The Depression Epidemic

Maybe it's just me noticing it more as we focus on Suicide Prevention.  Some call this the Law of Attraction, I call it your Reticular Activating System (RAS).  I'm seeing a lot of posts on FB that appear to be cries for help in some way or another.  From bold, "Help me....for the love of God, help me!" to "All this positive affirmation stuff is crap, here's my science to prove it."

...And science becomes a religion once again.

Anyway, it's the Holidays and people get Holiday Depression.  Why is that?  Well the simple answer is they are living in the past or future.  They are thinking about how great things used to be and how they suck now.  Scientific fact: your brain actually changes the facts of the past to fit your current state.  This was demonstrated both by Shawn Achor and Norman Doidge.

Obligation

My theory is that people get depressed around the holidays because they feel the MUST do something or are supposed to feel a certain way and when they can't live up to that standard they get discouraged.

This is a lot like my theory on judgement.  The more judgmental you are the harder you are on yourself, the higher your standards are to adhere to and the more miserable you are in general.

So my solution is simple: replace the words want, need, have to get.  I want to do this, I get to do this, I have do to this, I get to do this, I need to do this, I get to do this.

This isn't as easy as it sounds.  You need to program yourself starting at the end of the day before you go to bed, focus on starting tomorrow with GET.  What do you get to do?  Wake up, take 2 to 3 minutes to focus on very simple little nice things.  Laying in the soft bed, warm and cozy, or snuggling with pets, or people.  Try to enjoy being alive for the first 2 minutes of the day.  Breath in and take notice of what you do have.  A roof over your head, a bed, clothes, health, a brain, etc, you have to start small with things you do have, make those your focus and then realize, you get to wake up you get to start another day.

Eventually, you get to change the fucking world.