”My eyes open to the new day but I’m not ready to greet it yet.
The alarm’s going off.
I press the snooze button again.
Is it the third time? Or the fourth?
Nine hours of sleep, and I don’t feel like I’ve even started to get rest…
Maybe I’ll just stay in bed today… “
When depressed, we often find ourselves more worn out after sleep than we were the night before.
Would you like to know why? Continue Reading »
New month… New season… New suggestions to try to alleviate depression.
You might think: ‘What’s the point! How can these simple and ordinary actions possibly help me to escape the dark and thick cloud of depression?’
Each of these ideas individually is unlikely to cure your depression. However, they are capable to give you the momentum to try something else, reminding you each and every time that life should and can be vibrant, exciting, rewarding and very enjoyable.
Even if you don’t feel like doing anything right now, just by choosing to do what you can when you can, might eventually lead you to a tipping point out of this miserable existence.
So, here are my ideas for this September (apology to all my friends in the Southern Hemisphere if they don’t apply).
While it is common to blame inability to plan on depression,
I would like you to consider the possible costs of not planning your day in advance:
As you can see failing to plan your day ahead of time is surely a plan to fail. This strategy will erode your self-esteem and will continue to drive you deeper into the darkness of feeling helpless, hopeless and inadequate.
When depressed, you cannot afford to enter another day without planning ahead of time!
Next time, I will illustrate this core message with some examples. Until then…
Stay strong, remain hopeful and seek inspiration!
Read the illustration here (Click on the title): To Plan or Not to Plan: A story of two approaches…
Photo by: 123RF Stock Photos
How often do you smile? Do you naturally greet people with a smile or are you saving your smiles for better times?
In case you are wondering ‘What is there to smile about?’, ‘Why smile when I am feeling pain or numbness inside?’ or ‘Why deceive everyone with my false smile?’, I hope I can encourage you to review your attitude.
Smiling is good for you! Here is why: Continue Reading »
I am a living proof that depression and an accumulation of clutter go hand in hand. I was admired from my early childhood for my natural abilities to make any space organised and clutter-free in no time at all. I had no problems in brief evaluations and confident decisions in regards to what should stay and what should go. My personal space was always tidy, organised and clutter-free.
This has changed. Not overnight, but slowly and surely. My low mood turned into depression over the years, and at the beginning I did not even notice the total chaos in my home. I was falling apart and so did the order in my environment.
Creeping out of depression was not an easy journey. Discovering that I was no longer capable to manage my ‘stuff’ and my home amplified my stress and pain.
Before I knew it, I was on a battlefield. I tried to win the battle by ignoring my clutter and chaos. This strategy did not work and I found myself a casualty of this war.
I tried to convince myself that focusing on decluttering is not important or urgent. Increased stress followed, prompting me to begin addressing my problems…
Then came a shock! Continue Reading »
