March 23, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

“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.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 22, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Sit with the wind and see if you can feel its energy, its freedom and unpredictability. It brings messages. Listen for them. Hear the lessons of nature, of the eternal breath.

It is the breath of life, the wind of change. Anything is possible. You can change. You can become whatever you dream. The answer is blowing in the wind.

“It is also the intangible, the transient, the insubstantial and the elusive. Winds serve as messengers of the gods and can indicate the presence of divinity. Cirlot notes that it is held to be the primary Element (of the four elements earth, air, water and fire) by virtue of its connection with the creative breath of exhalation. Jung in Symbols of Transformation points out that in Arabic (and paralleled by the Hebrew) the word “ruh” signifies both “breath” and “spirit.””

– from Symbolism.org

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 21, 2020

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Get help.

“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.”

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 20, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

In the Northern Hemisphere it is now officially Spring!

The days are getting longer and the sun seems warmer (when it's not raining).

Take advantage of this and grab some of nature's antidepressants. Take a walk, get some fresh air, sit in the sun! Plant flowers or pick flowers for your dining room table.

Celebrate Spring!

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 19, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

“Pandemics are unlike other disasters due to their broad scope and prolonged, fluctuating timeline. COVID-19 (caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) is shaping up to be unlike prior coronavirus infections, impacting multiple organ systems, not just the lungs, causing widespread problems related to blood clotting abnormalities and inflammatory reactions.

“In particular, the virus crosses the blood-brain barrier, resulting in myriad neuropsychiatric problems ranging from depression and anxiety to psychotic reactions to delirium and cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) to chronic executive dysfunction. The mental health impact of COVID-19 is of increasing concern. In addition to the direct effects on the brain, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented psychological distress, threatening a “crashing wave” of mental health problems.”

COVID-19 presents a unique array of depression symptoms, collectively known as COVID Stress Syndrome. Mention to your doctor or psychologist if you think you're suffering from anxiety or depression or any mental health effects of COVID – not of “having” COVID, but of coping in a world where fearing and guarding against COVID is a daily reality.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 18, 20201

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Wind chimes are a delightful spring mood booster.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 17, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Wear the mask.

Eliminating some of the fear, worry, dread and helplessness we feel in the age of COVID-19 would be so much simpler if everyone wore a mask.

There’s an app for that!

Parade.com has an article on mental health apps; here is a summary of their list:

30 of the Best Mental Health Apps, Because We All Deserve to Feel a Little Better Right Now

NOTE: Not all of these apps are free. This list does not imply endorsement.

Moodfit
Sanvello
Happify
Rootd
SuperBetter
WorryWatch
Headspace
Calm
DARE: Break Free from Anxiety
Ten Percent Happier
Colorfy
Breathe2Relax
Sleep Time
Noisli
Slumber
Relax and Rest Guided Meditations
Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep
My Life Meditation
ReGain
Smiling Mind
BetterHelp
What’s Up?
MoodKit
LifeSum
Lumosity
MoodMission
Peak
Cognifit
Pzizz
Talkspace

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 16, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Sometimes you just have to order pizza – all major food groups and deliciousness with no cooking, no clean up, and no guilt.

Things that Make You Go Hmmmm...

“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.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 15, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

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

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com