According to National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 27 million in the United States experience a major depressive episode a year. In addition, Center for Disease Control (CDC) report that more than 43.8 million people take some form of antidepressant. The statistics aforementioned may or may not surprise you as a reader, but to be honest, it hits home more closely than people may think. But what can you do about it? If you are experiencing this mental disease for the first time, how can you cope with it?
In some societies, suffering from this deadly disease may not be as acceptable as in countries like the United States, or other European countries where this is deemed part of everyday life. We have seen this more common place in the last few years when the pandemic affected the entire world, and the rate of depression sky-rocketed everywhere. Besides getting help from certified psychiatrists and psychologists, what are other forms of outlets we can try to help ourselves during the difficult times? Here are some proven methods listed below.
- Support groups
- Friends and family
- Healthy diet
- Have a routine set up to keep yourself busy.
- Exercise
I would like to focus on the last option: exercise.
We all have experienced a bad period where nothing is going right. Situations such as loss of jobs, loss of loved ones, loss of possessions such as house or divorce. Until we come to terms and accept the fact, we will never be able to move on. However, according to research, forms of exercise such as talking time to walk or run every day may help. Personally, a few months ago, I have personally begun to start working on running as part of my everyday routine. It was not easy at first, but setting daily goals and achieving them made me feel worthwhile and accomplished. A sense of belonging began to feast on achieving my short-term goals I set for myself.
After achieving certain goals, I managed to tack on more distance and quicker time restraints in order to challenge myself during these work outs. In conjunction with establishing longer distances, setting quicker time goals also became an obsession. Once achieved, a new goal was again set. During my workouts, I became focused on my breathing, my stamina, my stride, my energy spent, and most important of all, my will to finish. While carrying out these workouts, I became stronger mentally and physically. I felt as though I mattered once more, as I battled through different weather conditions, and certainly various hot and cold days.
We all try to make it through each day no matter what we go through, and we should find a way to deal with difficult situations. Even more important, as parents, we have our children to take care of as well. We certainly should not let our mental status affect their lives as they still have the rest of their lives to live. Therefore, no matter what we go through, we should be able to present our best to them.
To better ourselves so that we may be able to be there when our children need us the most. We love them deeply; therefore, we should start by loving and taking care of ourselves first.
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