How do you get out of a period of being "down in the dumps"?

The way out of that state of mind for me is to go do something.

Go clean up a room , or clean out some drawers, or clean a closet of old clothes.

Or go for a hike or a long walk. Go visit a relative, Call up a friend and ask them to meet you for coffee or a drink or dinner.

Or the best, absolute best thing you can do, is to go do some service work for someone less fortunate than you. Go help at the food bank, or a community kitchen or the homeless.

The common thread? Get your mind off yourself. Think about someone else for once.

@zenvelo So basically what you’re saying is to go take action? Just do something. Seems like good advice. Lying around feeling sorry for myself probably won’t help, huh? Thanks.

Take pleasure in the small things – or at least actively try to – so that you realize happiness is something that manifests through action and isn’t something that can actively be grabbed and held onto because you happened to stumble across it. It exists only when and where you create it. Even so, it’s not always easy for most people to keep that in mind, myself included. So with that in mind, sometimes it’s perfectly alright to feel sorry for yourself, to cry, to vent, to take a day off and just mope around if you feel very overwhelmed. As long as it’s a break and doesn’t become a constant, you’ll be alright.

@DrasticDreamer thank you

Pray, and get prayed for.

I am being genuine btw. It’s not easy bearing your feelings to strangers so please take me seriously.

@Jeruba @Hypocrisy_Central
Thank you.

@OriginalCunningFox
I like how you put it together. I’m right there with you! ( I know because I kept nodding my head and saying “yes!” “Me too!” and “OMG, doesn’t this absolutely suck eggs?” )
Do you have major-huge-life-altering changes coming up soon?
That’s what I think is up with me.
Gotta get up and begin yet again? IE-yi-yi! Uncle, already, uncle!!!

Ok, for YOU- big changes due?
Recent loss?
What am I doing here?
This job sucks?
I don’t feel good- physically- and if I ignore it, it’ll go away?
I need more positives?
” ” “challenges?
Feet saying go, but the brain says “now just hold on here a minute- not sa fast”?

Some great advice listed above.

Question- have you taken a day off lately? I mean, no lying inside. Y’gotta get up and go out. You can do anything that sounds fun- and isn’t breaking the law. Like, go to a movie. Library magazine room(?), get on the bus and ride the route looking at all the places you never get to look at when driving? If living out- go in to the city, if in- get outside and look around. Put up holiday lights-no matter your beliefs?
– don’t tell- I put lights up inside! Why the hell put them up outside and pay for the electricity if YOU can’t see them? It’s kinda dreamy and sweet inside when you turn out the other lights. ( Except the inflatable decorations- there’s the ceiling and all. Might wanna skip that! ) Anyone around you alone and might need help?

What are your ideas- maybe I could use some of yours?
I’m serious!

Sorry- forgot these-
– blank paper, pencil, eraser: draw pix of sunrise, table top with candle, apple, and one other item.,then draw a tree- any kind of tree- but it has to go from bottom to top and a bit of scenery around.
-go back to the library. Go to the folk-lore section. Find Russian and Slavic folk-lore stories. They are nothing like those in the western world. There are different characters and morals to the stories.
– call and make arrangements to meet someone, a relative, or someone you haven’t seen in awhile and go out to… (Starb——s- you-know-who) but I guess it’s gauche, here. Soooo try the black iced tea or the caramel latte with a cake-pop side….just don’t write about it here! Ixnay on the starbucks-hay, eer-hay. Sssshhhhh.
– Think of someone you admire. Say… Uhm, I chose an author, handwrite a letter to them. Tell them why you enjoy their work, etc. If you give a return address, they often respond in kind. Past Presidents are another idea. They always answer!
Get your brain going and maybe the blues will fly…...away.

I await your ideas.

One thing I do is make lists. I list the things I need to do and focus on getting through the list, one task at a time. I usually find before too long I get my mojo back and my motivation improves and my mood lifts. I figure if I keep putting one foot in front of the other, and taking small steps, eventually I’ll get where I want to be.

Most “positive affirmations” make me gag a little, as they seem to work on the “Buy a new pair of shoes to feel better” premise, but a friend has told me of a method that helps me when I am slumpy.
For some background, she has recently been very very ill and will not likely get better. Not terminal, but never well again, on nasty medication for life, weak and somewhat infirm. Likely for the rest of her life.
She told me about G.L.A.D. (Really not a PollyAnna thing, honest)

G. Find a thing to be Grateful for, every day. No matter how small. (I’m grateful the Chinese place delivers)
L. Learn something. (Read a passage from the encyclopedia. Identify a leaf. Find out what a certain color is called.)
A. Achieve something. (Take a walk. Make a person chuckle. Knit a mitten.)
D. Discover something. (Your neighbor has a rare flower by their front door. There’s a shortcut to the grocery store you never knew about. A chocolate waffle is a viable thing.)

The point of all this is to be mindful, conscious, and aware. It can change your general thought patterns and requires small efforts that do serve to energize you. You may not change the world, but you will step outside of your funk a bit.

Hope you perk up, soon.

It’s a real problem because being down in the dumps or depressed makes you want to do nothing. You do not desire to have lunch with a friend or dance down the street. With my depression, I want to stay curled up in bed all day long and have silence. At least maybe you can do this. I can’t because I am now a caretaker of a man and two dogs. I am stuck in a bad dream from which escape is impossible.

I watch this and dance along with it.

@filmfann Omg, that video was amazing, thank you haha :)

@Aster Yep, you get it. Thanks.

@canidmajor Thank you.

@Earthbound_Misfit Thank you.

@msh That’s a great list, thank you.

One thing I think some missed on my list.
I listed things that you can do at home to allow breaks and fast pick-up-again options.
Also, library, bus rides (not to scary parts of town) etc. are things that you can do without having polite conversations when you really don’t feel like it. Also, you can put on a coat over your not-to-be-seen-in-public clothes. Do brush teeth and hair- points for the effort. Plus they don’t think you’re a street-person. :)
Dancing down the street? Do some really think people do this? Not on this side of the asylum!
Get out into natural light. Living by the light of television is bad for your eyes also…(seriously? I’m kidding on that one)
Watch funny shows, movies, etc. Laugh!
Vitamin D. Forgot that one.
Hang in there, m’dear!
This too shall pass.

I have worn those shoes many times in my adult life, from a divorce, loss of loved ones, stressful taxing challenges at work, frustrations with people you considered your friend among other moments in life. I find that vigourous exercise not only burns off the stress or depressive effects of the moment,, exercise takes my mind off what may be affecting my mood and often and quickly I might add elevates my mood. I believe that is endorphin’s that exercise can create coming to the rescue.

Sometimes for really oppressive moments in life where I am forced into facing a particularly oppressive and depressing situation I will go into deep thinking mode and even meditating on what is affecting my mood and situation where I break it all down into pieces and evaluate the importance and significance of each piece. Doing this helps to break down a seemingly overwhelming situation into manageable pieces often rendering many of the pieces into non issues I otherwise thought were significant in their effect on me. Doing this also helps to allow me to ask myself how important is this thing, event or person that I am allowing to affect me so and get under my skin. I call this cleaning house of the stuff that is no longer important in you life in the here and now and can truly lighten the load for me to go forward far less encumbered by the emotional baggage these discarded things once burdened my emotions and soul with.