Give Yourself TIME To Recover From A Depressive Episode

Well, I haven’t posted on this blog or ANY of my blogs in over a month. Can you guess the reason?

If you said I was depressed, unfortunately you were right. It was about six weeks of misery with little help from my psychiatrist.

So how did I come out of the depression perhaps you’re asking? I will tell you it wasn’t easy, and it did NOT happen overnight.

I had to RELAX and BE PATIENT and WAIT until the episode fully passed and I started feeling semi-normal again.

Give Yourself Credit for the Little Things

I needed to keep reminding myself that things would EVENTUALLY get better but for now I was stuck with some lousy, down-low blues. My meds don’t work anywhere near as fast as I’d like them to, but that’s all a part of being patient and taking the TIME to recover.

The best way I know how to get through these down days to really try each day to get something significant accomplished, and then to give myself credit when I achieve my goal. I can’t tell you how critical this is in helping me get better.

We all want the quick fix and the overnight success but living through a depression doesn’t offer those types of “opportunities” (unless you’re going to take non-prescription drugs and throw everything out the window…).

Make A Plan Every Day

Every day I would make a plan for myself and then allow the day to happen,  but I would truly make an honest effort to be happier, to be productive. Making a list and crossing off items as I complete them is quite fulfilling for me. I already mentioned the great online program available called GoalsOnTrack which will definitely help all the poor goal planners out there.

I normally always have some sort of to-do list, even if it consists of the smallest things like taking my dog for a walk or making a phone call about a bill. And like I said, crossing off those to-dos makes me feel great, and at the end of the day I don’t feel like it was wasted.

I hate the feeling of a wasted day. We never know how many days we actually have left.

Keep Plugging Away

It doesn’t always take six weeks for me to get out of a depressive funk, sometimes it’s several days. But no matter how much time it takes to recover, I try to never rush it.

Recovering from a depressive episode TAKES TIME, plain and simple. Give yourself or your loved one a break and remember this the next time you need to.

Have any comments or questions? I’d love to hear from you below! Thanks for reading.

Tagged as: give yourself credit, goals on trac, GoalsOnTrack, make a plan, recovering from depression, suffering from mental illness