Dear depressed people, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Let me introduce myself to you first. I am an author, and stand-up comedian, and at my own level, I am trying to make the world happier.
This is my book on finding inner happiness on Amazon India: http://bit.ly/AmarHIYS
Amazon Global: https://amzn.to/2NZi2Vv
This is my comedy channel: https://bit.ly/2KCecQg
Now that I have introduced myself, let’s get down to you guys. I mean now quite down enough, I don’t want to get too private with you.
What the fuck is wrong with you guys?
Depression is a man-made disease. You hear that? Depression is a man-made disease. It has been created by us. We fucked ourselves, and too badly.
I am not a stranger to depression. I was miserably depressed in 2007 when I went for my MBA. I was in Singapore and should have been one of the best times of my life, but I got myself depressed. I don’t know how. I compared myself the hell with the rest of the class, with people who came from some of the top colleges in the country, and somehow, I got so depressed that I was suicidal and my parents called me back to India, from Singapore, fearing for my life.
While I was depressed, I lay in my bed for hours, with sweat pouring in from all parts of my body, I looked at the world outside from my room’s window and shivered, and I masturbated and just ruined my physical and mental health.
I came back to India, and was put on an anti-depressant program which lasted a few months. I went back to Singapore to get back my MBA, and I threw all the anti-depressants in the dustbin outside my new campus room. I was restarting my life, after all.
Ever since, I have faced a lot of problems in my life and went through a fair but of pain. I got fired from my post campus job with an education loan on me; I left my job after a few years to try and pursue writing and comedy. I have faced all sorts of financial and emotional difficulties and would continue to do so, as long as there is life.
However, I will NOT allow myself to get depressed again.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Below I will list down a bunch of pointers, which if you follow, you will not get or stay depressed. I guarantee.
I fucking guarantee! You get it?
Do the below.
1. Stop comparing your lives with those of other people
To fuck with the world! To hell with it. You are not the world. They are not you. Stop comparing your lives with those of other people. If nature intended you to be similar, it would have designed life like that. Stop comparing riches, emotions, attitudes.
If you compare your life constantly with that of others, there is no way you will find happiness in your heart.
2. Exercise
Move your body, just move it. I am a runner. After my MBA, I have run a few half marathons and a full one. I have been hitting the gym for a while, but I will always be a runner.
One of the features of my depression period was that I stopped working out and I have been working out for over a decade. Your body and your mind are connected. If you work your body, your mind will work. An active mind lives inside an active body. A dead mind lives inside a dead body.
Get the fuck out of your house and run. Take a gym membership and hit the gym. Do whatever you like, but keep your body fit. I guarantee if you work out 5–6 hours a week, you won’t stay depressed, if you think you are.
3. Stop fucking using the word ‘depressed’
I am sick of hearing people telling me they are depressed. Hey, I am depressed. That person is depressed. She is depressed. He is depressed. What the fuck!
Stop using the word. Say, ‘I am feeling low.’ Say, ‘I am having a bad day, or a month, or a year for fuck’s sake,’ but don’t use the word depressed!
You feel what you say. Say what you want to feel. Stop using the shitty word.
4. Don’t buy the argument that depression is a result of chemical reactions
How many Olympic athletes have you seen who are depressed? How many people have you seen who are at the top of their game in every area of their lives and they get depressed?
I have seen people getting depressed and on medicines all my life and it has always been the result of fundamental flaws in lives. Depression is the result of fundamental flaws in life.
Your job sucks!
Your wife/husband sucks the life out of you!
You have had financial difficulties for years!
You are miserable at home/work!
You are lonely!
You are afraid that you are worth nothing!
You haven’t made peace with your past!
Sorry for all those exclamation marks but that’s the truth. Depression is not a one day phenomenon. It is a build-up. It builds up over the years because it is not treated or addressed.
Address it. Nip negative emotions in the bud and they will not become the avalanche they do.
5. Talk it out
Find friends to talk to. Talk it out to someone who understands. Do not talk to shitty people who may make fun of how you feel. Talk to people who understand, and you will feel lighter.
Don’t stay in that shell alone. Please, don’t.
6. Take a break from whatever the fuck is happening
There is something clearly happening which has had an impact on your mind and body. You need to go off what’s making you feel down and out.
You need to go off it. In my case, I had to run away from Singapore and come back to India, because I was not in a shape to handle my emotions or myself.
It was horrible. So, take space from whatever is bothering you. It is okay, the world doesn’t care even if you die. It will carry on without you.
7. It is okay, not to be okay
You idiot! Forgive yourself. As human beings, we have flaws. We are imperfect. We make mistakes. The society that we live in, doesn’t support the idea of happiness.
Society is built around misery and most people are scared to pursue their own happiness. We fail. We make mistakes and it is okay. If you fail on the journey to find your own happiness, allow yourself.
Make amends with your past. Forgive yourself. You were a different person yesterday.
I will leave you with this video, which I shot to explain what happiness means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfvNzgHHdKA&t=2s
The opposite of depression is perhaps, Euphoria, your own happiness.
Do comment what you think and let me know if I can help. I will try.
Do clap, if you liked reading it.
To your happiness,
love,
Amar
