I saw Ellie Jones’ posts on self-care and how she dealt with change, and it got me thinking ‘’hmm, I have depression and never wrote about it’’. Depression can happen to anyone, just like any other mental health ‘’disorders’’. Depression is, in my humble opinion, not a disorder, but a part of us like a piece of metal which was hit too many times by the blacksmith(who can be a woman too) and was tired of being strong and broke down at one point.
Like Ellie, I started recognizing I have bouts of not wanting to get out of bed, or getting out of the house at all, these bouts do not happen daily, when they do happen I have to show kindness to myself, and take another route to getting whatever done in that day. It happened today. It rained so I was triggered. It was cold too, and rain and cold combined obviously didn’t go well.
How is it for me to be living with depression? Well, it’s okay. It’s okay because I have had small accomplishments which make me feel proud and these make the week fly by like Ursula von der Leyen’s private jet (for more than 31 miles btw). It’s manageable. It feels great to have stuff to do, important stuff, they feel important and when I get stuff done, I go ‘’YESSSS!’’, booty shakes and all. You forgot booty shakes, Ellie! A PR blog simply has to list those, Ellie!
I arrange my day so that university work is done, so I can argue that lists are indeed useful, but you have to read them, ….every once in a while. Being kind to oneself is terribly important went going through something like depression, taking day by day, as judging oneself over things that you didn’t do in a day simply isn’t useful, it can only make you feel worse about yourself. I’m okay whatever I choose to do. For some, therapy as in talk therapy might be useful, but I already talk to myself so I don’t feel the need for that.
I’m quite the depression specialist after dealing with it since I was 18. You might be thinking, what causes depression? One can’t really pinpoint at a single cause, because we’re intricate humans, it’s rather a combination of factors like stress, bullying, unemployment, financial struggles, grief, medication, or simply genetics. It is like depression embodies a different personality every time or maybe it’s a different side to myself which requires attention? Food for thought there.
What I do for myself, other than taking small steps daily, is listening to music, getting work done because we need as much endorphins and serotonin as possible and getting stuff done means dopamine will make us feel bliss, increasing motivation and concentration. Basically what you need when feeling not so good. Exercising every morning, but random mornings. I cook food that I eat with my eyes, not just my mouth. Oh and keeping hydrated because we’re all 70% water, unless you’re not human. And if you aren’t human, why are you reading this blog?
ELENA BLOGS, YOU READ 