Ask Me Anything {DEPRESSION}

Hello RaspberryKitten,

Sorry I couldn't reply earlier. I'm glad you reached out to ask; it's an important question. I really do understand what being low on energy feels like. It's unbearable. Depression almost comes hand in hand with loss of energy, and vice-versa as well.

It's important to remember to take our meds, especially if they're stabilising you and helping. I'm sorry that you've been dealing with so much. One thing you can try is putting up notes around where you live. Above the bed, a picture, any place you're bound to see it. You can try alarms too. And you can also ask somebody else to remind you to take your medicines.

Unfortunately, I really don't have much solid advice to provide on how to increase energy levels. I'm still tackling that area. I do have a few suggestions that you can try out though:

Eat well and on time. I cannot stress this enough. It's vital to eat when our body needs the food. You can try eating something sweet too. Chocolate helps sometimes. And stay hydrated as well.

Sleep. It's hard to work at all if you haven't gotten enough sleep. Now if you have issues with sleep like I do, I know it's easier said than done. Good sleep is not easy to come by. You can try napping for little bouts and doing work after.

Priortize. If it's hard for you to work at all and have a lot to do, pick out the thing of most importance. Do it little by little, but completely. It can help to priortize when we have a lot to finish up.

Stay entertained and/or busy. This one is a little weird. Sometimes, though, if I manage to keep myself busy and focused, I can finish other work too.

And lastly, take it slowly. It's not easy. Go easy on yourself. Compliment yourself for the little things that you were able to do in the day, even if they don't seem of much value. Try not to make assumptions about how one thing is going to be. What I mean is, don't make work seem harder than it is. I know that working with low energy is next to impossible, so take breaks. Just lie down and stay silent.

As for making friends, I really wouldn't know how to answer that as I am not social myself. It's true that it is hard to make friends when depressed. What I have learned though is that all I can do from my end is to keep communication open and not isolate myself. I think that not being able to make friends easily is not a fault, it says simply that we don't come across people who understand us very often. And that's okay. I know how important socialising is, and we do have many options to real world communication, thanks to the web. You can find a lot of like-minded people on here.

If someone does not want to spend time with you, that does not say that you're uninteresting or boring or unattractive. It probably just means that that person wanted some other trait than what you had to offer. There are plenty of people who you don't know who'd love to be your friends. The difficulty is being able to come across them. So don't worry, you're doing a great job at everything, okay?

Take care of yourself and remember that even if the very last person doesn't love you or want to be your friend, you're worth loving and you can love yourself and befriend your own self. I read your profile and I would like to congratulate you on being clean for two weeks. That, I think, is pretty damn wonderful. That's really strong.

And most importantly, I think we have to find our own ways and figure out what works for us. We can look at this as an experiment. What works for me may not for you.

I'm here for you if you need it. :)

~Eleanor.