#depression hacks

[justmossyall]

depression hacks masterpost

these are things that will help with mental illness that aren't 'go outside, drink water, and everything will be fine!!!1!!!11!1!11!' those are good fs but they don't work on their own. these will actually help in one way or another :)

hell yeah let's go

open your windows. the fresh air and sunlight will do you good and it takes like 5 seconds.

go buy some plants, there are like a gazillion that are next to impossible to kill. and don't come at me with 'ohhh I'll probably find a way hahaha" NO. the plants will be so helpful! they produce oxygen, bring nature indoors which psychologically improves your mental state, and they're just nice to look at! you can name them! sculpt and/or paint little pots for them!

STOP LISTENING TO SAD MUSIC. I cannot stress this enough. it just makes things worse. please stop. make a playlist of all your favorite stupid, happy, pump-up songs and listen to them all the time until they get annoying. then repeat!

acquire a gazillion stuffed animals. so much serotonin for such a small price

get a water bottle and put fun stickers on it, and designate that water bottle to be only for water. nothing else goes in it. that way you can drink out of it for kind of a long time before needing to wash it. keep it filled with water and actually drink out of it. drink as much water as you can, all the time.

chew gum! idk why but it works bro. especially watermelon.

hug people and ask people to hug you. hugs are so amazing it's like pure happiness but with the added perk of Deep Pressure. it can be from your friends, family, s/o, whoever.

make sure there's a lot of light in your room. not good to wallow in darkness. put up fairy lights, get fun lamps, light candles, keep your blinds open, etc.

dress like how you want to feel. be colorful, fun, and comfortable. don't wear hoodies, sweatpants and ratty old shoes, I know it's appealing but it's just going to keep you in that depressed state. I like to wear dresses, colorful jeans, graphic tees from 5-Below, combat boots, and lots of funky earrings. (seriously 5-Below is a lifesaver for literally anything!!!) you can get a lot of these things for super cheap - I got a 20 pack of fun earrings like duckies, mushrooms, mini water bottles, etc. for like $11, and a lot of my colorful jeans are like 6 bucks at the thrift store. whatever your style is or whatever you want it to be, work to make that happen. because getting dressed is one of the simplest things you'll do in a day, so why not make the most of it?

doodle. it's fun and simple, and it'll give your hands something to do other than pick at your skin if you do that kind of stuff (see below).

on a similar note, make art!!!!! it doesn't have to be good!!!!!! just make art all the time, as often as you can. write crappy fanfiction. make friendship bracelets. sculpt a funky lil cat. draw your comfort characters. art is so healing and it will do wonders for you. even just like run your hands through a giant bag of beads like I do :P

get fidgets and bring them everywhere with you. this is more of an anxiety/stimming thing for me but I pick at my fingers, lips, pimples, eyebrows, etc., and it hurts a lot and will probably leave scars. fidgets are just amazing. I'm partial to tangles and infinity cubes :) gum and chewelry are good for this as well (for when I bite my fingers/clothes or chew the skin off my lips)

if you find yourself with a whole day with nothing to do and you don't have the energy to get up and do anything, go to the park. bring a blanket, some snacks, and headphones, and just lay there and listen to music. sleep. watch youtube. literally anything you would normally do when you don't have energy, except it's outside in the sun and grass and nature around other people who are doing the same thing! 10/10

get a pet if you can. even just fish, but really a fluffy, snuggly animal is probably best such as a dog or cat. OH MY GOD THEY HELP SO MUCH. ANIMALS ARE MAGIC. I don't think I've ever been sad while holding or petting my grandma's dog. (our family doesn't have one right now lol)

spray perfume/body spray on you. faster and easier than deodorant and it usually smells better

if you're gonna scroll, scroll pinterest. honestly, it's probably best to get rid of things like tiktok and snapchat, but that's kinda unrealistic for most people so I get it <3 pinterest is probably gonna be better than other social media cause it's more creative?? if you know what I mean?? and usually it's reading things and not mindlessly watching videos

if you don't have the energy to do stuff with your hair, put it up in a bun! fast simple and easy. takes like 5 seconds, even for someone with super thick curly hair like me. (or cut it short! but most of us aren't brave enough to do that lol)

eat fruit. sweet and comforting, but healthy!! so much better for you than junk food, and honestly it tastes better most of the time too. I recommend strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, watermelon, and cantaloupe. easy to take with you on the go and sooooo good <333

