I have spoken before in previous blogs about how I personally have been able to overcome depression over the course of my life.
While depression is not something that is easy to deal with, it is a consequence of being human.
Depression is something that we all have felt at some point in our lives.
Whether it be from a traumatic incident that has happened in your life, or a series of traumatic incidents, depression is a natural consequence.
By now, we are familiar with how trauma works on the human brain - something traumatic happens, emotions are triggered, and everytime something comes up that triggers those same emotions, you naturally relive that trauma.
The emotions we experience from trauma live in the subconscious parts of our mind and often influence our behaviors in real time.
Being as that we are conscious beings and we have the ability to make rational thoughts and decisions, becoming aware of our traumas and our behaviors is the first step in dealing with depression.
The biggest piece to take from this is to become hyper-aware of our behaviors because our behaviors will often influence our thoughts.
How many times have you found yourself in similar situations and wonder "why does this always happen to me?"
This is an honest question because when we fail to recognize our own behavior patterns, we often look for the closest thing or person around us to blame.
The more we practice poor behavior, the more it solidifies us in who we are as people, how we think, and how we operate within the world.
Depression comes from negative feelings and emotions, so when we break down what depression comes from, we know it is an emotional state of thinking.
When we think about it logically, we can become aware of the fact that the reason why we feel like shit is because of negative feelings that are triggering that response.
Oftentimes, these are negative feelings that we have towards ourselves that are deeply rooted in insecurity.
We become insecure over undesired outcomes and trauma.
See where I am going with this?
Everything about what we consider as depression is all linked to a chain of events that have caused us to behave in such a way that forces us to think negatively about ourselves.
But what if for a second, we say that depression is not real.
What if depression is something that has been publicly purported as being a mental "illness" to define how we feel inside?
For me personally, this is how I choose to see depression - I do not see it as being an illness, I see it as a word that people have been purported into believing that describes how they feel about themselves.
The only thing that I objectively see is that humans are only left with choices.
This is not to say that there aren't people out there with genuine mental ailments, but I do not see depression as one of them.
When you believe that something is real, then all you do is open yourself up to the possibility that it can happen to you.
It's no different than believing in ghosts - if you believe in ghosts, then all you are going to do is create a reality in which anxiety is created around the thought of eventually encountering a ghost.
If you don't believe in ghosts, then you wipe out the anxiety all together.
The fact of the matter is, we all will feel like shit sometimes as it is all part of the human experience.
How we choose to deal with feeling like shit is ultimately what is going to determine whether we see depression being real or not.
The best thing that anybody can do when they feel like shit about themselves is to immediately think of doing something productive.
This is much more than shouting positive affirmations at yourself and forcing yourself to think positive thoughts - it is a matter of doing.
Taking deliberate action towards something that is productive, instead of wallowing in something that is destructive.
This is why I believe it is important for people to go out and experience new things, learn new things, and develop new skills because these are all things that help people find their purpose in life.
If you are stuck doing the same shit day after day, and you are not happy doing what you're doing, no wonder you feel like shit!
You have to be able to go out into the world and change the way that you operate so that you can see what else is really out there.
When you lack purpose, you open yourself up to negative thoughts and feelings taking control over you.
When you are focused on something that is larger than yourself, you realize there is a complete different world out there then you thought there was, with a vast amount of potential for you to thrive in.
Finding and unlocking that potential is the key to thriving.
This does not go without mentioning, whether you are religious or not, it doesn't matter, but what does matter is that believing there is something greater than human understanding that is watching your every move is important to realize.
Finding God has helped me tremendously because I realize that by sacrificing myself over to him, he is naturally going to guide me along the path of enlightenment.
What has also worked for me is understanding what emotions mean from an objective standpoint.
We know that sadness comes from having a lack of options and feeling hopeless because we do not know what to do.
Anxiety comes from having too many options and not knowing which way to go.
When you look at emotions objectively, you realize that the reason you are sad is because you feel like you have no options, and the reason you have anxiety is from having too many options.
Once you understand what these emotions actually mean and where they come from, they are easier to solve for.
If you are feeling sad, it is because you do not know what to do, which is why it is important to just do something!
This is why I weigh heavily on going out and experiencing new things, learning new things, and developing new skills because when you do things that are productive, now you have options.
You now have clarity on something that you had no clarity on before.
This does not go without mentioning that you can combat depression by staying true to who you are, and not giving in to what is considered to be "socially acceptable."
The more you stay true to yourself, the more you will have natural intuition towards the things that are beneficial for you in your life.
The more you lie to yourself and lie to other people about who you are, the more you will falsely train your intuition to look for things that aren't really there.
If you want to get out of a bad head space, you have to understand that your truth is one of the most valuable assets that you have as a human.
We live in a world that is built on lies.
Everything we see in the media, the shit that we consume on the internet and social media is all founded on the grounds of lies.
The idiots you follow on social media that try and portray themselves as living some lavish lifestyle but really feel dead inside are all lies.
The only thing we have is our truth and this is something that I believe that everyone needs to live by to find true fulfillment in life.
Stop lying to yourself!
You fucked up in the past and it's coming back to haunt you now because you are letting it.
Don't sugar coat it, be real with yourself and go out there and find what it is you are supposed to do.