Do you wish to beat depression once and for all? Your antidote is here – without medication, ever.
Amidst all the hustle and bustle of life, the increasing use of technology and the ongoing evolution of happenings and events, people around us and even our inner selves, depression is on the rise according to statistics worldwide.
In the UAE alone, 5.1 percent of the population have been reported in year 2015 to be suffering from depression. In the US, statistics of year 2012 have shown that 6.9 percent individuals have suffered from depression once in their life.
Let’s face it, depression can strike anyone. Be it a youngster, adolescent, or adult you could suffer from depression at any point of your life. The bad news is, if you don’t do something about it, it could become a chronic problem or even strike back at any time again soon stronger than before. Maybe sooner than you’d want it to.
So, are you feeling totally wiped out and sort of on the edge of putting an end to your own life? Are you feeling so down and blue that you’re even too scared to admit that there’s something wrong with you? Do simple tasks begin to feel like heavy burdens and your daily routine starts to seem almost impossible to keep up with? Do you feel like life isn’t worth it anymore and you didn’t even need to exist in it in the first place? Does that hit home?
Well, unless you want to go on medication which could require perpetual maintenance and costs, you might want to sit back and reshuffle your entire outlook on life. If you don’t take a swift and urgent decision on doing something about your problem, guess what, no one will do anything for you. Some may hang around thinking that they could help, but remember that everyone has their own lives and few would want to continue consoling you for long.
Start right away and don’t wait for anyone:
1- Make your guilty pleasure a daily habit.
Do you sway to some ridiculous song or love to indulge in some super unhealthy brownie or pizza? I know that this might sound strange but if you carry that out for the next few days (I’m not saying that you should do it in a pattern that could jeopardise your health) you would be doing yourself a huge favour by instantly upping your move-forward energy. It’s a temporary powerful relief that works wonders. But I wouldn’t highly recommend adhering to this pattern for long so as not to negatively affect your health as it’s merely a quick and temporary method to life you up right away.
2- Your partner/spouse left you for someone/something else? So?
Blaze your own trail. This is your chance to make it up for all the things that you thought were all right to forgo in your partner. Choose someone else who actually has those characteristics. Not yet ready for someone else? Rather than sulking in feeling abandoned, which is a total sign of weakness, acknowledge that it is time to move to something better, way better. After all, you can’t forget that they couldn’t care enough about your feelings, so why should you waste time doing so? You’re smarter than that.
I’ve personally met people who were only able to be truly happier and more successful in life when their partner/ spouse left them. When they looked back at the days of sulking over them, all they felt was regret over the waste of time and energy.
3- Do or even come up with something you could love doing. Get busy with it.
So, you’ve always fancied trying that activity or hobby that you’ve seen someone else do or believed would be beneficial and enjoyable for you. Well, what are you waiting for? Take it up as your new passion, get busy with it and perfect it. Study something, hone your drawing/knitting/sports/ dancing/ skill. Your new hobby is far more engaging and important than lying down on your couch sinking in useless and dehydrating tears that not many people would really value or care about. You feel important doing your new venture that there’s no time or reason to allow depression to occupy any space in your life. It’s deleted.
4- If you’re depressed due to an illness. Love the simple things in your life. Remember, the best things in life are free.
Even if you’re depressed because of something biologically wrong with you either all your life or as a new and unexpected development you can still love the fact that you have parts of our body that function normally. Invest in them. By that I mean nurture them to a level where you can perform using them at a higher level than others who don’t have an ailment like yours.
5- This is the most powerful and sure reliever. Do something for others, not for you.
Help an orphan, get them a present, sit with them, befriend them. You don’t necessarily have to pay or buy them anything, unless that fits your budget. You can’t imagine the euphoric feeling that this experience will give you. Nothing in the world matches it.
Take a homeless person out on a date, buy them a meal that you know they would have loved to have. Sit with them, enjoy your time, share some secrets with them. Treat them without sympathy but as your brother or sister. Instant flow of elation right there?
Visit a sick person and do something for them like creating your own card and presenting it to them. Take them out for a stroll in the car if their health allows so. Get them something they’ve needed but were unable to get for themselves due to their physical status. This will not only give you an instant rush of euphoria but also lots of goodness would start flowing in your system that you’d become so addicted to it that your current ‘addiction’ to depression would simply go down the drain in a jiffy.
Now imagine doing this on an ongoing basis that suits your lifestyle. Who said depression could only be treated using medication? You could get your own serotonin hormones running high.
6- Your depression and worry is just so trivial when you think of others who have to worry everyday about procuring the basic requirements of life.
What is your depression worth whilst you know that there are mothers out there who have to think about whether they can find enough food for their kids the next day? There are people out there going through so much in their lives on a daily basis that it makes your problem seem funny and like an unnecessary phase that you just have to shrug off right this instant.
7- Schedule crying/venting episodes.
Everybody cries and vents out from time to time. Keeping those feelings to yourself and allowing them to accumulate could have serious consequences on your quest to overcome depression and could even have adverse biological outcomes.
You could think of crying or venting as levels. For instance, pick a time of the day where you can sit and sob/hit on something for a while on a mild level. Then go on and pick other times for a medium intense level and then another for a major full fledge crying and venting episode (better one where no one’s around and you can say whatever you like between the walls of your room). You can’t imagine how relieving this could be.
8- Believe in yourself more. You can get over this faster than you expect.
You haven’t had the time to delve deeper into your own capabilities and will power to accomplish something big in life. You aren’t here in this world for the sake of feeling sorry for yourself. This is irrelevant to your existence. What matters now is making your presence in this world as meaningful as possible by going out there and doing something super meaningful. Remember, all those big names out there who were homeless or totally bankrupt before making it big in their own fields until they became notable people? Yes, who knows, you might be next.
Introducing our Pom-Coach!
UAE born Hiba, is a passionate Certified BrainRx Trainer, in the field of psychology, who divides her time between practice, training, consulting, writing and research. She delivers Cognitive Therapy to clients with a wide range of emotional, behavioral, and adjustment problems, such as anxiety, stress, depression, and relationship problems. In her consulting work, she has provided intensive therapy and training to many nationalities from all walks of life. In addition, Hiba is a member of the International Association of Holistic Therapists and the Arabic Language Protection Society based in Beirut. She received her Master’s Degree in the UK contributing many years of hands-on experience in Psychology.Hiba finds it gratifying to introduce clients to Cognitive Training. She has had the privilege of witnessing dramatic transformations using this form of training in clients with depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and addictions. She is eager to apply her experience and compassion with clients as they begin to address issues that will help them to improve their quality of life and attain a sense of fulfillment.
Hiba is talented bilinguist, who writes content from scratch and has been translating for more than 10 years (English to Arabic and vice versa and French to either English or Arabic). She excels at writing articles on her website and regularly provides workshops, seminars, and webinars.
Meet Hiba and transform yourself!
