The thing about Depression is this: it’s a sore loser. If you were playing Connect Four with Depression, it would be angry if you got four reds in a row. Who wants to play with an opponent like that? It sounds terrible. That’s how Depression is though. It wants to win against you. It’s intimidating, it thinks it knows better than you do. It claims to know your mind better than you do. This simply is not the case. You know you better than Depression does. But it’s a tricky thing that Depression. All it cares about is fooling you into thinking that you’re worthless and there’s no hope. Dealing with depression is like dealing with an annoying kid who wants to show you he’s better than you at doing cartwheels. I hate dealing with Depression because it has no sense of humor. It’s lame and boring and it wants to convince you that YOU are lame and boring.

It’s so good at convincing too. You believe that you’re a terrible person and that everyone wants you gone.

The thing is, just because someone or something (like Depression) wants to win, doesn’t mean you have to LET it win. There are strategies you can use to deal with Depression. Here’s a piece from BetterHelp that talks about practical techniques that you can use to deal with Depression. Some of them are as simple as getting out of your house and getting some sun. When you step into the sunlight, your body gets Vitamin D, which helps with Depression.

It’s not going to be easy to fight Depression, because (like I said) it’s an excellent warrior. But, it’s possible to do activities to help yourself. Even if Depression is making you believe that there’s nothing you can do.

There’s a lot of things that you can do.

1. Take a shower

2. Call a friend and ask them about their day

3. Pet your cat

4. Eat cookies

I believe that out of this list of four things, you can pick at least one of them and do it. If you do two of them, you’re a rock star.

So don’t let Depression win. It’s a stellar opponent, but you can beat it. Reward yourself for even the smallest of tasks. If you put your pants on, you’re already winning. Depression doesn’t want you to get dressed because getting dressed means getting out there into the world and…succeeding!

Depression doesn’t want anyone to succeed. Oh no, that’s not good at ALL.

What Depression wants does not matter. It’s what YOU want that matters. Let Depression try its tricks on you. Remember who you are and what you want and you won’t let it win.