If I could sum up the awesome aftermath of the last blog post (you know, the one where I confess to being stuck all depressed and not awesome in my sweatpants), it would be this…
I read a nice comment from one of you after I posted the blog entry.
Then, I mustered all the energy I had to think the best thought I could think in that moment.
BLEH.
I read another nice comment.
I mustered more energy.
MEH.
I read a different and really nice comment with some really good advice.
That deserved the most positive energy of all. For sure.
BARGH MAGOO POO.
That went on for about fifty comments or so, when I realized something. I was better than that moment. I was better than whatever puddle of chemical imbalance I was. I could, you know, change my circumstance. I did have that power.
UGHTABUG BAH!!! (I’m pretty sure that was my literal thought in that moment).
Eventually I actually did summon some energy and I brushed the PopChips crumbs off my sweatpants (yes, that really happened). They fell to the floor and I pictured dozens of diseased rats sneaking out from under my couch to snatch them up really quick. I don’t know why. I think about crap like that when I’m depressed. It’s like… Yeah, of course that would happen in my life right now.
Just then my girlfriend texted me and asked how my day was going. I didn’t want to confess that I had just spent an hour BARGH-MAGOO-POOING the nicest and most supportive comments ever. I didn’t want to confess that I had downed an entire giant bag of PopChips during the last 6 ½ minutes. I certainly didn’t want to confess that I was secretly hoping the rats would come because it would somehow make me feel better. Instead, I confessed that I was experiencing some seasonal depression, and that I was most certainly going to be the most proactive person EVER about it!
GRAHG! Why did I promise all that?! I thought, after I told her specific things I was going to do right then to better my situation.
But, it was good. I knew I needed to be held accountable in that moment. I knew I needed to stand up and get moving. Not sit down and rip open a fresh bag of pork jerky.
And, I did. I got up. I got moving. And I did more than I even said. I sat down and wrote down ten things I was going to do by the end of the weekend to be AWESOME again. Then, I got busy doing them.
These are my ten things. Do me a favor and hold me accountable this winter, peeps.
My 10 Step Plan to Be Awesome Again
-
Go tanning. Last year, at the highest peak of my seasonal depression, I decided to follow one friend’s advice and go tanning. I immediately felt better, and I made it through the rest of winter by tanning twice each week. Nothing crazy. Just enough to feel the warm heat of the lamps trick my skin into thinking it was getting summer for 10 minutes. It was the first thing I did after I made this list. And, just as I expected, I immediately felt better.
-
Go running. Gosh, I hate running. Like, so much. But moving my body and sweating is important. For sure. I haven’t been skipping exercise lately. In fact, I’ve been rocking it. But running is different. It forces me to put on some warm workout clothes, step outside, and breathe some fresh air. The coldness of the air or the drabness of the world around me melts away as I run through it and fill my lungs with goodness.
-
Start taking my B12. I already know that I have a B12 deficiency. I rarely take my B12 even though I know that a lack of B12 leads to depression (among other awful things). So, no more skipping that. I put the bottle right in front of my monitor so I’d see it every day, downed a double-dose to start it off, and got thinking about the next thing on my list.
-
Volunteer with something. Somewhere. I am a smart enough man to know that helping others in more difficult situations than I am in is a sure and quick way to stop thinking about all the heavy and dark crap depression makes me think about. It makes me feel like I have value and that I am a good person. To start, I signed us up for Sub for Santa. It’s one of my favorite things to do. But it’s not enough. I need to spend some time out and about doing things this winter. So, by weekend’s end, I will find a secondary place to volunteer.
-
Get out and be social. I get so cooped up in this house, usually all by myself from morning until night. Most of my best friends have moved away. I can’t depend on my girlfriend to supply 100% of my social life. So, my goal is to find a way to connect with friends I haven’t seen in ages. Find ways to make new friends. And actually participate when friends I do have invite me to do things.
-
Find and put a yoga class on my schedule. At least once each week, during the winter especially, I should be doing yoga. Yoga always heals me. It always resets me. It always clarifies things for me.
-
Laugh more. Somehow, somewhere, I stopped laughing like I used to. I started watching heavy dramas and documentaries. I let heaviness replace a very important part of my psyche: the part that laughing constantly fixes and controls. I’m going to switch out my dramas for comedy. I’m going to take my girlfriend to comedy shows. I’m going to watch happy and positive things. I’ve gotta get the laughter back into my life.
-
Laugh even more. I am going to actively find amazing and hilarious content on the internet. I am going to sift through all of my favorite old memes which I keep in a secret stash on my computer, and I’m going to do it any time I realize that I’m feeling overly down. I am going to watch funny YouTube videos and read funny blog posts from other bloggers. Like I said, I’ve gotta get the laughter back into my life. And I don’t know how else to do it but by laughing as often as possible.
-
I am going to take baths. And lots of them. Baths are healing to me. Hot soothing water, epsom salts, maybe some aromatherapy going on… Done right, baths pull all the worry and stress out of my system. I don’t know why I hardly ever take them. I just get so hung up on the fact that they take so much longer than a shower. Well, not being depressed is probably going to make me be a lot more productive even if I have less time to do it in.
-
I am going to find a few things that have gotten lost. I think when you first start dating someone, or at least when I first start dating someone, sometimes it’s easy to give up a few of the things that I know make me consistently happy. I don’t know if they fall by the wayside or if I purposefully shelf them to focus on a new relationship, but it’s important to find ways to work those things back into my life in healthy ways. My things are personal to me, just as hers are to her, and just as everyone’s are to themselves. And I’m going to do get working on that.
Life is good.
And that’s it. Goodness. After doing just a few of these things and coming up with the list, I already feel ten times better. Nay. 100 times better.
The winter blues may win the battle. But this year, well… you know.
Read More
Marriage vs. Addiction: Winning the Battle for Love
Marriage Without Intimacy: Can Love Survive the Distance?
Holding On or Letting Go: When Addiction Tests a Marriage
The Marriage We Almost Lost: How Unemployment Changed Everything
Marriage And Chaos: Finding Common Ground in Parenting
He Seemed Interested. So Why Didn’t He Call?
Online Dating Isn’t Desperation
Changing Your Dating Approach
Why Modern Dating is More Complicated Than Ever
Dating Someone With Debt
Marriage vs. Parenthood: Life After Having a Baby
The Fine Line Between Casual Dating and Commitment
How to Handle the Truth After Discovering a Betray
icons at the top
right corner of the subsection.