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10 PRACTICAL WAYS ON HOW TO OVERCOME DEPRESSION AND HEAL YOURSELF (MANUAL)
Natalya Pazdnikova's Guide on How To Overcome Depression and Heal Yourself
It’s understandable that you might be depressed, a lot of people are nowadays. And not everybody knows how to overcome depression.
As human beings we have not been evolutionarily prepared for the amount of information we receive on a daily basis. Our bodies do not catch up with the mental stress to be able to balance it on a physical level.
All daily pressure is focused on our psyche. The statistics for mental illnesses are growing and depression became normal in modern day society.
Read More on Surviving Tough Times.
In this article, I give practical tips on how to overcome depression yourself. Please note that depression and life crises could be the best trampoline to your future best self! ❤︎
LEARN HOW TO OVERCOME DEPRESSION WITH SELF-LOVE
You are making yourself and your well-being a priority now.
No more seeing yourself from other people’s eyes. No more “I got to take care of million things first before I actively show myself love.” No more chasing things and people, creating bigger resistance and as a result widening the gap between you and them. No longer knocking on closed doors and one-sided efforts no matter how hard it is to let go. Most importantly, no more pain and grudges. NOW ONLY YOU and SELF LOVE! You hear your own thoughts and correct them, you feel your own body and take care of it's needs, you remember what brings you joy and you do it. You find yourself again. It is an illusion that you've lost yourself, it’s just a matter of reconnecting again.
Now it is you, YOU ARE YOUR FIRST PRIORITY. To overcome depression, you need to become active in practical self-love. Refocus on you and your wellbeing. It will probably be the one and only tough task when overcoming depression and when it’s achieved, everything else will follow. What creates a strong-minded, healthy, and happy person? Daily healthy habits and self-care rituals! No one can help you deal with depression against your will and you are the main participant in the process. So, give yourself some love by finding your rituals that bring you pleasure and here are just some examples: walk in parks/nature, sunbath, massage, time playing with your pet, hot cocoa + comedy movie, relaxing bath, aroma meditation, guided breath work, yoga, inspirational podcasts, painting, puzzles, gardening… Make an effort and create a list of things you like to do. These activities should resonate with you personally ❤︎
CREATE YOUR OWN DIET PLAN
It is important to eat right. Make it a hobby and fall in love with food preparation. Experiment and find easy healthy meals for yourself. As you start to fall in love with yourself again you will start to fall in love with taking care of yourself. These two work in harmony. Let the meal planning and preparation be the first task on the way out of your depression. You only need to know a few recipes that you personally enjoy eating and make sure you always have those ingredients at home. Walking to a supermarket and back is a great opportunity to move your body and see the world. Please note that each meal should contain carbs, fats, proteins and fiber. Never starve yourself and don’t overeat! Remember eating right 3 times a day is your MAIN TASK right now to help overcome depression ❤︎
In addition, I would recommend eliminating sugar from your diet completely. Sugar can lead to an imbalance of insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates and sugars also drain the B vitamins required to sustain a positive mood. This can also affect a person’s thyroid hormones which also regulate mental states. Consuming too much added sugar may lead to increased irritability and peaks and drops in energy levels. Although the initial intake of sugar may feel positive, it will cause blood glucose levels to drop. It is this that affects the mind and body so dramatically.
For some people sugar can be incredibly addictive. When a person consumes sugar, the dopamine system in the brain offers a reward, thereby increasing mood. The dopamine system starts working when feelings of pleasure approach. Because these are added sugars, however, they are not beneficial to the body in any way. A high intake of sugar will mean chemical changes in the body. These occur to prevent overstimulation, so the body may crave more sugar in the future to achieve the same high mood. These factors may all impact your mental state.
BUILD AN INTIMATE CONNECTION
Connect to a friend of yours that could be of support. You don’t even need to know that person very well, as long as they truly care about you. Avoid someone who will insensitively try to train you out of depression but rather someone who can create space and truly connect to help overcome depression. Make sure to communicate that you require them to see you in the highest light and tell them in advance that you need them to be on your side regardless of you not being on your own side at times.
True meaningful connection, acceptance and support are very healing. Remember that you are in the process of recovery and this means you should surround yourself with only connective, supportive, encouraging and loving people. Distance yourself from everyone else who makes you feel less, while you are attempting to overcome depression.
ALLOW YOURSELF TO REST AND FOCUS ON POSITIVITY
The best thing you can do to overcome depression is to sleep. When we sleep the negative momentum subsides. That’s why it's important to learn to focus your mind on better feeling thoughts as soon as you wake up! Positive thinking is a panacea, learning to refocus yourself from thoughts that destroy you to uplifting thoughts is the best thing anyone could do for themselves. You don’t need to be a law of attraction enthusiast to know it for yourself already.
A happy life starts with eliminating negative thoughts by simply and gently refocusing your mind on something neutral or even positive. If it’s hard to think positively right now - it's okay, distract yourself by thinking about something neutral and soothing. By developing a sense of control over your mind you don’t only start to overcome depression, you build a healthy mental fundament for attracting your best future as well. Remember, any result is in practice itself - every time you consciously refocus from the negative, you put a brick to your new healthy fundament. If you want to achieve a stable happy state of mind, then this brick by brick building process is a unavoidable.
INVOLVE YOURSELF WITH PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Yeah, yeah, we have all heard it, right? You got to keep moving, even slowly, even just to the supermarket and back for now. Since you are now taking better care of your diet to help deal with depression, walks to the supermarket can be a great start. Depending on your level of energy, you may then start taking longer walks in nature, try tai chi or other spiritual practices that don't require a lot of physical effort. As your strength will increase you can start incorporating yoga, swimming, or some other sports into your exercise routine.
