Do you ever have those times when you just feel like crying? Maybe there's seemingly no basis for it but there wells up within you a thundercloud of tears. Usually at a time when you can't hide and cry! Those emotions need an outlet. It doesn't have to be via a sob but they need an outlet. The expression can be in a positive way instead of stuffing it into depression or exploding into destructive outbursts.
Tip #16 - Just do something.
I think it was Elisabeth Eliot who said "When you don't know what to do, just do the next thing." That's sort of the same point I am making here. When we can't shake the blues, do something productive. Doesn't have to be big or impressive - just get something done. Sweep your kitchen floor. Write that Thank you note that should have been written 2 weeks ago. Bake a batch of cookies (just don't eat the whole thing by yourself - you'll be even more sad! Take a plate to your neighbor!) Finish that report at work (even though it is an exercise in futility and you know it - your boss wants you to do it anyway so just do it!) Get the bills paid. Wash some windows. Make that doctor's appointment.Weed the flower bed - if you don't have a flower bed, plant one! Resist the urge to sit down and "veg". The key is to do something productive, preferably something that doesn't indulge yourself.
I keep a pad of paper by the phone in my kitchen and I use it as a running to-do list. All sorts of things that I need to get done. Some short term (buy stamps). Some long term (refinish that table for the breakfast room) A perpetual menu of errands and projects and chores! I check it many times a day to jog my memory...and my motivation...to get things accomplished.
When I am tempted to retreat to the couch, I remind myself of that list. And I remember how satisfying it is to mark something off it. So I make myself do something - anything - just for that sense of accomplishment. Yes, I have been known to add things to it that I have already done --- just so I can relish the feeling of marking it off!!
Procrastination is fuel for the fire of depression. So is slothfulness. Annihilate them both - get something done.
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