When you're down or not feeling your best, what are things you do to help and why? When we're emotionally down or blue, we tend to find our personal go to's or remedies that makes our day slightly better or as pleasant as possible. Hang with friends, hide and read, what have you. I usually paint or binge watch game grumps in my worst mood. No matter how much I want to not let go or fixate on the negative, I watch game grumps and it makes me laugh every time and it usually reveals the stupidity of the situation. It really helps you get out of your own head, as dumb as that is. What do you do when you're blue??
Added Game Grumps to my watch list. If you're okay with awkward humor, you might enjoy my go-to show when I need a mood boost: Impractical Jokers.
Listen to music I love, e.g. Alanis Morissette or the Beatles. These two can usually lift me up quite a bit. Music in general usually helps me feel better. Watching good TV sitcoms and sleep can also help too.
Beatles, always!
For me "being blue" is like being sad, angry, happy. A state of mind. Being in a state of mind is a choice. If you don't like where you're at, change your choices.
I attempt to breath oxygen rich atmosphere.
This usually brings back my normal color.
It's best to have healthy habits so to avoid depression or recover from it more quickly. But when in a bout of depression and especially if you suffer from chronic depression it's good to have a 'toolbox' of quick techniques to use when suffering from depression. For me physical exertion usually offers quick relief even simple sitting exercises like palms flat on the table and press down hard for 30 seconds. A good one is yawn and stretch 10 times in a row, even fake yawns will trigger real ones, you can do it most anywhere including in bed if you woke up depressed (also it's a good technique for stage fright). Having a 'happy place' can be very effective, I like to visualize running down sand dunes and then walk in the water along the shore. Another good one is 'grounding' or focusing on the moment by focusing on your environment, your breath, sense yourself planted, to yourself name all the item around you (also good for a panic attack). Gratitude enriches us, be grateful for the little things, nurture gratitude, can you breath freely, think about how good it feels to inhale like you were smelling a flower, are you going to take a shower, enjoy the hot water, having a cup of tea/coffee, savor each sip. Forgiveness frees us, be quick to forgive, especially yourself. Kindness betters us all, we rise by lifting others.
Lately, I've been finding only one real thing has been able to help significantly. In my "real job", I work for a soulless corporation. Well, actually, they're surprisingly soulful, but still a corporation. I've started my own indie game development company, literally funded from nothing really but money I've saved, and I've found that forcing myself to sit and work on my games is the only thing which can help. It's not easy, because of the depression, but when I've accomplished something, that does actually help quite a lot - because if I'm nothing but a piece of crap, at least I'm an effective crap. So I guess I look for some goal to achieve, or some external purpose to be had.
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to why don't you go where fashion sits?
Where fashion sits?
@Kayterade5348 Puttin' on the ritz.
All of the stuff you're not supposed to do (lay in bed, eat junk, drink... more, smoke entirely too much, make bad "life" choices, watch ridiculous amounts of SNL and Monty Python, ok that might be the healthiest one...)
Smoke?
@bigpawbullets Marlboro Smooth 100s. Can't handle the spicy marijuanas. But, I smoke like a pack a week. Maybe 2 if the boy is at his dad's for the weekend. Unless I'm blue and drinking way too much, then maybe 3.
I really like this particular episode of the Jordan Peterson podcast. It helps take the edge off of my bitterness and nihilism if that is what is at the heart of a depressive episode:
Rama, aka Ramachandra, one of the seven avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu, is tradirionally depicted with blue skin. His weapon is the bow and arrow. When I'm blue I make like Rama by stringing my intellectual bow with information and take aim at the root of the problem. Hopefully arrow flies true and I don't shoot myself in the foot, lol.
Erm... develop yet another self destructive coping mechanism?
Correct.