There is so much depression in the world. Who doesn’t know someone who is suffering from depression? Perhaps you are suffering from it yourself.
There can be many triggers for depression, and often it’s a case of us trying to fit into a box that we were never made to fit into in the first place.
We try and conform into a life that ‘everybody’ has.
It’s what’s expected of us from society on the whole.
But the result of that is we end up living very unfulfilling lives because who we are isn’t aligned with they way we are living.
Look at where your life isn’t aligned with who you are right now. Are there any gaps between the life you want, or want to strive towards, and the life you have right now? At least acknowledging the gap and then beginning to take action towards the gap is a way to begin the transformation to a life that is aligned. It’s a journey. Some things can change very quickly, other things will take more time. You’ll actually start to feel more in control and more powerful when you do that. The point is to START and not just accept the status quo and waste your life not sharing the best of you with the world.
Your life is YOUR life. You are free to do with it as you wish! Don’t get to the end of it only to look back on a life of playing it safe and conforming to a life that was never yours to live in the first place!
We are living in a man-made world, and though it affords us many conveniences and opportunities it’s taken us far from our path in a very short space of time given the history of the world. We can’t keep up to speed with the change and it’s not a natural way to live;
To be woken by an alarm every day.
To have your meal time dictated.
To work in a box under florescent lights (battery cage anyone?)
To live a permission based life where you are granted 2 weeks reprieve each year.
To hand over 5 days of your life every week so you can live for 2 days a week and do what you want.
No wonder so many people are depressed.
Then we numb the pain with mindless tv, video games, food, drink and in some cases drugs. My drinking was at it’s highest when I was depressed. I needed to be NUMBED from the life I was living.
Crazy eh?
We also try and distract from the pain by causing drama in our lives and in the lives of others believing that we are victims in life and it’s all NOT FAIR!
You may not have full on bed-ridden, suicidal depression right now, but you could still be living with ‘low level’ depression. Just a nagging feeling every day where there are fewer days of happiness than there are happiness and general dis-ease and a yearning for a different life.
Is it because you are spending huge chunks of you life doing something that makes you shrink instead of grow?
When I had depression not only did I lose myself and my identity, my personality changed. I was often mean and hurtful to those around me. I was angry but I had no-where to direct that anger and frustration because I wasn’t making the changes that I needed to make because I didn’t know what changes I needed to make.
Every day every cell in my body would shrink at the thought of going into work. Sundays were dreaded. Mondays. ARGH! Take them away!
Not only was I depressed, I then had to try and force myself into a situation for 8 hours of the day where I spent it doing work that sucked the soul out of me, surrounded by people who didn’t like what they were doing either and on top of that with a handful of ‘haters’ who downright couldn’t stand me and made their feelings well known.
But things changed. Things did get better, once I made the decision to change. When I took full responsibility for where I was. I wasn’t ‘trapped’ in that job. I had trapped myself! That change was a long time coming but I’ve never looked back. I’ve written here about The Day That Changed My Life.
Here’s what I recommend if any of this is ringing true for you.
Talk to someone. It may be the last thing you feel like doing, but it helps. It really does. Find someone you can confide in. A friend, a doctor, relative, even anonymously through helplines or online forums.
See your doctor. Just explore your options and see what help is available.
Get into nature. Nature is so healing. We are meant to have a connection with nature but we have lost that with the way we live and work these days.
Use personal development. What do I mean by personal development? Read, study, draw, get creative, explore, spend time with yourself, write, learn, look at new philosophies, have different experiences, stretch your comfort zone. This might sound like a tall order for someone who is depressed. I know it is. There were many, many days when I couldn’t even get out of bed, BUT try something. Just for 5 minutes a day at first if you have to.
This kind of depression, caused by a life that isn’t aligned with who you are, has a hard time existing when you are taking action. You are empowering yourself, you are learning, you are changing how your brain operates, you are taking back control.
The best cure of all is to live an aligned life. Now that’s a journey worth going on. It may have it’s own challenges at times, but they won’t be any where near as challenging of living a life that you aren’t meant to live.
If you want my help in living an aligned, richer, happier life, then take advantage of a free consultation with me where we can chat about where you are, what you want, and if I can help and support you on your journey. Email me karenstrunks@gmail.com or PM me on Facebook and we can arrange a time to chat.
Believe more is possible.
