What helped you most while recovering from depression?

Cycling along the riverbank.

My parents helped me. Even though im
an adult myself. I remember things got so bad I couldn’t get out of bed. I’m crying now remembering that time. I had 2 young children and a great dh who would just go to work and pretend it wasn’t happening.

i remember my parents coming round and having a big talk to me, helped me call GP and my mum come to appt with me.

friends also helped and going for walks.

12 years later I’m in such a better place. You will get there x

For me it’s yoga and sewing. Any kind of craft can be mindful as is yoga. All I’d add is all the advise given here is great but don’t push yourself, just do what you can and what you have the energy for. Hope things start to help.

You can also get some amazing meditations on YouTube, so if you're not yet ready to be out in a group or if budget is tight, you can queue up a YouTube session and do it in the safety of your living room on your phone or tablet.

ive set up a Playlist and spend a few happy moments browsing through YouTube and marking the ones I like the look of. Then you can just select them, quick and easy and less likely to feel overwhelmed if you're struggling to focus,

Hiking in the hills. It’s clinically proven (hiking or walking in the countryside) to regulate your brain.

Sorry this is such a cliché but be gentle with yourself, accept yourself as you are as much as that is possible, accept and ask for help wherever you might benefit from it and do anything (harmless of course) that makes you feel lighter.

I used to watch funny films and tv and I had a few funny books that I saved for when I couldn’t do much more than read. Being completely honest some of the ‘books’ were Calvin and Hobbes comics collections because in the depths of it I didn’t really have the attention span to immerse myself in text. I tried to really milk anything that made me laugh.

And if you have people who love you and are good to you, spend time with them, let them know something about what’s going on. I isolated myself and I think it made it worse.

Meds, therapy and a rescue plan.

Counselling, swimming and comedy programmes helped me.

also… I used to buy those trashy magazines like take a break. For some reason the absolute ridiculousness of the articles brought little moments of light relief for me. You know the ones ‘I breastfeed my dog and have no plans to stop’ ‘I married my son’s ex girlfriend’. Bonkers stuff.

Listening to audiobooks when going to bed. It stopped my mind racing and 5 years in I still find it helpful

Good for you. Yes, very important when our kids start to question and challenge the behaviour - deffo time to act.
I remember my DS (when he was about 12/13) commenting on the excessive amount of Xmas gifts his cousins got, yet they were very grabby and ungrateful alongside it.

They can be perceptive from a young age !

Yeah I wish I’d never put up with their toxic bullshit in the first place! A lot harder to see it when you’re in it though. One of the biggest triggers to cut them out was when I realised my kids were seeing some of this behaviour eg. A friend was always half an hour late when we met up, and she’d always make my DS and I go to her or near where she lived (we lived 30 min apart) and never came to ours. One day while driving there my 4 yo DS said “why do we always have to go to ….friends’s name’s….house, why does she never come to ours?” I realised I didn’t have a good answer and the thought of role modelling being disrespected and letting my son see me putting up with this behaviour from someone who he understood to be my friend enraged me. That was the turning point to cut that particular friend off.

Yes, culling toxic people (when it is family and you can't do this, heavily minimise contact instead!)
Boundaries and assertion with people helped too !
I am less of a people pleaser

Seeing my GP & her prescribing medication & signing me off from work when I had a complete breakdown which included suicidal ideation.

Once the meds helped stabilise me then I continued to improve with exercise, a healthy diet, meditation and rest.

I was at a point where I could not even concentrate for five minutes, struggled to eat and sleep so it was really bad.

I also received counselling through the NHS.

But I also had to make long term life changes such as leaving my toxic work environment and moving out of a big city and cutting out of my life anyone who brought negativity to it.

I also had to accept that it takes time to recover from a breakdown that physically and mentally brought me to my knees and that depression is something that needs ongoing care and management.

Redecorating. Fresh colours, a house full of flowers and music. Flinging the windows open and letting sunshine and fresh air in.😎

This also involved leaving my ex and his horrible dreary house, that I wasn't allowed to do anything to and where he would switch off any music, and taking back control of my life as well as my creative freedom.

