Are you depressed?

Let's face it, becoming depressed is a very real thing. It has happened to most people. Perhaps it has either happened to you, or you are currently experiencing this phenomena. Whatever the case, this article is here to potentially help assist you get out of depression.

I can tell you right now, I have definitely experienced being depressed and I am for sure aware of how it feels and how hard it can be to get out of that funk. I may not be a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or someone with any form of academic expertise from the books, but I have had real life experience with this subject matter... so let me assure you I know a thing or 2 about this and am certainly versed in how to snap out of the grip of depression.

Believe it or not, after breaking the stranglehold of depression on me, I became a motivational speaker in regards to Life Appreciation. Yes, no one is perfect, including me, I have had relapses into depression, but I have always been able to break free and get back to my content-happy-natural self.

So...

Let us begin.

"Hey, Chris... so what exactly do you do to not be depressed anymore? I learned that when someone is like that, it is because of a chemical imbalance in the person's brain, causing them to experience depression. How did you go against the grain and essentially defeat that chemical imbalance?"

Okay. Good question. I'm not going to be able to answer in a scientific way, but I can explain to you what I do.

Something or a group of things are usually the culprit(s) to inducing someone into a state of depression. For me it was a sequence of things.

To start, I was dealing with terrible headaches, migraines, felt like my head was going to explode, indefinitely, day after day and the only treatment was either sleep or spinal taps (they suck)... however the head on the verge of blowing up feeling would always return.

The girl I liked was in another state because I had to move, during high school. That sucked.

I was not doing so good in school as my grades were mediocre at best, not looking good.

Finally, I was informed that 2 of my friends from the previous state I lived in had passed on due to drinking and driving.

Long story short....

At a certain point, all of those reasons cultivated and became the root cause and catalyst into my depression and eventual suicide attempt.

Luckily, fast forward to the day, I was told "Living Is So Big" and explained why life is worth the living. I, along with my father and mother went on a nationwide road trip to spread the good news, that "Living Is So Big." This happened for a while, we became motivational speakers based off of the idea of Life Appreciation.

(you can check out the website @ www.livingissobig.org)

An even longer story made short....

This resulted in me rebounding and living my life, till this very day.

Yes, like I said, I have had relapses and am not perfect. When I say relapses, I am referring to depression, not suicidal tendencies, but nonetheless I am always able to break free from depression and it is short lived.... and I haven't experienced depression in quite some time. I feel confident that It is a thing of the past at this point, because I know the tools I can use to stay on top.

How do I do it?

My understanding is, what we focus on is what persists.

What we consciously choose to think about day in and day out, grows.

We are powerful in that we can determine the course of our lives by way of our minds.

When we focus on certain things, we can in turn form those thoughts into habits, as in we can condition our emotions, our brains, our minds, by way of daily thinking, and how we think. If we are always thinking about the things that "suck," the things that make us feel bad, in any type of way, if we are constantly giving those things life by way of our minds, we are fueling them, we are conditioning ourselves into that mindset, creating the habit of thinking about those things. This in turns eventually manifests by way of how we feel and what we choose to think, naturally.

If we focus on the better side of life, through time we can form the habit of thinking good and in turn feeling good.

This of course stems from a desire. If you want to feel better, then give it a try. Yes.... I know, when we are in those states it can feel almost impossible to think positive. I know. I have been there, but that is not an excuse. I know because even when I didn't want to hear anything positive when I have been depressed, I forced myself to start altering my mindset into a more positive framework.

Look no one wants to sweat and be sore (unless you are the minority of workout fanatics), but if you desire to lose weight/fat you are going to need to obviously eat healthier, but you are going to need to workout in one way or form. That usually involves sweating and being sore to some extent. I don't want to be sore from working out or sweat... but I force myself to workout along with eating healthier because I desire a healthier, stronger body. Even if i'm like,

"ehh i will just workout tomorrow," after my day of rest has already passed yesterday,

I don't wait for tomorrow, I workout the current day when i'm suppose to, because i know skipping a day will make the results i desire to take longer to get to.

It's as simple as that.

You need a desire. If you don't have the desire to feel better and get out of the depression, then you can be there indefinitely. So if you are there, just force yourself, as tiring as it is, to think positive, think about the good things that you can identify in your life. Do that day after day. Do it like your life depends on it.

"Don't tell me what to do, Chris."

Look, i'm not telling you to do anything. I'm just giving you my experience and how I am able to defeat depression. It's been quite some time since I have been depressed and now I naturally feel healthy with my mind. As if the "chemicals" in my brain are balanced, from a scientific point of view. You can do whatever you want, but if this worked for me, what I am explaining to you, it can work for others.

I'm not special, i'm human like you, but what I do know is that I don't like feeling depressed. It is like a blanket that wants to smother you until you cease to exist. I am choosing to do everything in my power to keep that blanket as far away as possible from me moving forward... I hope you would want that for yourself too.

One last thing:

I do understand it can be hard to think positive or focus on the good things in life if you are constantly surrounded by things and people that make that difficult to do. But even with that, it isn't impossible to defeat depression, you can do it. I believe in you, reader. You just need to believe in yourself and have the desire to want to feel better.

Don't be discouraged if you don't feel better by tomorrow if you start thinking better now. It can happen and you can feel better, but there is nothing wrong if you are still feeling bad.

Like a flower, you plant the seed, water it and give it sunlight. Be patient and over the next days or weeks, it becomes a beautiful flower extending up to the sun. So just be patient and work on yourself and stay committed to your new way of good thinking. Don't give up. You are worth it.

If you have a heart-beat, you have a purpose.