The Silent Struggles of Depression: Be Proud of Yourself for Surviving

In this post I am going to offer advice to those of us living with depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses. It is advice that can be beneficial to anyone, but I want to stress how important this is for those of us living with mental illness.  While I offer this advice, I recognize that it is not easy to follow. I struggle with this advice myself because of what depression and anxiety say to me. Still, this is important advice. It is simply: Be proud of yourself for surviving all the silent struggles you do not speak about. Let that sit for a minute. 

Whether we recognize it or not, we all have silent struggles. For some of us those struggles are magnified. These are the painful struggles. The ones that reverberate in our minds. But we are here. That is another statement we need to sit with for a moment. Depression has not taken us. It may not have been easy. We have battled silently, but that does not lessen all it has taken for us to still be here.

Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses are difficult to live with. These illnesses affect more than our mood. They affect every aspect of our lives. Depression and the other mental illnesses can get in the way of our work life. Often, we need to put on a front a work. We wear a façade that says, “I am okay.” We do not let our colleagues or supervisors know about our struggles. Instinctively, we know they would not understand. Some days it is difficult to work when our minds are full of the negativity of depression. I remember days when I was pushing through at work, keeping to myself as depression was telling me that my life was not worth living. That is an example of a silent struggle that we do not speak about. 

As I follow the advice I offered above, I need to be proud of myself for getting through those times. I stared suicidal thoughts in the face and kept working. I say that not for praise, but for my own realization that I should be proud of myself for the hard times I have made it through. I never told my colleagues. Some of them are good friends and maybe I could tell them now, but sometimes our struggles are very private. Our struggles are also painful. Can you imagine the pain that accompanies feeling like life is not worth living while going through the motions at work or in social situations? If you have never been in that moment, I can tell you that it hurts. It is painful. I need to remind myself that as painful as those moments were, I made it through them. There are people reading this post who can see themselves in what I have described. My message to you is to be proud of yourself for getting through the moments you do not talk about. 

Maybe it is in a different environment. Maybe we have sat through a family gathering while depression has told us we do not belong. Or anxiety has told us we are not good enough or that we have not lived up to the successes of other family members. For me anxiety berates me for being the only one without children and for just being a teacher. I find myself trying to push anxiety down. Then when I go home depression decides to pop in and tell me I am not good enough and that everyone in my family is better. It is a silent struggle. No one knows. Well, you know now. What I am getting at is that as safe as family gatherings should be, they can be a source of depression and anxiety for many of us. We need to be proud of ourselves for making it through those gatherings. It takes a strength that others do not see or understand. We silently make our way through situations that others find easy. 

Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses can impact any area of our lives. They can make getting through the day-to-day aspects of our lives difficult. Others do not always see what we are struggling with because we have learned that it is not safe to let others see our struggle. We may be embarrassed by how mental illness affects us. We need to let go of that embarrassment. Believe me, I know that is easier said than done. I still struggle with this, but I know it is important for us to believe that we are not our depression, anxiety, or other mental illness. Our silent struggles are real, but we have a strength within us that carries us through the tough times. We are still here. Mental illness has not won. For that we can be proud.  So, remember, be proud of yourself for surviving all the silent struggles you do not speak about.

 

Depression Recovery: Why Small Victories Matter More Than You Think

Depression is difficult to live with. Depression affects our motivation, our energy levels, our concentration, our decision-making skills, our self-care abilities, and our feelings of accomplishment. With any or all these things being affected by depression, it can be difficult to experience success in the way society tends to view it. For many of us with depression, it is important that we adjust how we define success.

Healing, or recovery, can be difficult to define because they can look different for each person. Healing can even look different for the same person at different times in their life. One thing we need to avoid when we discuss healing is absolutes. Healing does not mean the depressive symptoms are completely gone. Healing is a process. Since it is a process, we need to recognize the small victories in the healing process. 

Why Small Wins Matter in Depression Recovery

                  Small victories are the little things we notice as depression is lifting. A victory might be getting out of bed in the morning. It might be going 24 hours without a suicidal thought. It might be engaging with a friend. Small victories are the steps that show depression is lifting. One way I know I am coming out of a depressive episode is that I see more color in the world around me. Another way I know I am healing is I isolate less. These are small things on their own, but when look at them through the lens of the healing process, they are important. 

