Dearest readers, all of us have our bad days or down days; sometimes it is an odd random day when you feel drained, anxious or generally bad, other times it can be a few days in a row. Now, while many of us tend to say on those days we are feeling depressed or anxious, we unfortunately conflate two things. In reality, feeling depressed or feeling anxious is not the same as being depressed or being anxious- both of which are clinical conditions that require professional help, care and management. However, how do you know if you feel that way or you actually developed it? How do you know you are just going through a rough patch mentally? Personally, I developed my own approach that may or may not work for you but it does work for me.
First things first- a routine. No matter how busy or messy your life may seem, after a certain age it does get some structure and you do have some sort of a daily routine going on. I notice I feel anxious if I mess up that routine for too many days in a row. If I identify that to be the case, I work on getting back into my routine as fast as possible and then I feel better. Alternatively, I may realize my life has changed a lot so then I create a new daily routine and then that makes me feel better.
Another thing I do is I analyze what I am putting in my system. I know very well that feelings of depression, anxiety and so on can be blamed on insufficient water intake, wrong food that tastes good but does not agree with you, eating too much and at the wrong times of day, and finally not taking all of my supplements. Personally, I list supplements as groceries because hey, who are we kidding they are mandatory, and they make a world of difference in my life. If I can tie my feelings of depression or anxiety to falling off the wagon in regards to my water intake, food or supplements, I already feel a little better and after I fix this, I feel great again.
Finally, I have noticed that wrong or unrealistic goals tend to make me depressed or anxious from time to time. No, I am not talking about long-term goals here; they keep people happy regardless of whether they are realistic or not. What I am talking about are short term goals, as these can wreak havoc on your mental state if they are not properly defined, set and followed through. That is why, besides my best efforts to hustle myself, I have learned to be honest with myself which is key to setting realistic short term goals. That way, I make things happen instead of failing and then feeling bad about it and making even more mistakes.
Hope this helps anyone out there who needs some tips or just a good, well-meaning pep talk. Have a great weekend gentlemen! :)
First things first- a routine. No matter how busy or messy your life may seem, after a certain age it does get some structure and you do have some sort of a daily routine going on. I notice I feel anxious if I mess up that routine for too many days in a row. If I identify that to be the case, I work on getting back into my routine as fast as possible and then I feel better. Alternatively, I may realize my life has changed a lot so then I create a new daily routine and then that makes me feel better.
Another thing I do is I analyze what I am putting in my system. I know very well that feelings of depression, anxiety and so on can be blamed on insufficient water intake, wrong food that tastes good but does not agree with you, eating too much and at the wrong times of day, and finally not taking all of my supplements. Personally, I list supplements as groceries because hey, who are we kidding they are mandatory, and they make a world of difference in my life. If I can tie my feelings of depression or anxiety to falling off the wagon in regards to my water intake, food or supplements, I already feel a little better and after I fix this, I feel great again.
Finally, I have noticed that wrong or unrealistic goals tend to make me depressed or anxious from time to time. No, I am not talking about long-term goals here; they keep people happy regardless of whether they are realistic or not. What I am talking about are short term goals, as these can wreak havoc on your mental state if they are not properly defined, set and followed through. That is why, besides my best efforts to hustle myself, I have learned to be honest with myself which is key to setting realistic short term goals. That way, I make things happen instead of failing and then feeling bad about it and making even more mistakes.
Hope this helps anyone out there who needs some tips or just a good, well-meaning pep talk. Have a great weekend gentlemen! :)