“There’s always a sunrise and always a sunset and it’s up to you to choose to be there for it,’ said my mother. ‘Put yourself in the way of beauty.” - Cheryl Strayed (My current screen saver.)
Good afternoon everyone! :)
About a week ago, I had promised on Instagram that I would be sharing a few tips that I use to pull myself out the royal funks I tend to get in. Buuttt... I had a week to think about it and instead I have decided to mix things up on everybody and share the 5 Simple Daily Habits I Have Acquired That Helped Me Take My Life Back From Depression. With that being said, I will begin by sharing that the NIMH have estimated that "16 million adults had at least one major depressive episode in 2012. That's 6.9 percent of the population". Also, according to the World Health Organization "350 million people worldwide suffer from depression." Which is honestly not unlike myself. I was less than two years old when I was first diagnosed with clinical depression. From there, it shifted onto middle school, high school, and even worsened in my college years to come. I remember thinking to myself “enough is enough”. I no longer wanted to spend my days lying in bed, staring at my white stucco ceiling, and thinking in circles until they turned into squares. I felt like a giant waste of time and I no longer wanted to let my illness hold me back from doing the things I loved. I’ll be honest though, I needed help. I let my pride hinder me from the endless possibilities there are in life. I refused all medications prescribed to me, I denied all help from psychologist, and worst of all. I started to pull away from the people I loved the most. It was then that I decided that everything needed to change. I sat up in my too comfortable for my own good bed, grabbed my cell phone (which is never too far away), and did some research. Here is what I found.
(Before I go on, I would just like to make it clear that I am on my own personal journey and in no way advise that you do exactly as I have done. Nor, am I saying that this is a cure-all. I am just here to share my story and to create an outline for those of you who wish to seek further assistance towards a happier life.)
1.) List the things that make and break your happiness (and only do the things that make you happy).- For me this was tough. I rarely reveled in my happy times and often soaked up the bad. That is when I realized that I was so caught up with work that I couldn’t enjoy the money. I would dwell on the fact that I was paying for school that I began to despise the education. I was my own happiness hijacker. So, when I decided to make this list. My name was the first thing on there. (And I don’t mean on the happy side.) After creating the list of things that made me happy and things that did not, I began to prioritize only the things that made me happy and refused to do the things that didn’t. I decided to quit college. (Like I said, I am on my journey. I do not advise that you do exactly as I have done, because everyone is different.) It no longer brought me happiness and only created an overwhelming sense of anxiety in me. I had realized that I was only going to school to prolong my time as a kid. I was wasting semesters at a time on things I did not love in hopes that a degree would be the ultimate key. So, I quit. I limited my time with negative people and put it towards positive ones. I quit both of my part time jobs that I highly disliked and got a solid full time job that I love. Making these two seemingly unimportant lists at the time. Ended up being the single most important steps towards my happiness journey.
2.) Exercise- Let’s be real. Every single person on this earth knows how important exercise is for our bodies, but do they know the deep-seated positive effects it has on our mental health? Let’s just say, A LOT! I’ll be completely honest with you though. I have always enjoyed being active, but it was definitely not a priority in my life. I chose the dollar menu over squats every single time with little to no guilt. It wasn’t until I met Ian and started working at his gym (Omalza Fitness) that my love for fitness came flooding back. He reminds me daily how important it is to stay physically active and pushes me to be the very best I can every single day. For that, I will always have a decent amount of appreciation for him. (Thanks Ian!) Whether I am at the gym, hiking, or playing with mine and Nathaniel’s little siblings. I make it a point to be physically active every single day. It has completely changed the way I think and feel, as well as played a key role in my fight against depression.
3.) Read books- When I say this, I do not mean the Twilight saga or Fifty Shades of Grey. (Trust me, I wish. I love me some vampire drama). What I really mean is serious, nonfiction, self-help books. I’ll be real with you though, my attention span is as bad as a 13 year old's with ADHD. I can only read for about 15 minutes at a time before my eyes and brain start to wander off the page and never come back. Thankfully, I had a couple in my life show me that if I only spent 15 minutes out of my day to read a self-improvement books, the results would be remarkable. As long as I stayed consistent. (Consistency is key!) Which is exactly what I did and they were right! Of course the results didn’t happen overnight. I gave it an entire 3 months of consistently reading a self-improvement book for 15 minutes a day until I saw the result, but the results were incredible! The books I was reading started to completely alter the way I was thinking, feeling, and seeing the world around me. (I will list a few of my favorite books that had the most impact on me at the bottom of the page.) I had more confidence, understanding, and no longer saw the world through dark shaded glasses, but instead saw it through clear lenses that emphasized all of the beauty and colors around me.
4.) Positive words- It is easier to stay positive when you surround yourself with positivity. Every morning I choose to wake up and shower myself with words of affirmation. For instance, my personal words of affirmation go a little like this, “Good morning Sunshine, you are a bad-ass mother f*cker and nothing will rain on your parade. Your smile creates even bigger smiles and you ooze kindness… etc…” (You can think whatever you want about me, but that is how I start every single day.) I listen to my favorite radio station, (“The Bobby Bones Show”) because they make it a point to share positivity and kindness over hate and negativity every single morning. Then, I switch over to my phone, pull up my podcast app, and put on “SuperSoul” by Oprah. She is truly amazing and her guests never cease to inspire and amaze me.
5.) Pray- I am not saying that you have to believe in God or even the same God as I do. I am also sure as hell not going to come through this screen and douse you with holy water. (You can totally and completely skip this step if you wish or pray to whatever God you believe in.) I am just saying that personally, I needed someone bigger than myself to believe in. I needed someone to humble my body and mind. As well as give somebody all of my troubles and worries to. Which aided me in not completely going insane every time something unrehearsed happened in my life. Let me tell you something. The moment I gave myself and all of my worries to God, an amazing sense of relief washed over me with a wave of unconditional love and understanding. Which is why I make it a priority to confide in God at least once a day.
In writing this post, my HOPE is that it will impact the lives of many in a positive way. Bringing awareness of how important it is to take your life back from depression so that you can be the beautiful and happy person that you were intended to be.
A few of my favorite self improvement books are, The compound effect by Darren Hardy, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions by John C. Maxwell, and Live Fearless (A Call to Power, Passion, and Purpose.) by Sadie Robertson.
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