How To Deal With Occasional EPISODES OF DEPRESSION

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Episodic depression.

Apparently this isn’t a real term, but I think it should be. I characterize this as someone who, in general, lives a happy life, but experiences depression ever so often. Sometimes it’s caused by the weather, sometimes it’s caused by a situation, and other times it’s your good ol’ hormones playing games on you. I’m writing this as someone who experiences this quite frequently, and know how disruptive it is to life. One day, I’m at peace, so grateful with how life turned out, and oozing love and rainbows. Suddenly, I feel that familiar wave of darkness overcoming me and all I can say is oh no, here it comes again.

Yes, there is a label for this: bipolar disorder. But let’s not let the internet diagnose us. What I’m talking about here is a much more milder version. It doesn’t define who you are as a person, but it does affect your well being here and then. It’s still very much a valid experience, and with a few tips and tricks, you can loosen up some of these episodes and make them more bearable. If you suffer from occasional episodes of depressive feelings, let’s dive into some ways to ease the pain.

Accept the situation as is

First things first, accept the mental state you’ve just landed in. It’s not your fault, it’s not the universe’s fault, and it’s okay. A common mistake I make myself is feeling anger towards my lack of motivation or happiness. I feel anger towards being unproductive, and I feel frustrated that I can’t pick myself up. However, the moment I just let it all go and accepted my emotional state as a natural fact, I feel much more at ease. Not happier, but calmer, and that’s all that I can ask for at the time. Rather than taking it as a personal offense, I remove my involvement in how I feel and just let this thing pass through me as it needs. Trust me when I say, it makes things much more easy.

Don’t consume, create

I feel like the most comfortable go-to when you’re feeling down is consuming content, be it Netflix, Youtube, Tiktok, or Instagram. I do believe this is helpful to a degree — certain visuals and storylines can motivate you or inspire you. But from my experience, that feeling is fleeting. It lasts a mere moment and it doesn’t actually get me out of my slump. So instead, I say create. And I do not necessarily mean create something for the world to see, although that’s also acceptable. I mean use your emotional state to do something creative. I talked about this in greater detail in the “How to use your PMS emotions to your advantage” story, but essentially you want to spend some time writing, playing the guitar, painting, doing pottery, anything that requires you to release something out of you. Creating requires much more energy to commence than consuming, and we all know that’s something we lack while in a slump. But once you’re in the swing of crafting, you’ll find it pumps positive energy back into you. Seeing your finished product makes you feel good, and that’s exactly what we’re going for here.

Meditate

Seriously, meditate. If you haven’t tried it before, you’re in for a real treat. If you have, you already know the incredible peace you feel afterwards. You’re just stubborn and think there are better things to be doing with your time than sitting and doing nothing (that’s at least what my brain tells me). Turn it into a whole scene. Set up a nice rug, light some candles, turn off all your electronics. Then just breathe and exist for fifteen minutes. Truth is, it doesn’t even matter if you meditate “correctly”. Your body and mind still acknowledge that you have taken the time to do something for it. Finally, you are responding to its cries, listening, feeling, and accepting that it’s there. Do it everyday until the depression cloud disperses.