Depression

This is something more folks have a hard time with than you may think- so please don't feel alone. Maybe you are feeling down because of something specific you've had a hard time with in the past or right now. Some of us have a family history of depression, or chemically we’re prone to it as individuals so that could be it. It can be brought on by Grief/Bereavement/Mourning, trauma, and believe it or not even anxiety- which is weird because on the surface they appear to be on totally opposite ends of the spectrum as far as emotions are concerned(I’ve found depression and anxiety are really good friends- they can often feed off each other, which makes both of them stronger. That’s a ‘hamster wheel’ a lot of us run on quite a bit). Having said all that, sometimes it can be something that just comes over you and you have no idea why.  Does any of this sound familiar?:

- Low motivation

- Little interest or pleasure in doing things 

- Withdrawing from family or friends

- Low self-worth/low self-esteem 

- Lack of energy to do things like get out of bed, bathe, or eat for hours or even days at a time 

- Think to yourself "Why even bother trying? What's the point?" 

- Feel like you're a failure or can't do anything right? ie; “Well, I screwed up again!”

These feelings can come and go, and they’re often a normal part of life. We all doubt ourselves on occasion, or feel down on ourselves because we did something we regret later or maybe failed at something like a test or in a relationship. But sometimes it shows up and we just can’t seem to shake it for days or even weeks on end. “I don’t know, I’m just in a funk”, right? Just because we feel it doesn’t make us ‘Depressed’ in the clinical sense, we classify that as being “bummed”, or “dragging ass”, or something like that and we usually snap out of it in a few hours or a day. For those of us who struggle with depression, it’s much more than that. We withdraw from others because we don’t want to drag them down, or feel like our depression is going to rub off on them (Pro Tip: telling someone to “Just snap out of it!, “Oh, cheer up!” or “Get over yourself!” NEVER. WORKS.). We can often turn to substances to numb ourselves and forget how bad we feel. We go down some of these roads, and once we do it’s tough to break the cycle sometimes because our brain quickly sees this as the ‘norm’ and it can actually cause us to view our entire lives through this lens. Once that happens, it snowballs really fast on us. No matter what circumstances brought you to this point, there are some ways you can deal with what’s going on.

Whatever brought these feelings on (even if you don't even know), you're not alone- contact me so we can discuss things and do something about it.