes, everyone does. Accept the faults you have and move on from them. Being afraid of acceptance is roadblock, demolish it and you can find your happiness. Find the right people in your life who accept you for you even your faults. The past is the past, you can’t change it, but you can for sure make your future bright.

Step 3: Don’t sell yourself short. There is so much about yourself to love. You probably do much for others without even knowing, even the slightest of things can make a difference to someone. You’ve taken the steps to better yourself just by coming to terms with the fact you feel like you’re down. Hold your head high, and be proud, you’re on the right path.

Step 4: Don’t freak out over the small stuff. So you had a bad day, it’s alright, everyone has them. Don’t let one little issue ruin your mood, make a rating chart in your head, if something bothers you, rate it on your chart and see how big of an impact it makes on you, if it’s at the bottom then let it go, it’s not worth the trouble. One thing that I have learned is no matter how badly you want to be happy, you can’t always be happy every second. There are going to bad days, but use those bad days to appreciate your good days even more.

Step 5: Exist in the present. An exercise I learned is deep breathing, focusing on the breath coming into your lungs that very second. All the feelings in that moment, teaching your mind to stop focusing on everything that isn’t in the present. It helps slow your heart rate and keeps your focus up. Life is unpredictable, you never know when your time is up, don’t take for granted the moments you have now with people you love, your family, or lover.

Step 6: Relax. It’s that simple, just relax. Easier said than done right? I know, I know, but really, when you follow all the previous steps you can easily sit back and relax, enjoy what’s going on around you and be happy with the person you are, or are becoming.

So that’s it, these simple steps can help you crawl out of your hole and reach self-acceptance. They’re simple little exercises/steps/tips to bettering yourself, and your mind. I can tell you from my personal experience that taking the time out of your day to go through this helps in the best way. Positive outlooks bring positive outcomes.

Depression is a serious disorder that gone untreated can produce severe results, take someone seriously if they tell you they’re feeling depressed. You need to know that you probably won’t understand them,or if you are feeling depressed, remeber  that most people don’t understand it. That’s okay, it’s normal, but just keep your head high and carry on. Good luck on your journey to happiness, and know you’re not alone.

Photo credits: Montse PB