The first step to self-recovery

The first step to self-recovery is to forgive yourself.

Sounds easy enough?  In fact, it sounds like a bit of a cliche thing to say. Yeah, thats what I thought too. But like most cliches, it was a cliche for a reason. It was true. I realised that I was too hard on myself. I was only human. It was okay to be sad on certain days. It was okay to feel like you can't get out of bed. It was okay to feel like you can't live another day. Stop beating yourself up about it. Forgive yourself and be kind to yourself. If you feel sad, its okay. You're allowed to feel sad. your battling depression for God sake! Its no easy task. But try to do something that would make you feel better. Indulge in something that would put you in a better mood. Give yourself a break. Have a soothing bubble bath, watch something or go to your favourite coffee place and have a nice cup of coffee.  If you feel like you can't get out of bed, stay in bed. Listen to some up lifting music or just browse the web.

I can imagine what you're thinking right about now. "But how can we get ourselves to do any of this when we don't feel like doing anything, when we feel numb or dead inside". Believe me, I get it. I went through the same thing. It sometimes got on my nerves when people suggested things like this. It made me angry and I felt like they didn't understand what I was going through or the severity of my situation. It wasn't a bout of "the blues" or just sadness.

But you see, the way to beating depression is to continuously force yourself to do things that are good for you. Its like you're fighting with yourself because you are your worst enemy. That voice inside you head, the one that keeps you down, the one that continuously reminds you that you're not good enough, thats what you need to fight. And the way to silence that voice it to be kind to yourself, to forgive yourself. When ever you hear that voice criticising you, tell yourself "Its okay. I'm only human. I need a break. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I will forgive myself.". Its going to be difficult at the beginning. If your depression is anything like what mine was, you wont be able to tell the difference between the real you and that dark, evil voice inside you. But if you keep treating yourself well and forgiving yourself every time you fail, that voice is gradually going to go away.

Now, some of you might be thinking, "Hey, we have real problems. We have situations/people who are keeping us in this state. How are these problems going to go away if I take a bubble bath??". But you see, the real problem here is yourself. That voice inside your head is not going to let you find a solutions to your problems. That voice inside you is going to sabotage all your attempts. The only way to silence this voice is to forgive yourself, to treat yourself well. That is why I say that this is the first step. Because once that voice goes away, everything becomes so much clearer and you will see that the solutions to the problems were right in front of you.

So start your first step to self-recovery....forgive yourself..