The topic for this week is not a fun one, but it is one that effects me and I figured I may as well weigh in on it. I know a lot of writers that have to deal with depression, including myself. Not every writer has depression, and not every depressed person writes, but the overlap on that Venn diagram is bigger than you would imagine.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. The following advice are things that I have done personally to battle depression. If you need help beyond this advice, PLEASE seek professional assistance.

I have been living with depression for as long as I can remember. I won’t say my entire life, because I seriously doubt that baby-me was very sad. But, at least during my school years, I had a lot of dark moments and unhappy thoughts. This is not the time for me to explain those thoughts, only to qualify how long this has been in my life.

The way that I try to deal with my own depression has a few separate items, and some may work for you while others may not. But I highly advice that you try either these or other steps recommended by those who have been going through this along side the rest of us.

JOURNALING: One of the first things that I did when I struggled to write stories because of my depression was that I started a file of simply journaling my thoughts. If there was something from my day that made me sad or angry, I journaled about it. And, if there was something from my past that continued to bother me or give me bad dreams, or even send me into a depression swing, I would journal about that. Even specific people in my past that hurt me in one way to another, I wrote to them in my journal.
This step is very similar to the concept of writing letters to people but never sending them or throwing them into the fire. At first, it didn’t feel like much, but every morning I woke up and I journaled. I started this in January of 2023 as a sort of New year’s Resolution for myself. I wrote about everything too. My home life growing up. Failed relationships. My time in the army. The few near death experiences I had. It all went into the journal.
The thing is, after I did this for a while, it helped – it honestly helped. Those bad things didn’t go away, but I found a way to cope with them enough to manage their hold on my and my emotions. The other small thing that was happenin because I was journaling every day? I was also writing everyday, getting those memory muscles back into my brain and hands.

ROUTINE: This one is difficult for depressives, I know, but I have got to have my routine. Sometimes the temptation to simply stay in bed and do nothing is strong. I have to fight that pull to stay horizontal still to this day. But, the thing that has worked for me is to push past it and force myself into the routine, no matter how I feel about it.
And, I will get a bit angry when the schedule gets messed up by someone else or some outside force. I wake up every morning right now at 3:30 am. I walk my dogs, make my coffee, and check through my emails and things until 4 am. Then, I sit down and write for one full hour. The house is quite, no one is awake usually, and I can focus without distractions. Afterwards, weather permitting, I go for a walk for thirty minutes for fresh air and to clear my head. Then, back home to shower and prepare for the day.
If I miss any of these steps, or something prevents me from having these steps in this order at these times, I get annoyed and it leads to a bad day in my head. It’s not a true bad day, and I know this, but I still try to keep my time sacred for my mental health, and this has also done wonders for me in my life.

WALKING/EXERCISE: This one is one of the most difficult that I have in my life to keep consistent. Where I live, we get bad rain storms and a lot of snow, so the winter time which is already a difficult time of year for depression, adds to the fact that I sometimes loose my outdoor walking time. Last year, I purchased a walking treadmill for those days, although it is in the garage now, because the house I live in is too small. I haven’t had to use it much out there yet, and I know that it is not the same as walking the neighborhood, but we take our victories where and when we can.
The thing about this walk, it is not about distance – even though I am counting steps for my Walk to Mordor. The walking is about being out in fresh air and clearing my head. I also try to do a second walk during my lunch break at work, so that I have to force myself off my work computer. These two walks, when I get them, make the difference in my stress levels, which is also connected to my depression levels. Maintaining this has actually helped me find more moments of writing inspiration and less thoughts on dark corners that it has been a wonderful additional grace to my mental health.

These are the main three things that I do to deal with my own personal depression. This is not a solution, and this is not a cure. This is a way to cope, to earn back my focus, and to survive. If you are a writer with depression, you should look into what sort of things you can do for yourself instead of just ‘dealing with it’, if that is your current plan. There is no one solution, but there are thousands of inactive ones. So please, try and take care of yourself.

I appreciate you stopping by this week and I hope that each and every one of you has a beautiful day today. Happy Wordsmithing!