play calming video games such as animal crossing, minecraft, stardew valley, cats with soup (if you're into mobile games), etc. puzzle games are good too! if you want something more combat-y, I would recommend the zelda games or forager. still chill and mellow but has more combat and story/lore

garden if you can. I know this kind of ties in with having plants in your room, but if you're able and you have the energy, keep a flower and/or vegetable garden. there's something so beautiful in putting your hands in the warm dirt, smelling your freshly-planted flowers, eating sun-infused vegetables that taste infinitely better than store-bought. it's so nice, but I know it's not for everyone so don't worry about it if you don't get around to it <3

sleep in the bus/car on the way to school if you're tired. not a perfect solution but better than falling asleep in class

inhale through your nose, not your mouth. it's better for your lungs and you'll get better air quality that way. it also helps calm you better than mouth breathing, and you can't exactly smell the fresh air through your mouth :P

read. sit down and read a book. carry one with you wherever you go. spend a weekend day in the library with a huge stack of books just reading. it's so calming and helps stimulate your brain. doesn't matter what you read as long as it's making you happy :)

surround yourself with color, not dark drab colors. hang up art and posters on your walls, get bright blankets and pillows, lay out a tiny lil carpet, make bead curtains and string them up on your curtain rod, set out little figurines/sculptures around your room. put color and life everywhere around you, and that will start to seep into your soul.

tea is always good. or if you don't like tea, hot water with lemon juice and honey. basically the same :)

if you ever just don't want to do something, like you just absolutely don't want to get up and do _ thing, think about future you. would they be like "bro thanks so much you really helped me out there" if you did the thing? if yes, then do it, no matter how impossible it seems. you'll thank yourself later.

a statement that is near and dear to my heart: if you feel like everyone hates you, sleep. if you feel like you hate everyone, eat. if you feel like you hate yourself, shower.

NO MORE SU!C!DE JOKES. ever. the end! replace "i'm literally gonna kms" jokes or anything along those lines with "i'm literally gonna flop to the floor" or "i'm literally gonna go ham bananas on this place" or whatever wild bullshit pops into your brain.

watch studio ghibli movies. the most amazing things to ever exist. I have never felt sad while watching a ghibli movie. they are basically the definition of peace.

take a bubble bath!!!!! :D

making your bed helps for some reason??? why, I have no idea. but it does bro

get excited about things. smile when you hear your favorite song. hug your amazon package when it comes in. count down the days until a holiday. laugh with joy when you have an amazing day. it makes things so much better.

an important addition: bring snacks everywhere

that's all for now, lmk if you have anything else to add!!! love you guys, I promise it gets better <3

[silver-raiyne]

ClickyClacky Cleaning System - good for anyone with depression, neurodivergence, executive function disorders.

I use this system to keep me on task and keep my house clean when my depression has gotten bad or when my PTSD/trauma brain causes me to zone out/forget to do normal daily tasks.

The bins are separated into day, night, weekly tasks and color coded for easy reference.

Bracelets are made out of spiral hair ties, task tags are from the craft section.

Pick a few from each bin and wear them on my wrist, the constant noise of them click-clacking reminds me to do the task - I remove each bracelet when I'm done.

It's a great system for anyone with executive function issues caused by neurodivergence, trauma brain, CPTSD, etc.

[lolly-dolli]

Here's what you're gonna do.

You're gonna go down to your local Aldi's, buy a 24oz bag of frozen mango chunks, a bag of rice, and two cans of black beans.

If you don't already have them; salt, lime or lemon juice and cumin; maybe some meal prep tupperware. Pouch tuna if you like that stuff.

Once home, put that bag of mango chunks in a bowl full of warm water so they defrost. Don't pen it. The bag needs to stay closed. This'll make sense later.

Prepare enough water in a pot to cook two cups of that rice. Make sure the pot's big. Big enough to hold way more rice than you expect there to be. Add a teaspoon of cumin, two tablespoons lime or lemon juice, salt according to preference. Pat of butter.

Boil. Make sure the butler's melted. Stir to combine.

Add your rice. Cook according to rice bag.

If you have a protein, you can cook that now. 20-30 minutes at your disposal. If not, that's why we got the second can of beans for.

I recommend Aldi's tuna steaks - quick to defrost, 5 bucks for 2-3. Lean protein. Real nice. Creme de la crumb's tuna marinade also works real nice if you have the energy.

A pouch of tuna's just as good functionally.

Less mercury that way.

You can mix it in that if you want, too.

Strain your beans. Conserve a little bean water for the rice if you want.

