Keeping positive even though you know life sucks

Suffering from anxiety and depression is no laughing matter and if you are bipolar and have already experienced it first-hand you know that it will take hard work to manage it to the point where you feel like a whole human being again. Depression can’t kill you. It can only do so if you let it. People who think that depression is just something you can get over like that, have no idea what the sufferer goes through and what will it takes to remain strong. 

Tips on how to stay positive

Having first-hand experience of anxiety and depression this writer knows what it feels like to allow a bout of depression to get out of hand. You lose all faith in your abilities, you think the worst, you don’t believe that things will ever get better – but they do and you get through it. Here are some tips on how to become and stay positive.

·         Treat your body to the best you can possibly give by having a weekly massage and feeling the warmth and heat of other hands on your skin. Do this in conjunction with aromatherapy or meditation. The idea is to remain calm.

·         Go outside and spend half an hour with your dog. You don’t know what a good thing you are doing. Dogs love to be walked or fetch rolled-up newspapers down the drive and a fit and happy dog makes for a lovable canine. Keep his blankets and towels fresh. Always make sure his bowls are filled with clean water. 

·         Drink four to six glasses of water and cut out caffeine and fizzy drinks. Have lots of color in your vegetables by eating green, red and yellow peppers as well as fruit and nuts. Opt for foods rich in B12 and Omega-3 vitamins. These foods would include nuts, soybeans, salmon, tuna and mackerel.

·         Ease off on espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, chocolate and caffeine and don’t eat the whole chocolate bar in one shot. Keep it in the fridge and have a row at a time.

·         Work with music if you can. It lifts you up and changes your thinking. Keep your body active as much as you can.

·         Playing a sport once or twice a week will change your attitude and demeanor.

·         Join a community or a support group or a book club where the works of different writers are explored. You not only have fun, you learn something new. Never think of yourself as old.

·         Make a new friend at 65 or 70 and visit each other and watch movies you have selected to watch and review.

·         If you have high anxiety and need to be treated, speak to a specialist first before taking anything. Do not take medication that has not been prescribed for you. When it comes to pills speak to a doctor first.

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Bad habits to let go of in the New Year

Let’s not talk about New Year’s resolutions and lofty promises to change. Let’s just do it quietly on our own, without fuss and fanfare. All year I’ve been contemplating quitting cigarettes and another serious vice and kept putting it off. About ten days ago I quit smoking, and just did not light another cigarette. I put it out of sight so I would not see it. Every morning around eight I crave a puff and then forget about it. I also upped my water intake to five bottles a day to battle a constipation problem caused by taking too much calcium prescribed with certain medication. Best of all though, it is three or four months since I stepped into a casino. 

Breaking patterns

This is my greatest achievement. Not only do I no longer go, I don’t get the urge anymore which used to propel me to drop a few coins in the Dragons machine.  In my saner moments when I think about it, I cannot believe how it had me in its grip for so many years. What happened is that I just had too much going on in my life and had to get rid of things and ideas which were no longer valid or useful. I found that because of my will to change I changed without difficulty. I effectively changed three things in 2012, and I don’t miss it. I have since revamped my life and so you too can do so to give yourself a nice fresh start to the New Year.

Discard the old for the new

If you’re bored with anything in your life, whether it be the carpet in your living room, or the moles in your neck that you keep planning to have removed but never get around to; what’s stopping you? Making a few visual changes in your kitchen and living room and sprucing up your garden with some colorful plants and flowers will immediately give you a lift. Next, think how you can apply this strategy to your relationships with colleagues and friends. Surprise them with muffins for breakfast and show that you think of them. Remember birthdays. If there is something personal about yourself you want to change, why not just do it if that is what it takes to keep you happy and whole?

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Do you live your life with regrets?

Do you wish you could go back into the past and change things? Living your life with regrets is like having an unsightly mole on your cheek and doing nothing about it. It’s not that difficult to have removed. But you don’t do it.  You put it off. You stop looking in the mirror. You are afraid to take chances and so you become staid and suddenly you are in your sixties and realize that life has passed you by and that you have not really lived. How many times are you going to miss good opportunities to be the person you really want to be?

Saying yes to life

This morning I got up late and watched the film ‘The Bucket List’ with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I had seen it before years ago but this time it held more meaning. I was watching two veteran actors; one known for his flamboyant antics and the other known for ‘Driving Miss Daisy’. The film for those of you who do not know is about two guys who get diagnosed with a terminal disease and decide to have a huge romp before they die. Morgan who is more reserved than the raucous Nicholson decides to jump out of an airplane with him and they travel around the world doing everything they had wanted to do before but did not. 

Skipper your own boat

·         Don’t sit in a corner and wait for life to come to you. Investigate. Explore. Live.

·         Take time to figure out who you are.

·         Be the master of your own domain.

·         Take life by the horns and make your mark.

·         Don’t be afraid to take risks.

·         Don’t wait for others to define you.

·         Make your own bucket list and achieve your dreams.

·         Think YOU CAN and live your dream. If Obama can, you can too.

·         Change your thoughts if it is better for you and works in your favor.

·         Live life to the fullest and use every hour doing something worthwhile.

·         Never say it’s too late to change something; that’s a defeatist attitude.

·         Be yourself and don’t change for anyone. Don’t let someone else define who you are.

http://www.raydajacobs.blogspot.com