                  There have been times when even the small things have seemed impossible for me. When depression is at its worse, I struggle to function. Simple self-care activities are difficult. Keeping my house clean becomes difficult. I set something down and don’t have the willpower to put it where it belongs. Making a meal for myself can be difficult. There have been times when just washing a couple dishes or washing a load of laundry is an accomplishment. It may seem silly to think of one of these activities as a victory, but it shows how difficult depression can make our lives. 

                  I have been lucky that despite depression ravaging my life, I have been able to work most of that time. Many people are not as lucky. There have been days when just walking in the door at work has been a success for me. Unfortunately, I cannot say that depression has not impacted me at work. The days, even the moments when I have been able to function enough to work effectively are successes.

A Simple Exercise to Recognize Your Progress

                  If you are reading this and you live with depression, I want you to try something. Look at your life. Write down five small things that are difficult for you because of depression. There may be more, but let’s start with five. You can add more later. Next to each one, write what it looks like when you accomplish it. Then I want you to write an equal sign (=) after each description. After each description write the word “victory”. Keep this paper where you can easily access it to remind that you can achieve victories. It does not need to be all five at once. Maybe it is just one today and a different one tomorrow. The important thing is recognizing the small victories over depression. 

                  If you are reading this and you do not live with depression, I want you to go back and read that last paragraph. Now, make a list of small things you do without thinking about it. These are your small victories. The difference is these do not require the same effort from you. What if you could not do these things? What if something as seemingly simple as taking a shower was difficult for you? What if returning a text message took effort from you? This is what life with depression is like. 

Small Victories Add Up

                  Small victories add up. They add up at different paces for each of us. We may have setbacks. We made do more on one day than another. We may have days when depression knocks us completely out and we do not do anything. All this is okay. It is part of the healing process. 

I think one of the important parts of healing is recognizing that it is a process. It is actually a lifelong process because depression is an illness. For most of us it is more than just passing episode. I try to remember that there are going to be times when I am doing well and there are going to be times when I struggle. To do this I need to remain focused on the small victories. For example, having a conversation with the techs when I receive TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) or esketamine, is one way I measure my small victories. If I can have a conversation, I know I am improving. I know I am less depressed. 

Depression makes life tough. Those of us who live with it must be tough. We may not recognize how tough we are. That is because depression screams the opposite it in our heads. The truth is we work hard to do the small things. We deserve to recognize these accomplishments. We also need to know that small victories add up. As we do the small things, we increase our ability to do harder things. By focusing on the small things, we can fight our way back into life. We can fight depression and be well. This does not mean we will not fall back into the darkness of depression at times, but if we focus on the small victories, we can keep ourselves on the healing journey. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Living with Depression Really Feels Like: A Personal Letter to Friends and Family

This post is written to raise awareness about living with depression by giving an inside look at depression and anxiety. 

 

Dear Friends, Family, and Those of You Reading This,

                  I think about my life, and I realize I have lived through a lot. Many you of know some of my struggles, but you don’t know all of them. I want to share with you how depression impacts my life.

On the surface I function fairly well most of the time. What you don’t see is the voice inside of me screaming words of self-doubt. It is the voice of depression. It tries to drag me down. It tells me I am not good enough. It reminds me of all I am not good at and demeans my abilities in other areas. Depression’s friend anxiety jumps in and makes things worse. Anxiety tells me things are not going well. It brings fear to the forefront of my mind. 

Depression dampens my view of the world. It blankets my life in darkness. The me you see is fighting on the inside. I need to push myself to reach through the darkness and function. Living with depression is a constant battle to find light in the world. Depression wants everything to seem negative and not worth doing. Depression wants me to hide in a corner and avoid the world.

When depression shows its worst side, it pounds me with the idea that life is not worth living. Yes, even when you see me functioning, I may be battling to tell depression I want to live. You see, depression tells me just the opposite. Can you imagine for a moment what that might be like? 

What is weird is anxiety jumps in at times and expresses fear of dying. My cancer battle is an example. When I found out I had cancer, anxiety grew stronger. It told me I was going to die. In all honesty, I was very sick. The problem was anxiety took every pain and intensified it. It brought doom and gloom to every test. Depression told me I deserved cancer because I had believed my life was not worth living. Imagine what is like to be afraid of an illness that is trying to kill you while at the same time thinking that your thoughts brought on the illness.

