Sunday, May 12, 2013

Reminants of depression and advices for all!

I have a confession to make. Despite declaring myself fully recovered from depression, I still have some grounds in order to fully get my life back on track.
 
I am yet 100% normal and productive, but these are the slow and steady measurements I am taking in order to get there. A normal healthy Terry is someone that likes to be extremely productive, and I’d be the first to admit I still have a bit to go in order to get there. I would like to use this post to dedicate to those who are also currently on the recovery from depression. On top of the therapy and medication, these are the measures all of you should follow! Even if you don’t suffer from depression, there things you can do to pull yourself through a rough a patch in life or even improve your self-esteem and social confidence!
 
Sleep
 
I personally am currently working my ass off in order to get myself into a 12-8 sleeping schedule. My problem during the depression is oversleeping, and I used to sleep upwards to 16 to 20 hours while I was depressed. I still sleep more normal, but I am trying my best to cut my sleep down to 8. I am not there yet, but with the way things are going at the moment, I am optimistic!
 
This is something that we younger people tend to ignore, but establishing a regular sleep pattern is vital! Try your best to sleep a fair amount at a regular time MOST of the time.  This doesn’t mean you can’t go out and party on a Friday night, (and I would be the first to advocate partying in fine doses). But staying up every night on the interwebs watching certain things til 4 in the morning (you can interpret that however you wish) is definitely NOT the way to go.
 
Exercise
 
I’ve been talking about this over and over again, but yes, I am working out in attempts of bulking up. Being a twig almost my entire life is almost certainly the biggest contributing factor to my low-self esteem and social confidence.
 
If anything, I think if I stayed with my workout and reached my desired goal. This will probably help my self confidence even more so than even this rejection challenge.
 
So the take home message here is simple. GO TO THE GYM AND EXERCISE. If you are the scientific kind of person that likes science, you know that exercise boost up your dopamine, one of the hormones responsible for you to feel happy. The long term benefits are even more worthwhile. Being fit and healthy almost certainly helps your self esteem and social confidence.
 
Social Life
 
Get chor ass out and meet some awesome people. Go to that party that your friends invited you to even if you are feeling like a lazy bum. Okay, I am not condoning getting shitfaced every night and abusing certain illegal substances. But if you are young, GET OUT AND HAVE FUN. Just don’t be stupid and know your friggin limit. I trust most of you are smart enough to figure that out.
 
Depressed people tend to like to cut themselves off socially. While you are depressed, even if you have even a small GLIMPSE of the urge to go out with your friends, DO IT! I
 
Hygiene and Tidiness
 
I’d be the first to admit I am not a very tidy person, and I was quite a bit worse in this department when I was depressed. I lose stuff on a daily basis and navigating through my room is often like going through a war zone. Now that I am home with my parents for the summer, they are pretty much onto me everyday about this shit. I’d admit this is an issue I need to address personally and I will continue to organize myself better. But we are all creatures of habits, and unfortunately, being disorganized has been my habit for life thus far, but I am consciously aware of this problem and will try my best to get into a better habit
 
There are research done on this and a messy living space has a very negative psychological effect on you. This is probably more subconscious than anything. BUT DON’T ARGUE WITH SCIENCE!
 
And oh… when you go out, don’t be lazy and make yourself clean and beautiful. Trust me, it will make you confident and happier.
 
Goals!
 
This is an aspect of me that I am very proud of. I am a very goal oriented individual. The most encouraging sign over the last several months is gaining back my ability to set realistic goals for myself. This rejection challenge itself is probably the most daunting of these goals, but I was able to plan and execute on the finer details up to this point. You guys are probably unaware of the amount of work I have to do behind the scenes in order to get to even this point, especially since I’ve turned this into a fundraiser. Once again, I admit I haven’t been the most efficient and productive yet, and I am not 100% satisfied in my performance over the challenges so far, but I’m getting there!
 
My advice for anyone recovering from depression is to set small realistic goals. Over-ambition has always been my own problem and I had to keep myself in check quite often in the planning stages of this project in order to keep my goals and challenges realistic. Don’t expect yourself to get anywhere fast, work towards your small goals and you will get better and better.
 
In conclusion
 
I don’t know about you guys, but to me, these pointers aren’t JUST for those recovering from a mental disorder…these are the pointers to…well…live a good life.
 
“But Terry… this is all common sense, and you sound like a hypocrite…”
 
I know it is and I know I do. But sometimes certain common knowledge is common knowledge for a reason. THEY WORK! But I just want to re-emphasize how important these things are in recovering from depression and basically living a good life. Like I said, I’d be the first to admit I haven’t applied myself entirely to these pointers. But I’ve only started to take minor steps and I’ve already received drastic improvements. Take small steps! Don’t expect yourself to magically change overnight.
 
Challenge on Day 6
 
Shannon mentioned that I skipped on the updates for Day 6. I was planning to give a brief update on what exactly happened that day but never got a chance to.
 
I came home late that day but thought of an excellent rejection challenge idea. But unfortunately the timing and the location aren’t exactly the best. I called this one, the elevator fundraising challenge!
 
Basically, I stayed in the elevator of my apartment building, with a sign that says “reject me”. Whenever someone walked into the elevator, I tried to use the brief amount of time they are in the elevator to convince them to fundraise for my cause. This is a very good exercise for me to improve my verbal communication skills faced with pressure and most likely a rejection.
 
But after only seeing two middle aged Asian guys getting on the elevator in a span of 20 minutes, both of whom rejected me rather coldly. I decided to call it a night. Okay… I admit: though I technically got rejected, I cheated a little bit today and did not go all out. Not to be stereotypical, and this is probably not the most politically correct way to say things (okay, not as BAD as the CHING CHONG LING LONG GIRL especially since I will become a part of this demographic in the near future), but…
 
Middle Aged Asian people aren’t the best people to do this on, they aren’t the most responsive to this kind of a pitch and are very unlikely to give you support. (Sometimes, a rejection isn’t the scariest thing, but cold apathy towards your enthusiasm). But since this is such a brilliant idea, I will do this particular challenge as a bonus challenge on video in the near future at a different location, and when I become a bit more confident.  

 

 

 

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