Recovering from Chronic Depression by Winnie Lim
If you’re an avid reader and are looking for another source of material, make sure you are checking out Medium either online or through their app. I keep coming across the most honest, writing I’ve seen in a long time.
The most recent article I feel compelled to share is Winnie Lim’s Recovering from chronic depression and documenting what helped me. She makes a valid point that not all recovery or treatment is the same for everyone, but reading and sharing recovery stories is a powerful tool.
Winnie points out the nine areas of her life she knew she needed to address in order to assist in lessening her depression. Quotes below are from Winnie:
- Genetic
- Overexposed to stimuli
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Sleep
“I have a strict sleep pattern I adhere to, sleeping before 11pm and waking up without an alarm around 6–7 every morning. It is almost non-negotiable, but I have made really rare exceptions for those one-off amazing nights. It is difficult to be disciplined with sleep because I love staying up late, but again – tradeoffs.”
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Diet
“One word. Sugar. There’s a ton of research out there about how sugar is really stressful not only for our brain, but for our entire body. And then there’s processed food…”
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Stress
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We are who we surround ourselves with
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Stigma of sadness
“I no longer feel bad about my perpetual sadness. I thrive on my sadness, and accept it as another spectrum of emotion I am capable of having. Why is happiness better than sadness? Why must everybody be happy?”
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Trauma
“Reading a lot. Developing empathy not only for myself, but for the situations and the people involved. Mediation. Understanding the true source of unconditional love has to come from within. Reclaiming ownership and power for my own life. Seeing the inter-connectedness of everything. Life, is a butterfly effect.”
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Meaning and purpose
She closes with a powerful message about her recovery:
“My recovery didn’t occur overnight but rather it took over the course of the past three years. I still have to be extremely careful with myself. There have been times when I let it slip, and the signs appeared again — trouble falling asleep, general apathy, the inability to observe beauty, exhaustion, irritability — the trick is to recognize these signs and kickstart the healing process again. Sometimes it takes making major decisions. Sometimes all it takes is a ton of time alone, away from the world.”
Make sure to read the entire article.