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From Blue to Orange in a Split Second
W e all have down moments. Sometimes those moments stretch into hours or days, or even longer, and then we might call it depression, although it is not always that. The definitions of mental states are fuzzy, but I’m not talking about it. This short piece is about personal experiences of shaking off a little blues. Hope it might help some of you too.
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A lot of things can bring us down. Regardless of the reason, once you feel being there, you know it is hard to get out. Having some good knowledge about body-mind connection, when I find myself in this kind of pit, I tend to rely on body rather than mind to try to get out of it.
Why? Because it is easier to force yourself to start moving your body when you are feeling down than to uplift your mind just by thinking about it. Of course, what kind of physical movement to do would depend on your habits, preferences, the strength of your willpower, state of your physical and emotional health, etc.
Nevertheless, the main idea is to start moving your body, in whatever way to can, prefer, or able to do.
Of course it is very hard to force yourself to go to the gym when you don’t want to do anything at all, and having trouble to get out of bed. However, if your habits are aligned with this idea, and your self-discipline is strong enough, you can indeed force yourself to do some good workout while you are in that miserable mental state. Then if you do, the chances are your blues will be blown away by a set of intense physical exercise. It works without exception, but you do need to be able to slide into that workout mode to begin with.
Admittedly, this kind of advice to workout when you are depressed is not for everyone. If you hate workouts but are in a habit of taking walks, this would be another great recipe to shake off for your low mood. Especially if you could listen to a podcast or an audiobook while you are walking. If you notice that your mind wanders away from listening, it’s okay, it’s expected. Just try to get back on track, or switch to another podcast. This kind of physical and mental distractions can (and often do) help to get your mind unstuck.
