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Recovering from your depression will require a lot of action, however taking action when you are feeling depressed is a little challenging. The main key to recovering from depression is to begin with small goals and gradually build on them. Use all of the resources that are available to you. You might not have much energy, however you most likely have enough that you can pick up the phone and call someone near or take a walk around your neighborhood. Below are a few tips that will help you along the way of overcoming your depression.
Cultivate Supportive Relationships
Obtaining the support that is needed will play a huge part in lifting depression and sending it away for good. By yourself, it might be difficult to sustain the effort required and maintain perspective to overcome depression; however the nature of depression will make it difficult for you to call for help. Although, loneliness and isolation will make it much worse, therefore maintaining social activities and close relationships are very vital.
Challenge Negative Thinking
Depression adds negativity to everything, which includes how you view yourself, the situations that you come in contact with, and the expectations that you have for the future. However, you are unable to break this frame of mind by just thinking positively. Wishful thinking or happy thoughts isn’t enough. Instead, the trick would be to replace those thoughts of negativity with thoughts that are balanced.
Take Care of Yourself
To be able to win over your depression, you will need to start taking care of yourself. This may include following a lifestyle that is healthy, learning to manage your stress, creating restrictions on what you may do, learning new healthy habits, as well as adding some fun filled activities into each and every day. Although you won’t be able to force yourself into having a good time, you can choose things that you love doing. Pick a sport or hobby that you have and get involved. You can express yourself through writing, art or music. Other suggestions include going out with friends, taking a trip to the ballpark, the mountains, or the local museum.
Get Regular Exercise
When you are feeling down or depressed, exercise might be one of the last things that you are thinking about doing. However, exercising is a very powerful tool that can help with overcoming your depression. As a matter of fact, there are studies that show how regular exercise might be just as effective as an anti-depressant medicine which helps to decrease fatigue levels and boost energy levels.
Eat a Healthier Diet
What you are eating might have a direct impact on the way that you are feeling. You should aim for getting a well balanced diet of complex carbohydrates, low-fat protein, vegetables and fruits. You need to reduce your intake of those foods that will have a negative impact on your mood and brain, like alcohol, saturated fats, caffeine, trans fats, and those foods that have increased levels of hormones or chemical preservatives (like certain meat).
Know when it is Time to Look for Help
If you find that your depression is just getting worse and not seeing any signs of progress, you need to look for professional help. When you need extra help, this doesn’t mean that you are unable to do it yourself or weak. At times, the negative thoughts from depression might make you feel like you are wasting your time, however depression does have treatments and you will be able to feel much better. Don’t forget to look through all of these great self-help techniques, however. Even if you are looking into getting professional assistance, these techniques will be able to help with the plan of your treatment, which will help speed up the recovery as well as prevent your depression from coming back.