Let's Get Moving!
Depression is often characterized by symptoms such as low energy and fatigue, a loss of interest in activities, a lack of motivation, a loss of pleasure, and difficulties making decisions. These struggles often lead individuals to isolate and avoid responsibilities or enjoyable activities, which makes the depression worse. Plus, when responsibilities are avoided, it leads to feeling guilty, overwhelmed, and pessimistic about the future.
If some of this sounds familiar, you may be struggling with depression. However, there are some quick things you can do to start feeling better!
Increase Your Activities
One of the immediate ways you can start overcoming depression is to increase your involvement in activities. Depression is often described as a cycle.. you may feel down, which leads to disengagement in what you need to be doing. Because you aren’t engaged, you may emotionally feel frustrated, and you may punish or criticize yourself with negative self-talk (ex: “I’m a failure” or “I can’t do anything right”). Because the thoughts in your head are primarily negative, you feel even less motivated to engage. And so the cycle continues. There is a lot of research and evidence that suggests that the way we stop the cycle is by first targeting our behaviors, which means paying attention to what we are avoiding and starting the change there.
Keep It Simple
I understand getting started may be easier said than done, which is why I recommend starting with small, easy steps. If you can follow through on small goals, you’ll feel much more motivated to tackle larger goals. Here’s some ideas:
Get Active: Movement wakes up our body and reduces our fatigue. Start with a 10 minute walk, 15 minutes of stretching, or even light muscle exercises such as push ups against a wall.
Engage Your Brain: Read a book for 5 minutes, or an interesting online article. Organize a book shelf, a drawer, or clean a small area of your house. Don’t try to clean the whole kitchen, but maybe stack dirty dishes in the sink. This is a great start!
Feel a Sense of Mastery: Engage in a task that makes you feel accomplished, such as making the bed. Clean out your email inbox, or get out of bed 10 minutes earlier than you had originally planned in the morning.
Do Something Fun: Doing something pleasurable generates happier emotions, which can be an important break from more difficult emotions. Call or text a friend or confidant, play a favorite game, spend time outside, or listen to your favorite music.
Remember, keep these tasks small and easy. What you do is not important, just the fact that you are doing something is what is key!
If you feel like it would be helpful to talk about your symptoms with a professional, or if you’d like some additional support in following through with your goals, a professional counselor can help. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor offering therapy services in the Tampa Bay area. Contact me anytime at 813-944-9659 and let’s see how together we can get you feeling better!