There is an "Are you depressed"-AskHN trending at the moment and I am glad that people are being reminded both that they are not the only ones having a problem and that it is OK to talk about it.

In case you are suffering from an actual depression (or suspecting that you might do): you definitely should talk to someone qualified and not take advice from randos on the internet. And be it a helpline where you can just dump your worries to and get ideas what to do about them.

So, this out of the way: what does actually you help to keep our mood up? The cheaper, easier and more practical it is for most people, the better.

Among other things, activities that help me are:

- Going outdoors, somewhere where I do not need to be too careful, i.e. away from roads where I would need to pay attention to not being overrun, also not too muddy cart tracks where I would have to be careful not to step into puddles,... Just anywhere where I can more or less walk and look without anything requiring my attention.

- Doing sports feels very good afterwards, sometimes for days if the activity was intense enough. Running or walking might be the easiest thing to start, the latter does not even require comfortable clothes. Just go out and walk. Bodyweight exercises can also be intense and do not necessarily require any weights or machines. There are exercises that require no more than a yoga mat or a carpet to train on. Cheap and effective, imo. Check the web for details.

- Sauna (if you have access to one)

- Spending time for oneself if domestic bliss is lacking (running or walking is great as does not require one to justify why one would like to be for oneself).

- (Offline) reading is great, it really helps me focus on something and to silence other thoughts. This doesn't work with every book for me and I usually need to read into a few to find a good one.

- Anything that makes you feel in control to boost your (perceived) self-efficacy. (And be it something as simple as taking a pill of vitamine D each day because you are convinced that it might help you avoid a severe cases of Covid in case you ever catch it)

Other ideas?

user:	internetbird
created:	August 15, 2019
karma:	28
about:	An Israeli SW Engineer and Pianist