How to transform your depression into positivity and succeed in life?
A simple Google search of the keyword depression shows over 10 million search results.
It’s worthy to note that social media has become a major cause for it. Statistics show that more than 1.5 million children, who are in the age group of 3-18 have reported depression.
What’s even more intriguing is that more than 75% of the teens are present on social media, having an account in at least one platform. With more than 60% of the users on TikTok and YouTube contributing to the highest watch-hours, the influence of social media is very high in daily lives.
As much as the digital world is responsible for social media, it is our responsiveness towards negativity that plays a role in amplifying the issue.
This article unravels the tiny threads of depression which will help you to do away with it.
Depression can be a life-threatening problem. Though there are many medical reasons for depression, they are beyond the scope of this article.
Our main aim is to help you get out of depression. Understand that positivity is the elixir that can assist you in living a better life.
Understand the deep roots of depression
For every person, the deep cause of depression is different. This is the uniqueness of a person and his upbringing, which makes every depression different! Yet, what is interesting to note is that the ways you can defeat depression are somewhat similar.
Why is it so?
It’s because no matter what the main source of depression is, the underlying effect it has on our psychology and physiology are similar.
Take an example of when we were kids and our parents used to compare our performance with the topper of the class. If you remember how you felt back then, you can have a similar feeling, when you see someone better than you!
The kind of giddiness, jealousy and a weird complexity of wanting something!
Even though the two instances are different, they have a similar chemical effect in our body.
This is how depression works! Taking note of this thing, let us proceed to know about the Happy-Filter.
What is Happy-Filter?
It is a term coined by us. Just like any normal filter, it will help you to be selective to the information from the external world.
It is important to note that the data points that we collect from the external environment affect our emotions. If we lay more emphasis on the hurtful sentiments and comments, we make ourselves vulnerable.
Turn on the happy filter and understand that you are not responsible for what everyone says.
Reacting to everything is not the route to a happy life. Instead, being non-reactive is also a response, and a choice. Albeit a tough one.
Understand that depression can be converted into something positive. The positivity in life doesn’t come in a day, yet the small efforts of changing one’s lives add a huge impact.
In the next section, we will read the 10 personally researched and statistically proven mantras, which will help you to not only defeat depression but rise above it, forever!
Kick away depression like a Pro!
1. Start losing control of things:
At the outset, it might be the most difficult thing. I have honestly been in this place when I was trying to control everything around me. Everytime I couldn’t control it, I would delve into a phase of irritability and frustration. One fine day, I lost everything I ever cared for. I was back to square one.
At this point in time, I thought to myself, “What is the point of worrying so much in life, if at the end of it, I had to start it from scratch.” Ever since that day, I stopped controlling my environment. Instead, I focussed on personal growth. Understanding the power of internal locus of control can help you in becoming the best version of yourself.
2. Laugh a bit more:
Yes, not only does laughter release endorphins, but it also increases the flow of blood to various organs of the body. A happy heart gives rise to happy health. Mental health is a component of happiness and if you are seeking for a proper mental health, being cheerful is important. So what, if it is induced laughter?
At first, it might seem a bit awkward but, honestly, this is the best gift that you can give to yourself. So, don’t think much and unravel the butterfly inside you!
3. Don’t take yourself too seriously:
Often, a major mistake that people commit is taking themselves too seriously. It is important you don’t compromise on self-respect, but often taking yourself too seriously is a cause of harm.
Once you take yourself seriously, you want to maintain a strict pattern of behavior. You consider that the onus is on you to maintain a public image. Moreover, you cannot accept failure. When you fail, you are concerned about what others would think about you! This is the potential sign of depression! You must avoid it, else it can lead to disasters.
4. Pet a puppy:
When nurturing and caring for someone we often feel a surge in positive emotions. What is also important to understand is that, if you can keep yourself busy and distracted with positive things in life, it can be a turnaround for your life. Some problems do automatically go away when you stop paying attention to them.
Moreover, when you involve into something lively and developmental, it adds to the positive outlook in life. It adds the needed change in outlook towards the situations in life, thus making your life more meaningful.
5. Read more and more:
Keep yourself aware of the happenings around the world. Make yourself more confident through knowledge. When you engage yourself with knowledge, you become powerful.Besides, reading should be cultivated as a habit. Not only to bid adieu to depression, but also to give you an edge over others.
6. Dress suave and look like a pro:
One major step of loving yourself starts from looking good. Invest time in yourself to grow and boost your confidence. Once you are well-groomed, you feel confident when interacting with people. Good Dressing is a well-known term to help you drive out the negativity. The impacts of proper dressing can have long-lasting impacts on the confidence of a person.
7. Make checklists and set goals:
Turning your depression into positivity can be challenging at first. Yet, the feeling of achievement of the daily goals will fill you with positivity, satisfaction, and encouragement. It is important to understand that once you set goals, you make yourself dedicated to them. This will help you to create a filter between the unwanted things and the important ones.
The selective approach to life acts as a true blessing, as this way you can not only bring about improvements in your life, but also grow up eventually.
It is also important to set a SMART goal. What are SMART goals? Let’s try to understand this better with an example:
Suppose you want to learn German. If you simply state your goals as learning German, the chances of failing are close to 70%.
So, how should you set your goals? Make the goals much more specific and time-bound. It will help you to make a note of the progress as well.
For example, your SMART goal could be: Learning two lessons of German, within a week. Testing the knowledge by giving a test on the language proficiency and scoring more than 80%.
