Depression: Its Just a Mind Thing
Anyone dealing with depression is always searching for a cure. The right combination of meds. There is no perfect combination of meds that will cure depression. Medications can help with depression, but they are not a cure. The cure is within our own minds. Depression is a mind thing. Chemicals within our brain, convince our conscious mind that we are depressed, and we believe it. The good thing is that if our mind can be convinced that we are depressed, it can also believe that we are happy.
I was told by a psych doctor one time that I needed to get out of bed and get back to life. I ask her how to do that and she told me to "fake it till I make it." I didn't really understand that advice until years later. If you want to be happy, be happy. If your not happy at first, fake it. When you fake it enough, your mind will begin to believe it. Our minds change with repetition. If you tell yourself you are happy everyday, even if you aren't, eventually you will start to be happy. You have convinced your mind that it true. If, you keep telling yourself you are depressed, you will always be depressed.
I finally started to understand that happiness, just like depression, is a choice. You have to decide what choice you want to make. It sound simple, but it is not. It is hard to fight against depression. Part of that is because we become comfortable with our depression.. Life outside depression can be scary. But it is life. Depression is not living. The first thing to do is to take an inventory of what you have to be depressed about and what you have to be blessed about. I had nothing to be depressed about. This is when I decided I was not going to be depressed anymore.
I ask God to take away my depression, and I had faith that I was no longer depressed. I don't know if God decided to cure me or to give me the strength to choose not to be depressed, but I am not depressed. I am choosing to be happy. I still have hard days where I can feel depression creeping up, but I ignore it because I choose not to be depressed. I am still dealing with getting out of my comfort zone and I have days that I hide at home, but I am not depressed. I also know that I will get stronger every day. It is a mind game. It is my not medication, it has not changed in over a year, it is God and me. I am changing the way I think. I am still taking my meds and I don't think anyone should stop taking medication, even when they are feeling better without talking to your doctor. But If your not getting the results you want on meds, you need to do the rest of the work yourself. Change your mind. Choose to happy.
Remember your going to have bad days, but choosing how to react to those days, is up to you. We can't control the struggles but we can control how we react to them.
I am not going to let depression win. I am stronger then it. With God, I am stronger then anything that comes my way.
