For starters, depression is not "bad." Pretty much everybody gets to deal with depression at various times. It will happen and occur in life. Depression therefore isn't bad, it is just human. It goes with having an "emotional body," the part of you that feels feelings. And you definitely aren't bad or wrong or broken for feeling it.
Depression can be described as feeling listless, deficient, empty, meaningless, bad and wrong. So while feeling bad and an unpleasant sense of "wrongness" is often part of being depressed, you aren't bad or wrong for feeling depressed. Feeling not ok and deficient is part of depression, but you yourself are not wrong or deficient because you have those kinds of feelings.
We all will have some of the feelings that go with depression from time to time. Obviously, we all will feel unhappy here and there in our lives. We all will have mornings where we don't want to get out of bed. Things that gave us pleasure will not longer give us pleasure. Depression is diagnosed when we have those feelings repeatedly - lasting two weeks or more.
Feeling unhappy, lethargic, gloomy, deficient, hopeless, meaningless and not okay is part of being human, we all have those feelings from time to time. But when we have those kinds of feelings for more than a few hours or days or weeks - depending on our perspective - we diagnose ourselves with depression, or have a doctor do so.
Depression therefore is very serious, since it is all these heavy feelings that we don't want to have for a minute, let alone days or weeks. It could even be said that one of the most noteable features of depression is resistance, we don't want to feel it. Which is why numbing those feelings with drugs is a popular treatment.
You are not deficient for having feelings of depression!
Depression is called a mental health issue or disease. Are you bad or wrong for catching the flu? Of course not! Similarly, you aren't bad or not okay for having the illness of depression. Just like the flu, it feels terrible, sometimes like you could just die. But you aren't "wrong" for feeling like dying when you have a flu, and you aren't bad or not okay when you feel deficient from depression. Depression happens in life, and there are ways to make it go away fast.
For that reason, then, the good news about depression is that it isn't wrong, and you yourself aren't bad or not okay for feeling it. You are only "bad" if you do nothing about it and let it overpower your life and ruin everything. If, instead, you can look at depression as a learning experience, a way to learn how to deal with difficult emotions, then you are ahead of the game!
More good news about feeling depressed is this: it can actually add to your personal growth. It is a chance to learn about yourself, how you tick, how to deal with the difficult feelings that come up in life, and what you need to learn to actually begin to thrive within yourself. So feeling depression can lead to a deeper level of self awareness at a very meaningful and rewarding level.
Most of us didn't get any education about our emotions in school. How to feel great, how to deal with bad feelings, how not to get stuck emotionally. Depression can be viewed as an opportunity to increase your emotional intelligence. This will help us in many areas of life! You can begin to do this by going to your local bookstore and picking up a book on emotional intelligence to start your journey. - 16004
Depression can be described as feeling listless, deficient, empty, meaningless, bad and wrong. So while feeling bad and an unpleasant sense of "wrongness" is often part of being depressed, you aren't bad or wrong for feeling depressed. Feeling not ok and deficient is part of depression, but you yourself are not wrong or deficient because you have those kinds of feelings.
We all will have some of the feelings that go with depression from time to time. Obviously, we all will feel unhappy here and there in our lives. We all will have mornings where we don't want to get out of bed. Things that gave us pleasure will not longer give us pleasure. Depression is diagnosed when we have those feelings repeatedly - lasting two weeks or more.
Feeling unhappy, lethargic, gloomy, deficient, hopeless, meaningless and not okay is part of being human, we all have those feelings from time to time. But when we have those kinds of feelings for more than a few hours or days or weeks - depending on our perspective - we diagnose ourselves with depression, or have a doctor do so.
Depression therefore is very serious, since it is all these heavy feelings that we don't want to have for a minute, let alone days or weeks. It could even be said that one of the most noteable features of depression is resistance, we don't want to feel it. Which is why numbing those feelings with drugs is a popular treatment.
You are not deficient for having feelings of depression!
Depression is called a mental health issue or disease. Are you bad or wrong for catching the flu? Of course not! Similarly, you aren't bad or not okay for having the illness of depression. Just like the flu, it feels terrible, sometimes like you could just die. But you aren't "wrong" for feeling like dying when you have a flu, and you aren't bad or not okay when you feel deficient from depression. Depression happens in life, and there are ways to make it go away fast.
For that reason, then, the good news about depression is that it isn't wrong, and you yourself aren't bad or not okay for feeling it. You are only "bad" if you do nothing about it and let it overpower your life and ruin everything. If, instead, you can look at depression as a learning experience, a way to learn how to deal with difficult emotions, then you are ahead of the game!
More good news about feeling depressed is this: it can actually add to your personal growth. It is a chance to learn about yourself, how you tick, how to deal with the difficult feelings that come up in life, and what you need to learn to actually begin to thrive within yourself. So feeling depression can lead to a deeper level of self awareness at a very meaningful and rewarding level.
Most of us didn't get any education about our emotions in school. How to feel great, how to deal with bad feelings, how not to get stuck emotionally. Depression can be viewed as an opportunity to increase your emotional intelligence. This will help us in many areas of life! You can begin to do this by going to your local bookstore and picking up a book on emotional intelligence to start your journey. - 16004
About the Author:
You can also learn more about defeating depression by getting the book Defeating Depression In Minutes A Day. John Stephan Laney has been teaching courses on emotional and relationship intelligence for over twenty years. You can find out more about healing depression naturally at Self Help for Depression.
