4 Ways to Get Back Up After Depression

2024 Author: Jason Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 10:50

Depression can change the way you view life. You may have lost your relationships, your job, your hobbies, your health, your dreams and goals, and your confidence. After a period of depression, you can reclaim your life by setting achievable goals, adding and strengthening positive relationships, maintaining physical health, and dealing with life in healthy ways.

Step

Method 1 of 1: Setting Goals

Step 1. Identify your life priorities

Setting goals is a very important part of reducing the chances of depression coming back. To create positive goals for yourself, you first need to identify your life values or priorities. Know the deepest desires in your heart because those are the principal things that make you happy.

• Make a list of your life values, the things you see as important in life. These things for example are family, friends, work, love, money, and household.
• Think about things you've done that you've really enjoyed in the past and try to find ways to incorporate those things into your life right now. Have you ever had times when you didn't want to end/stop? Those are the moments you need to focus on in life. This could be a spouse, kids, best friend, or an activity you enjoy or are good at (eg camping, writing, making art, making music, etc.).

Step 2. Consider the career opportunities available

When it comes to work, life choices can have a strong impact on your well-being. Also, keep in mind that you will be in this job for at least 40 hours each week.

• If the old job no longer suits you, try a different job. It's all a matter of experience and opportunity for growth.
• Do you want to get a new job right now or put it off until a later date? Think about the kind of work you can handle, make a decent living, and you can enjoy.
• Be patient. If you don't get a job right away, think of ways to increase your chances of getting one. Do volunteer work, take short courses, or get special certifications. All of these will make a huge difference to your confidence and to your work history.

Step 3. Make positive activities a goal for you to achieve

In recovering from depression, it can be difficult to break the chains of doing nothing and getting back to doing things on a regular basis. However, staying active and busy can help reduce the chances of depression coming back.

• Focus on tasks or responsibilities that have been pending. For example, you can wash the car, cook a nice meal, mow the lawn, pay the bills, shop, clean the house, study, take care of pets, garden, and many other things. Over time, doing small things like this will help you feel more capable and increase your confidence and self-esteem.
• Think of things that make you feel proud and positive about yourself. Make a list and do one of them every day. For example, sending someone a greeting card, playing with children, donating to a charity, volunteering, getting involved in fighting for important issues, getting hair done, planting trees, doing household chores for an elderly neighbor, or call an old friend who is having a hard time. When you've done that, enjoy and congratulate yourself on the achievement.

Step 4. Make a complete list so you can focus

Once you've identified the specific priorities and activities you'd like to prioritize, write down your list of goals. This goal can be large or small, according to your wishes.

• However, make sure that each goal meets the SMART criteria, namely Specific (specific), Measurable (measurable), Attainable (achievable), Realistic (realistic), and Time-limited (has a timeframe for completion). An example of a SMART goal is to exercise three times a week by running for an hour at a time, for the next month.
• One option is to create a 15-point hierarchy of goals or activities. Make a list of activities from easiest to most difficult. Start by completing the easiest goals first, then move on to the next more difficult goals, until finally the most difficult ones. A small and easy goal, for example, is to take the dog for a walk, while a big and difficult goal is to get a promotion or a new job, for example.
• Congratulate yourself every time you complete a small step that makes progress. Reward yourself with positive things each time you get closer to a certain goal. Treat yourself to a spa, massage, sumptuous dinner, or anything else you enjoy (as long as it's safe and not related to drugs or alcohol).

Step 5.

Evaluate your progress and make the necessary changes.

Goals should always be evolving. For every goal you achieve, start a new one and go further. If you don't think that goal is a good fit anymore, or if you change your mind about it, make changes and create a new goal that you find more useful.

• Record your daily activities and goals on a calendar or agenda book. This will help you monitor and improve your ability to remember important goals and tasks.
• As soon as you complete a goal, create a new one! For example, if your first goal was to lose 5 pounds and now you want to lose more weight, focus on that new goal. Or if you want more exercise but are stuck with a boring routine at the gym, change your goal to a hike up a hill or a run in the outdoors.
• Try to stay positive, even though you may be experiencing setbacks. Just say to yourself, “I had a few setbacks, but I'll learn from those failures and do better next time. I can do it!" Write down this “mantra” and repeat it to yourself every day if necessary.

Adding and Strengthening Positive Relationships

1. Get professional help. While recovering from depression, it is very important that you get professional help who can make sure that the depression doesn't come back, or at least gets milder if it does. So, if you have been following a treatment program so far, just continue with that treatment program.

