Yesterday I’ve written about keeping a positive attitude but even with that, depression is inevitable. With me, it lasts for 2-3 days and it’s usually because of one or a combination of these things:

The first step towards dealing with my depression stems from understanding its two groups of factors: physiological and psychological. The physiological factors are easily dealt with. Eat happy foods, sleep well and exercise. Cutting back on the alcohol and caffeine are also obvious remedies and so is not overindulging on the happy drug (you get high, you must come down). Though with these things, as with everything, sometimes that’s easier said than done. But hey, knowing is half the battle right?

The psychological factors are a different ballgame. Some people can get into a spiral of depression that is hard to get out of. That is, you think of one bad thing and then you start thinking of another and so on. With me, going into a spiral is how I deal with the onset of depression. I’m not recommending that you try it because it’s possibly the worst idea depending on your psychological make-up.

But here’s how it works for me …

I analyse what is it that’s getting me down and I think of something worse. You know how they say, “Hey, it can’t possibly get worse right?” Well, I imagine it getting worse. I think of what’s worse than what’s bugging me now, and then what’s worse than that. Eventually, short of me dying, I’ve exhausted all the bad stuff that can possibly go wrong. By the time I get to that point, that original problem doesn’t seem too bad anymore. It’s not possible.

And then I wind myself back by looking at the bright side of each one of those terrible things that I’ve imagined. The bright sides of those things can be fantastic and nonsensical, and they don’t have to make sense but doing this exercise forces your mind into a different place: a place of being positive, which goes back to what I’ve been saying all along. :)