How Daily S.M.A.R.T. Goals Keep Me Moving Forward When Depressed
The moment-to-moment emptiness of depression can be soul-crushing, but I find this method provides direction and stability
Over the past few months, I have been battling a horrible depressive episode. Because my depression is clinical, these episodes will likely recur until I die — after all, per one 2020 PLoS ONE research article, depressives face a 60% risk of recurrence after recovering from one episode, and 90% after recovering from three — but since I am on medication, and went to therapy for four years, the episodes have become fewer and milder.
Which, I now realize, is a double-edged sword, because when this one struck, I was shellshocked, having forgotten the sheer, shocking, soul-crushing emptiness of the moment-to-moment of depression, just how impossible, how pointless, seems survival, much less being productive.
To wit: I had planned to write this article last week. But all I have done since is lie around, game, read, watch movies, doomscroll, and pray each night that I die in my sleep, eradicating this rot in my brain.
I felt drained, spent, an exhaustion both mental and physical, since, according to medical writer and certified registered nurse anesthetist Rachel…
