What we actually do with our time greatly effects our well-being and satisfaction with life. Often when we are suffering from depression (or anxiety, or other difficult feelings), we withdraw from activities in a mistaken belief that this will make us ‘feel better.’ We think that we will reengage later, when we are feeling better or have more energy. This can lead to a cascading cycle of withdrawal from life and increasing depression.
Here is a quick exercise focused around taking better care of yourself if you are caught in a cycle like this.
(1) Set a timer for three minutes. Write down pleasant activities you have engaged in the past. These should be things that increase your sense of aliveness and being present. List activities you love, that give you joy, that nourish your heart, or give you a sense of accomplishment whether you are doing them now or not. Include all the pleasant activities you can think of in three minutes. Notice how you feel after completing this list.
(2) Review your list. Circle all the activities that are currently part of your life. Make a check mark next to all the ones that are not currently but could be part of your life. Underline checked items that you are willing to do in the next week, the next month, or the next several months.
(3) Begin to include more of the underlined pleasant activities in your life. Do these sooner rather than later. When you do the activities, notice the effect doing them has on your mood, sense of well being, or sense of accomplishment.
(4) And while accepting that there are some aspects of your life you can not change, are there some activities that decrease your sense of being present and alive that you can identify and then do less of.
(Adapted from an exercise in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale.)