How Small Steps Can Help You Through Depression
When my depression is at its worst, aiming for a “non-zero” day helps me feel less stuck.
How Depression Can Create Negative Feedback
I was first diagnosed with major depression all the way back in high school, but over the years its impact on my life has ebbed and flowed.
Sometimes my depression has stayed in remission for years at a time — so long that I nearly forget I ever had it. At the other extreme, my depression has sometimes grown so severe that it seems to impede every aspect of my life.
These low points, when my depression is at its most debilitating, can feel downright hopeless. Even though I know the steps I need to take to manage my depression — seeing a therapist, exercising regularly, etc. — my state of mind makes the entire process feel too overwhelming to handle.
I end up feeling completely stagnant and stuck in place. The depression creates a negative feedback loop, because I feel worse about myself each time I let a day go by without any steps towards treatment.
For a lot of my life, I dealt with these feelings by drowning them out through alcohol. In a superficial sense, it appeared to work, but in reality I was just replacing…