What really helped me was having a structured routine. Doesn’t have to be anything too taxing. Shower every morning, 3 healthy meals a day at the same time, getting outside for a walk, as you suggested, especially if you can walk in nature, doing some gentle exercise like yoga or swimming, 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation each day. Then telly at the end of the day to reward yourself..because you deserve it - when you’re in the depths of depression that simple routine can be impossible to stick to. If you’re able to do it that’s a sign you’re getting better and also putting a lot of effort in. But also if you have days where you can’t face getting out of your PJs and need to stay in bed watching tv all day, that’s ok too, don’t beat yourself up about it, you’re recovering from an illness just like any other.

The second thing that dramatically improved (I’d even go so far as to say massively contributed to curing) my depression was cutting off anyone in my life that brought negativity to my life or made me feel anxious or that I had complicated feelings about. For example I had one friend where I felt I was always making all the effort with the friendship, she never seemed to care about my life or gave a shit when I was very ill with depression but stayed friends with her cos we’d known each other forever, and we did have fun together most of the time. However all those times she’d hurt me, even in a minor way added up and contributed to me feeling shit about myself. Another friend would always take the ‘banter’ too far and I sometimes felt she was making fun of me, always brushed it off and told myself I was ridiculous for being over sensitive etc. But they all added up too, and contributed to a general feeling of not being good enough, which in turn contributed to my depression. I was always scared to cut people that I had a generally good relationship with off, in case I ended up lonely. Well one day I thought fuck it, I don’t need anyone in my life who doesn’t 100% respect me in the same way I do them and I’m going to put myself first from now on. So I cut them off and I wish I’d done it earlier. I have far fewer friends now but my life is so much more peaceful, simpler and not filled with complicated emotions, and the friends & family I do have never make me feel bad about myself. This was a bigger part of ‘downscaling’ my life, putting less pressure on myself, living a much quieter and simpler (and probably much more boring) life, but I realised that’s what I had to do to stop my depression being triggered. I’m the most content with life I’ve ever been now. I have a simple but enjoyable job, a few quality friends, I go camping and for walks with my kids rather than big days out with other mums, I go to the gym 3 times a week and when I have time to myself I read and watch tv rather than doing lots of socialising. It works for me. Sorry for the long post & I realise you might not relate to it but it’s just made such a huge difference I thought it might help, or help someone else who sees it

My dog

I agree with the meditation - see if your gym membership have a guided one. I find it more effective when listening to someone.

For me: walking, running , reading and recently knitting/crochet (took me a while to grasp it which at times was frustrating)
Human contact too and comedy TV (Motherland, Gavin and Stacey, easy stuff)
Take care

I'll let you know - 40yrs in so far!

Make sure you don't have any underlying conditions as well.

Swimming, routine. And the free self care finch app!

Honestly, I would not put too much pressure on yourself to feel good and enjoy things because when you’re depressed (or recovering), if you can’t, you can’t and putting too much pressure on it can sort of make you feel like you’re failing if you’re not up to it or it doesn’t feel how you hoped it would.
You can’t force yourself to feel better. You have to accept how you feel.
If you feel up to it, I would take it one day at a time trying to look after yourself as best you can and making time to do things you enjoy whenever you can.

Gardening - especially at this time of year. So satisfying pulling up weeds, pruning away old stuff and seeing the difference afterwards, watching flowers bloom, smell of cut grass etc.

Reminding myself that being sad is normal. If I felt a bit down or tearful I would instantly start to think that the very bad depression was returning and I'd never feel better, especially when I was lowering the antidepressant dose. Acknowledging that sometimes I will feel sad and it will pass stopped me spiralling.

Swimming.

What really helped me was cold water swimming and routines.
I remained at work because I knew I’d struggle without a focus (everyone is different, and the reasons for depression vary, I knew was specific thing triggered mine - it was nothing to do with work) and keeping myself actively engaged with working was a good distraction.
Getting up and dressed and out of the house for work 3 days a week, basic things like tooth brushing which I’ll admit did slide some mornings if I wasn’t leaving the house, showering which I sometimes felt was a real challenge so again was grateful to ‘have to be at work’ so I was forced to be clean.
the cold water swimming was life changing and I still go, all through the year - helps keep me ticking over.
Whatever you do I hope it’s helpful for you and that you are on the way to recovering. 💐

I found exercise, particularly outdoors. Having a dog is a good reason to go outside and walk. She didn’t care what I looked like, or if it was raining, or any of my other excuses. She just wanted to walk. I learnt that I wanted to walk too.