As I mentioned last week, I’ve been experiencing the ins and outs of depression over the past few months, but as I’m making my way out of it, focusing on small, deliberate actions and daily choices is really helping.
Ultimately, depression to me feels like hopelessness. It’s a sense that you’re completely and utterly stuck within a miserable situation and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to change it. Depression feels like a complete loss of control.
It stands to reason that we can counteract these feelings by finding ways to take control.
Last week, I noticed my mood was starting to lull and out of nowhere, I felt suddenly compelled to write down 3 things that I could do to take control. I don’t know where this idea came from (though it feels like a very teachery thing to do) it’s more than likely a mish-mash of the tomes of self-help I’ve read over the past decade. Anyway…
I wrote one thing that I could do to take control and improve my situation/mood immediately.
e.g. Listen to my upbeat playlist on Spotify and boogie like no one’s watching.
I wrote one thing that I could do take take control and improve my situation/mood this week.
e.g. Send that email that I’ve been putting off sending. I don’t want that at the back of my mind.
Lastly, I wrote one thing that I could to to take control and improve my situation in the long-term.
e.g. Commit to 30 minute of creative writing at 11am every day.
Writing this – and DOING it – made me feel so much more empowered, hopeful and optimistic.
And I’ve done it again and again when I’ve caught my mood slipping, when I’ve felt myself becoming stuck in relationship problems, career problems, health and diet problems, mindset problems, financial problems…
When we focus on what we can control like this and actually take the actions that we decide upon, we’re sending a powerful message to our minds that we can cope, we can handle whatever life throws at us, that no matter what… we’ll be okay.
Had a go at this activity? Did it help to improve your immediate, short-term or long-term existence? Let us know in the comments below!
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