Hey Confused:

Better find a routine that serves you better, one that replaces her in your mind, at least for part of the time. What might it be? A different exercise at the gym (Yoga? Tai Chi?) Maybe a social activity (joining an acting class perhaps)?

Anita

Dear Confused.

My son has suffered from the Blah’s since their teens. One of first breakthroughs that i noticed was that we found a park that he could easily frequent, & then he joined a charity which help look after that park. He now volunteers one day a week for a homeless cafe & this really has shifted something for him. He sees & takes notice about the ways he can help others, even going out of his comfort zone.
Just because your life feels grey to you, it does not stop you from bringing a little colour to someone else’s life. So volunteering for something that you think is a worthy cause could help to break the cycles of thinking about her.

Hey Confused:

“But it’s hard to move now”- this sentence made me think of a law in physics, Newton’s First Law of Motion, also called the Law of Inertia.

It’s often summarized as: “A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless it is acted upon by a force.”

In yet other words, an object will stay still if it’s already still and keep moving (in a straight line at the same speed) if it’s already moving, unless a force pushes or pulls on it.

Depression often creates a kind of psychological inertia because the brain and body get stuck in a certain state. Example: you want to get out of bed, but your body feels glued down. You know you should shower, but starting feels impossible. Just like in physics, starting requires the most energy.

But even in depression, once you begin a tiny action, it can be easier to keep going. Example: you step outside for a minute → you end up taking a short walk.

Inertia can also apply to mental motion. When depression triggers negative thinking, those thoughts can keep rolling on their own, example: one self‑critical thought spirals into ten more.

In physics, motion changes only when something pushes or pulls on the object. In depression, “external forces” can be a supportive friend, a therapist, medication, a routine (!), a small success, or a change in environment

These don’t magically fix things, but they can give the system a nudge that helps shift the direction.

You don’t need a giant push to change inertia — just a small, consistent one.

Examples: a 5‑minute walk, drinking water, opening a window, or doing one tiny chore. These are like gentle pushes that slowly change the system’s motion.

What do you think, Confused?

🤍 Anita

Hey Condused:

“Tring to find my feelings”, you wrote. What an interesting choice of words.

Trying to find your lost good 👍 feelings you mean, right? Because you do have the negative ones.

If only there was a magical ✨️ ay to bring back the positive ones!

(I am using my phone, so emojis to match my words keep showing up 🙂).

I know depression all too well 😪. Reminds me of The Nothing in the 1984 movie “The Never Ending Story”, it’s the destructive force that takes over when hopes and dreams 💔 are gone.

I wonder 🤔 I’d you’d enjoy the movie even though it’s old/ low tech.

In this fantasy movie, a child warrior and his horse, well, his horse 🐎 gets stuck in the “swamp of depression”. Lots of symbolism in the movie.

One day, and I hope sooner than later, you will no longer be stuck in depression hopes and dreams will return! 🙏

🤍 Anita

Hey Confused:

Yes, I was diagnosed with major depression and was on antidepressants as well as on other psychiatric drugs for 17 straight years. Got off all the drugs 13 years ago.

If you take antidepressants, I hope it will be short term.

“read the meaning”- please explain what you mean..?

🤍 Anita

Hey Confused:

The antidepressants (zoloft, U.S. brand name, which is also an anti OCD drug was wonderful at first. I remember describing it like a pair of scissors that cut off the chains of obsessive, ruminating thinking.

But then, because I didn’t have enough psychotherapy and too much instability in my loge no progress was made for about 15 years until I finally attended quality psychotherapy.

So, I would say, anti-depressants can be wonderful short-term but no substitution for effective, high quality psychotherapy.

Oh, zI understand, you were talking about the movie. Coming to think about it, I was a year younger than you when I watched it for the first time.
Just a pup 🐶

(excuse the typos, it’s using the phone (broke my computer the other day and since then, I have access to a 2nd computer only part of the time.

🤍 Anita

Thank you for your information. I suffer from OCD/obsessive thinking and rumination every day, so i hope that will help me if the doctor prescribes it. I will go for psychotherapy aswell, i hope i get to the end of this because its no way of living.