I’ve been around many people who have struggled with depression in their lives.
Hell, I’ve had my own bouts with it, too.
And unless you’ve been through it yourself, it’s hard to explain to people what it’s really like. And snapping out it is totally different for everyone.
We hope that these responses will help some people out who are struggling.
Did you ever get out of a deep, dark depression?
These AskReddit users did and they shared their stories.
1. A combination.
“For me it was a combination of things..
Music – learned to play guitar on youtube
Books – found out about stoicism
Myself – I was listening to a Pink Floyd song (echoes) and theres a part where they say “I am you and what I see is me” and I realized that we are all going through something, and if I helped someone else then in return I was helping myself.
Lo and behold, I started to feel better about myself after helping others.”
2. You’re in charge.
“My dog. It forces me to get up and do something.
Feed him, take him outside multiple times a day. If I didn’t have him I would spend all my time off work in bed.”
3. Set your goals.
“Setting a schedule for myself.
Setting VERY small and attainable goals (read 1 page of a book, draw for 10 minutes, do a 5 minute exercise warm up, etc).
Making myself reach out to friends when I’m struggling, and getting proper meds.”
4. Get yourself going.
“Cold showers.
Honestly, I lost my job due to COVID and was going through a bunch of other stuff and would lay in the floor and sleep the day away.
Once I figured why not try it?
Oh man, that woke me up and got me just enough energy to start cleaning the house that id been putting off and that would feed into more motivation. Didn’t cure it completely but it helped get me jump started.”
5. Focus!
“Puzzles.
Jigsaw puzzles have brought me out of some dark pits. Gives me something to hyper focus on.
I don’t need to think about it too much or put effort into it, but I can sit there for hours doing one. It’s helped me feel productive again.”
6. Get things done.
“Cleaning up often helps me.
There’s something about staring at a messy room that always brings me down.
Just getting the dirty dishes clean feels like I accomplished something.”
7. Books and music.
“Books can be a great way to get out of your own head, music was able to somewhat help me.
As I got worse myself I had more and more time with nothing to do and being alone with my thoughts was pulling me deeper into the spiral of depression.”
8. Good tip.
“Try to only use your bed for sleeping.
Even if you spend the whole day on the couch instead, it will help your sleep and its a first step to potentially getting other things done.”
9. Start small.
“Exercise.
“‘Ill do 5 push ups and if I dont feel like more, thats okay.”
Or set a 5 min walk as the target. Keep going if you can.”
10. Take care of yourself.
“Eat and take vitamins.
You likely dont feel like eating anything. But you need to. Getting your daily vitamins can go a long way to healing and get easy to make food so you dont have to cook.
Canned soups were my best friend.”
11. No more alcohol.
“Mine was when my alcoholism was at its worst.
As you can guess, the solution was getting sober. At this point I was just drinking all day every day waiting for death to come on its own.
In the state I was in the only thing that meant anything to me was my mom’s dog, Ginger. I don’t really follow any religion, but I truly believe that Ginger is my guardian angel.
I was watching that sweet girl while mom was on vacation. I think it was day two, 8/11/2017, when I decided I had had enough. I needed to get better by any means, or else I wouldn’t be around to watch Ginger the next time mom took a vacation.
So I texted a friend who I knew was in AA, and gave him full decision making power over my life for the time being. After a 3 day hospital stay, I started going to AA meetings and learning how to exist without alcohol. I don’t go much anymore, but have never felt any threat to my sobriety. I know I am one of the lucky ones to have staying sober be so easy.
If you had asked me on 8/10/2017 (the day before I sought help) what I’d be doing today, I would have told you, “I’m not gonna live to see 2018.” But here I am in 2021, telling my story to anyone who cares to hear it and happier than I’ve ever been.”
12. Hobbies are good.
“Really diving deep into my creative hobbies. I had always dabbled in writing and music. Just jumping in with no real plans or expectations and seeing what happens.
I’ve suffered from panic attacks my entire adult life and depression alongside with it. When they reached their worst point most people gave up on me.
I spent a lot of time after that learning more about music. I’d always played bass but I decided I wanted to be able to make music all on my own. I learned how to make mashups, then I learned how to make remixes, then I started composing originals.
I’d previously written two articles on the SCP wiki and then just sort of stopped. I decided to really expand my submissions and wrote a bunch of new articles. I even rewrote one of my old articles because it was kind of weak.
The funny thing is, that became a good measuring stick for me. I always told myself I was awful at everything, but I was basically compiling evidence I was good at something.
Having songs that get praised by people and added to someone’s personal playlists makes you feel validated.
Looking next to a story and see hundreds of upvotes mattered to me.
I realized that when I was depressed it wasn’t that I didn’t want to do anything, it’s that I kept convincing myself that I couldn’t. That I would fail. That I would just waste my time. That I didn’t even deserve success anyways.
And I was wrong.
I have ideas worth sharing, and I’m going to share them.”
Now we want to hear from you.
How did you get out of a deep depression?
Talk to us in the comments and share your stories. Thanks!
