Depression and Life Experiences

Depression and life experiences

Feeling depressed lately?

At any one time or other we all have had some feeling of depression.

This feeling that things are not going the way we want it to be and there is nothing we can do about it. We feel boxed in, as if there is no desire to do anything.

The question really is: Do our life experiences depress us or do we allow our life experiences to depress us?

When we are depressed we allow the issue/s to take control of our thoughts and desires. This is all we think about.This is the why me phase, I should have known better, I cannot get out of this, I do not deserve this, I am not good enough. All the negativity that we can call up about ourselves now surface. We fail to recognize that we have the power within to turn this around.

Think about this for a minute: while you are beating up yourself and filling your mind with all kinds of negativity, the person or persons who may be involved with the issue that is affecting you is/are quite happy, having a good time, enjoying life. So why are you beating up yourself?

There have been much research into what causes people to get depressed but scientists have not been able to pin point exactly what happens to the brain. One thing for sure is that we are affected by life experiences and this can make a huge impact on our lives.

In this article I will look at the impact of life experiences and depression. I will deal specifically with experiences on the job and other life experiences that make up our personal lives, I will talk about some symptoms, some suggestions on what you can do and foods that may help with your depression.

On the job life experiences

Let’s look at some life experiences on the job that can cause us to be depressed:

- We are depressed because the boss/manager/supervisor tells us our performance is not where it should be. They may have to re-assign us, downgrade the position or even server the relationship.

- We have been overlooked for a promotion and the feedback is - you do not have the chutzpah for the position. Or as someone puts it‘ that fire in the belly to do the job is just not there’.

- You do not like your job and you crawl out of bed every day to go there and you can’t wait to get back home, although you do not even have anything else to do at home.

- You cannot stand your boss. It is as if he is always breathing down your neck and the more this happens the more mistakes you make.

- You have not been achieving your targets and this has reduced your commissions drastically. As a result the bills are piling up.

- You made a huge mistake and do not know how to tell the boss.

- The people you work with do not like you.

Other life experiences

There are other life experiences that can also cause us to be depressed:

- The death of a very close friend or family member or even a pet.

- Failure when attempting to achieve certain life goals.

- Relocation.

- Divorce.

- Relationship break ups.

- Sickness.

Some symptoms of depression.

Sometimes we do not even realize we are depressed from these life experiences until the symptoms of depression start to reveal themselves:

- At home you are now more difficult to be with.

- You complain about everything.

- You do not communicate – you have a lot of - ‘I need to be by myself or leave me alone’.

- You ten to overeat often – normally not healthy foods .

- You party hard, drink more, sometimes to the point of getting intoxicated.

- You exercise more – you take long runs or walks until it hurts.

- You take long drives, going nowhere in particular.

- You no longer take care of yourself – hair, face and nails etc. are unkempt.

- You sit and stare for hours.

- You are very restless – you cannot sleep.

- You over sleep often.

- You take on more work or task to keep busy.

- You blame yourself and cannot forgive yourself.

We all do these but if you realize that your actions are outside of what you would normally do then it is time to stop and reflect on what is happening. If you believe you need professional help, then do that now.

Check out the continuation of my article: http://joseylifeline.com/how-to-deal-with-depression/