The World Health Report back in 2001 estimated that 121 million people worldwide were suffering of Depression, and with the increasing number of stressors the count is still going up. Depression is that state of mind where even the most creative brains cease to function. People all over the world, have apprehensions about something or the other. I am no different. I have my fears about being depression stricken. It’s alarming because often talented people end up in a vegetative state. Yes!! VEGETATIVE STATE, sitting like a vegetable maximizing on catastrophic thinking and then acting against ones rational mind.
Question is why do people end up being depressed? Well nobody can ever define an outline or exactly point out all the possible reasons about why do people suffer at hands of depression. Every person has a different threshold of tolerance and way of surviving through life’s circumstances. This difference in tolerance to distress is clearly what the psychological fraternity often address is a result of ‘Nature Vs Nurture’. Sometimes even the neurological and neuro-chemical changes in the brain cause depression and people may need anti-depressants. However, not always do you need anti-depressants to fight depression. Oh yes, you read that right…. You don’t always need anti-depressants to fight depression.
People fall into traps of depression not because life is giving them lemons but because they have forgotten how to make lemonade out of it. Lets be realistic and first admit that problems will always come pouring onto you. Why have unrealistic expectations and end up being disheartened?
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| Graphic By: Ankita Gautam |
Lets know few recipes on how to make lemonade when life is offering you lemons.
- Live in the moment – Worrying about the future and retrospection i.e. brooding over the past, have been ruining the beauty of the moment. Live the moment and leave the worries. Over analyzing your past or future and not dwelling in your present will lead you being depressed with life
- ‘Well done’ is better than ‘Well said’ – Don’t procrastinate and don’t overthink, do what you should, look for alternatives and do what you can do.
- Choose to be happy – Choose to be happy over being depressed. Take control and if you want something, go get it. If you don’t like something, change it. Worrying will not magically fulfill your dreams.
- Lose ‘should’ and ‘must’ – Be flexible in life. If plan A doesn’t work, go for plan B. Always keep alternatives for yourself.
- Be realistic: Have a goal, which is realistic and suits your aptitude. A goal is worth it, when it is humanly possibly to the best of your capacities. Lose rigidity.
- Give yourself permission to be you and focus – You have one life. Live it your way. The more you focus on your goal and work towards it, each step towards accomplishment will give you a boost to do better. It’s your life, your mistakes, your learning and nobody’s business.
- It’s all in the head – Don’t overthink, assumption is bad when it makes you a vegetable. Consider it as one challenge and you by all means will overcome it. If you once hit the top, you cant do that using the same formula. Change your approach and be flexible. Change your attitude towards life because life will not change itself for you. If we fall, we must pick yourselves up.
- Make peace within: Accept reality, accept and love yourself with your strength and weaknesses. Move on. Let bygones be bygones. There is reason why some things and people are part of your past and won’t be a part of your future.
Let the worse situation come face to face. Learn it ‘THIS TOO SHALL PASS’. TRUST YOURSELF, BECAUSE THE POWER LIES IN YOU AND ONLY YOU. OPEN YOUR EYE AND LOSE THOSE ROSY GLASSES. CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE AND GO CONQUER THE WORLD, ITS WAITING FOR YOU. Remember that you are a survivor not a victim!!