Taking control

"When life gives you lemons chuck it right back"

We all know how cruel and difficult life can be at times, actions of others hurt us, people we love die and people we thought were close friends abandon us. Remembering events that are passed,  the mistakes we made or things we could have done different can really bring us down. But we must remember we cannot change the past,  what's done is done.  Although if we have done wrong by another we can apologise and try to make amends. Just be prepared that it may take the other person time to forgive you. While talking about the past we should think of the future,  there is no point worrying about what may happen in the future.  All we can do is take things as they come,  live in the present,  otherwise we may miss something.
   "The past is history,  the future a mystery,  the present is a gift"

When life is cruel and we get stressed by the stuff going on in our head we have various ways of coping with this stress some of which are unhealthy and possibly dangerous.  It is not uncommon to find ourselves retreating into ourselves and blocking out the world when life gets difficult, blocking out our friends. This can lead to slipping into a period of depression.  Through life we may go through various periods of depression.  The important thing is that we don't find ourselves stuck in one of these periods,  life goes on and we cannot change what has happened but we can change how we look at it. When we are experiencing one of these periods we have to consciously decide not to stay in it.  We can take a couple of day as maybe whatever has brought us down is big, come out of nowhere and really knocked us so a certain level of isolation to help us somewhat make sense of it all may be needed. But during this isolation try to have 1 or 2 people who you will still talk to especially about what is going on for you.  After a few days if you are still feeling low remember that by "wallowing" you are missing out on life and consciously make the effort to snap out of it. Snapping out of the low mood doesn't mean the problem has gone away,  you still need to deal with it but hopefully you will be looking at it differently.

I'm a firm believer of not using medication to deal with depressive episodes,  for every1 feels depressed from time to time. Doctors these days in my opinion are too quick to prescribe antidepressants.  I also believe that we have the power within us to come out of depression and not get stuck in it. Sometimes to get through a depressive episode you might need help in the form of a trusted friend you can confide in or a professional counsellor who will help you work through your problems.  Also,  if you are the kind of person to suffer periods of depression find a place of sanctuary,  take some time out, enjoy nature and stop thinking.  Stop thinking, trying to figure things out and let yourself feel