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what do you do when you're depressed?

iJon said:
I will give you one extremely critical tip. You can even find my old thread on here about two years ago when I broke up with my girlfriend.
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While that is all good advice, I am proud to say that I haven't spoken to her since then, i'm not groveling at her feet to get her back. it's just i find myself sitting home alone on a saturday night, cause i have no friends to hang with. that's the main problem here. no friends. While your hobbies sound fun, I sadly can not afford them. Like I said above I need ideas of cheap hobbies. heh. :eek: Exercising is certainly one thing I am going to do. But I need more things to do with my time. I need to do something besides work and exercise.
 
How about bike riding? You get your hobby and excercise in one. In addition to being just plain relaxing, I find that bike riding lifts my spirits when I'm feeling down.
 
job said:
try something new.

something active.

try surfing...it's definitely a cleansing experience. and it can be as social as you want it to be...

surf by yourself or with a crowd, it's up to you.
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i agree with the whole trying new things thing :)

I'd recommend a musical instrument and a martial art.
 
Okay, having experienced something similar, I can give some advice.
First, it will be lonely and hard to sleep for a bit. Forget it. Just do the best you can.
Now, plan for the future. The idea, in my mind, is to be the person I want to find. Like, I don't want to meet a lonely overweight girl in the suburbs, so I don't want to be that person. If I am that person, I do something about it.

So, what do you do? Seattle sounds like a great idea. (I'm a little biased on that subject though.) Question your ability to move before May. Often times you tell yourself you can't do anything, when really, if you try... you can.

Next, get ready for your move. Plan everything out, and in the meantime, you have time to work on yourself so that when you arrive in Seattle, you are in much better shape, emotionally and physically.

I definitely recommend physical exercise. It really does help clear your head. Try cycling or jogging for a half hour every day. Read books, and not just fiction! Maybe a little about art history, or color theory (for your web design), or philosophy. Learn to cook good foods, and make them for yourself. I recommend The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer. Take weekend trips into the city, go see some rock shows. Maybe consider seeing a counselor so you can work out any issues that seem to big for you, or at least talk to family about it.

That way, when you arrive in your new place, you'll be happier, fitter, and ready to make a new change happen well.

Remember... be the person you want to find someday... and as important... never go back, EVER.

Lee Tom
 
Some things things i've done.

i'm assuming you have an ipod - just go for a walk in downtown, listening to your ipod, with lots of energetic music for a soundtrack. smile at people as you pass them. when you don't want to listen to music anymore (or you run out), go into random stores, strike up conversation with the sales people who aren't doing anything. They're trapped, so they can't run away :).

This may get me in trouble with some people, but go to church. Opiate of the masses or source of truth, it's a feel good moment.

My one word of caution is about moving. Why would you be making the move? If it was something you had planned on anyway, do it. If it's to get away from her, don't - you're not dating her so why let her have any control over your life? Of course if you really hate SF, then ignore that comment.

Oh yeah - and while you are in downtown, if you have the moeny, get something good to eat. Something that makes you feel good (like some chowder). basically, be a little selfish and do something for your self.
 
More no/low cost suggestions for activities:

Find your local Mac users group - guaranteed you have something in common with a bunch of people at least once per month. With a bit of research you can also find filmmakers' clubs, public speaking clubs, you name it - all places where you fit in because of what you are interested in, not who you are or who you're with.

Local community recreation centres generally have evening courses on just about anything running all the time for just about no money. Learn macrame, tae-kwon-do, first aid, Thai cooking or all of the above.

Make a short, quick and dirty list of all the things you said you'd get around to doing for yourself if you only had the time. Guess what? You now have the time. Pick one.

The exercise/bike/gym thing is good - whatever you like doing and can do on a regular schedule.

Even easier; the very next time you have to go somewhere, instead of jumping in the car, walk it. So it's 2, 3 miles? Great - you'll notice a whole bunch of interesting things enroute and you'll feel way better when you arrive. Give yourself a small reward for doing it. Me, I like a nice coffee as a treat.