The thing is I fought through all of this. You may not be aware of how much I fight or how difficult it is for me to navigate depression and anxiety. That is because I try to hide it from you. I do not want you to worry about me. I do not want you to see how much I struggle or how much pain I feel. 

I have support in dealing with depression and anxiety. I am not alone. I have a team I can rely on to provide the treatment I need to continue functioning in this world. They teach me how much life is worth living. They provide ideas for the coping strategies I use to cope with all that depression and anxiety challenge me with. They provide the treatment I need to overcome depression and anxiety.

I am actually doing well as I write this. I am in a safe space, but I know how fragile that space is. Depression and anxiety can take control. They can tear apart the safe space I am in at any moment. I need to believe I can cope with anything depression and anxiety throw at me. My team helps me. My experience strengthens me. I move forward, if not confidently, at least emboldened to try.

My hope in writing this is that you see what is underneath the persona I try to show to you. I do not do this to make feel sorry for me. There is no reason to feel that way. I do ask that you become an ally. I ask you to be someone who will sit with me in the darkness, not to try to fix me, but just to be with me. In being an ally, you can make others aware of what it is like to live with depression and anxiety. You will be raising awareness, which is how we create opportunities for people to get help when depression and/or anxiety become too much. I also ask that if you see any of what I have shared in yourself, that you reach out and ask for support. Depression and anxiety hurt, but when people support each other, we can ease the pain.

                                                                                                                                                                  Take Care,         

                                                                                                                                                                  Gina

 

Why Structure Is Essential for Managing Depression: How routines can help you stay grounded, reduce anxiety, and protect your mental health during vacations, holidays, and other periods of downtime.

        Vacation! Sounds like just what we need. Whether it is a week off in the middle of the year, time off for a holiday, or the summer off for students and teachers, a break seems like just what we need, especially when we live with mental illness. Time off can be a relief. It can be time to get away from the stressors in our lives. Unfortunately, for many with mental illness, a break can take us away from the routines that ground us and provide a sense of security despite the stress they cause. 

I am a teacher. Many of my friends are teachers. We all look forward to winter break and are even more excited for the longer summer break. Many people look forward to a long weekend. The reality is that as much as we look forward to these breaks, they can disrupt the routines that we come to rely on. There is structure in getting up to an alarm at the same time every day. Our work routines allow us to shift into autopilot. For me this autopilot often prevents me from thinking. The thoughts depression fills my mind with can be ignored because I am focusing on the requirements of my job. We know our day will be filled with work until a certain time. Then it will be time to handle all the home chores that need to get done. 

This raises the question, how does structure help people with mental illness? Let’s look at some of the ways. First, I think it is important to note that while structure is important for many of us, that structure works best when it is flexible rather than rigid. Structure helps us manage symptoms and maintain healthy lifestyles and behaviors. It also provides a better sense of stability. 

There are several ways that structure can help us. Here are a few:

·      Reduces stress and uncertainty - When we know what to expect during the day, our anxiety levels are often lower. Stress is also reduced by having fewer decisions to make during the day. As an example, if a person knows which tasks they need to complete and at what time they need to complete them, it is often easier to be prepared to complete the task. 

·      Supports healthy habits – We can improve our mental health or keep it stable when we have a structure that allows us to maintain healthy habits. When we have a schedule to follow, we can insert meal breaks, time for hydration, and we can include time to destress. That time to destress might be after the workday, but when we are working, we know when that time will be. An example of being healthy when we are working is having to meal plan and prep to make sure we eat healthy. I tend to eat more regularly when I am working. 

·      Builds a sense of accomplishment – When we are working or going to school, we often accomplish things that are noticeable. This can increase confidence, which can improve our mood. We can do this in our downtime, but even then, it requires establishing a routine. 

·      Encourages social connection – When we are working or going to school, being around people is necessary. It is harder to isolate, which those of us with depression tend to do. I know I am alone a lot more when I am not working. Being around people can boost our mood. 

·      Supports treatment adherence – It is often easier to stick to a treatment plan when we have structure in our lives. We might set an alarm for medication or schedule appointments right after work. These things become routine when we are working or going to school. When we are not, taking medication can be easily forgotten. Remembering when our appointments are might become harder because they are at different times. 

