{"id":1229,"date":"2023-04-09T16:29:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T16:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anitasanz.com\/?p=1229"},"modified":"2024-09-02T23:14:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T23:14:40","slug":"poke-at-your-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anitasanz.com\/wp-dev\/poke-at-your-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Poke At Your Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
What Does Depression Have to Do With Bread?<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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When you\u2019re making bread the old-fashioned way, using yeast, kneading dough, then putting it in a bowl and letting it rise in a warm place\u2026 getting bigger is exactly what you want it to do. But if you\u2019re dealing with Depression, the last thing you want to do is let it get bigger and bigger. You do NOT want to let it rise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Depression Rises<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Laying in bed all day, watching TV, not answering the phone, not reaching out to talk to anyone, not getting out, not doing anything that makes you feel productive, not eating or drinking or thinking anything healthy\u2026these are all ways Depression gets a chance to grow bigger and bigger and bigger. Moving from the bed to the couch counts as a move in the right direction. Eating an apple instead of a Pop-tart counts big time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Gotta Poke At It<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

If you want your Depression to stay somewhat manageable, you have to keep poking at it. Instead of letting it sit and get bigger, you have to do things that prevent it from rising. Now, if you are grieving a loss, you want to do the opposite (within reason)\u2026 I\u2019ve written all about giving yourself the time and space to grieve in Stop Kicking the Turtle!<\/a> Grief and Depression might look and feel the same, but they are entirely different things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep Depression From Rising<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Doing things you don\u2019t feel like doing (because you are depressed) that stimulate your brain and body are ways to \u201cpoke at\u201d your depression and keep it from rising. Things like going for a walk, making a healthy lunch or dinner, calling up a good friend, getting outside into nature, doing something nice for someone else\u2026 these are things you can do to poke, poke, poke at your Depression. Even little pokes count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Depression Will Hate You<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Constantly doing things to poke at your Depression is going to really make it mad. It might just get so frustrated with you that it picks up and leaves, just to show you it doesn\u2019t need to keep taking your abuse. It\u2019s going to get really sick and tired of being bugged all the time and never left in peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feel free to tell it not to let the door hit it in the rear end on the way out.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Dr<\/em>.\u00a0Anita Sanz<\/em>, PhD, Psychologist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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