Project Depression is an action plan that I came up with myself. It is simple to do and it works! Before I lay out the plan, let me fill in a few gaps....
I have been treated for depression for the last 10 years. My flavor of mental illness is bipolar depression. I have swings between manic highs and depressive lows. Luckily most of the time I am somewhere in the middle, thanks to the drugs I take daily (I will touch on medications in another post). I spend a good amount of time each day doing things to manage my illness, and I am the first to admit that sometimes it is completely exhausting, even when I'm in a stable, middle state. I hope that Project Depression will serve as a road map to myself and other suffering from this illness.
My goal of PD is not to talk endlessly about what it is like to have a mental illness, but to talk about positive things we can do each day to keep ourselves at the top of our game. The WORST thing I do when I am low is to ask myself WHY I'm depressed. Turns out I could be asking myself WHY until the end of time and NOT get an answer. This is in fact a total waste of time. One of the greatest things my therapist said is:
"You can't think your way out of depression. You must act your way out of depression. It does not matter what the act is, just do something!"
This puts the focus on WHAT, not WHY. This simple concept can feel overwhelming if you are in the deepest part of a depressive cycle. If you are there, write this down somewhere you will see it every day. When you are back in a normal state, you can review it and start your own Project Depression plan. You will feel better doing it since you are taking a proactive approach to managing your depression. In the past I would turn to books on depression when I was feeling low, but this just doesn't work. I didn't always know that it is OK to feel low; sometimes, no matter what you do or how proactive you are in managing your illness, you will fee low. I have just learned to accepted the lows (and highs) as a part of who I am. My goal here is to minimize the number and the duration of these periods.
There are FOUR things I must do every day, according to no one but myself. By deciding on them in advance (and while in a good mental space) I am able to make sure they are attainable and helpful. I post them on my bedroom door so they are the first things I see each day.
1. Meditate
2. Do something creative
3. Exercise, 20 minutes
4. Be good to myself in some way
The book "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg is a helpful and hopeful read to guide you to your list. Charles discusses the science of how habits are formed and broken. He states that habits are formed when a task is consistently performed for 30 days. By the end of the 30 day period you will no longer need a list to remind you what to do. They will be habits that you have formed. There is of course more to it. I recommend the book highly.
Your list will look different than my list. I have no idea what should be on your list. The only thing I would advise is to not list more than 4 action items on your list. Start with one if you need to. Add to it, or don't. It is your list. Just make sure you do the item/s each day.
Science shows that the first three items on my list are good at warding off depression. And I know from experience that they make me feel better. They were kind of no-brainers.
The fourth item is a tough one for me. I am tremendously hard on myself. I'm certain I came out of the womb this way. Recently I showed my father a picture of myself at 7 years old and I asked him what kind of child I was. He quickly answered INTENSE. Breaking this life long habit of not being quite enough has been difficult to break. So I added 'be good to myself" to my list. The first day I helped a frustrated coworker, so I counted that. She told me at the end of our conversation that she felt better after our talk. I really didn't do much but listen, but I counted is as my #4 because I was able to feel good about the fact that I helped someone. It really is the small things people, and I have to remind myself that all the time. Today I gave myself 20 minutes to read a book in the middle of my work day. I work from home, so this is a doable item. The fact that I gave myself permission to do it allowed me to feel good about my decision and not beat myself up over the fact that I wasn't working. I am certain I was able to get more work done, because I recognized my need for a break. It was a WIN/WIN!
I hope that you will take the time to figure out your list. Please feel free to share them in the comments.
Until next time,
S
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