UNHAPPY DAYS

Depression may be viewed as simply a mood, but it can lead to physical and mental issues.

WRITER: KIRI HATHAWAY

Our world is becoming a drearier place to be. Long work hours, lack of personal time, and even changing social behaviors cause us to stress out so badly we are normalizing it.

This is anything but normal. Prolonged exposure to everyday stressors is causing an increase in depression, both diagnosed and undiagnosed. Many suffer in silence due to the negative connotations associated with depression, but the fact is it’s real and it’s tough to overcome.

Perhaps understanding the real causes of depression can put you on the path to getting better. Perhaps you can understand what triggers the depression in your own life.

Unnatural Working Conditions

Though we’ve become well acquainted with the eight-hour workday, it does not suit everyone universally. A lot of people find themselves loathing the workday, feeling their thoughts wandering, or excessively skipping work may be on the wrong schedule. If you don’t like your job, chances are your schedule is bringing you down.

Studies show that creative individuals require more freedom and flexibility in their work schedule to be more productive. Unfortunately, refusal to conform to the eight-hour day makes you appear to be a bad employee. You have trouble going to work every day, your reputation is affected, and you don’t understand why, which leads to the inevitable spiral of depression.

It’s not too late to fix this situation. Reassess your desires and goals, and don’t wait for permission to pursue your true interests. If a standard work environment is stressful, create a plan to leave it. Just making plans to change a problem gives you a mental boost. Knowing you’re working to get out is the fuel that keeps you going. Maybe you simply need to change departments or see if you can work from home occasionally. It might just be time to pursue a new career or trade. Maybe you should go back to school, start your own business, or learn something new. Whatever your goal, stick with it. Make demands of yourself so you can find happiness.

Modern Social Behavior

Before the internet and cell phones were common, faceto-face discussions were expected and normal. Even people dropping by just to say hello was common. Today, this is no longer the case. With social media platforms getting bigger and taking over more each day, the world is growing more detached. This causes problems you may not even be aware of, mostly with difficulty networking and communicating and the realm of social phobias.

Not speaking to people face to face and becoming withdrawn are hallmark symptoms of depression. With social media, a person feels like they’re socializing without actually doing it. They look to social media to validate themselves or fill the emptiness in their lives.

Perhaps the biggest issue with social media is the negativity. Bad news, heated conversations, and a lack of accountability create an environment that fosters depression. People don’t even realize they’re depressed so they keep going back to these sites and perpetuating their symptoms. And people have always known that socializing is siginificant to healthy living, even if you’re an introverted person.

Instead of browsing social media, reach out personally to close friends and family that care about you for support. These are the people who offer constructive feedback and give you the motivation you need, and this will keep your personal problems out of the limelight.

Taking on Too Much

People are expected to work hard. It is believed if you’re not working excessively, you’re not doing your best job. This logic is flawed.

You need time to rest and enjoy life just as you need time to put your skills to use. If you are trying to balance taking care of family members, working a job, and fretting over attending social events, chances are you’re going to burn out. There comes a time when you need to stand up and say, “I need time to myself.” No one should blame you for it, but even if they do, keep your chin up and know you’re making the right decision.

When you notice you’re getting burned out, immediately stop everything. Even if it’s just for five minutes, go and take a breath of fresh air. Explain to your bosses, your friends, and your family when things start getting rough that you need a moment. If there’s pushback, tell them you can’t be your most productive self if you don’t get the time you need. Of course, this isn’t a license to become complacent and throw work ethic out the window. Knowing when to push through and when to take a break decreases your stress, and helps manage depression.

Being Hard on Ourselves for Failures

Maybe you didn’t finish school, you didn’t land the promotion, you didn’t meet the love of your life when you wanted. Whatever the failure was, view it as a learning experience, and not the end of your life. Perhaps it’s because of a culture obsessed with status and accomplishment that feelings of inadequacy occur with mistakes or failure.

The truth is that failure is inevitable. We must learn to manage the failures and understand success has many forms. You can’t compare yourself to someone else and measure your worth against theirs accurately. That person’s entire path to success is completely different than yours, and you may not even be destined for the same things. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a moment to reflect on why you failed, or even feel bad about it. In the long run, however, know the right things work out in time provided you put forth the effort.