 

These ways that structure help us can be achieved when we are not working or in school, but the structure of regular routine is beneficial. When we are not working or in school, it is often best if we set up some type of routine. Each of us is unique in our needs. Some people with mental illness require more structure than others. I know when the depression and anxiety I face are more intense, I need more structure. If I don’t have that structure, I am likely to retreat into nothingness, which worsens my symptoms. 

It is easy to see how being away from a work or school environment can lead to less structure. When we are in a good place with our mental health, we may be able to do well in the freedom of time off. There are those of us who may not be able to do well. One way I have approached this is discussing what I will do with my time off with my mental healthcare providers. I think having a plan is good for anyone with a mental health disorder who is looking at time off. This doesn’t mean we won’t have some freedom. I have a plan, but within that plan I am free to decide what time I get out of bed or when I will make plans with a friend. What is important is that we decide how much structure we need and what that structure looks like for us. We build a plan from there. I am a big proponent of including our mental health providers in this. They can provide feedback and advice. They can also help us be accountable. 

I know I struggle with time off. My mood will drop if I just sit around my house with no plan. One way I keep things structured is by adding activities to the calendar on my phone. I check the next day’s activities the night before. This allows me to plan. It also provides me with the ability to look forward to things. I try to do more in the morning and early afternoon because I know if I get my day started in a positive way, I am more likely to find ways to be positive the rest of the day. This is a little trick that works for me. 

If you are looking at time off and wondering how you will manage it or you have found yourself with downtime and feel like you are struggling, I encourage you to look for ways you can put some structure in your day. While structure will look different for each one of us, we can start by breaking the day into parts. Decide one thing you will do in the morning and one thing you will do in the afternoon. Put it on your calendar. Share what you are doing with someone. This can be a friend, family member, or our mental health care provider. If we do these things, we have provided ourselves with structure, we have given ourselves things to look forward to or expect, and we have provided for some accountability. 

Dealing with downtime can be difficult when we live with mental illness, but we can learn to make the best of our time. We can learn to alleviate the stress downtime can bring. We can keep ourselves from being absent from life. The key is creating our own structure. It is important to remember that we are not going to figure this out overnight. We will make mistakes. We will struggle. So, we need to remember that each day is a new day to figure things out. If with ease structure into our lives, we will find that we can cope with our mental illness in a healthier way. 

Self-Care Myths That Can Make Depression Worse (And What Actually Helps)

                  Self-care is something that is frequently talked in relation to mental health. While it is important to engage in self-care, there are some self-care myths that can actually harm our mental health. This is something I had not really given much thought. However, as I have the summer off from work. I am a teacher. So, I get the summers off. I have been hoping to engage in self-care. I am trying to figure out what that looks like. In that search I have discovered that there are self-care myths that we can get trapped in.

                  Usually, self-care is seen in a positive light. What could be bad about putting ourselves first and taking care of ourselves? Focusing on self-care can unintentionally lead to stress or guilt. We can put pressure on ourselves to engage in self-care. We might fear that we are doing it wrong. These are some of the myths. Let’s talk about a few more. 

                  Often, people think of self-care as being relaxing. Think bubble baths and candles. There is more to self-care. It is not always a relaxing activity. Sometimes self-care is taking care of things we need to get done. An example might be scheduling a therapy appointment. Therapy is an important part of healing. The appointments don’t schedule themselves. So, self-care might include taking care of scheduling that appointment. This is not relaxing, but it is part of self-care.

                  Self-care can also include doing the hard things that we need to get done to feel better about ourselves. This might include having a difficult conversation or setting a boundary. Self-care might include doing something that is hard to do because of depression or anxiety. While these do not sound like self-care, they are supporting our long-term well-being. In doing the hard stuff, we allow ourselves to feel better in the long-term. That is self-care. It is not always easy.

                  This leads to another self-care myth. Self-care does not always mean we will feel better immediately. An example is that it might take time to learn how to meditate and feel relief from it. So, while initial attempts at meditation might not make us feel good, with practice we can develop the ability to gain benefits from meditation. The same is true for other common self-care practices. Taking our medication or receiving a treatment is a form of self-care because we are doing what we need to heal. However, medications and treatments can take time to work. Remember just because an activity takes time to work, doesn’t mean it is not working. Self-care is not always a quick fix.