Choose a Spiritual Practice to Help Overcome Depression.
Don’t go to the gym right away to lift heavy weights. That is for those with enough energy and strength. Start slow - adequately acknowledge your strength level and act out of gentle self-love. Love yourself enough to have a physical activity and love yourself enough to not overload yourself with it either. Slow, light and consistent physical activity is way better than rare, fast and heavy.
GET A MEDICAL CHECK-UP
Doctors say that stress is the cause for all diseases. It’s already a well-known and proven fact. And yet, we don’t usually know when and how disease starts to develop in our bodies. With growing statistics on autoimmune diseases and all sorts of other ailments, there is a big chance that a depressed person would have a HORMONAL IMBALANCE (estrogen / testosterone, thyroid hormonal imbalance), vitamin & mineral deficiency, hypoglycemia and adrenal fatigue. Getting a medical check-up will allow you to help yourself to deal with depression through taking care of your health. We often over-rely on fixing an issue "mentally" while the body is working against us. That will only perpetuate your mental despondency.
You should visit your health practitioner and ask for medical tests in case you experience:
Hair loss
Insomnia, waking up throughout the night and finding it hard to fall back asleep
Hard to wake up, feeling tired after full night sleep, low energy level throughout the day
Ongoing fatigue and loss of energy
Anxiety, panic attacks
Digestive issues (any slightly abnormal stool on a constant basis is a call for check up)
Any kinds of sharp or consistent pain in the body
While most issues still come from stress of the mind, you cannot rely only on your mind to heal hormonal imbalance or vitamin deficiency! Remember that mental and physical health are not as separate as we often perceive. We need to pay attention to both of these areas equally and take a balanced approach to heal and overcome depression.
I do not have authority to prescribe any medication as I am not a doctor. Everything I say next should not be considered as a recommendation but rather an invitation for your personal research and doctor visit.
If you struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, it is important to prioritize the soothing of your nervous system first. Chamomile tea, valerian, calming herbs and CBD oil could largely help you on your healing journey, so save yourself some struggle - nature is here to help you heal! Be systematic and consistent while you work to deal with depression. This is a recovery process, not just a momentary “chill pill” solution. Give yourself at least a couple of months and be consistent with the intake.
Depression and anxiety can be the symptoms of vitamin B1, B6, and zinc deficiency. It is recommended to take courses of these supplements 2-3 times a year. This may help overcome depression.
⁃ B1 is recommended in the form of benfotiamine
⁃ B6 is recommended in the form of pyridoxal 5-phosphate
⁃ Zinc is recommended in citrate, lactate, glycinate or in the form of picolinate
The amino acid 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is a precursor of serotonin and used for anxiety, insomnia, depression, OCD and others. 5-HTP is not registered as a drug and can be bought without prescription, but please keep in mind that while this supplement is commonly used among mental health practitioners, the studies of 5-HTP is still very controversial.
TAKE YOUR TIME
As much as it seems like you want it RIGHT NOW, you actually don’t. Imagine that life gifts you with all your unimaginable dreams RIGHT NOW, how long will your happiness last? Please don’t lie to yourself. It would be great if you can understand my next point. We don’t want fast ups and downs for you. With fast “up," chances are you will experience the next “down” just as fast. Yet with a steady slow improvement process, we don’t only sooth the inevitable setbacks but also build the fundament for a new-unshakable-strong-stable-YOU. You already know what to do and what not to do, your intuition speaks to you quietly in every moment to guide you out of depression into a better feeling state. The point is not only to hear your inner voice but to follow its subtle guidance.
The best way to prevent negative thoughts from spiraling out of control is by REFOCUSING. If your maximum right now is watching a movie, great, watch a comedy. Eventually, you need to find an inspiration again. Do you already have a project that inspires you? If not, what inspires you when you browse the internet? What did you enjoy doing when you were younger? Is it make-up, history, numerology, traveling, home décor, animals, styling, finances, or politics? What is it? This last step on how to overcome depression should be finding and restoring your passion for life through something that gives you a sense of purpose. Something you would love to wake up to every day. As you start focusing on that direction more and more, you will notice a build-up of positive momentum.
Please understand that you are not looking for the one and only single purpose in life, don’t give it too much importance. To overcome depression you must have fun with it! We have many purposes in life, and your ONLY TRUE PURPOSE IS TO BE HAPPY and do what brings you joy!
THERAPY!
I’m available not only to assist you on the suggested steps and be your supportive friend but to help you with your self-discovery journey. If you are seeking to deeper understand yourself, then no amount of meditations, affirmations, reading books and articles, or exercising your willpower will be as effective as the life transformational work that I, as a Certified Psychologist and Spiritual Awakening Coach, can assist you with. Click on the picture below to book a Self-Discovery Game where you will be able to UNDERSTAND, LOVE and ACCEPT yourself on a whole new level ⬇
You will have setbacks while you work to overcome depression, no doubt. But your depression gives you an opportunity to learn some crucial life lessons way faster. Care enough about how you feel so that you consciously navigate your mind to live in a better state.
There are so many people that have been through a major crisis in life and not only did they positively deal with depression as it hit but they also sky-rocketed their power of attraction and saw their life blossom. Depression could be your fast track to your best life, and there are countless examples of that. It's your choice. Are you ready to love yourself properly now? Don't let this article be just another piece of information stored in your mind, you already know what to do!
FREE RESOURCES FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND SPIRITUAL CONNECTION: