Work Your Way Out of Bipolar Depression

This is a long blog because it’s such an important topic- depression and work!

A friend of mine told me he was so depressed last week he watched TV all day on his day off. Of course he felt awful and wished he had done something different. I reminded him that this was very rare- since we have been working together, he has been much more productive and rarely has one of those Wheel of Fortune, soap opera, the Price is Right days!

I reminded him that depression has SO many ways to wreck our lives. It can be:

- Agitated. This is where we can’t sit still, we feel restless, can’t sleep and generally can’t sit down. We can be pretty snarky and snippy at these times.

- ADHD symptoms. This kind of depression makes it hard to focus and we tend to walk around aimlessly and get nothing done.

- Catatonic. This is the can’t get out of bed, sit in front of the TV, don’t take a bath, can’t move depression. It’s awful.

- Internal voice. This depression chatters at you all day- you will never be happy, have a partner, make money, get what you want, go where you want to go. You’re worthless, hopeless, stupid, fat, ugly and your life is pointless. It talks to us with this all day long. It’s just lovely isn’t it!!! We all hate it.

There are more types of depression, OCD, crying, etc etc. I could go on forever. I experience them all regularly.

So what is the point of this? Why do I say Work Your Way Out of Depression? Because just doing one thing- just one- you can work your way out of the pit depression has dropped you in.  This is what I reminded my friend. He can remember the ideas in Get it Done When You’re Depressed and do just one of them in order to get up off the couch. It just takes one action to break the hold depression has on you. Sure, it often comes right back when you take your first action- but that is ok, because then you take your next one. Step, by step- you can work your way out of depression.

Guess what- writing this blog is my first step this morning to work my way out of the depression that has been dogging me for weeks. I wake up in a down mood, I get in my car and go to my office. I make my to do list- remind myself that this is an illness- and get to work.  Step by step.  When I was first diagnosed, just getting out of bed was a miracle- now I can work so much more.  You can too. If you are reading this and feel stuck in the hell of depression- do one thing right now and change your brain so that you can do the next thing and then the next and get out of your house and take some action. My friend will do this the next time I’m sure- he usually does! We all have tough days- don’t let this be one of them.

You can do it!! I can do it!!

Julie

Related posts:
Bipolar Disorder and Work Problems
Newsletter: Five Mistakes People With Bipolar Disorder Need to Avoid!
Bipolar Disorder and School