If you are depressed, why don't you just go out and do something really awesome? You have nothing to lose, right? So why not do something adventurous? Sell all your shit, move to Europe or South America, and go start a revolution.
I can't speak generally, but when I'm depressed none of the stuff you listed has any appeal. Even much simpler easier things, like sex or sunlight are covered in a terrible veil. The world looks drab and unfriendly. My sensory perception gets altered, everything looks and feels different.
It's hard to think, it's hard to talk with people--- the social scripts are all broken and the baseline feeling of my reality is warped into something ugly. When I'm depressed there is nothing "really awesome", it just doesn't exist.
On the other hand, I've found the whole condition can be fluid/mutable and have felt these sorts of low states much less often since I started meditating and paying attention to my internal state.
Indeed, that's one of the ways that you diagnose depression.
If the things that once made you feel really awesome (sex, motorcycling, coding, gaming, cooking, whatever) no longer hold any appeal for you, that means you're very likely not merely "feeling down" but actually clinically depressed.
The symptom is anhedonia -- the inability to experience pleasure. You can eat a delicious meal, play outside in the sunshine with little kids, have great sex, and through it all feel nothing.
It's like when a finger is numb -- you touch things with it thinking, "How odd, I ought to be feeling something." But you don't.
It's not just feeling down. It's your brain's ability to feel pleasure being physically broken.
So that's what it's called. I've felt that way for a good portion of my life, and only since I've started getting help in the past year did I realize something was actually wrong that could be fixed (it took someone else's genuine caring for a change to occur).
I originally thought I was just different from everyone else, or that "they" were wasting their lives on pointless pursuits. Now I actually understand why it's so great having a niece to take to the park.
Because depression doesn't work that way. It isn't a general feeling of malaise, it's somewhat a lack of positive value on everything (ish).
It is a lack of momentum and a heavy inertia to stay miserable and avoid change. It becomes a sunk cost where it's almost impossible to change something small in your life, let alone something big or huge.
Your advice is naive, and tantamount to asking "Have you thought about not being depressed, I hear that could work". If it were as simple as thinking your way of depression, it wouldn't be such a problem.
The best advice I've ever encountered is to take care of the little things, like sleeping on time, remembering to eat every day, doing laundry and getting out of the house. These are often the first things to go and often the hardest to get back into the routine of doing. Once you can manage a day at a time, it's easier to start to try managing a week at a time.
Large changes won't matter if you can't take care of the smaller things in life that support you. Depression isn't one of those things you can snap out of, but one that you can gradually work yourself out of.
I hope this is sarcasm. People have been getting flamed online for saying this exact thing for a while now.
The issues of "doing something awesome" and depression are totally orthogonal.
Most people already are trying to do whatever they think is really awesome. For example, raise a family and have a steady income; or create a startup; or be an artist; or move to Europe.
In fact, the depressed person is probably already trying to do whatever he thinks is really awesome, or at least contemplating it, in real life, and being depressed is just getting in the way.
Apparently you are getting downvoted, but I think this is some of the better advice in the thread. Breaking out of a stale routine and establishing new life patterns is a great way to also establish new thought patterns. It won't necessarily cure depression on its own, but it can help a lot.
Comments
If you are depressed, why don't you just go out and do something really awesome? You have nothing to lose, right? So why not do something adventurous? Sell all your shit, move to Europe or South America, and go start a revolution.
I can't speak generally, but when I'm depressed none of the stuff you listed has any appeal. Even much simpler easier things, like sex or sunlight are covered in a terrible veil. The world looks drab and unfriendly. My sensory perception gets altered, everything looks and feels different.
It's hard to think, it's hard to talk with people--- the social scripts are all broken and the baseline feeling of my reality is warped into something ugly. When I'm depressed there is nothing "really awesome", it just doesn't exist.
On the other hand, I've found the whole condition can be fluid/mutable and have felt these sorts of low states much less often since I started meditating and paying attention to my internal state.
Indeed, that's one of the ways that you diagnose depression.
If the things that once made you feel really awesome (sex, motorcycling, coding, gaming, cooking, whatever) no longer hold any appeal for you, that means you're very likely not merely "feeling down" but actually clinically depressed.
The symptom is anhedonia -- the inability to experience pleasure. You can eat a delicious meal, play outside in the sunshine with little kids, have great sex, and through it all feel nothing.
It's like when a finger is numb -- you touch things with it thinking, "How odd, I ought to be feeling something." But you don't.
It's not just feeling down. It's your brain's ability to feel pleasure being physically broken.
So that's what it's called. I've felt that way for a good portion of my life, and only since I've started getting help in the past year did I realize something was actually wrong that could be fixed (it took someone else's genuine caring for a change to occur).
I originally thought I was just different from everyone else, or that "they" were wasting their lives on pointless pursuits. Now I actually understand why it's so great having a niece to take to the park.
Because depression doesn't work that way. It isn't a general feeling of malaise, it's somewhat a lack of positive value on everything (ish).
It is a lack of momentum and a heavy inertia to stay miserable and avoid change. It becomes a sunk cost where it's almost impossible to change something small in your life, let alone something big or huge.
Your advice is naive, and tantamount to asking "Have you thought about not being depressed, I hear that could work". If it were as simple as thinking your way of depression, it wouldn't be such a problem.
The best advice I've ever encountered is to take care of the little things, like sleeping on time, remembering to eat every day, doing laundry and getting out of the house. These are often the first things to go and often the hardest to get back into the routine of doing. Once you can manage a day at a time, it's easier to start to try managing a week at a time.
Large changes won't matter if you can't take care of the smaller things in life that support you. Depression isn't one of those things you can snap out of, but one that you can gradually work yourself out of.
It's not fun or easy though.
I hope this is sarcasm. People have been getting flamed online for saying this exact thing for a while now.
The issues of "doing something awesome" and depression are totally orthogonal.
Most people already are trying to do whatever they think is really awesome. For example, raise a family and have a steady income; or create a startup; or be an artist; or move to Europe.
In fact, the depressed person is probably already trying to do whatever he thinks is really awesome, or at least contemplating it, in real life, and being depressed is just getting in the way.
I got sent to field training, that cured my depression.
I don't get your point. Feel free to clarify. But, good for you.
Nevermind, for some reason I see what you're saying now, looking at this again 3 days later. That's awesome.
That's just not how it works. The simplest thing -- getting out of bed, showering -- seems impossible and just pointless. Everything seems pointless.
Everything is pointless: then again what is the difference between habit and ritual?
"just go out and do something" is the hardest when you are truly depressed. Even when you do, any sense of "awesomeness" fade so so fast.
Apparently you are getting downvoted, but I think this is some of the better advice in the thread. Breaking out of a stale routine and establishing new life patterns is a great way to also establish new thought patterns. It won't necessarily cure depression on its own, but it can help a lot.