   

   • If you've been treated by a specific therapist, discuss new goals that you now want to achieve. Make sure that you stay in therapy and attend sessions as scheduled.
   • If you don't have a therapist working with your depression, try this method. This method is helpful even if you may not be currently depressed. A therapist or psychologist can help you reduce the chances of depression recurring or worsening of symptoms, with some specific intervention programs, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which aim to change your thought patterns so as to promote your own well-being over a longer period of time. long.
   • Keep seeing your psychiatrist and taking the prescribed medication.
   • Talk to your doctor about your health condition, diet, and exercise activities.

2. Seek help if you have any addiction. Addiction can worsen symptoms of depression and make recovery even more difficult. Whether it's an addiction to certain substances, food, gambling, shopping, self-injurious behavior, sex, or an eating disorder, you will benefit from addiction-specific counseling. It may also be important that you treat depression and addiction at the same time as the two are often closely linked.

   

   • One way to seek help is to talk to a doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist. These experts can provide a reference method of handling your dependence on certain chemicals. Some therapists even specialize in treating drug addiction. You can also undergo an outpatient or inpatient program (as a patient in a drug rehabilitation home).
   • You can also seek help from communities implementing 12-step methods such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) in the US.
   • Recovery from any addiction takes time, but it's worth fighting for and can support overall health and relieve depression.

3. Reconnect the broken relationship. Sometimes during depression, many people cut off contact with important friends or family or other people. In fact, social support is very important to maintain living conditions free from depression, reduce the possibility of depression reappearing, and rise from difficult life situations.

   

   • Send an email, text message, greeting card, or letter to get back in touch with an old friend. Focus on the positive things that are going on in your life right now, and ask how your friend is doing.
   • Call your friend and invite her to meet for a chat over lunch or coffee.

4. Join a support group. Social support, especially from people who are in a similar position to yours, can be very, very helpful in your recovery from depression and in your efforts to maintain a healthy outlook.

   

5. Meet new friends. After a period of depression, you may now feel quite capable of developing new relationships, especially if you have ended old friendships that were destructive or unproductive. By doing things you are passionate about, you may end up meeting new friends who share similar interests and have similar personality types.

   

   • Join church communities, hobby clubs, sports teams, nearby colleges, neighborhood courses, charitable organizations, etc.
   • Try Meetup.com, which is a useful website for finding groups of like-minded people and interests. Examples include singles groups, mountaineering groups, theater groups, and rock-climbing groups.
   • You couldn't find the right group or community? Just make it yourself! Try starting a book fan club. Spread the word about your club among friends and acquaintances, place an ad in the local library, and ask everyone who comes along to bring enough food to share. In addition, you can also create a fitness club that meets regularly in city parks and hire the services of a personal trainer from a shared fee that is shared among each club member.
   • Try to say "yes" every time you receive any social invitation. The more often you say "yes", the more invitations will come. Similarly, every time a friend invites you to an event, respond with an invitation to another event for him/her the following week. This will keep the relationship balanced and both parties feel valued.

Maintaining Physical Health

1. Treat any medical problems that arise immediately. Sometimes, depression can be related to another medical problem, including hyperthyroidism, Parkinson's disease, or Huntington's. Depression may also be a side effect of medical treatment. If your depression isn't caused by your medical condition, it can still affect your mood if you do feel sick and have negative thoughts. It's hard to think positively when you're feeling sick or sick.

   

   • See your doctor regularly if you have a chronic medical disorder.
   • If you notice an increase in the severity of your depression while taking a new medication or taking a new treatment method, consult your doctor.
   • Continue to take all prescribed medications for your medical problem. It may take some time to find the right medication for you. Once you feel better, keep taking your medication, to maintain your health.

2. Focus on normal daily activities. In times of depression, it may be difficult to carry out normal daily activities, such as bathing, cleaning, and general self-care (such as washing your face or brushing your teeth). As soon as you beat depression, you need to start getting back into your daily routine. Taking good care of yourself can make you feel better about yourself and reduce the chances of depression coming back. For example, if you stay in your pajamas all day, you are less likely to have the urge to go out and do something. However, if you take a long shower, do your hair and make-up, choose clothes that make you feel beautiful or handsome, you will feel much stronger and able to face the day.

