Millions of people suffer from this dreaded disease, including me. I have to say that I can’t remember a time when I haven’t been depressed. Being ‘happy’ has always been a struggle for me.

It wasn’t until after having my third child that I finally sought professional help with my depression. First I went to see a psychologist who gave me a diagnosis of depression, and then I went to see a psychiatrist to be put on medication to help get my depression under control. And when I say ‘under control,’ I mean not staying in bed all day or crying my eyes out over nothing.

My first advice to anyone suffering from depression would be to seek help as I did. I’m not someone who advocates popping pills at a moment’s notice, but depression is truly a disease which merits looking into getting some medication. The bad part about this is finding the right medication. There are so many that do different things, chemically, in the body that it takes time to find the one that fits best for you. This is where having a really good psychiatrist comes in handy.

The second thing I would advice is to go to counseling. I did, and it helped me tremendously. Just talking about why we are depressed can help us get through some of those really rough times. You can Google counselors in your area, or you might ask your primary physician if he/she can recommend someone for you.

Third, I recommend exercising, even a little bit. It helps burn off that energy that might otherwise be spent on feeling sorry for ourselves. And let’s face it, it’s so easy to have a pity party when we’re in the throws of depression. So take a walk around the block, go swimming at your local fitness center or just vacuum your floors! Doing anything physical is the key.

I also have to say that now that I’m writing, I can add a fourth solution to this list. I recommend highly finding a hobby that you enjoy doing, and then doing it. There may be obstacles in the way for you to do whatever it is that makes you happy, but do your best to find that certain something that brings joy to your heart.

For a long time the only thing that brought me any kind of solace was to sit down with a good cup of coffee and then just think about stuff. It was ‘my’ time of the day. And even though it lasted only a few minutes, it was something. So to start, it doesn’t need to be this huge thing that makes you happy. It could be a cup of coffee, reading your favorite book, watching a television show or something else.

Now, I enjoy writing and hopefully with this writing I might possibly help someone. This helps me so much that I can honestly say I wish I had started sooner. Some suggestions for you would be walking in the park, fishing, boating, going to the pet store to pet some puppies or kittens, seeing a good movie, looking at really fun pictures (I find myself doing this on the internet at times) or even taking a vacation to your favorite spot.

Depression is not easy to live with, as you may know, but knowing what steps can be taken to overcome it is a great start. There’s a lot of literature out there that you can read on depression and I advise you read as much as you can to come to your own conclusions. I’ve written here what I did and what worked for me.

I hope you have a blessed day or night and if you suffer from depression (and you might be if you’re reading this) I hope you are able to find a little bit of joy in this time.

Until my next post, God bless you.