                  Even self-care practices that we normally find relief from can require time to work or may work one day and not the next. An example from my life is that usually writing is a form of self-care for me. There are times, however, when writing overwhelms me. I understand that sometimes I need to step away from a self-care practice for a bit. Maybe I put my pen down for a few hours and try something else. I need to remember that self-care practices do not always work as we expect. It is okay to try different things. Self-care can be about exploration. We can explore different means of self-care and build a bag of self-care activities. Just because something is labeled as self-care that does not ensure that it will always provide relief or be a quick fix.

                  A myth that sometimes pops up is that self-care looks the same for everyone. This simply is not true. What works for one person may not work for someone else. We can try different things. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing the right self-care activity. Factors can be affected by interests, cultural values, personality, finances, health, and many other things. We can all build our own self-care practice using what works for us. We are all unique individuals. As such, we can each define what self-care looks like for us.

                  Another myth is that if a self-care activity isn’t working, we are doing it wrong. Sometimes our mental illness can impact how certain activities work for us. We also need to remember that we need mental health treatment in addition to the self-care activities. Self-care activities are not intended to replace or be instead of mental healthcare treatment. Self-care should be an add-on to treatment. 

                  Along with this, we need to remember that self-care is more than positive thinking. How many of us have been told to “just think positive”? I hate that. Positive thinking can be helpful as we battle mental illness, but it is not enough. Positive thinking does not make mental illness magically disappear. So, it is a myth that positive thinking Is a self-care practice that can alleviate depression or other mental illnesses.

            Self-care is about making choices that benefit our well-being. It is about engaging in practices that make us feel better even if there is a delayed effect. Self-care is truly personal. What works for one person may not work for someone else. We need to find what works for us. We do not need to believe what others tell us about self-care or aspire to have the same experience someone else has with a type of self-care. Bubble baths and candles might work for the social media influencer, but that does not mean we need to enjoy a candlelit bubble bath. 

Our goal with self-care is to be able to care for ourselves on the good days and the bad ones. Our self-care is going to be unique to each of us. Don’t believe the myths or the hype surrounding self-care. We each can find what works for us. We must accept that this can take time and work. Talk to your mental healthcare provider about what self-care might look like for you. Ask for ideas. They know you and can make suggestions. They can also help you process your ideas for self-care. At the end of the day, self-care is what we make of it. Self-care is unique to us, and we need to be patient enough to give our chosen activities time to have an effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Find Hope When You Feel Buried by Depression

        "Sometimes when you're in a dark place, you think you've been buried, but you've 

                            actually been planted." — Christine Caine

 

                  Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses often leave us in a dark place. I write about this often. The darkness is something I know well. When my depression is making its presence known, I feel a sense of darkness. My world darkens deeply. It is hard to function. As Caine states in the quote above, there is a sense of being buried. The darkness pushes me down. It is often suffocating. It is difficult to believe there is a way out of the darkness, but maybe Caine is onto something with the idea of being planted. 

                  Depression buries us in its negative thoughts, its hopelessness, and its suicidal ideation. It is an awful place to be. Unfortunately, I have spent a lot of time buried under the weight of depression. I know I am not alone. Depression impacts so many. As we struggle with the negative thoughts, the hopelessness, and the suicidal ideation we believe what depression is telling us. We need help climbing out of the darkness we have been buried in. 

                  Let’s consider the darkness as a place where we have been planted. We are like seeds surrounded by the darkness in the depths of the soil. In this place we cannot see the light that represents healing. We feel cold and suffocated. It does not feel like a good place. In this place we are the seed. A metaphorical definition of a seed is “a starting point”. It is intriguing to consider being at a starting point when we are buried in the darkness of depression, but what if we really are about to begin something. That something could be anything. There could be hope and possibility in the starting point. Perhaps, as we are struggling with our depression something is waiting for us on the other side of the darkness. 

                  The seed metaphor would need to include growth. Buried seeds grow into plants and flowers. What do we grow into when we are buried in the darkness of our depression? I think the answer is different for each of us. As I think about it, each time I have been buried at the deepest depths of my depression, I have survived. I have emerged from that darkness and lived. I think survival is growth from the seed. We hit rock bottom or hit any low spot. A seed can grow no matter the depth of its burial. So, whatever depths our depression takes us to, we can take root and grow into the light of healing.