Key to the whole process is that these activities, especially the scheduled ones, help you develop new habits.
 
Maybe I ought to explain my living situation better and more clearly. Right now I'm not living in the bay area, I'm living in the Los Angeles area. See when I came up with the oaklandbum moniker I was living in Alameda at the time, and was a fan of the A's. So anyway then I moved to Seattle for school. Then I moved back to the bay area and moved around some, but now I've moved down to L.A. (which I hate). And the only reason I am living in California and the only reason why I left Seattle was to be with my girlfriend. So that's why I want to go back to Seattle. It really is one of my favorite cities. The only other place I'd want to go right now is Europe, but that's entirely not feasable unless one of the readers here wants to hook me up with a free place to stay. :D ... :rolleyes:

Anyway, I like your suggestions MentalFabric, LeeTom, nbs2, and CanadaRAM. I'll definately get my mountain bike out of the garage and give it a whirl sometime soon.

LeeTom said:
So, what do you do? Seattle sounds like a great idea. (I'm a little biased on that subject though.) Question your ability to move before May. Often times you tell yourself you can't do anything, when really, if you try... you can.
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I honestly can't, there are many reasons that I won't go in to here, but needless to say I am living off my credit card, though I expect to complete a large and profitable project before May.
 
Just plain walking is a good idea. It's free and very easy, no preparation. If you have an iPod or some other musical device, take that along. Music can also be very relaxing and uplifting to the spirit.
 
when I get depressed I dont eat :eek: I know thats a bad thing for me to do but thats what i end up doing. I will assume that the most common thing you can do is excercise and all of the good stuff.
 
Hey; thanks - you inspired me to go to the gym, had a good workout and bumped into someone I haven't seen for 2 years. Cool.

Thinking of music:

How about try a totally unfamiliar genre for you - make a break from the usual. Reggae, Classical, African, Jazz, Celtic, Polkas, Gospel, fiddle music can all be uplifting even without words.

More familiar stuff; Anything by James Brown, 70's Stevie Wonder, "It's a Wonderful world", Katrina & The Waves "Walking on Sunshine", early British Invasion - Herman's Hermits, etc. Beach Boys.

Who else has favorite tunes?
 
oaklandbum said:
Anyway, I like your suggestions MentalFabric, LeeTom, nbs2, and CanadaRAM. I'll definately get my mountain bike out of the garage and give it a whirl sometime soon.



I honestly can't, there are many reasons that I won't go in to here, but needless to say I am living off my credit card, though I expect to complete a large and profitable project before May.
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let us know how your progress on your mountain bike goes...it will certainly uplift your spirit

...and don't worry about living off your credit card, while it may not be the best thing to do, it also won't kill you...he he...heck, i have been living off of my credit card half my life, on and off

but whatever other situations exist, credit cards, work, relationships, etc...make sure you get some good exercise whether it's the mountain bike or something else

best of luck to you, oaktown :)
 
You have plenty of friends here on Macrumors We are all helping You with your problem and thats cool.
 
"I went sky divin', I went Rocky Mountain climbin'.
I rode 2.7 seconds on a bull named Foo Man Cho"...great song.

Anyway, physical exercise will definitaley put those endorphins in to your blood and brain. A good, positive addiction. I used to run marathons 'til hepatitis brought a halt to that. So, keeping some kind of consistent exercise in your schedule is something worth fighting for.
X
 
oaklandbum said:
true true. i guess that's part of the cause of me being up so late.
Yeah I want to get a shuffle, but I've got an old 20GB iPod, so I don't really have a convienient excuse. Maybe once my battery is completely useless, but for now I still get 5 hours out of it. And if you've got some suggestions for uplifting songs I'd be happy to hear them. right now i'm listening to some french rap.
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REM has some really good songs out there. Off the top of my head, the only one I can think of (by name, anyway) is Shiny Happy People. I love that song! Really helps change my mood. :) Oh, and Radio Song is nice, too. (both on Out of Time).
 