Your rice is done.

Add your beans. Twice as many if you're feeling like it'll be a bad week. Two or three pouch tunas too if you want a little extra.

If you have the lemon pepper kind you can probably nix the citrus juice.

Now we go back to your mango. If all's worked correctly, the warm water should've thawed them somewhat, the heat warming the air in the bag.

Dump 'em in, turn the burner to low heat. Stir until well combined.

Portion out into Tupperware.

You've got a good couple meals right there. Even more as side dishes if you have the energy to cook chicken nuggets or fish or veggies or whatever.

Lunch. Breakfast. Dinner.

Carbs to keep you awake and moving.

Protein to fuel your muscles.

Bit of fiber to push it all through your guts easier.

Citric acid to avoid the scurvy.

Can be eaten hot or cold, and the shit's good, too.

You're gonna have something tasty to eat whether you can operate a microwave or not this week.

That's what you're gonna do.

[hotgirlsurvival]

[cheap-spirits]

ive life hacked my way through brushing my teeth. When im in a depression spiral i find it super hard to brush my teeth but i always manage to shower (idk i just always loved having a shower i would stay in a shower all day) SO instead of having them as separate jobs ive just started brushing my teeth in the shower

it seems so fucking simple, its no longer a whole extra task each day, its just a part of my shower routine!!

its only been a week of doing it this way but i think i can keep this up, and the days i dont shower are few and far between so thats even better than going weeks without brushing my teeth

[elf-indulgent]

before enjoying cooking: i'm locked into an endless cycle of cooking and eating food every day of my life :/

after tricking myself into enjoying cooking: i have so many more days of cooking and eating food in my life :D

[autistic-fairy]

How to wash your face with depression or just cuz you don't like doing it.

There was a poll about skin care going around and a lot of people were saying they don't wash their face. I was surprised by this then remembered I do it differently. Here's how

MICELLER WATER

GOD this stuff is a MIRACLE. No more dripping water down your arms and getting all wet. Maybe you get soap in your eyes.

Just take a cotton pad, drip some micellar on it and wipe your face. DONE. QUICK. NO MESS.

NOW GO AND WIPE THAT OIL OFF YOUR SKIN (if you want ig)

[cutely-fe]

Tip for the night. Suffer from any form of deliberating mental illness that makes even a simple task like showering sound like you’re being asked to run the Boston Marathon after being awake for 48 hours straight.

Get a sturdy plastic folding chair. A real shower is great but expensive and let’s face or they take up a lot of room. Folding ones are cheaper and can be tucked away when dried.

Shower time rolls round just plop that bad boy straight under the shower fall, sit and enjoy as the water relaxes you. You can do all you need to do sitting. Bath, shave, wash the hair… everything and you never have to stand (outside of standing to get out of the shower).

When I’m in the depths of my bipolar depression the MERE IDEA of showering is exhausting much less the act of holding my body upright while I perform “yoga” in slippery water.

In 2019 I learned to embrace a seated shower due to an ATV wreck that left my ankle shattered. I swore I’d never sit to shower again. I associated it as being weak bc that’s why I started. It took two years for me to realize I didn’t need a shattered ankle to have permission to sit and shower. I can sit and shower when I’ve had a long day, when I’m sick, when I’m just to mentally tired to hold myself up. That realization has been a game changer for me.

Being able to continue healthy self care is vital when I’m depressed or unwell. Giving myself permission to do so in the best way I can allows me to keep that up.

Allow yourself to change the “rules” and do what’s easier for you.

[winkcore]

depression hacks that help me:

- take a freezing cold shower for longer than comfortable

- drink coffee

- watch stand up comedy

- (i will continue to add when i have more tips)

[closingremarks]

[squidkid15]

lifetimes so long past they don't even seem like mine anymore

[writethatdown]

if you are someone who struggles with motivating yourself to attend to your chores, take care of yourself, or feel drained by the thought of hoarding so much responsibilities, i want to share a tip.

if you happen to be standing for some reason, try to complete all tasks that you usually do up standing. so for me, once i am on my feet, i do a sequence of activities like brushing my teeth, washing my face, ironing my clothes, brushing my hair, organizing my stuff for college, making my bed etc. without taking any break and i am able stack around 5 tasks comfortably. also, once the momentum is built, it gets easier!

similarly, if i am at my desk, sitting, i usually have my laptop there and always some work that needs to get done for college, admin or miscellaneous purposes. i try to do as much as i can.

this is particularly helpful for me because i am a big bedrot. especially when i am in pain or uncomfortable in general.

i just thought maybe it will help someone out there. this same hack might go in vain for me in a few weeks lol and i am just always figuring it out to push myself to be a functioning adult.

anyways, i hope u r taking care ♡

[gargoylesinthegarden]

Turns out I wasn't depressed I actually just needed attention

[liquidorcard]

That's not what you fucking said though, is it Lily? If you're going to try to backpedal, you could at least delete the other fucking post.

