Fighting depression is a tough journey, one that sometimes feels impossible, but you are not alone, the World Health Organization estimates at least 350 million people suffer from depression worldwide.
Unlike a physical illness, depression cannot be healed by medication alone. It requires willpower and perseverance, which depression evaporates. Therein lies the difficulty. You must fight to change your thinking. So start with these five ways to rewire your brain when you’re feeling depressed.
1. Don’t Be Fooled By Negativity | Feeling Depressed
Depression tricks our brain into thinking negatively. It destroys our sense of identity and self pride by creating an endless loop of negative thoughts. The more ambitious you are, the more at risk you are. Because you expect so much from yourself
You start thinking that you don’t deserve anything when you lose your sense of self-worth. You tell yourself the bad things happening to you are justified & you begin to believe the negative thoughts you tell yourself.
Your thoughts define your reality.
The solution sounds naively simple: Change your thoughts.
First think of the good things in your life, if you’re alive that’s the first one, depression might tell you that it’s not.. But your life is a golden ticket and you can still achieve any of your wildest dreams and help others who are suffering as much as you are.
So figure out a few positives and repeat them to yourself every. single. day.
The more times the better, you must re-train your brain, you might say “Oh I’ve tried positive thinking before & it doesn’t work.” Well did you try it for a whole year? Did you try it 25 times a day? Even when you didn’t feel like it? Did you become obsessed with the idea of changing the way you think?
Depression is like a worn path in the forest, just throwing some grass seeds down and walking away will not fix it. You must water it and nurture it every day if you wish to see a new mindset grow.
2. Remember Progress Is Better Than Perfection | Feeling Depressed
We spiral further into depression because we are too hard on ourselves. As human beings we naturally want to thrive.
Afterall, success is admirable. But sometimes, we break our backs trying to achieve unrealistic expectations of success.
When we strive for perfection and fall short, we feel worthless.
We’ve all heard the saying Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it applies here too. Instead of thinking of life as a finished product that you have to reach instantly, remember great things take time.
Every day is another chance to start building something great.
Each day place a brick as perfectly as a brick can be placed, and soon enough you will have a wall..
Continue doing your best each and every day, and one day you’ll look up and see your finished project.
Just because you can’t go from 0 to a 100 doesn’t make you a bad person, it just means you’re ambitious.
99% of successful people in the world today, struggled for a long time before they ‘made it.’
This is all part of your journey, all of your difficulties are shaping you into a person that is truly capable of greatness.
So push on and do your best, one day at a time.
3. Remember Your Quality | Feeling Depressed
Everyday, remind yourself what a great person you are.
Remind yourself of your qualities.. Do you possess kindness, the greatest currency on Earth? Or do you have a talent for design? Do you have an deep interest in something most people don’t know anything about?
Remind yourself of your potential.. There are so many people on this Earth that started with nothing and became hugely successful. The only thing that matters in this world is how badly you want something.. You have the potential to be anything you want in this world, even if you have to fight through depression to make it happen.
Never let go, keep fighting you are well on your way to brighter days.
4. Don’t Ignore Warning Signs | Feeling Depressed
When you’re living a busy life it’s so easy to ignore the signals your body is sending you.
Rest is critical to mental health and peak performance. If you feel tired, take a break, you don’t have to do everything in one day. Take a breather and slowly build the momentum each day as your routine and rest cycle improves. Self-care is one of the most underrated life strategies that all successful people practice.
People brag about how many hours they worked or how hard it was to get where they are now, to put it simply work smarter not harder, the most successful people figure out how to do things more effectively as to free themselves up for their most important tasks. (one of which is self-care)
So try to organise your life a bit better, an easier routine, outsource work, a better diet and better health that will give you more energy, are all great starting points.
5. Stop Comparing | Feeling Depressed
We live in a world where everyone is constantly comparing themselves to others, their neighbours, colleagues and of course the ‘highlight reel’ that is social media.
With 7.7 billion people in the world, of course there will always be someone that has the life we want, which can leave us feeling depressed.
But when you start realizing that the person you compare yourself to compares themself to others, we realize that it’s only human nature to do such a thing. Humans evolved living in small groups, they would ‘compare’ themselves to the best hunter or the best cook so that they could improve their own skills..
So find a strong mentor, someone you trust and can be honest with, there’s a reason life coaches are becoming more prominent than ever, it’s someone to be accountable to, that you can be honest with and they will help you stay on track.
Start with these five steps on your journey to becoming your best self & always remember, wanting to be like someone else is an insult to who you are.