Those of you who have feelings of doom and despair, how do you deal with them?

I just keep in mind that life does go on and tomorrow is another day. Sounds trite, but it works for me.

I get that way a few days a month and it sucks. Usually it happens late at night when the distractions of my day aren’t there to fall back on so if I’m alone then I’ll start laundry, do dishes, do something out of the ordinary like mend clothes, dust, organize cabinets/books, write out lists of stuff I want to do in the next month, the next year, create food menus, monthly budgets, catch up on emails or texts to infrequent friends. I do whatever I can (non self abusive) in order to be able to get through it because it’s usually just a few hours and then my perspective returns.

I eat myself. But unfortunately, I regenerate.

It’s one of the most difficult feelings to experience. I’ve been feeling that way a bit lately. Ultimately, I think it’s vital to look at the root causes that lead a person to feel this way in the first place. I find what works for me is literally putting one foot in front of the other. Taking it moment by moment. If you can remind yourself that all feelings are transitory. If you focus on something as small as the task at hand and getting from A to B, it helps.

Unfortunatley I get these feelings very often and I don’t handle them very well. They often stop me from being able to function and cause panic attacks. I try to relax my mind and think logically. I also try to work out a plan of action if the worst case scenario shoudl occur.

smoke weed everyday

All together now. Exercise regularly. The more vigorously the more it helps. Eat regularly. Make sure you get 8 hours of sleep and always go to sleep at the same time. Volunteer and do things that help others. Therapy. Learn mental coping techniques like mindfulness and CBT. Spend more time with friends, if possible. Get involved in more creative activities.

These things work and help you feel better about yourself and the world. They release hope. They can be especially effective for situational depressions or downturns in optimism, when these things are fairly mild.

Meds help, too, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no need to do things the hard way. Sure some people use hand looms instead of buying machine made fabric. Of they use a hand drill when the power drill is sitting there in front of them. But why would you want to risk your life just to take care of your brain the hard way?

The goal is to change your brain chemistry so you can be more optimistic about the world and yourself than you were. All those techniques I listed help you change your brain chemistry. The work very slowly, and sometimes don’t work at all. The same is true for meds. They work slowly, although not as slowly as coping techniques. They also sometimes don’t work. But you can find that out faster.

They are also a lot better than prescribing your own meds: weed and alcohol or illegal drugs.

I get these feelings a lot; especially around 10pm. But for some reason, they tend to come and go. I think they’re valid feelings. Doom itself is quite valid; I don’t think of it as depression. I think of it as being realistic and facing the truth about life.
Watching good tv shows helps a lot for me. If I have a great book, which is rare, reading that gets my mind off the inevitable.