Depression afflicts people of all ages, but the experience of depression in adulthood comes with its own unique challenges. Unlike the more transient sadness and struggles of youth, adult depression can feel like a dead weight threatening to pull you under, day after day after endless day. Life becomes a colorless slog when every day is bad and responsibilities pile ceaselessly upon your shoulders. Simply getting out of bed feels like an impossible task. The future once filled with possibility seems to disappear in a thick, joyless fog.
As an adult with depression, how do you cope when every day feels like a struggle? How do you regain hope and find purpose when depression has drained all motivation from your life? What steps can you take when you feel trapped in an endless tunnel of darkness and despair?
The challenges are daunting, but taking small steps to care for your wellbeing provides footholds allowing you to gradually climb from the depths. Focusing on self-care, connecting with others, developing healthy outlets, and seeking professional help can slowly but surely being you back into the light.
Start with the basics of self-care that depression strips away: getting enough sleep, eating nutritious foods, staying hydrated and getting daily movement. Depression saps your energy and skews your perspective, making even simple self-care seem impossible. But consistently prioritizing rest, healthy food, water and exercise gives you the biological basis from which to fight back against depression’s drag. Make reasonable goals focused on regular rhythms of care for your body and mind. Forgive yourself on bad days, and return to self-care goals the next day.
Fight the tendency to isolate when depressed and make an effort to maintain and strengthen connections. Call a friend, reach out to family, join a support group, volunteer somewhere that gets you interacting with others – anything to combat the loneliness depression cultivates. We all need community, and our communities need us. Nurturing relationships and contributing to something beyond ourselves counteracts depression’s self-focus.
Explore creative outlets that provide you with meaning and accomplishment on your bad days. Write, paint, garden, cook, sing – find something that sparks a flicker of positivity inside the gloom. Use your outlet to express the truth of your inner experience, experiment with new perspectives, and remember who you are underneath the depression. Creativity connects us to our essential humanity and counters the numbness of depression.
As difficult as it is when depression has depleted your motivation, try to take small steps forward. Make a list of goals and break it down into manageable pieces. Achieving even simple goals like doing the dishes or going for a 10 minute walk reinforces that you can take control of your life. Build upon each small accomplishment day by day. Progress will seem painfully slow, but perseverance does lead somewhere better.
If lifestyle changes aren’t providing enough relief from depression or your depression is disabling, seek professional counseling and consider medication. Depression treatment typically utilizes psychotherapy, antidepressants or a combination of both. The right treatment plan can significantly alleviate symptoms and equip you with healthy coping strategies. With effective treatment, meaningful life and fulfilling relationships remain possible.
Adult depression differs from depression earlier in life due to its entanglement with adult responsibilities and identity. When depression hits in the prime of life, it threatens our conceptions of what we should have accomplished by now. Remember that depression distorts reality – comparisons with others are meaningless. Comparison fuels shame’s downward spiral. Depression may have descended suddenly or crept up gradually, but it does not define you. It hides your light but cannot extinguish it.
With time, care, community and professional help, you can regain perspective and reclaim hope. Healing will come gradually, almost imperceptibly. But if you cling to the footholds of self-care, creativity, connection and treatment, you will ascend from depression’s abyss. The fog will dissipate. Your light will re-ignite. Take it one day at a time, focus on progress not perfection. Even small steps forward bring you closer to the brightness of life beyond the gloom. Keep grasping for light.
