What to do when depression reaches out to strangle you.

It does, you know.

When you least expect it, depression seems to jumps out of the corner like a boogie-man. And just like a boogie-man, it tries to take your life. It tries to strangle you in its grip. You have to break the the stronghold.

But unlike a boogie-man, we have resources. For me, my resources were always based on my faith but I’m well aware that not everyone who reads this blog feels as I do. I only say that because I don’t always reference God or faith when discussing depression and I wanted you to know why.

So what other resources are there?

I’ll concentrate on distraction for today and possibly a few more.

It occurs to me that when I say use the concept of distraction, that some of you may need some concrete examples. but that can be hard because we all have different activities that we enjoy. Or sadly, for a few, there are none.

For example, we visited my daughter this week-end and we baby-sat our two adorable little grandsons Saturday evening. They get to watch a kids movie or an episode of some other show on Saturday night. We have popcorn and watch with them.

But this time they picked an episode of something else they wanted to watch. Monster trucks! N0w to me, I find watching a show about monster trucks as interesting as watching grass grow! But of course, I pretended to be interested.

So if someone were to tell me that watching a show about monster trucks would be a good distraction for me, I might say, “Not so much.”

So some of what what I suggest may not appeal to you immediately but don’t just dismiss the suggestions.  Did you know, for example, that every time we learn a new skill, it makes our brains work better. It’s all about keeping those neurons firing and that’s as important for depression as anything else.

So the first one is really simple.



It doesn’t get much easier than that.

And it doesn’t matter what you move to. If it’s only to head to the kitchen to get a drink of water, that counts. Here’s why movement works.

When we move, we “wake-up” other parts of our body. We are such interconnected beings, everything we do affects everything else.  And when we move, it reminds us there is something within our power, even if it is only movement.

Now if you just get that drink of water and come right back to the sofa or the bed, obviously, that isn’t going to work. You have to remain upright and in motion at least for a couple of minutes.

Surely, there’s something within your vision that needs attention. Hey, look for something if you have to. The point is to keep your body in motion for a few minutes.

Do this every hour.

I know, I know, it seems way too easy. But if you could commit to this from when you wake up until you go to bed, you would notice a difference. It’s almost impossible not to. Because what happens is that



Tomorrow I will share some specific ideas.

Also, if you are employed outside the home, much of this moving every hour is probably taken care of for you. But if  you have a very sedentary job, it’s still important to get up and move every hour. Is anyone really going to say anything if you walk around the hallway, or around some cubicles? As long as you are doing your job, probably not.

But if you do work outside the home and even if you can’t move around, your mind is begin kept sufficiently busy enough to stave off an attack. It’s very easy to come home then and just flop on the sofa for the rest of the day. But this is the danger zone, the times between dinner and bedtime.

And it might seem ok to not worry about those few hours but remember once depression gains a foothold, it’s much harder to treat. So don’t give it an opportunity.

God bless and have a good day.



6 replies »

  1. So good! Depression hit me pretty good last week and it was amazing how once I got up, dressed, and left the house, I was in an infinitely better headspace. It’s true that activity always encourages other activity! Thank you for sharing!!