Depression is not about what's going on in your life, it's about how you think about what's going on in your life.

Catching self-abusing thoughts and turning them into rational assessments of a situation is key.

Try to remember to react to automatic thoughts with rational responses, and write it down: list automatic thoughts on the left half of a piece of paper and the rational response to each thought on the right side.

Even when you're so depressed you can't see the solution, try this technique, pioneered by David D. Burns, whose books are fundamentals in the field of depression.

Click HERE for a yoga YouTube channel, Yoga with Kassandra, with truly easy stretches, breathing exercises, yoga tutorials, and more. Kassandra is down-to-earth and clear, and her exercises are super-doable.

Write Your Way Out

“In the eye of a hurricane

"There is quiet
For just a moment.
A yellow sky.

"When I was seventeen a hurricane
Destroyed my town.
I didn’t drown.
I couldn’t seem to die.

I wrote my way out”.

– from Hamilton

Journal.

Make lists of things you've accomplished.

Write automatic thoughts and then rational responses to them (David D. Burns). Write down the automatic thought depressing you right now – not what you are feeling but what you are thinking. Then write down a rational response to that automatic thought.

Write your way out.

Get help -- which may come from a variety of resources.

The passage here was written in the first months of the COVID pandemic, but the advice rings true today. With so much change all around them, including heading to the end of the school year and possibly decisions about their futures, kids need someone to listen to them and to guide them.

“Coaches have a vital role to play here. They can help their athletes process what is going on, discuss their feelings, try to come up with ways to make the seniors feel special – even if they never play another game. I promise you, coaches are already doing this.

“Something else coaches are doing – they're checking on their athletes who they know can be in vulnerable positions. As soon as Governor Roy Cooper announced the statewide closure of schools, I saw numerous coaches on Twitter offering to help kids get food and meals, bring them school supplies, help them find Internet connections, or offer other types of help as needed.”

Those of us with mental illness had a fierce advocate in actor and author Carrie Fisher.

She made it OK to be depressed, bipolar, or otherwise mentally ill.

“We have been given a challenging illness, and there is no other option than to meet those challenges,” Fisher said. “Think of it as an opportunity to be heroic – not ‘I survived living in Mosul during an attack’ heroic, but an emotional survival. An opportunity to be a good example to others who might share our disorder.”

– Carrie Fisher interview for The Guardian

“That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end.”

– Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation

Sometimes it does feel impossible, but you CAN regain hope.

* * * * *

Here's a song I find inspiring. It is rap, and I know that's not for everyone. But it's full of hope and inspiration.

Hold on.

I don't know about you, but right about now, I just want to lock out the world and watch videos. Perhaps you can relate? Many of us are feeling nervous, depressed, frightened, confused, uncertain...

What can you do to stave off depression in precarious times?

As often as you can manage, focus outside of yourself and engage in the world.

Help someone else. Give blood. Talk to a senior citizen. Volunteer once a week.

No need to make a big commitment that may feel overwhelming.

Do something – no matter how small it seems to you – that is not about you. Acts of kindness and acts of service can fend off depression.

Create regular eating habits to ease depression.

There can be relief in simply not thinking about what to eat for dinner every day, and not foraging throughout the day, but rather having a simple, regular plan.

There can also be significant physical relief as digestion becomes more regular.

When carbohydrates are regularly decreased, especially simple sugars, and vegetables are increased, there is often a mood stabilizing effect. That is a lot easier to accomplish when you have a plan and have created a habit instead of grabbing things on the fly.

Rumination used to be a major problem for me, and it still plagues me at times. "Rumination" is the term for what a cow does with its food -- chewing the same bit over and over again, swallowing it, then bringing it back up to chew more. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sound familiar?

From the website of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy center of Los Angeles:

"Rumination is a common mental habit that involves endlessly replaying negative thoughts or feelings, often related to past or future events. Persistent overthinking and repetitive thoughts can take a significant toll on your mental health, leading to an increase in negative emotions, and psychological disorders like anxiety and depression. Although people who ruminate often do so with the belief that they are solving a problem, the reality is they are ensuring their mood remains low by not participating in rewarding activities. If rumination is not actively targeted in treatment, significant research has shown it will result in slower symptom reduction during treatment and can lead to a poorer response to therapy. Because poor treatment outcome is associated with rumination, there are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventions specifically designed to teach people how to stop ruminating."

Here are some tips from their website, and a LINK to delve into it further. I have found working toward minimizing my rumination a huge help in reducing my depression.

1. Journal.

2. Distract yourself.

3. Be mindful.

4. Make a plan.

5. Consider new perspectives.

6. Know your triggers.

7. Schedule your worry.

8. Recognize unproductive worry.

9. See a therapist.