   

   Make a list of things you can do in the context of self-care. This list could include washing clothes, shopping for new clothes, washing hair, and cutting or styling

3. Exercise. Exercise can help prevent and relieve symptoms of depression. No matter how hard it is to put on your sneakers and tie the laces, once you're done exercising you'll feel ten times better emotionally, as a result of the endorphins released in your brain.

   

   • Start by walking for ten minutes, and increase this duration to 20 minutes. Doing this as often as possible will be very beneficial for you.
   • If you're having trouble building motivation to exercise, say to yourself, "I'll feel better when I'm done." Alternatively, you can also commit to doing 5-10 minutes of stationary cycling or treadmill exercise. Sometimes you just have to beat the initial challenge by starting to move, then after ten minutes you'll automatically want to continue running for another ten minutes, or even more.
   • If you're looking for a more difficult challenge, you'll also experience those endorphins “spitting out” pleasure after a run, at the gym, or other aerobic activity.

   Facing Life Better To Prevent The Next Depression

   1. Master your emotions in a positive way. Research shows that people who have a history of depression are more likely to control their emotions in ways that lead to depression. This emotional control has to do with negative ways of dealing with life (for example, drinking too much alcohol), which exacerbate depression rather than relieve it.

      

      Avoid overthinking. Thinking too much will trigger you to replay the negative situation in your mind over and over again. Maybe you're rethinking the negative as you're trying to find out exactly what's causing the problem, but this method tends to only amplify negative feelings and is less useful for generating enlightenment. Instead, try asking yourself, “Is there anything I can change? What's that?" Make a list of small, easy-to-reach goals that directly relate to the things you can change. It's also helpful to fight and "solve" the negative thoughts that come up while you're walking or exercising

   2. “Capture” and change the negative thoughts that arise. Everyone will experience occasional negative thoughts. However, the more negative thoughts you have, the more depressed you will feel. This happens because our thoughts are closely related to our feelings. Don't believe your inner words that are negative, and learn to fight them and develop positive thinking habits.

      

      Think of your thoughts as a hypothesis or idea that just pops up, not as a fact or truth. For example, if you suddenly have negative thoughts such as, “This situation is really bad. I hate it,” question your perception of the ongoing situation. This method is called the cognitive reappraisal technique (cognitive appraisal). Is the situation really that bad? Is it really, really bad, or can you just try to deal with it? Can you change the way you think about the situation and try to find a way to improve it? Tell yourself, “This situation isn't that bad. It sucks, but I can deal with it.”

   3. Use positive self-talk techniques. People who suffer from depression tend to get into the habit of self-deprecating and using negative self-talk. Examples include, “I'm not good enough. I'm a failure. I'm stupid. If you have negative thoughts like this, usually you will be carried away by negative emotions as well. To combat these thoughts, use positive affirmation techniques.

      

      One example of positive affirmation is the thought “I have done the best I can, and the results have been quite satisfactory for me. I don't need to be considered satisfactory by others."

   4. Engage in activities that make you feel happy. Relaxing and pleasurable activities are an important part of a positive self-view that results in a sense of peace and well-being. Being active can also increase your ability to deal with stress and stressful life events.

      

      Make a list of fun activities and schedule each one for you to do each day. For example, you can make plans to watch a movie, read a book, enjoy your favorite food, take a leisurely walk, take a bath, visit a library or museum, go shopping, buy fresh flowers, have a beauty treatment or hairdo, or go out to dinner.

   5. Focus on the positive. Sometimes, people who have experienced depression find it difficult to focus on the positives in their lives. In fact, your ability to focus on positive thoughts and activities can increase levels of positive emotions and lower levels of depressed mood.

      

      • One way to focus on the positive is to keep a diary of happy events, with photos or writing. You might just write a few sentences about one of the good things that happened that day, or post a photo of one of the beautiful or interesting things you found that day.
      • Focusing on positive things is also related to choosing the right activities that will be beneficial to increase your level of positive emotions. For example, choosing the right shows (e.g. if you're sad, don't watch sad news or drama films). Not only is this completely useless for those who tend to wallow in the negativity in life, but it will instead pour gasoline on the flames. Therefore, turn off the news and read a book that is positive and uplifting for you. Or, switch to the sports or comics column in the newspaper you're reading.

   Warning

   If you are located in Indonesia and are having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, call the suicide prevention services emergency telephone number: (021) 7256526, (021) 7257826, or (021) 7221810

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