Navigating the World as a Depressed Person
Disclaimer: This is not a diagnosis but since the word is now mainstream it seems fitting to use it.
As a fellow person prone to mood swings and a debilitating need to stay in bed all day and just stare at the ceiling here are ways I make things work and drag myself out of bed everyday because I have too many ambitions and every day I spend in bed feels like a year I’ll spend in the hell called regret.
— Accept your progress will be slower than most people: Number one thing after you’ve recognized your problem is to accept it and work towards minimizing the fallout. For years I’ve always wondered why I’m not moving as fast as my peers or just why I don’t get out of bed as early as I’d like and that’s because depression affects your body as much as it affects your mind.
Accept that your progress is going to be slow at first until you gather momentum to move as fast as you’d like without burning yourself out because one thing depression does is that it paces you whether you like it or not. You are practically working anticlockwise.
— Minimize social media: Yes it’s an escape but it’s also a chain. You’ll always see something that’ll send you into a fit of jealousy and recriminations. Trust me it’s not you hating their progress it’s more like you hate that you are not moving along as well. Capitalism babyyy
— Take Advantage: If you feel good one minute a day. Savour that moment because trust me it won’t last forever, just as depressive episodes don’t last forever. I’ve discovered it’s a cycle I feel good one week and I’m thrown into a depressive episode the next buttt, one thing I do is try as much as possible to live that one week. I tick an item off my list. It’s kinda like a menstrual cycle so to say, so enjoy that one week of reprieve to last you two weeks of plummeting happiness.
Now that we’ve tackled the good times here’s how to handle yourself in the bad
— Create a Routine: This won’t work for everyone of course but it scratches my OCD brain. Sure I’d love to clean my room for other reasons apart from the fact that if my books are one inch out of line I believe my mum would die fatally in an accident or if my room is not swept the roof will cave in but my brain is wired to think disaster will fall if things aren’t where they should be. Truthfully nothing happens when I don’t sweep and rearrange my room each day and fold my clothes while counting them other than the fact that I spend the day dreading disaster and I try to stop it by escaping to tiktok or a morbid book. You see the problem? So just save your self the trouble and create a routine. If anything the alarms will jar you out of anything you are sinking into. Pro tip use music you hate for doing things you hate doing like waking up? And good music for things like having a shower or having breakfast trust me it works.
— Text Your Friends: Yes your mental health prevents you from having coherent conversations but text someone. It’s not everytime you’ll wait for someone to text you. Don’t be a selfish asshole. Just don’t overwhelm yourself. Text someone ask them about new music or book they are listening to or reading. Don’t trauma dump on your friends sha because they have their problems too. Do everything in moderation abeg. I’ve been pulled out of a depressive episode more times than I can count just because I made the first move and texted my friend first. Just talk about stupid things and take your mind off of how harrowing the world is. As much as each individual situation is different you’re still not alone in this world so try not to isolate yourself
— Self Care: People often mistake depression for laziness, and really the worst combination is laziness and ambition. Hear me out please, yes a lazy person will always find the easiest way to do something but there are some things that just don’t have shortcuts, you have to face them squarely. Showers always make everything feel better and I’m convinced the single greatest invention for depressed people is mouthwash. However, taking your bath always helps I don’t know why but it does. You can add in a bit of self care in there just don’t create a routine that’ll overwhelm you.
Moving on to the real thing Your ambitions, your goals you want to make money. I actually have no idea how to do this soo, if you have any tips for that please comment I do want to know I’m still perfecting the above and I’d love any helpful suggestions. Thank youuu.
