I’ve been very open about the fact that in my past I suffered from Depression and this is why I now work so hard at having a positive mentality and lifestyle. My depression started sometime in 2009 and lasted till 2011, and it was a very dark time in my life and it truly felt like I would never get out of it. Near the end of 2011 I was fortunate enough to have a small moment of clarity to motivate myself to find every way possible to break through my depression and change my life and everything that I have done for the past few years is a direct result of breaking away from my depression. Gaining control of my life and mind has motivated me in ways that I could never have imagined. But it didn’t come easily, I have worked and continue to work very hard to be a positive person and I treat my depression similar to a person who is a recovering addict. I am aware that I am the type of person who needs to be in a controlled environment all the time and around people that uplift me because I am prone to being negative about myself and my life in an unhealthy way. Over the years I have learned a lot and figured out a few tips that helped me to break through depression naturally and I wanted to share them with you guys, check out my list and video below. If you are going through Depression right now, please tell someone and trust me when I say, you can get through this so hang on.
1. Tell Someone
It is so important to tell someone about how you feel. It’s hard sometimes to be so open and vulnerable but when you tell someone it allows for help to come your way. You can not do this alone, so please find someone that you are comfortable with and tell them how you feel.
2. Diet & Nutrition
During my Depression I gained a lot of weight, because my diet was very reckless and I didn’t realize it but a lot of the food I ate was apart of the problem. Healthy foods are so important when it comes to changing the way you feel about yourself, we need nutrients and balance in our diets. Change your food and see how your mentality begins to change too.
3. Sleep
Sleep more! I cannot stress enough how important good amounts of sleep are for your health and mentality. I used to go to bed at 4am every night because a million thoughts were running through my head and I was avoiding sleep. This was a huge battle for me to fight and it took me a long time to finally get a normal sleep pattern. But similar to my bad diet, the lack of sleep was also a big part of the problem with my depression and instead of helping me it was hurting me. Normal amounts of sleep are incredibly important to making you feel healthy and happy, so please go to bed at a normal time and make sure to get at least 6 hours of sleep every night.
4. Write it out
Write out how you feel, it will feel like a release and give you a small sense of calmness. I do a lot of writing through out my day, I write myself love notes in the morning, a to-do list every night for the next day and I write out my feelings if I’m not in the best mood. Writing is like therapy for me and was a big step in my recovery because I was able to release my thoughts and worries on to the pages instead of keeping them bottled up inside. I highly suggest writing every day, whether it’s a sentence or a full page, but just be in the moment and clear your thoughts by writing it out.
5. Exercise
Studies have shown that daily physical activity for just 30 minutes a day helps to relieve stress, and boost your mood and this is what you need if you are feeling depressed! I know it will be hard and you may not want to get out of bed but you have to force yourself to do it. Tell a friend to work out with you or get a personal trainer who will hold you accountable, just find a way to get at least 30 minutes worth of exercise every day.
6. Dancing & Singing
Did you know just 10 minutes of Dancing and Singing every day can make you feel amazing! Regardless if you’re an actual singer or dancer, this can still do wonders! I’m a singer so this is easy for me to do but I make sure to sing every day just for fun and I dance as a part of my physical activity. Try it, it’s pretty addicting.
7. Set Small Goals
Setting small goals for yourself helps you to get back into the groove of things and this is very important. When you are feeling depressed you normally don’t want to do anything at all but it’s very important to force yourself out of this funk and setting small goals can help you to do this.
8. Self Help Books
I love Self Help Books! For over 2 years all I read was self help books and as corny as this sounds, they helped me lol. I’ve done a couple videos on a few of my favorites here.
9. Control Your Thoughts
This is the most important step of them all, you have to learn to Control Your Thoughts! It’s going to be hard but the more self aware you become the easier it will be. Realize that at this time you are in a negative head space and that your thoughts are similar to a wild horse, so whatever you do not let it run wild, control what goes in and what comes out. Don’t expect it to happen over night but the more you work on it the easier it will be.
Andrea, you’re awesome. This past year ALL of the videos you have posted have helped me tremendously. Like you I struggled with depression but put on a front for others so it was difficult to find the support I needed, even after blatantly telling my friends I was depressed they just wouldn’t believe it. So it was truly difficult for me. But watching your videos the self love and all the other ones helped me know that i was not alone in this. If someone who is like a celebrity and who like knows drake and shameless maya and all these cool people can still struggle with depression then so can I and its not so weird and its not something that i should be ashamed of. Its just life and it is something I can work through. So I just want to say thank you for all that you do and please keep posting videos!! I can’t wait to see what this self love movement grows into! I’ll be supporting the whole way !
I go to school and NYC. My family lives in AZ and in South Sudan. I am coping with depression for the first time in my adult life and at times it feels like I’m very alone through the process. Each time I open one of your self love videos I feel like I have a friend who is concerned for my mental and emotional well being, and who is on the journey with me. Someone who is positive and balanced who has been in my position before. Your current optimism makes me hopeful for my eventual optimism. All this to say, I hope you realize how valuable your videos are.
Once again Andrea, thank you so much for sharing! I’ve dealt with depression also I have the tendency to be negative. I have to be extremely strict with what I do, the people I entertain, music I listen to, what I eat, and so on and I have to constantly see positive words and hear positive messages everyday. You may already have a video on this, but do you meditate? If so could you make a video about some tips on what to do and how to get started?
Very helpful and inspiring .. went through the same thing, and that’s how i got into my self-love journey :)
something I read when I was depressed: maybe the pain is a sign that we need a change. That phrase made me to analyze whats wrong in my life and I could change little things and help me to recover 🙂 thank you andrea for your tips!
Great Tips! I too have battled the dreaded “D” word. The most important of those tips in my humble opinion is number 9. I found that my D was a result of recurring negative thoughts which in turn led to negative emotion. I watch my thoughts and subsequent emotions very closely now.
This was very helpful. I haven’t been diagnosed with depression (although I’ve suspected for a long time that I am and a psychologist that I saw a couple of months ago theorized that I might have dysthymia) but I do have a problem with controlling my thoughts. I have a lot of negative thoughts about myself daily and it’s such a struggle to try to turn those thoughts into positive ones, but I’m trying, and I’m reminding myself that I’m not as horrible as I make myself out to be. I can only hope I get to a day where those thoughts are minimal or don’t exist at all.
Just take it day by day, it’s a lot of work but eventually you can control your thoughts and you’ll become more aware of when you are being negative and you’ll be able to stop yourself before it goes too far.