                  Am I being overly optimistic? Part of me fears that I am being too hopeful. Depression is painful. It is dark. Still, each time I have been buried in the darkness I have emerged. I have grown. Sometimes I have emerged on my own. I have coping strategies that allow me to live with depression. Maybe these coping strategies are the water that feeds a seed and gives it life. My mental health team is another source of water. They encourage me and provide the hope that allows me to grow from that seed trapped in the darkness into who I am when I am feeling better. Sometimes they provide the intervention that I need to heal. Maybe their intervention is the fertilizer that I need to grow into the flower that I am supposed to be

In answer to my question, I do not believe I am being overly optimistic. I have learned from years of struggling with depression, from years of being buried in the darkness. I know what being buried feels like. I also know that I have grown into different flowers. In other words, I have overcome the depression many times and found hope in healing. As I think about the above quote, I understand that I grow from my depression. I am a stronger person each time I emerge from the darkness of the soil of depression.

                  I think the growth from the seed is part of life with depression. Like most things in nature there are cycles with depression. At times we are buried in the soil, which leaves us in the darkness. This is a painful time. With help from our coping strategies, our mental health providers, and our friends and loved ones, we grow out of the soil into the light of healing. Just like beautiful flowers we emerge from the soil. Delicate at first, we grow into flowers that reach for sunlight. As we reach for the sunlight we are living life. 

                  Depression buries us, but we can grow from this depth. We can heal when we live with depression. It is normal to go through cycles. Sometimes we are the seed buried in the soil and other times we are the blooming flower facing the sun. 

                  If you only take one thing from this post, I hope you take the idea that there is hope even in the darkness. We have been planted. We grow from of our darkness. Hope may seem out of reach when we are struggling with our depression, but hope is there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Planning to Ease Depression

                One thing that I have struggled with throughout my battle with depression is planning my days to ease the depression. Often, I wake up and find that depression creates a desire to run away from the day. It frequently makes me want to pull the blanket over my head and hide. I think many people who live with depression have similar experiences. Learning to cope with this has taken a lifetime of trial and error. I’ve done well at some points in my life and struggled at other points. 

                  Work can provide a distraction. For some people this is a positive. There were times when it was a positive for me. Unfortunately, it was often not a positive for me. At best it was a masking of my symptoms. That created a worsening of my depression that made life more difficult. Now, I am not able to work because of my cancer diagnosis. I am no longer able to mask my depression. I need to face it. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I do that now. I think it comes down to having a purpose to my days. I need to have a reason to get out of bed. I need to have a reason to tell the depression that it is not going to drag me down. Goal setting has helped with this. I’m not talking about formal goal setting. While that is important, too, I am just talking about giving myself a purpose for the day. It is more like a daily plan. 

                  The way I do this is before I go to bed at night, I think about what I need to do the next day and what I want to do. Often, my depression will tell me that I don’t want to do anything. In those moments I need to use my voice to talk back to my depression. I tell it that I must do something. I find that if I write down what I am going to do, I am more likely to do those things. I incorporate a couple different ways of doing this. There is the calendar on my phone. I keep appointments there. I include medical and personal appointments on my calendar. It gives those activities a concreteness and makes them seem more necessary. I also write things that I plan to do in the notes app on my phone. I include my writing time and trips to the grocery store or gas station in my notes. I also include things like household chores. I know that if I see it in writing the next day, I am more likely to do it. I also include things such as going for a walk. I am more likely to do it if I see it on my daily list. Having these things written down allows me to “show my depression that I have things to do.” For me it is important that I check off things as I do them. That allows me to look back at my day in the evening and see that I have accomplished something. I can say to my depression, “Look, I did something today even though I didn’t want me to.”

                  Some days I do better than others at keeping myself occupied. It is not a flawless process. Depression is a powerful illness and there are days when it overtakes me. It can prevent me from following my plan. When that happens, I try not to be too hard on myself. I try to remind myself that I am battling an illness, and I am not going to win every day. The important thing is that I try. It is also important to remember that planning alone is not enough. The treatment of depression requires therapy, medication, and other treatments. I have lived with depression most of my life. I know that just writing down a plan is not enough. However, it is a practice that plays a useful role when combined with following my treatment plan. 

In Thursday’s post I talked about getting the most out of therapy by doing the work necessary to make it successful. Planning our days is part of that work. There is no magical fix for depression and other mental illnesses. Therapy, medication, and non-traditional treatments are important, but they do not work in isolation. We must put in the work to heal. Planning my days is one way I put in the work I need to do.