Keeping It Clean

In my last post I talked a little about the difference having your space decorated can be a mood booster. This time around, it's all about the cleanliness. When I'm depressed (or stressed; like right now drowning in papers for three different classes) my room gets really messy because I just don't care. Seriously. There have been times where there has been so little available floor space I've had to jump over things in the dark to turn my lights off at night and on in the morning. I knew that had to stop once I jumped over my backpack, slipped on a stray paper, and slammed into the wall one night. It helped that mandatory complex-wide cleaning checks were a couple weeks ago, so I was forced to clean it all up. I have to admit, it felt amazing. The environment in my home (because my bedroom is more my home than the rest of the apartment I'm sharing with strangers is) is so much happier and I feel more productive in it when it's clean. Since then, clutter has taken over a bit because I am really overwhelmed and don't have time to clean, but now I feel like I need to make the time to clean because if my room is clean I'll feel better about myself and be in a mindset that will allow me to get things done. I'm taking my own advice here because even though I have a hard time staying on the clean room wagon, every time I do it, it works.

Colors

Honestly, there are few things that brighten my outlook on life more than being around bright colors. Whether it be wearing a cardigan with neon pink seahorses on it or painting my nails each a different color, having a little pop of color on my person cheers me up. I don't know whether it's the colors itself or just the whimsy of it, it's effective. Wearing your favorite color can definitely give you a little boost too. You don't have to go all out rainbow/neon like I do when I need it. Whatever works for you. I for one, hate white walls (I think they're depressing), so I put up a bunch of posters. Some of my posters are of things that make me happy, like kittens and characters from my favorite books/movies/TV shows. Others are pretty landscapes. Those are nice because the view from my window is kind of bland. All I can see is the building next to mine. I also have a motivational poster or two that I filled in all the white space with multicolored Sharpies. I have a whole separate post to write about the state of your living space, but my point for now is that having some color to break up the monotony in my room is nice. I don't get that privilege outside of my bedroom because I share an apartment with three other women. Benefits of being a student. Anyway, I really do advise bringing a little color into your life when you're struggling. It gives just the tiniest boost, but honestly, anything is better than nothing, especially when things are bad.

Greetings

A few years ago, I was in a bad place depression wise, and I was part of a writing website where a lot of other people seemed to be suffering from depression too. There's just something about the internet that really attracts those who struggle with things like that. Anyway, on that website I had a "story" called the Depression Challenge, and in a blog like format, posted about things that helped me with my depression. Over time, I had a few hundred people following it, and some very positive feedback regarding how it was helping people. I stopped using that website when I went off to college, but I've been debating starting the Depression Challenge up again for a while. I guess I just finally got around to it. If I can use my experiences to help even one person who also struggles with depression, it will be worth it. So a little about me. My name's Mallory. I've had depression since I was 14. It was really, really severe for about three years but I finally seem to be past the worst of it. I'm studying psychology with the intention of becoming a social worker. My goal is to help people live healthy, happy, and productive lives despite any mental illnesses they have. I know firsthand how hard it is to function when you don't even have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Nobody deserves to live like that. I hope that this blog will be useful for someone out there.