100 Things You Can Still Do While Being Depressed (That WILL Make You Feel Better)
Give yourself permission to reject calls and leave text messages unattended. The world won't die.
By 
Ioana Casapu
1. Wash your face and gently pat it dry with a clean towel.
2. Feed yourself the aliments your body craves for. It craves them for a legit reason: lack of.
3. Surrender to the deep hole you’re falling through while holding your loved one’s hand. They won’t let go.
4. Plant fresh flowers. Water your plants. Plants love us back infinitely.
5. Have some goji berries for breakfast. They do help boost both our immune system and our mood.
6. Revisit old, dear memories, such as photo albums, collected memorabilia or letters from high school.
7. Watch a real bad movie and see yourself still being able to laugh about it.
8. Daydream. No place is forbidden to travel to in our minds.
9. Help others, as little as you can. If you can’t, it’s fine as well.
10. Let yourself experience things you like. Even if you’re alone.
11. Check out some Brene Brown or School of Life videos on Youtube. They explain a lot of our modern search for a soul.
12. Listen to someone who’s had a hard day too. Comfort them as you can. Don’t stress too much about it. Empathy comes uncalled for, because we’re still so much capable of emanating it, even when we think we can’t.
13. Exchange experience with people on a forum, such as Experience Project. When you need compassion, that’s a good place to be.
14. Do something crazy, like skydiving or crashing a wedding. Adrenaline makes us forget our pains and lifts our mood instantly. It’s tested.
15. Go dancing. Body moves pump back serotonin in its right places.
16. Sing. Whatever you feel like. Sometimes the sound of our own voice is more powerful than any other sound in the universe.
17. Stretch your neck and shoulders for a couple minutes. Stress accummulates in those areas but it’s not impossible to shake off.
18. If you’re religious, pray. And if you’re not, you can still pray to that one thing you strongly believe in deep down. Religion is not important. Faith is.
19. Touch, or hug trees. Caress the tree. Admire its beauty. Its force. Ask the tree gently to give you some of its strength. This can truly do wonders. Plants have vital energy and they do pass it to us humans. It’s a miracle.
20. Go out in the snow. Inhale, exhale. Feel the cold on your hands. As you’re back inside, you’ll feel much more oxygenated.
21. Call your doctor or therapist if you have one. If it’s an emergency, you are very entitled to ask for their help.
22. Give yourself permission to feel angry, sad or alone. You have every right to feel so.
23. Do one thing at a time. You don’t need to multitask or rush. It won’t really work anyway.
24. Colour. Adult colouring books are super effective to help you feel more relaxed and focused.
25. Call in sick. You need to rest. There’s no use to get to work if you can’t move your face.
26. If you have a priest that you trust to talk to, go pay them a visit.
27. If this is an option, spend the day in bed. Sleep. If your loved one can stay next to you, it’s even better.
28. Clean your house a bit. It keeps your body moving and your mind detached.
29. Watch videos of animals having fun in the wild.
30. Call someone who’ll support you in this harsh day. If there’s no one to call, talk to Siri. I know, she’s a bot. But she can be nice AF and she’ll say she loves you back sometimes. No BS.
31. Pour yourself a glass of wine, or your beverage of choice. If consumed with moderation, alcohol helps us relax and is the equivalent of a dopamine refill. Dopamine makes us happy and social.
32. Smoke cigarettes if that habit helps you out. Don’t start smoking though if you haven’t been a fan.
33. Go to the movies, take someone with you. If no one’s available, go alone, at a matinee for instance. Dress nice for it. Smile at the cashier. You might as well feel lighter.
34. Move the furniture around and redesign your living space. Some will protest, but I was living in 20 sqm studio at some point that only had a bed, a desk and a small built in kitchen and I still got creative (and proud) about it.
35. Start reading a new book. If the idea sounds painful and tiring, pick a magazine you like from the stand (or one you’ve never read before) and read it cover to cover.
