Feeling gloomy

Feeling down and somewhat depressed? Try this.

We’ve all been there: feeling gloomy and tired for certain periods of time. It’s that heavy feeling when you just don’t have the energy to do anything, let alone having to study hard. Fortunately, these feelings are quite normal. But if you’ve been experiencing such periods more often and for longer periods of time, it would be wise to ask for help.

Where to start? Talk about it.

You’ve probably heard this a million times before, but we would like to point it out nonetheless: talking to someone about your feelings is very important when dealing with sadness and/or depression. Not only will you make it more bearable for yourself by sharing that load, it is the most crucial step to take in order to get rid of those feelings.

Talking to someone about your feelings might sound easy. But how come only few people actually do so? In many cases, feelings of shame or thoughts like “Me, sad/depressed? Never!” keep us from talking about our sad and depressing feelings. And that’s a shame! ! Because asking or telling each other how we feel is exactly what we need to understand and support each other better.

What else can you do?

Feeling gloomy and indifferent often go hand in hand. You will notice that it’s difficult to be enthusiastic about anything at all. As a result, you will most likely start doing less and less. After all, besides from not being in the mood, you don’t even really have the energy to do anything. It’s hardly surprising you’d rather stay at home and cancel all of your appointments.

Yet, that isn’t a solution to your problem. . In fact, it’s a trap you really want to avoid. Practice shows that it’s a downward spiral: the less you do anything, the worse you will feel and the worse you feel, the less you will do. So what should you do? Keep doing things! You will notice that after an activity, such as taking a walk, talking to friends or cleaning up your room, you will feel better about yourself. By doing something, you create an opportunity to be proud of yourself: even though you dreaded it, you still managed to get yourself to do it! The feeling of achieving something is very valuable. Moreover, many activities release hormones that have a positive effect on your mood. A double bonus!

Embrace your inner artist

We can all agree that feeling gloomy is no fun. Yet it can be inspiring. Some artists were able to translate their pain into beautiful works of art, such as Van Gogh. But it’s not about creating a masterpiece, that’s a rather unrealistic goal. It’s about expressing yourself in a creative way, purely for yourself. Write a poem, draw a picture, dance, or do something creative that feels right for you. Give it a chance and who knows, it might help you deal with your situation a lot better.