If you would love to be more depressed in your life, I’ve discovered some very powerful things that will help you be down and out faster than you ever thought possible!
- Don’t take great care of yourself
- Don’t go outside, especially not in sunshine
- Don’t exert physical energy, especially not to the point of perspiration
- Don’t stop consuming content like TV or video games
- Don’t put limits on that consumption or be intentional about it
- Don’t eat healthy foods, stick to questionable or straight out junk food
- Don’t clean or organize anything, let messes get out of control
- Don’t learn or grow at all
- Don’t read anything positive or anything that’s inspiring
- Don’t do anything fun or creative (regardless of cost)
- Don’t surround yourself with positive and growing people
- Don’t consume uplifting media
- Don’t live in a bright environment, make sure to keep it dark
- And above all, do not at any point do work that you find fulfilling or passionate!
Now of course by now you’ve probably guessed what I’m getting at. I’m not by any means trying to invalidate people with true clinical depression et cetera (even though that’s debated as well).
But I often find that we can learn a lot from the opposite of things. Instead of simply asking “how to be happy”, building a list of things to do as if you desired the opposite (depression) is helpful because it makes it very clear what things to stay away from and through the use of contrast we start to get a pretty good picture on what we can do to be happy!
All of these things are from my personal experience, but I highly encourage you to consider the opposite, because one of the most powerful things I’ve realized is that action precedes emotion! Again, from my personal experience I’ve found that regardless of my past or body, if I refrain from doing the things below, my mental state degrades. And that’s something I can bet on.
If you want a certain emotion, “do the thing, and you shall have the power”. Forgiveness is a good example of this. We should almost always forgive before we feel like it, because chances are we never will feel ‘ready’!
So in my own life I know that if I do certain things, I will feel a certain way. And how I feel is based off what I’m doing. If you don’t think this possible or credible, I simply invite you to give it a try and see if it doesn’t prove to be true!
There are many things that are highly debatable, and that’s completely fine. The question is, how badly do you desire to improve your state? Things like TV are often more stimulating, than they are fulfilling. One is about reactionary living, and the latter is about intentional and purposeful living, it’s very important to understand the difference. Watching one episode of a good show on Netflix is intentional, binge watching is stimulating but rarely fulfilling.
What to do to fight depression:
- Take great care of yourself
- Go outside, especially not in sunshine
- Exert physical energy, especially to the point of perspiration
- Stop consuming content like TV or video games
- Or at least put limits on that consumption or be intentional about it
- Eat healthy foods, stick to “clean” whole foods you can identify visually still
- Clean or organize your environment chunks at a time, don’t let messes get out of control
- Learn or grow daily! Build a personal syllabus of things you’re most passionate about
- Read positive and inspiring material
- Do fun and creative things regardless of cost, there are tons of free things
- Surround yourself with positive and growing people
- Consume uplifting media
- Live in a bright environment, use warm colors
- And above all, do passionate work that you find fulfilling!
Here’s a checklist that I developed to spot check and trouble shoot problems before they grow out of control:
Do I feel miserable or depressed?
- Have I drank water?
- Have I eaten healthy food?
- Have I showered?
- Have I spent at least an hour outside?
If all of that is fulfilled, then…
- Have I flossed and brushed my teeth?
- Have I listened to some uplifting music?
- Have I stretched?
- Have I consumed some form of humor?
If all of that is fulfilled, then…
- Have I gone for a walk?
- Have I gone for a run/any other moderate-heavy exercise?
- Have I socialized with good people?
- Have I had an experience (museum, movie, etc.)
You can print out this trouble shoot guide here which was adapted from here.
I’ve never actually gone through that entire list without improving my state drastically. And I believe it will for you to.