Now, which one looks more clear? When it comes to goal setting, clarity of the goals are very important. Thus, we suggest you become SMART in setting goals!
8. Start a YouTube channel:
This is really an out of the box thing, but nonetheless, you can keep yourself occupied. When you try out this new avenue, you are kicking out of your comfort zone. Once the comfort zone is broken, and you are successful in establishing a schedule of your videos, it will help you to have the feel-good factor about yourself.
Often starting a YouTube channel might be devastating if you have too many expectations from it. We might suggest you expect the worst, but give your best in this situation. Moreover, going out of the comfort zone will help you to gain confidence and positivity due to gain of self-respect. So, make sure you give it a shot!
9. Go out often:
Depression can even result from a monotonous routine. You might feel stuck at a place. Break the routine and become a bit more outgoing. Meet new people and go on blind dates!
If you’re not comfortable with dating, you could go on a blind tour of your city/town! You’d be surprised how many places you didn’t know about your own city!
So, how does this help?
When you get yourself engaged by visiting places, you not only break the shackles of routine life, but also gain new experiences!Make sure you don’t get too serious while you visit new places or meet new people! Just take it as a life project, to go with the flow! And, there my friend, you will see how your depression turns into positivity!
4 Signs of depression to stay aware of:
Do you think the person who is sad in the corner of the room is suffering from depression? What if we told you that the person who is laughing at the silliest of jokes is truly depressed!
Depression has the weird characteristics of hiding itself within the deep layers of the human emotions. If you ask the reason why, it is the fear of being judged.
We keep on thinking depression to be a known evil, yet it is the silent venom that is spilled in the firmaments of society.
Some of the tell-tale signs of depression will be discussed in this section. But, it is also important to understand that no one symptom is enough to judge if someone is depressed or not!
Moreover, if you find someone suffering from the lowest points in his life, we suggest you not to talk or discuss this in public. Instead, take them aside, and discuss the problem privately.
Remember, every time we don’t ask a person if something is bothering them, we are losing out on the chance of saving them!
1. An air of condescension:
One of the major signs of depression is the air of self-guilt and self-blame. We must not forget that the air of hopelessness arises from the lack of positivity.
This feeling of finding the fault in oneself is the sign you must look for! Moreover, there is an ominous air of helplessness and hopelessness about the outlook of the person, which is a sign of caution.
2. Staring at the fans during the night:
With depression, comes anxiety, insomnia and sleep problems. Watch out for a person with a lack of enthusiasm for living. A plausible sign of depression, anxiety, leads to loss of sleep.
With over-thinking rapidly increasing during night time, it becomes difficult to keep control of oneself. At this point, you must take a note of how much fatigue the person is showing and the dark circles under their eyes!
3. Living on the edge of the mind:
What is important to understand is that both men and women respond differently to depression. Women are more likely to admit being a victim of depression, than men!
So, if you find the symptoms of irritability, impulse, and restlessness in a man, the signs refer to the increasing depression building up within.
4. Take a note of the food intake:
It has always been said that food and happiness go hand in hand. Though it has not been studied yet, whether depression leads to an increase or decrease in food consumption, but, both of them are related in a way or the other.
One of the patterns which you need to observe is the intentional or the non-intentional change in food consumption. If there is a non-intentional deviation in the normal food intake, this could be a growing sign of depression.
Though there are many more signs of depression, we have researched the top 4 signs, which are prevalent in most of the cases.
Seeking the help of books to mitigate depression
Books can be of great help when it comes to dealing with depression. It is often said that books will not help you unless you make the move!
But, the secret is, once you know how someone else, in the same situation, got out of it, you can gain confidence.
Books about depression and how to get over them can be categorized into 3 sections:
1. Research about depression: It is important to understand the main cause of depression. Reading journals, books, and articles about the same is the right way to gauge the main reason behind depression.
2. Walking away from loneliness: What most people don’t understand is the need for someone to be with you at difficult times. Loneliness can be excruciating for people who prefer fondling.
Books about loneliness and how to drive them away are the real solution for the same. Moreover, once you read and go through the experience of others, you can understand that you are not alone. Understanding that there are many like you, can help you heal faster!
3. Actionable: Self-help books are hardly anything but a praise of one’s own achievement and monetizing it. Well, it is completely a personal view, as I believe what works for me might not work for the author. Yet, there are many readers who prefer to read through self-help books to grow and develop themselves.
They can be effective for a select few, but honestly, the reason for the success of such anthropologies have always eluded me.
From the books being listed, you must check out a few that would help you get through depression.
1. Option B: This book is my personal favorite:
Written by Sheryl Sandberg, the book talks about the loss of Sheryl’s husband and how it affected her. But, it also discusses the journey of Sheryl from such an adverse situation and grows out to be a mature woman. Being a professional, handling her children, yet climbing up the ladders of success, is what this book is about.
It will help you to cope up with a loss. It is important to understand that what is lost cannot be got back, but if you keep on picking the wounds, even time cannot heal them!
2. First, we make the Beast beautiful:
By Sarah Wilson. The writing style adapted has made the book stand out. A perfect book to capture the nerve of the anxious people, it takes you to travel through the paradigms of the time.
It is important to read this book if you are trying to find a way to live with anxiety and still be the best version of yourself. Wilson’s has beautifully described her anxiety in this work of art!
Conclusion
At the end, we would like to conclude the article with the few lines, that you can consider as the mantra for seeing the world, at its best:
“Understand, that the loss will be unclaimedKnow, that the love will never die, only good things will start to happen, if you see the world with optimistic eyes!”
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