Fola Daniel Adelesi: Avoiding The Pit of Depression

I understand that life can be really tough. When you look around you may not understand why things are not going your way. Just as things are not turning out the way you want them, there are those other people who are making life more difficult for you. Unfortunately, some of them are people you are so close to and others could be family members or spouses.

You can look at other people and it seems as though you are the only one who has issues. The others have smiles on their faces and they just go about their businesses easily. You seem to have a trail of troubles to clean up. You have tried really hard to figure it out but nothing is adding up and the pieces are just not coming together.

There were times in my own life when I would sigh repeatedly when in the room. It became so obvious that my wife got scared at some point and raised concerns. It may be easy to become depressed when you think about the situation around you. Maybe you are a family man or woman and the bills are piling up but you have no idea how to clear them.

You have children to take care of but you just can guarantee their meals the next day. It could also be that someone has hurt you so much that you find it hard to pull out of the memory. Have you just lost your job? Does it look like you have to deal with a harsh reality in the coming weeks or months?

It is well understood that your pending expectations can cause depression. You want a wife but you have not found one or don’t have enough money to marry yet. Maybe you don’t even have a job. You want a husband it just looks like all the right guys pass you buy and say nothing. In fact, if a guy says ‘good morning’ to you right now you will nearly say ‘yes! I do.’

 Whatever it is that weighs you down is something you can overcome. Yes, you can! It may be tough that you were denied a visa. It can be difficult to see that all efforts to travel abroad just prove abortive. You have tried to start a business but the environment seems harsh. You just can raise enough money to do the business right and be on your own.

One would have thought that if business will not work then you can go and get a job. You start job hunting with the hope that you are competent to get a job in some industries and you suddenly realize that the job is also not coming. It just looks right to become depressed but you should never do that.

When depression sets it, some people want to sleep it away. Some try to eat it away or even drink it away. This always leaves you with another problem totally different from the one you are running away from.

If you recline into depression you will eventually find out that depression will destroy much more than you can imagine. In may be one thing that dragged you into it but when you are in it, depression will drag everything in your life into that mode.

How are you to stay away from it or to get out of it if you are in it already? You can try the following:

Understand that life comes in phases and this is a phase that you will get out of.

Read the inspiring stories of other people. This will help you to stay away from or get out of depression

Listen to inspirational songs and affirm those words to yourself. I personally like to listen to Panam Percy Paul’s ‘Don’t give up’ and R. Kelly’s ‘I’m the world’s greatest.’ I listen to songs like ‘I almost let go’ or ‘you haven’t seen the best of me by a young man called Pita.

Listen to inspirational speakers who know what they are saying. I’m talking about those who have gone through the tough times and not those who read up what to tell you.

Be in the midst of cheerful people. It pays to be among those who can keep your mood up naturally. Staying alone makes it easy to switch into depression. Even God says ‘it is not good for man to be alone.’

You have to stay positive and look on the brighter side of life. You can only look back into your past and be depressed. If you look into your future there is always something to be hopeful for.

You are also a better person and you can build healthy relationships only when you stay away from depression. We need you around and we want you in the best frame of mind. Remember, this is just a phase and this too shall pass.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Hongqi Zhang –  Michael Zhang