How to Get Over Depression Fast! (If Temporarily.) Snapchat Episode 2

#DepressionSucks(TheLifeOutOfMeAndYou)

Hey! I wrote this some time ago and thought I’d posted it (somewhere), but I can’t find it, so here it is, possibly again. I’ll blame my memory loss on the pit I was in at the time. Depression messes with the mind and renders those suffering with it helplessly forgetful. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…

I used to be a wolf, but I’m over it nOWWWWW … <— Has really little relevance to this post except that humour is our BFF when we’re down and out. I used to be depressed, but [as you know from my first Snapchat post] the most surprising thing helped me get over depression—or at least situational sadness.

Actually, two things helped me get through it. Wait! Three things! (I may add more things if I think of something else.) [Four! I added a fourth. May the fourth be with you.]

But anyway, without further adieu, I’ll share my Get Over Depression secrets …

Laugh.
Help others.
Let others help you.
Supplements.

Let’s review!

Laughter releases dopamine. Dopamine is a feel-good hormone. Our brains are our own drug pushers: we just gotta ask for what we want. And by asking, we gotta be “doers.”

Saying “I want to be happy” or “I don’t want to be depressed” or “Please make the Kardashians ugly” ain’t going to actually make us less depressed. Maybe the Kardashian thing will. A little.

The way our brain likes to be asked for these awesome-sauce happy hormones is through doing. (Damn doing.)

Get Over Depression SECRET #1—Snapchat!

I shit you not.

If you skipped all these words and watched some of the Snapchat videos in this blog, you already know what I’m talking ‘bout, Willis. (By the way, I met a different Willis in a coffee shop—where I meet everyone—and Willis flirted with me and told me that he was single, and then later I saw Willis in a car with a woman who I’m pretty sure was Willis’s wife. Tsk tsk, Willis.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, Snapchat!

Snapchat is silly. Silly makes us laugh. Or at least it can. It works for me. And it can work for you, which brings me to …

Get Over Depression SECRET #2—Help Others!

I started sending a daily Snapchat / Snaperonomy / Snapoholic / Snapify / Snapalicious / Snapwhatever … for someone in my family who suffers from depression [my sister, guess I already outed myself on that one] to add a moment of chuckle to her day. But then I thought, what if other people could use a dose of AJ Snapology?

When we help others, we feel good and they feel good. Bam!

Here we are, folks! And―you’re welcome. (If you don’t like these posts, just skip ‘em.)

And the other side of helping others feel good is …

SECRET #3—Get Help from Others … Eek

Seriously, I love love love helping others through and outta da shitty end—so to speak—of their suffering. I get a huge release of dopamine—or maybe it’s oxytocin or maybe it’s both, but whatever. I get high—from helping others.

But it also drains me a little. *sad face*

And when I’m drained and down, this is when I’ve learned to reach out to my peeps for support.

It took many years of aloof closed-off-ed-ness to gather the guts to do this. Reaching out requires vulnerability.

Vulnerability is scary shit, y’all. But it’s also sooo worth it. Just ask Brené Brown!

Guess what happens when we grab courage by the balls and overcome fear? Hint: Super hero cape! We feel fucking amazing. #empowerMEnt

Not only do we get a little help from our friends, but we give them the gift of helping us. Oh, yeah, it’s a gift. A gift of big time, big tent, big ticket trust.

Trust is one of the most valuable commodities in the relationship economy.

So, they—our people—uplift us, and we uplift them. Win to the Win, people! Win to the win.

SECRET #4—Supplements!

It’s a whole supplement system that makes me feel kind of giddy. It might be the (natural) caffeine in it or all the vitamins, minerals and healthy goodies, but whatever, I kinda constantly feel like there’s a Disney surprise around every corner. The bonus is I can eat more hamburgers—hello gluttony—without gaining weight—ahh, sweet vanity. (Read my “skinny fast” blog.)