Crying

Believe it or not, crying actually helps. Once you've let all your tears out and calmed down a bit you tend to feel better. I had a good cry today and now that I'm done I feel much more rational and ready to tackle the world. Granted, I have a bit of a headache, but crying does that to you sometimes. It's nice to let it all out though. Especially if this happens while you're talking to someone who cares. I have been on both the giving and receiving end of tears today and have seen that it does help to just talk and cry it out. Do not be afraid of tears, my friends. Though I recommend trying not to do it in public if at all possible. Like if you feel them coming on, go somewhere a little more private if you can so you won't have to deal with awkward questions from those who you may not want to see you like that. This may not work for everyone, but in my case about twenty minutes after a crying bout I generally have a laugh attack over something really stupid and that sort of completes the feeling better process. Anyway, hope you're all hanging in there and that your days manage to get better!

Food

Let us have a discussion about the importance of food. From what I've seen, one of two things happens when depressed. Either you way overdo it on the comfort foods or you can barely bring yourself to eat at all. Honestly I've had periods of time where I've done both. But I've noticed that I'm way happier when I'm eating three (relatively) balanced meals a day. I'm a college student. Most days my idea of lunch is a package of Sour Patch Watermelon or a few handfuls of prepopped packaged popcorn. Super healthy, I know. Lately though I've been trying to eat more "real food" and less junk. It has actually helped a lot. When I eat normal meals on a regular schedule there's a strange feeling of accomplishment to it. Like, "okay, I may have bombed that oral presentation, but I actually cooked myself dinner so I'm not a complete failure!" Like I said, it's weird, but still feels good. The real reason you should try to eat normally though is because it helps you be physically healthy, which actually does play a part in mental health. If you take care of your body properly you shouldn't be as fatigued and that's a huge part of depression. I am not perfect at this, seeing as the tie in between eating better and how bad my depression is has been a recent realization, but I'm trying, and honestly that's the important part. Never forget, lovely readers, that Yoda is wrong (do or do not there is no try). There IS a try, and trying definitely counts for something!