Celebrate the Little Things

When you suffer from depression your life is drained of color, nothing seems to make you happy. Your favorite food doesn't taste the same, your hobbies that you once loved to do just don't feel the same anymore. I remember when I tried reading in the darkest moments of my depression, something that once made me escape the world around me, and I felt nothing. That was the moment I knew I wasn't who I once was, and I didn't like this version of myself at all. I tried every day to force myself to be happy, but the only thing that did was make me even more miserable because nothing made me happy.

Around that time I started going to a new therapist, and she gave me the best tool for dealing with depression that I still use to this day. For this tool to be effective all you need is a journal (or anything you have access to daily) and a pen. Everyday in your journal you write one good thing that has happened. If you're anything like me you'd say something along the lines of "Nothing good every happens during the day." That is where you're wrong, you can write anything in this journal and at first it can only be just one thing a day and then increase the number of happy things gradually. When I say you can write anything I mean just about anything positive.

Here's some examples of things that I would write:

• Saw a cow trying to eat the grass on the other side of his fence

• New episode of The Walking Dead came out

• Got a good score on an assignment

• Heard a baby laugh

• Made someone smile

There is always going to be something good, it may not even be happening to you. Sometimes I would write stuff that I saw happening to other people because it made me feel better that someone was having a good day. When you write those happy things that happen after a couple of weeks you start to notice more and more happy things every day. Then eventually you actually start to feel happy about the little things.

Also to celebrate any bigger accomplishments/events I like to do something for myself, my thing is tattoo's. I'm not saying everyone goes out and gets some ink when they're celebrating but it's just what makes me happy it's going to take time to find your thing. I like to have a reminder during bad days that I had something to celebrate. I'm actually in the works of planning my next tattoo so stay tuned. It feels great to have constant reminders that the world isn't actually falling around you, your mind just thinks it is.

My first tattoo, something I designed when I was in eight grade. It means "through the highs and lows my story will continue on."