Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or therapist, whatever I am going to write from this point onward must not be used to diagnose or treat any conditions that you might have. This is a mere collection of my personal thought and experiences and should not be seen anything else.
I have noticed an increased number of posts about depression here. Ever since a few months ago a well known steemit user committed suicide and I think I would have done something to help her even I spoke with her. I do feel a bit guilty of being ignorant even though I didn't know her at all. I would like to make a few posts on this issue. I know I should have made a post earlier but never knew how to put my thought in words until now.
As far as I can remember, I have always been a bit shy personality and I can remember my existence since I was about 3-4 years old. What I didn't use to know as a 3 years old kid is that one man's shyness is other man's “introversion”. What I am really trying to say here is that if you happen to be a bit shy, a bit hesitant, a bit quiet person then chances are at some point in life you will be labeled as “Introvert”, “weird”, etc.
I am sorry for being so direct here but I don't make the rules. These were the rules we all are were born with and no matter what one try. once somebody label you something out of their ignorance. The label sticks and from that point onward things changes for better or for worse.
Depression has become a pandemic of society almost everywhere in the world and it only makes sense how things are through out the world today. But in my personal opinion depression is an ancient “ghost” that is haunting the mankind since the beginning of our existence along side with anxiety. Now a days they are calling it clinical depression and anxiety disorder respectively.
So what the hell is this depression?
Human consciousness is a very complicated “phenomenon”, it is so complicated that we as a species are still trying to categorize it and failing badly. Some calls it psychological process, others associate it with soul and beyond.
If you ask me, I would say I have no idea, no matter how hard I try to think the definition changes. There are too many constraints to keep track of and if that would have been the only thing it would have been not as bad but since life goes on and things changes with the blink of eye consciousness also changes accordingly. Consciousness is dynamic and our human brains are too slow to process it in it's entirety. Have you heard that saying “thoughts travel faster than light”?
What I have understood about it so far is consciousness exist because world exist. Matter and energy exist, light and darkness exist, day and night exist, east and west exist, up and down exist. Consciousness exist to relate with it all and make sense out of our surroundings. To process it all and give us some context in order to survive and thrive.
Like I said depression is an ancient phenomenon and I personally see it as altered state of existence. It's like a whole different layer of consciousness tainted and driven with negative energy and nobody knows the source of this negative energy. We just blame our neighbors. family members, friends society, etc. but I doubt that any of them have anything to do with it and once again this is my personal opinion.
One thing I have noticed with depression that it get cured, time after time depression get cured with changing seasons, places, habits, situations but some residue stays behind and our mind can not understand this subtle difference and we convince ourselves that “I have been depressed for so many years”.
Now pay attention here, everyday we have multiple chances to break out of it and minimize the effect.
So how to deal with depression?
Everybody is unique in their own sense of existence, so does their “psyche” aka consciousness, we all process surrounding in different ways and that's what makes depression so complicated to deal with.
There is no one way out there that can be used to fix the depression of everybody. Even there is no one way that fixes your depression at different point in life.
I would like to write down a few methods that I believe worked for me at some point in life.
1.) First thing first if you are feeling like you have depression it's very important to seek professional help along with seeking support from family and friends. BUT it should be understood that only professionals can actually help you out with the condition. No matter how much a family member of a friend cares about you and try to help you, they do get frustrated and don't get me wrong. This only means that they are trying their best but hey professionals are there for a reason.
2.) As annoying as it might sound but if you are depressed for one reason or other, down the line you have to acknowledge it and take the responsibility to do whatever it takes to come out of it even when things get a bit little too hard. One way to do that is decide how you are going to spend the next day and assign yourself micro or partial goals but stay flexible. Do it progressively means if something goes wrong do not remove the whole thing instead be happy with partial achievement and bit by bit drop by drop keep adding on to whatever you decided for yourself.
3.) It takes time and patience but isn't it a conundrum that how can somebody with depression supposed to be patient and persistent this is simply illogical. Well yes and no, the logic that creates problem is not the same logic that solves it. Point being the things that works with depression exists outside the depressive state of mind. I know it's going to be hard but it's doable.
4.) Avoid exposure with triggers that induces depression find your triggers and remove them.
To be continued....
Thanks!