tigersundertheumbrella

In November 2018 I set a goal to have 50 blog posts written by the first of 2019. I was on track to surpass my goal and then I got burned out as well as depressed. The combination of the two lasted about three weeks. That is absolutely too much down time for an up and coming writer or anybody else who has dreams, goals and visions. I think the depression was more because of me being alone during the holidays. Either way, I had to overcome both of them and get back to writing.

I knew I had to find a way to pick myself up and get back on track, but the first thing I needed to do was find what caused me to burn out. I came to the realization that I had put too much pressure on myself by setting a goal to have a certain number of blogs written by a specific date instead of me just doing what I enjoy doing. Just write! I was posting 2-3 blogs a day for a while. When I set the goal my blog count was at 21. When I burned out I was at 44 blogs and a draft. The burn out actually caused me to stop writing all together. That’s not good.

Okay, the burn out was over but the depression lingered for a while. I am very familiar with depression and have learned to handle it a bit better than in the past. I know when my depression set in the main thing I need to remember and advise the same to you as well, is not to feed our depression. Here are a few things you can put into practice to starve your depression and thus you’ll also learn what feeding your depression means:

1. When you wake up, get up. When you first open your eyes at whatever time of the day is your morning to you, get up immediately. Don’t let this dark time cause you to sleep your life away.
2.  Open your curtains & blinds and let the daylight in. Do not keep it dark in your home all day long. The day light and sunshine do so much more for our lives if we learn to appreciate them.
3. Listen to some uplifting music, something funny or something encouraging, to help keep your mind stimulated. Music is the language of the world. Everybody has at least one favorite song.
4. Encourage yourself. If you don’t have people in your life to pick you up or give words of encouragement, then you need to do as the song writer Donald Lawrence say and, “Encourage Yourself.”
5. Only allow positive & uplifting things to take up space in your life. Look at the bright side of things, situations and circumstances and learn from them instead of letting them control your life.
6. Stay busy doing something productive. Read, dance, turn flips, laugh, smile, joke, meditate, pray, etc., etc., etc. An idol mind is the devils workshop. 
7. Write about your experience and how it affects your everyday life. Share your experience with others by journaling or blogging, with hopes that you can say something encouraging to keep them up, active and plunging forward.

Now that you’re up and at ’em, leaping for joy again, PASS IT ON TO THE NEXT PERSON.

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