Depression can't win over you
Posted By: Sara M 
Date Posted: April 26th, 2010 Category: Other
Recently I visited a friend who was suffering from chronic depression, but now she has a pretty normal life, as a matter of fact she has a happier life than what she had before depression. This made me real curious and I couldn’t help but asked her the remedies. I was surprised to know that she was not taking any pills and she achieved this on her own by exercise and mood lifting. Though I was sure about exercise but I didn’t know about mood lifting. She explained ‘mood lifting’ as a thought process in which one doesn’t think about anything else but him or herself. After some series of checkups and depression treatment, my friend started mood lifting exercise where she used to do little bit of physical work and a lot of thinking. In her case, as she explained, she was allowed to think only good things about her life. Every negative thought should be immediately replaced by a positive good thought. And what.. it worked for her. Though it’s little difficult for me to imagine but it feels good to share her experience. I think, in some part of my life, I too feel depressed and that is the most difficult time to do anything. That depression instantly makes me inactive. So, now I think a little bit of walk along with some happy songs or joke books will help me.
Undoubtedly, we have numerous experiences in our life, some good some bad or may be some sad. If a thought makes us depressed then we should think about a funny incident or about a friend, and think that how blessed we are to feel those moments and to have those loving people around us. After all, a little smile is all it takes to lift the mood!
Comment By: Rebecca Morrow
Date & Time: April 27, 2010 at 8:56 am
I can completely understand where your friend is coming from. I dealt with some form of depression for a very long time. I never wanted to be on medication and fought long and hard not to be. But in the end, I decided to try it. It helped in the beginning, but after some depression treatment that included yoga, exercise, education, healthy eating, daily affirmations, art therapy and a slew of other things, I felt like that the medication wasn't benefiting me any more like it had when I first started taking it. We slowly titrated down my medication and, lo and behold, I didn't need it any more!
Depression can initially be worked on with medication, but I am a full believer that no one has to stay on it indefinitely. With positive spiritual, mental and physical reinforcement, one can overcome a small hump, or years of untreated depression. It took me 3 months, but I now have the tools to overcome anything I put my mind to.
One thing that has helped me through the years is to take a small dry erase marker and keep it in my bathroom. From time to time, I will write affirmations on my mirror. This forces me to read them every morning. It may seem strange, but it has worked for me. I enjoy seeing them. And then once a year, I wipe them all off and start all over again.
I am happy to hear about your friend and I hope that it will continue. Her story is certainly an amazing one and I am happy that she passed it on to you.
Comment By: Sara M
Date & Time: April 27, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Thank you so much for the comment. I think the writing affirmation on the mirror is a great idea. I think I will write ' This too shall pass' on my mirror. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
Comment By: Rebecca Morrow
Date & Time: April 27, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Sara,
You are more than welcome! I have found that it works, plus, while standing there, I have written poetry on it and other odd commentary.
"This, too, shall pass" sounds like a great idea! I'm running out of room, though. Have you any idea how hard it is to do your hair when you have to keep moving around your affirmations? Ah, but, well, it is totally worth it.
Comment By: Abigail Dapron
Date & Time: June 7, 2010 at 12:08 pm
I have suffered from chronic depression since I was 10 and while I excersize, eat right, and have an unbelievable support system and incredible faith, I still need medication to regulate my depression. Some people need medication! To say that no one needs to be on antidepresants indefinatly is a very ignorant comment and people should educate themselves on what it is truly like to suffer from Mental Ilnesses Chronically as in their whole lives. I constantly redirect my thoughts and think positively rely on God and my family but my illness is too much. Sometimes, even if you do everything right you still need medication. Trust me, I fought thinking that people, me especially, indefinatly need to be on medication but I know that some people do.