"Those filthy disgusting druggies are a blight on society and they're horrible and they smell bad . . . But I guess they shouldn't be brutalized by the police or whatever."

First of all, it's clear by your post you don't seem to understand the difference between decriminalization and legalization. Second, it's clear from your enthusiasm to hop on the opportunity to talk shit you don't give a flying fuck about, nor do you support the rehabilitation and treatment of drug use for what it is: a symptom of greater mental health issues.

It's absolutely ghoulish and abhorrent for you to try to use your uncle's death and sister's hardships to lampshade your bullshit here Lily-- but I suppose that's not new behavior for you.

Your uncle was using medical grade cannabis-- which has been officially legal nation wide for YEARS and functionally legal here, if not officially, for even longer. Greencards were not hard to obtain. In BC and Ottowa they wouldn't even check if you had one. Weed did not kill your fucking uncle. Weed happens to be one of the few mind-altering substances that has NEVER been linked to anyone's direct cause of death. It is BY NO MEANS HARMLESS, and can have a seriously negative effect on certain people with other health issues or mental illnesses, however. I don't believe for a second you actually think weed is what caused your uncle's death or Courtney's drug issues. You're just using the general stigma around drug addiction and the profound damage the War On Drugs has done to the west.

Let it not go unacknowledged that this is yet ANOTHER example of how blatantly Lily couldn't care less about the marginalized communities she uses as a bludgeon to obfuscate criticism. No community has been more systemically disenfranchised in Canada by the stigma around addiction more than the First Nations community. Almost every time, the government makes excuses not to offer aid or relief in indigenous populations because "they will just use the funds to buy more drugs." In my province, entire reservations have been left WITHOUT CLEAN DRINKING WATER. Most of the homeless population in my city are First Nations people who have had their lives devastated by addiction. NIMBYs refuse to let safe-injection or other harm reduction clinics open near their homes and buisness, then endlessly bitch about the homeless people they left with no where to go loitering around their properties because they have nowhere to go. Certain months get so cold that freezing to death isn't an uncommon occurrence. The dead body of a homeless person was discovered in the dumpster of my middle school when I was a kid-- what a formative childhood memory that was.

Let us not forget how common drug abuse problems are in the LGBTQ+ community and among victims of SA. I went into extensive detail about my own experience in this post:

So quite this weenie pissbaby behavior. Quite this Motte-and-bailey J.K. Rowling mealy-mouthed bullshit.

You're really not even very good at disguising your own bigotry sweaty.

Edit: Courtney wanted it clarified she used drugs, but was never an addict. Lily's pedaled that line so much I never even thought to check with Courtney if it was true.

[lesbian-disaster-academic]

Since there's been some discussion of this on a prior post I made, let's address

Neurodivergent Skill-Regression: What is it & Why Does it Happen?

Content Warning! This post will make brief mention of various topics, including: childhood abuse (not explicit), depression, suicidal ideation, car accidents, the COVID-19 pandemic, and throwing up.

Okay, let's begin with a quick preface. I'm writing from the Global North, in a capitalist economy, and in a country founded on (ongoing!) systems of colonialism. Therefore, that's how I'll be situating this discussion (just because it's what I know best). Neurodivergence and Capitalist Exploitation Under capitalism, productivity and extraction in the name of profit become of the utmost importance. Extraction can take place in the form of extracting physical resources (think fracking on Turtle Island), extracting labour, etc. Ultimately, neurodivergence itself is not an ill-formed or "bad" mind. It is only conceptualized and coded as such because capitalism and various other interlocking systems of oppression are actively hostile to minds that, in some way, subvert capitalist and colonial ideals. (however, this is not to negate, invalidate, or trivialize the fact that adhd/asd/ocd/bpd/etc. are disabilities. by their very nature, they impede and disrupt functioning. what is considered "functional", however, is determined by this capitalist/colonialist state and the things it values. this is all simply to say that we would be able to more easily exist and thrive within a society that doesn't reward self-destruction in the name of accumulating capital for the upper class) Of course, living in a system that is not built for you is going to be exhausting—it takes a toll on you, both physically and mentally. This can be further compounded if you are marginalized in other ways; for instance, if you're a person of colour, working class, a woman, 2SLGBTQ+, an immigrant, or a combination of these.