hey oaklandbum,
if you happen to have $170 to spend and can get to The Grove 3x a week, I can highly recommend this Boot Camp Fitness instructor. You'll get one month of really good fitness instruction, and totally see results. I did it last July, and it was excellent. Not crazy yelling boot camp style, just solid workouts, 3x a week. TOTALLY worth it!!! I have nothing to do with the guy, I just really got a lot more out of it than I expected.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ths/57267678.html

If you act quick, you can get started in the next 2 days, and jumpstart everything you're talking about!

Lee Tom
 
Go driving for hours on end. I think my record is 4 hours out on the KY country roads. Goes along great with the music blasting to blow out all those sad thoughts.:)

YESS THE THREAD LIVESSS!!!
 
I take an extra dose of PROZAC on top of my already high dose. Usually I only double dose about once a year. The rest of the time I usually feel fine. Oh and what got me started on the drug was a girl too. :mad:
 
I kind of understand how your feeling I'm feeling depressed lately too. Can't find a PT job, worried about uni and I miss my friends (Who all live in Melbourne)
 
Hmm.. I know the question is what you do when you're depressed but I don't have answer for that.

Recently broke up with my girlfriend (together since 2002). It was sort of hard since her Mother is schitzophrenic and really abused her, she'd only say the stuff was beyond my worst nightmare. But she was never comfortable enough to talk about it, which I respected. But over the past year or so, she'd started to get more abusive towards me, verbally and emotionally and I had to tell her she could vent to me but that I was not her personal punching bag. She was out a couple of times and I got worried since it was getting late, so I tried to get in touch with her and she branded me a stalker for doing it. End of July, things really hit rock bottom and I told her she had to make some changes in her attitude or that was it.

Been since then that we last talked and I guess I'm only now coming to the realization that that's it and I'm probably never going to hear from her again. I'd be lying if I said I didn't give a damn about her or what happens to her, just getting over her is the hardest. Letting her go, knowing I won't hear her voice anymore, be around her anymore, won't be able to write her the poems I wrote her, make her a card for different occasions (birthday, valentines, Christmas etc) stuff like that.

Had to put down one of my dogs last Saturday too (bacterial infection) so that hasn't helped things much.

Sorry for the long rant. LOL Had to get some of that load off my chest.
 
Wow. Way to bring back a thread from the past. I was thoroughly surprised when I saw there was news posts in it.

Now before everyone gets excited, I originally made this thread 1 year and 8 months ago. As such is has been that long since I broke up with my ex. I've managed to move on with my life - in fact I'm not even living in the same country anymore :eek: :D . Sure there are still times when I get sad and miss her, but people tell me it takes half as long as you dated before you're fully over someone, so I try not to worry about it. But we haven't talked since we broke up and I still have no desire to.

In case anyone else feels blue, what I ended up doing was heeding the advice about getting out and doing things. Exercising always makes me feel more positive. Even if it's just going out and talking a walk around the public gardin nearby. It's not too strenuous, but the fresh air and people watching always make me feel better. I also have done a lot of bike riding. As a bonus I have lost a ton of weight! So if your feeling down, that's what I suggest doing.
 
I used to get pretty depressed, and all the things suggested here are good ideas! It has been said before but I will say it again, the key to all of them is to be around people. for me, doing physical exercise is great and all, but it's a bit of a short term boost, meeting new people is very scary but it's the key.

Anyway, when I feel depressed nowadays I take my phone, scroll through my phone book and go and call people up that I haven't spoken to in a while, believe me when I say amazing things have happened by phoning people at just the right time.
 
Listen to "Numb" by Linkin Park. Or think of the people who are using Windows. Utter hell.
 
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