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How to Overcome Depression in 3 Steps

Notes from a Psychologist.

By Vanessa DiasPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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Feeling depressed? I have followed these 3 steps to overcome depression myself.

Thousands of years ago, Buddha said, "Life is dukkha". Dukkha has been translated from Pali into English as "suffering." This doesn't mean that Buddha himself thought that life was miserable and thus there was no point in living it with some positive purpose or meaning. What he meant is that life by its nature involves suffering.

And indeed life is made of ups and downs. Some people may go through life more or less smoothly, having a good balance between their ups and downs, while others may struggle a bit more and accumulate more negative events than they can manage. Sadly, this ultimately may lead them to depression, a deep state of sadness and helplessness - a state that I have experienced myself - and let me tell you that is not pretty.

When we are depressed, we automatically see the world in grayscale. It's not even radically black or white: it's grayscale. People may try to cheer us up and something really good may happen to us but we can't savour it from that big puddle of sadness that we got trapped into. So how can we overcome depression and come back to a technicolor vision of the world? I recommend you the same three steps I took to overcome depression myself:

Step 1 - Push Stop

If you have the chance, take some days off. It's worthless to try to go to work and come back home even more hopeless. Usually, when you are depressed you can't focus at work and be productive.

It's like you are disconnected and you may not even notice how time goes by. Moreover, if there are negative triggers in your workplace, it's not a good idea to keep pushing yourself to the limit. You need to create a safe environment for your recovery and in your environment, I not only include physical places, but also people, situations or activities. If you can't simply remove yourself from spaces, situations or relationships that are somehow triggering or substantiating your negative state try at least to reduce your exposure to these.

Step 2 - Get Rid Of What Does Not Serve You Well

This step relates to the first one. Whatever is bogging you down, get rid of it. Be it places, situations or people. In this stage, we are in an emergency and it's like we need to control the damage. We need to eliminate whatever is causing us suffering. This does not mean that we are going to avoid the negativity ad eternum or that we are acting like an ostrich, burying our faces in the sand. We are just creating a safe place to start building up some more mental and emotional flexibility.

Step 3 - Do More Of What Makes You Happy

After we create that safe or neutral place, we can finally feel that we have some more space in our minds and hearts to actually connect with what makes us happy. Now is the time to invest your energy in whatever brings you relaxation and some sort of positive emotions.

In my case, this included reading books that actually interested me or see more online talks on topics that I really enjoy learning more about. It also included morning walks by the seaside and feeling the sun on my skin whenever it was not raining.

For you it can be many different things; what matters is that you reconnect with as much as you can with all that makes you feel warm inside. The more you do this, the more you will realise that you are coming back to your regular mood. And the faster you come back to your regular mood, the faster you will reconnect with that feeling of having your life and yourself on track.

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About the Creator

Vanessa Dias

I'm a psychologist, currently doing research on mindfulness and prejudice, while living in the Southeast coast of England. My mission is to remind myself and others of our shared humanity - be it through words or images.

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