My story of how I fell into depression is too personal; however; how I overcame it is something that I feel would definitely help someone. I fell into depression in my teens, when I was in high school, back in 2009. You are most vulnerable in your teens, you barely even know your own self, forget understanding depression. For a long time, I didn’t quite understand what was happening to me until I just couldn’t take it and ended up consulting a psychiatrist because I thought I was going crazy.
It is so important to talk about it and honestly, it can happen to anyone. In my opinion, chances are, it happens more to those who tend to overthink. Now, overthinking, in my opinion, is a blessing, only if you know how to use it to your benefit. It can drive you mad if you use it on less important things as I did by thinking about the problem and not the solution, or it can make you achieve incredible things because you have the gift of thinking deeply and passionately about things. Now, depression for everyone is different, I am not trying to make a statement that my journey will work for everyone, but it might for someone and it’s worth a try.
The thing that depression shatters the most in you is your self-confidence. So, the fastest way to beat depression is by working on restoring your self-esteem.
Having A Sense Of Purpose, Genuinely Wanting To Get Better Helped
Most people succumb to it but if you keep your will power strong and have a sense of purpose in life and big dreams, you will beat depression. The next most important thing is to stay happy. So, I recommend doing things that will boost your confidence level and bring you joy. Identify what brings you happiness and do more of it. While your medicine is doing its work, forget about it and focus on things you love and aspire to achieve.
Now, did I overcome it naturally or with medication? I had to consult a psychiatrist and take medication for a month. Even though I was prescribed medication for 2-3 months, as soon as I started to feel slightly better and most importantly, when I started to feel a little confident, I made it a point that I would not rely on any medicines from that day on. I wanted to beat it with my willpower, simply because I wanted to prove myself that I was strong and wise enough to not let my own mind ruin my life. I took it as a challenge – the first step of standing on my feet.
A brief description of my personality – I’ve got strong willpower or at least I’d like to believe that, a very strong belief system and values. I am an over-thinker. I won’t call myself an introvert but I’m not an extrovert either. I’d call myself a good mix of both. I like to go out for parties and stay in to read as well, spend time with myself and write. So I don’t think it has to do anything with you being an introvert.
When depression first hit me, I shied away from it, didn’t want to face it, couldn’t talk about it with my friends fearing I’d be treated differently, but most importantly, the only people I shared it with didn’t understand what it was – my family. So basically, I was on my own. I knew something was definitely wrong with me but didn’t know what. I used to get sudden bouts of sadness, I couldn’t even swallow food, did not feel like eating ever!
I couldn’t sleep at all, once I went a week without sleeping. I wanted to die. But, the good thing was that I desperately wanted to get better because I had big dreams and couldn’t let anything ruin my life’s prime years. I wanted to move out of the city, be independent, make a living for myself and stand on my own feet. That kept me going. So, it is very important to have a purpose in life for it can bring you out of most of the problems you face along the way.
I started feeling better very soon, in almost a month’s time but the worst thing about depression is the rebound. It keeps coming back and doesn’t go away completely for years. However, with time, you start to understand yourself so well that you develop a defence mechanism against it; you learn how to stop it from rebounding and how to get yourself out of it. My first step was consulting a psychiatrist- he prescribed me medication for three months. Medicines helped me with eating and sleeping, two things that were messing me up even more. So, at least medicines got that out of the way.
So here’s a list of the things that I did which might be useful for you too. Remember, self-confidence and happiness are the keys to beating depression!
- Eating nutritious food – It is so important to eat right in depression because you’re dealing with the most complex organ of your body that basically controls every function, so nutritious food is the first thing you need to keep your brain healthy. I got to know about brain foods and the whole science behind it. I have even posted about the top brain foods in my last article – check it out.
- Keeping busy all the time- I kept myself busy – with studies, watching TV, reading books and going out. Keeping your mind distracted is imperative, if you keep thinking about sad things, there will be no room for good things.
- Music – I love music, playing my favourite music and dancing on it when I would start to feel sad.
- Reading – I read John Green’s novels all through that time.
Curl up with a good book. - Sleeping well and quick napping – I overslept every day. It made me feel days were short and that I didn’t have to stay awake and experience more sadness, so anytime I would feel sad, I would go to bed or take a quick nap. Made me forget my sorrows for a bit.
- Long walks – I didn’t use to exercise, but I did go for long walks. Walking clears the mind. Whenever I have to think about a project or have to make a decision, I go for a walk and do the thinking while at it. Your brain works well when you’re moving.
- Dressing up well – I would doll up, put on some lipstick, do my hair well when out. It made me feel good about myself.
- Meeting self-created challenges – I would give myself small challenges every week. Writing was on the top of my list and then there was public speaking, sketching human faces, delivering presentations, designing etc. I won’t say I’ve become perfect at it, but at least, I don’t suck either. With every day, I started to get better at it and that helped restore my confidence.
- Writing your feelings down – I would keep a journal and write about what I was feeling. I do that even today. Surprisingly, while writing I say really motivating things to myself (haha!) and also come up with solutions to my problems and stupid feelings. Most importantly, I completely forget about them after writing them down. Most people tend to believe the more you write about your sad feelings, the longer they stay with you and even become worse because you tend to attract them, but for me, it’s the right opposite.
- Having a sense of purpose in life – This is the most important! If you have a goal in mind, it will drive you out of every challenge. If you don’t have a clear goal, that is okay. You’d still know if you’d like to be rich one day, have your own house, have a great family, would want to open your own business. Go deep within and ask yourself. It is important to find your purpose.
- Knowledge is power – Educate yourself, not just in academics but other things. There’s so much to know about. History, politics, business, culture, world. I like to read about the human brain, it is so fascinating. Space and the universe intrigue me. I have an opinion on almost everything because I read a lot. I still have a lot to know but it’s the process that I love more.
If you are in the same situation as I was, try these things and please feel free to reach out to me. I feel very strongly about mental health because having been through it, I know what it feels like and what damage it can do to you and your brain. The rebound makes it even worse. So, it is important to work at the root level and completely throw it out of your system.
You can write to me if you ever feel like having an open chat 🙂
Love.