- Invitation Status
- Looking for partners
- Posting Speed
- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
- Writing Levels
- Intermediate
- Adept
- Advanced
- Preferred Character Gender
- No Preferences
- Genres
- Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Quest, Sci-Fi, Time Travel and World Hopping, Steampunk, Action/Adventure, Modern Drama, Mystery, Slice of Life, Romance, and many more.
I've used this to pull myself out of prolonged cases where I felt angry,depressed, sad, worthless, lethargic, anxious, and generally negative. It's pretty simple:
EVERY DAY, WRITE DOWN 5-10 GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED
Say whaaat? That won't work, it's way too simple; depression can't be cured just by scribbling down some trivial little goodies.
You're right. It's not that simple; so here's the rules that help it work.
1 - You have to WANT a more positive perspective
2 -Do it Daily
3 - Avoid using more than one or two entries on other people
4 - Avoid using terms like 'but'
5 - There are no 'not positive enough' things
This isn't a panacea for clinical depression; that takes a lot of work and more often than not professional counselling and the unending support of friends and loved ones. But it can help you stop feeling sad most of the time. It can help you stop getting pissed off at little things on a daily basis.
AM I TOO NEGATIVE?
Well... do any of these apply? If so, you may benefit from trying this :)
So, try recording 5-10 things every day that were good. You can post them here, or keep a private journal. Nobody here is going to judge or make fun of you if you want to post them here.
Sometimes it helps to vent for a bit, or step back and take a shower or a nap before recording, to refresh your perspective and let off some steam, but make sure you take some time to note the good things, even if they seem puny or stupid at first, over time you'll learn to notice more and more of them
EVERY DAY, WRITE DOWN 5-10 GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED
Say whaaat? That won't work, it's way too simple; depression can't be cured just by scribbling down some trivial little goodies.
You're right. It's not that simple; so here's the rules that help it work.
1 - You have to WANT a more positive perspective
I really can't stress this enough. If you go into anything with a negative attitude, chances are you'll come out with one.
Having a more positive outlook also doesn't mean you're ignoring your problems, or running away from them, or that you're delusional or stupid. It just means choosing not to let the negative run your whole life. You can care about and deal with problems while focusing on the positive; in fact, people are MORE productive when they're happy!
Having a more positive outlook also doesn't mean you're ignoring your problems, or running away from them, or that you're delusional or stupid. It just means choosing not to let the negative run your whole life. You can care about and deal with problems while focusing on the positive; in fact, people are MORE productive when they're happy!
This is not something that will work after a day, or three days, or even a week. The point of it is to train you to look for positive things in your day, no matter how small, and over time to have you focus on those things more than the negative things. Do it every day and commit.
Using 'I have a great friend in Suzy' is a good entry, but don't devote your whole list to writing about how awesome OTHER PEOPLE are; this is supposed to help you feel better about YOU and YOUR life! Having good friends or a considerate GF/BF or a supportive family is wonderful and great to record, but make sure the majority of your list is about you specifically.
"I figured out what to get my brother for his birthday, but he probably won't like it" is not a good entry! First off in this example it's baselessly predicting that the present will not be a success. You figured out a present; focus on that. "I got a new dress today; I'll be happy if it gets noticed". IF is also a bad word; again, the point is to focus more on POSITIVE outcomes. Avoid adding things on to your entries that negate them.
Don't stop recording or skip a day because you feel like nothing that happened was good enough.
- Trying something new
- Running into a friend
- Feeling good after a shower
- Nice weather
- Surviving a shift at work or a day at school
- Beating your high score
- Reading/seeing something cool/funny on the internet
- Doing something nice for someone
- Having a yummy snack
- Waking up on time
- Completing chores
- Finally getting around to that thing you've been meaning to do
- Hearing your favourite song on the radio
- Exercising
This isn't a panacea for clinical depression; that takes a lot of work and more often than not professional counselling and the unending support of friends and loved ones. But it can help you stop feeling sad most of the time. It can help you stop getting pissed off at little things on a daily basis.
AM I TOO NEGATIVE?
Well... do any of these apply? If so, you may benefit from trying this :)
- Most of my conversational topics are rants, venting, or complaining
- I regularly get annoyed at inconsequential things like how other people wear their clothes, other people's grammar, tiny messes around the house, not getting my hair right, etc.
- I haven't tried anything new or made plans to go out in a while because I predict that I won't enjoy it ahead of time
- I avoid people because I don't want to bring them down by being around
- I have a hard time viewing anything I do as important or significant
- I frequently debunk motivational posters and quotes when I see/hear them
- I often think of myself as inferior in some way to the other people in my life
- I regularly get annoyed at inconsequential things like how other people wear their clothes, other people's grammar, tiny messes around the house, not getting my hair right, etc.
- I haven't tried anything new or made plans to go out in a while because I predict that I won't enjoy it ahead of time
- I avoid people because I don't want to bring them down by being around
- I have a hard time viewing anything I do as important or significant
- I frequently debunk motivational posters and quotes when I see/hear them
- I often think of myself as inferior in some way to the other people in my life
So, try recording 5-10 things every day that were good. You can post them here, or keep a private journal. Nobody here is going to judge or make fun of you if you want to post them here.
Sometimes it helps to vent for a bit, or step back and take a shower or a nap before recording, to refresh your perspective and let off some steam, but make sure you take some time to note the good things, even if they seem puny or stupid at first, over time you'll learn to notice more and more of them