Regardless of why you are depressed, there is always a root cause. Examine your life in its entirety. What do you notice about how you feel about your work environment, how you socialize with others, how many obligations you have, and how you feel about your personal failures? If the answers are less than stellar, it’s time to get to work fixing them.

This can be a slow process, but putting one foot in front of the other is the first step. Definitely reach out to a friend, a family member, or a trusted therapist for advice and support getting you through your rough patches. In the end, you’ll find yourself looking back on your depression and realizing it was just another obstacle for you to conquer and rule. You’ve got this.

Purchase your tickets today!

newvisionfl.org/dining

Questions? Contact Shelly at sgerig@newvisionfl.org or (352) 435 -5040

Experience food, drink and conversation as you may never have before – without your sight. In this unique dining experience, you will eat dinner in total darkness. The Lake County Sheriff ’s Office SWAT Team, as part of a training exercise, will serve you wearing night vision goggles. The eighth annual Dining in the Dark event is designed to raise awareness about blindness and raise funds for New Vision for Independence, our local non-profit serving people with low vision or blindness and their families in Lake and Sumter Counties and The Villages.

When: April 7, 2017, 6 p.m.

Where: Lake Receptions, 4425 N. HWY 19A, Mount Dora

Tickets: $70 per person or sponsor a named table of 8 for $600

Expand Positive Energy And Get Happy

Being happy isn’t just something that happens. The only person who can make you truly happy is you, and it might take some work.

WRITER: BRIDGETT WEBBER

Want to be happy regularly? First, get to know how energy works. When you’re sad, your energy is low and heavy, which is why depressed people often look as though they are weighed down by pressure. Happy people walk tall; they feel buoyant, smile a lot, and have no trouble looking you straight in the eye. Their energy is light and high.

Energy and spirit

Your energy and spirit are tied together, and your mood and body language reflect their condition. High spirits stem from plenty of positive energy, while low spirits come from depleted energy. The first step to expanding positive energy is to lift your mood—this may sound obvious, but how many people adhere to the idea when they need it most?

Positive emotions

Elevated feelings arise from inspiring thoughts that make you feel good. Dwelling only on positive thoughts builds positive energy. However, when people are unhappy, remembering to take charge of their thoughts is tough. In fact, even if you remember it’s wise to entertain uplifting ideas when you’re blue, you might lose faith and not bother.

Learning to expand uplifting energy

Consequently, you have to learn how to increase your energy until doing so is a habit you don’t have to contemplate. Learning comes from repetitive behavior, so you must purposely think uplifting thoughts often. Regularly entertaining happy content in your mind allows more joy to build, and makes doing so again easy.

Content

The content of your mind reveals your emotional state. If you paint each topic of thought with negativity, guess what? You feel bad. Going over how you dislike this and that, or how things should be better fills your mind with negative thoughts that exhaust energy and bring you down. It doesn’t matter if you are justified in being angry or sad, the plan is to expand positive energy and get happy, remember? Thus, even if you are treated unfairly, to be happier, you must put negative feelings aside and take charge of your emotions.

The content of your mind is anything from images to your inner voice. You might run through subjects in the form of mind movies, as though you’re watching a film. Or, you may repeat statements describing events. At the same time, talking about dissatisfaction or satisfaction depletes or elevates your energy, and contributes to what’s on your mind.

Do you phone friends or family to say how discontented you are about events and how others treat you? Venting is valuable only if you gain support and find solutions; otherwise, it just deepens misery. You choose to stop filling your head with negative content.

Uplifting content includes affirmations repeated aloud or in your head to aid joy. Also, positive mind movies, depicting uplifting events, heartening images, and inspiring tales read by your inner voice increase the energy of happiness.

If you want to get happy fast, drop grudges and negative content from your thoughts. Replace them with optimism, benevolence, and bright shiny movies, ideas, and images that raise your spirits. When you feel light, put a bounce in your step, and lift your face to meet others with a smile. You’ll know your plan to be joyful is working. You expanded your energy and kept positivity flowing.