Navigating through Depression¶
Chances will come and go - it’s not a hopeful statement, it’s a fact which cannot be refuted - neither logically nor statistically. The rational choice here is to be at your best shape every day.
Self-deprecating thoughts don’t help during depression. Maybe it’s one of those moments when you tell yourself that you know it’s a lie, but it might help to think of this lie as a tool which would aid to the aim of being at your best when it matters.
You won’t be at your optimal risking your mental health. Avoid playing hide and seek with depression inducing habits, people, and thoughts regardless of how addictive they are. It’s not an escapist mentality. It’s rationalised the same way when we call for focusing on black lives. It’s not that other lives don’t matter. But they aren’t at risk right now. Depression needs urgent attention and care exactly like that.
It can’t all be bad. We have a tendency to see everything in a negative colour when one thing goes bad or the future is uncertain. It’s not that way and you know it.
If getting bothered about the uncertain or hopeless nature of the future, focus on taking one day at a time. Do your job, finish your tasks for the day, do exercise. Whatever is out there, this is the locally optimal solution for today.
Keep faith in your current set of interests and plans. It’s okay if the road ahead isn’t clear right now. Remember how the landscape forms ahead of you when you play a video game. You have a vision of yourself being able to do things 1, 2, 3. Who knows maybe you’d be able to pick up a few more from \(\mathbb{N}\) along the way and get to know about stuff that you can do with those which aren’t even rendering right now.
- What provably helps in depression is perseverance.
Talent is never enough. You’ll reach your ceiling often and be humbled. Embrace it.
Inner world changes by taking charge of your habits & thoughts. Outer world changes by reaching out to people.
As much of a cliche it sounds, it’s nothing but the HOPE that keeps people going.
Progress and effort have a non-linear relationship. Often progress is blocked on a single situational change and once that barrier is crossed, things start picking up speed rather fast. Unfortunately, that’s not how our monkey brain works, which measures progress by the number of items checked off a to-do list and counting days, which is about as linear as it gets. Strategy? Keep the big picture in mind and keep engaged in the daily linearity to maintain a superficial sense of the progress. Yes, again, one of the lies - but you need this to keep the engine warm and running.
You don’t have to be good enough to finish, you just gotta be good enough to start. You can always get better along the way.
Nothing that I’ve thought of today is written in stone. It’s okay to change my take on things as and when I know better.