How to Cope up With Depression – 3 Unique & Successful Approaches

One thing for sure, if you have depression and anxiety, there are going to be days when you can’t do anything.  

Where you can’t pull yourself together, or change your mindset and where all you can do is make it through the day.  

It’s a tough situation and anxiety and depression affect 1 in 4 adults.  

Sometimes in these situations, we can forget that it is possible to alleviate some of the effects of depression so that you can get yourself into a place where you don’t have to experience as many dark days.

And we also know that if you can find some good days, you can use them to cling to as you start to move out of depression and build a life that sustains the good days and begins to eliminate severe depression.  

It is possible to cope up with depression.

I know it is, for I have lived it and conquered it.

These days, it’s just a few episodes here and there that are incredibly light by comparison to the days when darkness would creep over me and take me out.  

How do you cope up with depression and break free?

Before we get stuck into the best ways I found to cope with depression, it’s important to first realize that you are going to need to take the smallest of steps so that you don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

And also so that you can eventually even manage to participate in these smallest changes even when things get a bit dark. This way you don’t go backward.  

Instead, you start to build on these little things until one day as if by magic you begin to realize that the dark days have virtually disappeared.

Dealing with depression is a long road, but one that is possible, as long as you take it slowly, and if you are suffering in overcoming depression right now, just remember that making it through the day is an incredible achievement.  

Here’s how I believe you can handle depression.

These are 3 surprising ways that didn’t just help me learn how to cope with depression but they healed my depression.

How to deal with depression

1. Stopped eating meat to cope up with depression

They say eating well is vital for coping and fighting depression and I couldn’t agree more, although my strategy is somewhat different from the standard advice you’ll find on how to eat well to cope up with depression.   

My ‘eating well’ strategy for managing depression did not come about intentionally. 

It was more of an accident, and it was not something that I tried with the intention of being a solution for getting out of depression either.

However, it was the best thing I ever did for myself and my wellbeing, and I believe it was solely responsible for giving me my life back while helping me getting over depression. 

So what was it that I got me an answer to the question, how to overcome depression?

I stopped eating meat because I just couldn’t eat animals anymore, which also helped to cope up with depression. 

I didn’t stop for health reasons but was so surprised at the difference this decision made not just on my mental health but also on my physical health too.  

Three months after quitting meat I started to realize that my depression was not as severe at all, in fact, it had lifted immensely.  

It would be no exaggeration to say that it had improved significantly – by at least 80%! There were no other contributing factors that I could associate this difference with.   The only change I had made was to stop eating meat.  

I completely and wholeheartedly believe that this was the primary factor that helped me to not only recover but to never experience depression so intensely again and to be able to become confident and secure in ways that I couldn’t imagine.  

There was no way I could connect the dots between stopping to eating meat and how to get rid of depression. 

Three years on, the depression has not returned and I am no more looking for help on how to cure depression or struggled at beating depression. 

2. Be kind to yourself to cope up with depression

When we are depressed, we are often hard on ourselves while struggling to cope up with depression.

When we are not feeling depressed we are probably hard on ourselves and fearful of the next bout of depression.  

We can’t do things consistently, and the lack of consistency sets us off on a downward cycle.  

And when you think about it, most people are often unkind to themselves in general, it’s just that those with depression might be even harsher!

But does anybody ever stop to ask why we are all so keen to be so harsh on ourselves when we wouldn’t do it to other people? If they did, I’m sure that they’d agree that this mindset is not healthy.

So, what is one of the ways to deal with depression? It’s showing yourself some kindness and compassion.

I remember making a conscious decision to be kind to myself, even when I was depressed and get the right help with depression that I owed to myself. 

If I did nothing else during a bad phase of depression, if I didn’t get out of bed, or even wash, it was ok, as long as I remembered to reassure myself that I was ok, and a good person.  

I believe that this strategy stopped me from sinking deeper into oblivion when I was in a deep depression and is something I still practice to this day.  

The funny thing is that when the depression started to lift after the meat episode, I was still applying this principle and I found that bouncing back and rebuilding my life was much easier.

I noticed that every day the positive influence of this practice compounded as my depression lifted, this strategy helped me to spiral back to an even better life, one that was better than I could ever imagine and it happened quickly. 

That’s how to get over depression and overcome difficulties associated with ordinary work, general functionality, and social activities as an individual who sufferers from depression.

Plus, when I was deep in the darkness, I could do this to cope up with depression without having to move from whatever dark corner I’d crawled into. 

Also, watch this inspiring video on learning to live with depression:

3. Find something to believe in that is greater than you

So now you know to be kinder to yourself, and if you’ve tried the meat-free test, you might also be clearer of mind, it’s time to move onto the next step of learning coping skills for depression. 

The next huge step that I took that I believe helped me to stay focused on a positive future is to find something that is bigger than me, my family, my life, or my legacy that I could contribute to.  

Finding something that you can contribute to and support, and even live for that you’ll never be able to solve alone, helps you belong, it builds a sense of significance and distracts you from yourself.

It also accounts for the much-needed depression help. That’s how to fight depression in a way that also serves a meaningful cause. 

Just try it, and you’ll see that it’s a piece of powerful advice on how to get out of depression!    

You could choose to focus on helping people overcome depression, to help street children or to help create something that could be world changing.  

It sounds big, and idealistic because it is.

But if you do this, you’ll have a sense of contribution and significance for the rest of your life, you can create a culture for your family and fill them up with a sense of purpose too, and you’ll have something to aim for that will keep you moving forward.  

I live to help animals, that is the cause I chose admittedly after the meat-free decision.  

At the moment I donate to some animal sanctuaries that are doing great work, and in the future, if I ever move past my level of income or limitations, then I’ll find other ways. It certainly puts a perspective on things, motivates you and makes you feel as though you are worthy.  

Try these small but significant steps on how to combat depression and improve your overall well-being.

You have nothing to lose but don’t push yourself if you are not ready yet thinking about it might be all you can do right now. On the brighter side, that’s a significant contribution to cope up with depression, right there already!