Dealing with the Doom That Is Ever Present

If we are to buy in to the pharmaceutically created Clinical Depression, Attention Deficit Disorder, Emotional Affective Syndrome, and Woe Is Me Disease (ok...I made that last one up...) then we need to also buy in to the concept that the human brain is far more complicated than any set of brain surgeons can come even close to understanding. We have believe that the brain—the self, really—is more powerful than we think it is. We have to believe that the stories of people overcoming cancer miraculously or lifting cars to save a loved one in peril are not acts of a deity but acts of self. We have to believe that our personal attitude can accomplish something beyond the scope of our daily grind.

We have to believe that attitude can heal.

And, if we can embrace that positive attitude can demonstrably change our brain chemistry for the healthier, we have to likewise accept that negative attitude can change our brain chemistry for the worse.

In other words, unhappiness is a toxic thing. I can handle it because I'm inoculated with my own set of Pollyanna, Rocky Balboa-fueled mania but most others are more susceptible to the slow creep of depressing thoughts. I know—those of you cursed with the dark depression kind of hate people like me. So here are a few tips if you find yourself wallowing in depression but aren't taking drugs to put you into a Cotton Candy haze:

1. This feeling often has NOTHING to do with your actual circumstances.

Like a strange voice telling you to slaughter your family in their sleep or gorge on a box of chocolate donut holes, you get to choose whether or not to listen to this feeling. Look around at your circumstances and determine if things are really bad enough to elicit these awful feelings. If, in comparison with the rest of the unwashed masses, you can look at your life and say that things are, on the whole, pretty decent you can choose to realize that this is not about your shitty job or lonely, single life.

2. Our brain doesn't have time to Naval Gaze when we are ACTIVE.

Working out in the gym, cooking a complicated dish, playing softball, dancing like a loon, singing in a choir, painting, writing, or reading an involving book—anything that engages the mind and body in a pursuit that isn't constant self reflection is a remedy to the crippling doubt and doom you feel. And, as with all things in life including laundry and whacking off, the hardest part is getting started.

Hell, I might be a truly depressed person but I find so many things to do that I rarely have time to reflect on my own state of happiness or unhappiness. Run like the Devil is chasing your tail and you're just too goddamned busy to be depressed.

On a more pragmatic level -

• Get some sleep but not too much.
• Change up your morning routine.
• Be self disciplined about inconsequential things.
• Do something creative.

3. Lie to yourself.

C'mon—you lie all the time. You pretend that your friend's new baby isn't butt-ugly and that your boss's breath doesn't smell like a bucket of crap and that you didn't just fart in the conference room and that you didn't know you were speeding —you lie every single day of your life. So lie to yourself—tell yourself how good things are, pretend to be filled with hope and happiness. Put on some music that makes you feel like a badass, put on those shoes that make you feel all strut-worthy, and play the role.

Now, I’m gonna go pretend that the political landscape and potential future isn’t the very beginning of a brutal end while looking at flowers.