Hobbies and pleasure...
Last year I went through a depressive episode and having a really poor performance at college. After counselling and doctors talking to me, I started to make some changes.
I have been doing some pretty serious changes, taking off of my life everything that was making me feel bad about myself, like binge-watching too many tv series, spending too much time in social media, a lot of fast food, isolating myself from my friends and etc.
The thing is, all of this is bad for me in a long term but I like it. This are my comfort zone, this are my hobbies.
Eating better and exercises made me feel better than I was last year, I'm okay now. Okay, just okay. And I'm tired of okay, this okay made me grumpy AF. I'm not isolating myself from my friends but I'm well aware that I'm being unpleasant. Everything that I have been doing feels like a obligation and Im tired.
I basically need to replace all the bad habits for good ones that I enjoy and this have been really hard.
Any tips on good hobbies? Or anything that you use to cope with your depression.
@Tatety23 - I find hobbies that help me express emotions to be really helpful, like music. I'm also a big fan of finding things where you learn a new skill or create something, because they feel productive to me, which makes me feel better as I do them. And I probably still watch too much tv, but am trying to pull away from that a bit. :)
@Anomalia
Thank's Anomalia.
I listen to a lot of music, but I think we have different experiences with that.
I'm in college doing Graphic Design, so I was trying to study harder and trying side projects. But I'm putting so much pressure on myself and end up being stressed about it. I also tried to learn a new language, a new skill with calligraphy and photography. But again to much pressure, I was getting so frustrated for not learning fast enough, that this just made me feel worse.
I'm having problems to concentrate and not learning the way I would a few years ago. Everything I had tried just made me feel dumb, and I was so good in learning new things.
@Tatety23 - If learning something new has felt like too much pressure, what about something you already know how to do that might just feel calming? For instance, adult coloring books have become really popular right now as an anxiety coping mechanism, and outside of the therapeutic value, can just be really fun to get back to somethng that used to be so fun as kids!
In that same vein, are there other things that you used to enjoy that you've gotten away from? Maybe bringing some of those back into your life will feel nice.
@Anomalia
I was really curious about things, so my hobbies would be basically learning something. Browsing on internet looking for articles, documentaries or just trying to learn new languages I know the basics of at least 3 and I have a ok english. My development was based on learning.
So, thanks. I was not thinking out of the box enough. Something like colouring could be really a good idea.
@Tatety23 Social media is not a hobby. It is an invention that is corrupting the world. When I was young, my hobbies included soccer, playing the saxophone, Bible study (my mother put my brother and I in that), T-ball, camping, roller skating, drawing, and small sewing techniques. Nowadays, kids do nothing but social media, video games, and TV. I played Sega and Super Nintendo I will admit, but it didn't take up my whole day! If you kids are trying to bring back the clothing styles and hair styles of the 90's, why don't you bring back all the hobbies and activites we did in the late 80's and 90's?? We only had dial up AOL when I was in high school! Try a real hobby. Now, my prime hobby is fixing cars .. Try something besides this internet and Facebook. I guarantee you will feel so much better. People still roller skate! :)
@TransAm85
1 or 2 generations before you, elder people would say the exact same thing about light. So things change, get over it.
I was raised differently and my hobbies at my teens would include learning how to programme, create digital imagens (In graphic design grad school thanks to that), learning different languages and etc. Just because the generation is different doesn't mean that it's worse.
And you come here in this site to say shit things about me and putting me down like that, it's an awful thing to do. Where did you learn to be this bitter? It's a thing of your generation?
@Tatety23 I'm not bitter, I just feel sorry for the kids today. Females today don't even know how to iron clothes or mop floors! Material things, technology, and social media is the world today. That's why so many teenagers suffer from anxiety, depression, bi polar, and suicide attempts! Not everyone can afford name brand clothes or an Iphone 6! So kids go on Facebook bragging about it, taking selfies w/their new crap and making other kids feel bad .. I didn't have to deal w/this. Someone called me fat, oh well. It wasn't a big deal. You call someone a Pimple Face, they didn't freak out and take a million pills for anxiety and depression! I'm trying to point out some things that are real hobbies. Not the internet.
@TransAm85
Are you kidding that THIS is how you see the new generation?
Okay, so stop for a minute and first of all, understand that your point of view is extremely limited. You're talking about a segment of young people not all of them.
Second, YOUR generation raised THIS generation. So don't blame just the kids. My parents wouldn't let me go outside, what could I do?
You have any idea of how sexist you sound?
Sorry but like @bestVase7265 said each generation add something to equation and this is how humanity evolve. Not long time ago I would be a slave, 60 years ago a woman could be spanked by her husband in a daily basis and 30 years ago would be absolutely normal for a black woman like me not even finish school. So thank God things change. Maybe not the way you prefer, but I'm absolutely sure that complain about "The old times" on internet doesn't make you any happier. Blaming me about the behavior of a generation also doesn't make you any happier. So why bother?
For God sake, go talk with decent young people because the ones that you know are just shit people. And guess what? We have those IN EVERY PERIOD OF HUMAN HISTORY!
You know another thing that we have in history? Depression and anxiety. I'm sure Vincent van Gogh was not binge watching some tv serie on netflix. Did you made any research about WHAT depression realy is? Or you just think that is when someone is sad?
I am of the older generation as well and I think each generation brings something to the table. I find that hobbies really do keep me from tv and the Internet which are distractions. I like to cook and read. Have you tried rereading some young adult books that you read as a kid? The key is to keep trying until you find something you like. Don't put pressure on yourself to be great at it. Just be.
@bestVase7265
I know that I have to stop putting pressure on myself like this. I just don't know how. I keep comparing my development with how I used to learn. I know that things have changed and I'm in slow motion right now. But it's hard for me not to think that I'm stupid.
I'm trying to read more. Getting there in slow motion, but getting there.
Me too. For me the pressure is constant because I cannot find work despite having a PhD. Most days healing goes much to slow and panic sets in. All I can do is keep trying.@Tatety23