36. Go to the library, decide which book cover you like best and why. You don’t have to borrow it.
37. If you’re into cartoons, go ahead and re-watch your childhood faves.
38. Give yourself permission to reject calls and leave text messages unattended. The world won’t die.
39. Write down a short list of the people you love and why. Alternatively, write down a list of things in your life you don’t need. Writing helps the memory paint things in a realistic light.
40. Get off Instagram for a while. It already makes you feel like crap about who you are(n’t).
41. Put on your favourite clothes and do your make-up. It may sound useless, but it’s something that’s helped me a lot especially in those days when I hated what I saw in the mirror. You’re not vain for wearing lipstick and concealer.
42. Wash your hair thoroughly, cleanse it, and style it the way you love. It’s a meticulous activity that keeps you focused on something else other than your mind.
43. Go to Sephora and smell all fragrances you’re curious about. Scents help us detense and feel generally better. Get a free make-up if that’s in store. Ask the beauty consultants to give you some free samples.
44. Go shopping. If you can’t afford shopping, just browse through the stores you like.
45. Take a short walk in nature and breathe in all the fresh scents.
46. Hug someone you love, if that’s something you can do. Hugs that last longer than 10 seconds are scientifically proven to heal.
47. Take a long shower. Warm water soothes our tired bodies and invigorates our cells.
48. Try a 10 minute yoga exercise for depression and loneliness.
49. Lay in bed. Cover yourself in nice smelling sheets. Warmth brings us comfort.
50. Talk to a stranger on Quora if you have no one to talk to. You can even do it anonymously. Most people there will offer great life advice.
51. Cry, as much as you need. Crying is good for releasing toxic emotions.
52. If you afford this luxury, go to your parents’ place. Let them take care of you.
53. Eat a hot meal. Comfort food isn’t called than for no reason.
54. Ask someone trustworthy and close to give you a massage. It will release serotonin and you will feel a bit lighter.
55. Talk to a loved one who is in Heaven. Ask them how they are. Tell them how you’re doing. Ask them to gently guide you.
56. Listen to your favourite music.
57. Go to the spa, bathe in Lithium salts. Lithium is used in psychiatry as a drug and is proven to stabilize mood swings and offer a general good mood. Lithium baths can be found in most spas and the time you need for it to start working is 15 minutes per day.
58. Alternatively, you can take Lithium orotate as a dietary supplement. A doctor’s prescription is not required.
59. Spend one hour out in the sun. Pretend you’re on the beach. Vitamin D is essential to our general well being.
60. If the weather’s not friendly, vitamin D can be found in egg yolks, tuna, salmon, soy and some dairy products you could create great meals with.
61. If you’re too lazy to eat right now, ask your doctor to prescribe you the right dose of vitamin D, especially if you live in cold climate.
62. Swim, if you can, or spend time at the pool. Water helps our muscles relax.
89. Curl into a ball, play this tune that is scientifically proven to help loosen tension.
90. Stay in bed, create your own virtual makeup. There are tons of apps.
91. Eat peach pulp straight out of the syrup can.
92. Breathe according to this exercise.
93. Spend ten minutes on Headspace. Do nothing but breathe.
94. Kiss your cat on the head, just like you’d kiss a small baby.
95. Order in something special and healthy such as peas soup, salmon salad with raspberry and quinoa or roasted veggies with pineapple.
96. Caress your own face and head slowly, hug yourself if you must, the way you’d do for a friend in need. Sometimes we are our own best friends.
97. Lay down in the grass facing the sky. This works best on a Full Moon, as the energies in the ground sip directly into the body and contribute to a general good mood.
98. Masturbate. I can’t stress how much good you’re doing to yourself. Serotonin kicks back in a matter of minutes.
99. Spend time amongst animals. Horse riding is fantastically soothing. Sitting with your pet and caring for them is brilliantly helpful. Animals may not speak, but they feel our pains and are able to calm us down.
