Do not mistake depression with feelings of sadness. They are vastly different. Depression is a mood disorder that causes prolonged feelings of sadness and apathy for life in general. While sadness is a side effect of depression, sadness doesn’t imply depression in the least bit. In other words, sadness is an emotion that everyone experiences from time to time while depression is a disorder that can last a lifetime.
While it may seem contradictory, it is entirely possible to be happy while you are experiencing symptoms of depression.
If you are looking for tips to help lift your mood while you’re battling depression, keep reading:
Eat More Real Food
Eating real food is another way to get your happy back. Eating quick burning carbs, starchy food (bread & pasta), processed food, and refined sugars (soda) puts your mood on a yo-yo of constant cravings leading to inconsistent moods.
Schedule More Happy Stuff
Schedule things that make you happy on the regular basis. For instance, if you like to sing, take a weekly trip to your local karaoke bar, if you like to stay in the house, take a day to yourself each week in which you do not leave the house at all. No matter what it is, if it makes you happy, put it on the calendar and make time to do it. Your mood will begin to improve soon as more happy stuff is on your schedule.
Listen to The Right Music
Music is proven to improve moods, relieve stress, as well as an array of other positive benefits. Try playing a happy song, or a sad song, or angry song, or any type of song that helps you to channel your emotions. Listen to these songs as long as it takes for you to feel the negative feelings being released from your body and move on to another activity to give yourself a moment to adjust. Overtime, you will likely have specific songs that make you feel better almost instantaneously.
..learning to be happy while you’re depressed may be challenging, but it’s worthwhile.
While it may sound overly simple, meditation is a great way to be happier while experiencing the symptoms of depression. Meditation practices ease negative thoughts about the past and future replacing them with techniques to get back to the present moment which provides immediate relief.
Overall, learning to be happy while you’re depressed may be challenging, but it’s worthwhile. You can learn to find healthy ways to channel your emotions when you are feeling especially low, allow yourself some time to healthily unwind, and commit to participating in activities that bring you joy on the consistent basis, you will find that even in the midst of one of your worst instances of depression, you still have movements in which you smile and remember life isn’t so bad after all.