At one point in your life, you have experienced feeling down and depressed. That’s normal. It is normal to feel hurt because you are human.
When feeling down, you may think your situation is hopeless and helpless. You may find it hard to go on.
Here are 5 practical ways to deal with feeling down:
Feel the pain. Don’t be a masochist. Don’t expose yourself to more pain. Don’t berate yourself and wallow in self-pity. Just allow the pain in all its rawness penetrate your being. Feel its weight. Get acquainted with it. Recognize pain so you know what you are dealing with and what to let go of.
Change your media. Now is the right time to stop reading depressing stories, listening to sad songs and watching drama. You have enough real life drama to deal with at the moment.
Media is our greatest influencer. What you feed your mind matters.
Read inspiring stories and testimonies. Watch feel good videos. Listen to music not just with a happy and fast beat, but those with encouraging lyrics. Listen to worship songs or songs pertaining to faith. Listen to inspirational audio books or podcasts.
Get yourself a support group. You need to surround yourself with people who will not judge you as you will have the tendency to overthink the situation. Find people who will be willing to at least listen to your rants, hold your hand, and be there. Find people who will give you wise advice when you need them or be silent when you don’t want to. Find people who will lift you higher.
Talk to those who went through the same situation. If you have lost a loved one, talk to those who have dealt with grief. If you lost all your life savings due to an investment or business deal gone wrong, talk to those who filed bankruptcy once but are now successful or at least surpassed the storm. If you can’t find one to talk to, Google them. There are great people in history that went through the toughest of times but still managed to put a dent in the world. Abraham Lincoln and Walt Disney to name a few.
Bask in God’s love. You don’t have to say long prayers. Just let yourself into God’s presence, allow Him to embrace you with His unconditional love, and let your heartbeat be a song of praise and gratitude for all the good things He has done. It will be very difficult to be grateful if you lost and fail, but keep holding on. Gratitude unlocks the door to more blessings and healing. Let God’s mercy fill and heal your wounded heart so you’ll be able to share the forgiveness to those who have offended you. He alone can teach us genuine love and mercy. Let His presence be enough to fix you.
Losing or hurting is part of life’s package. You can never avoid them. You can only learn how to deal with them.
Do not be discouraged. Take heart. This too shall pass.