Masking and Burnout Many neurodivergent folx are forced into positions in which they have to mask. For the sake of clarity, "masking", in this case, involves concealing one's neurodivergent traits. For me, that might look like suppressing compulsions, consciously regulating my facial expressions, working longer and harder to accomplish tasks because I can't focus, or scripting conversations before I have them. These manifestations are often invisible to outsiders, but they take a heavy toll on us, and can often result in neurodivergent burnout. This is where the skill-regression comes in. An Example... Let me give you a personal example of what neurodivergent skill-regression can look like! Prior to the pandemic, I was a highly productive person. I was designated "gifted" (whatever that means) and was top of my class in every single class. I was participating in (and running) multiple clubs, working a steady job, volunteering within the community, and learning new instruments and languages. I was a skilled pianist and painter, and also very athletic. From the outside looking in, I appeared successful: I had a massive scholarship lined up at the most prestigious university in the country. I was generally well-liked. I was creative and skilled in both the humanities and STEM (mostly humanities lol), etcetera etcetera. But I was in no way okay. I was incredibly depressed and suicidal. I had multiple undiagnosed anxiety disorders and neurodivergencies. I was experiencing relentless abuse at home. I was throwing up every few days out of pure fear and stress. I was constantly sick, crying (in secret, and then later too numb to cry), overwhelmed, exhausted, and apathetic. And yet I refused to stop pushing my body and mind to their limit because I had this ingrained belief surrounding my productivity—if I slowed down, would I be worth anything? At the time, to my mind, the answer was a staunch no (even though I didn't apply this thinking to anyone but myself lol). So I repressed everything. I pushed it all to the side and kept moving forward. To put it in perspective, I got hit by a truck at one point, but I was so scared of being late to a thing and disappointing my parents that I just apologized and kept going. This kind of behaviour went on for close to a decade. And then the pandemic hit. And I was forced to stop. I was made to (by virtue of my relative privilege) take a moment to sit down, look around, and actually feel things. And it hit me like a ton of bricks: All the weight of the anger and fear and everything that I had been repressing for the sake of survival came RUSHING in. Now? You want to know what I'm like now? I am very burnt out and incredibly unproductive. I have the attention span of a gnat. Where I used to be able push through exhaustion or else tamp it down with consistently high levels of adrenaline, I now almost ALWAYS feel tired, to the point where I have to lay down. I used to be able to toss together an essay in the span of a couple hours. And, yes, while I can still put an essay together quickly, it’s not going to necessarily be good. Likewise, where I used to be able to mask my neurodivergent traits, I'm now hyperaware of how exhausting it all is, which makes it more difficult to appear neurotypical in public.

The thing is, when you have something like adhd as well as an anxiety disorder, the anxiety can pretty effectively mask the adhd. But once I started medication and more intense therapy, I got a hold on my anxiety and alllll of my coping mechanisms fell away. I no longer had that constant, vibrating fear to force me to maintain attention, and push myself to the breaking point.

It’s like not aging for 80 years and then suddenly having decades collapse into you in the span of moments. So Where Does This Leave Us? Okay, that was a loooong tangent, sorry. Returning to the original point. As the infinitely cool and talented @revenantscholar mentioned in a previous post of mine, when you exist in an unsafe environment (or one which is generally not built with you in mind), it's difficult to hold onto the skills you once had. Your body goes into survival mode and prioritizes keeping you alive. Once you have returned to a space where you can unmask and be physically/emotionally/mentally SAFE, you have the capacity to relearn some of those skills. Not all of them, necessarily, and not all at once. But these things do return—and even if they don't (listen to me, this is important), that doesn't make you stupid/bad/worthless. You are living in a world that is not built for people like you and I, and it sucks, and it's painful and scary, and we will continue to fight for a better future. In the meantime, it's important to remember that you are worthy of care, compassion, empathy, and support regardless of what you can contribute/do. You are incredibly important and I'm so glad you're here. (Thank you for listening. I'm drawing on my human rights knowledge from my degree, and also my own personal experience. However, feel free to correct me or ask any questions you might have! I'm also happy to provide resources/citations if needed. Now go drink water and rest if you need to! Ily!)

[reactionimagesdaily]