I had some hard times recently and that made me feel depressed and emotional. In the face of Depression I found it hard to even deal with small things. Turning up for work was a struggle. Depression made me swing from ‘comfort eating’ to ‘no appetite’.
Having time out to think about things helped me to deal with Depression. For example, I had some time out recently to think about what had affected me so much emotionally. I was able to break down the issues that were affecting me and tackled them one at a time. I realised that one of the issues was my job environment. I started a new job a month ago and the girls around me were gossipy. Having time out to think about things changed my attitude towards those colleagues who gossip a lot. I told myself that they are not my friends (they are just my colleagues) and decided not to let them affect me. Instead of being quiet and withdrawn at work to avoid the gossips, I decided to be more proactive and make more efforts to get to know other people at work who were not gossipy.
I learnt these skills of ‘staying calm’, ‘thinking about things’ and ‘breaking things down’ from one of my ex-colleagues. He did not go into fits of panic even when things were very stressful. He also had a logical attitude: ‘Being stressed or pulling your hair out won’t change anything!’. This calm attitude is very different to the family environment I was brought up in. I was glad to be able to observe and try out these skills of staying calm.
Thinking about things and breaking things down helped me to cope and feel better. When I was able to think about things I often found ways to speak up and ‘stick up for myself’. I feel that I empowered myself a little bit in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment