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When You Are Depressed, Make Something

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Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#51

Post by a_lifters_life »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #10

Start with a daily journal. Write down the stuff you did and the thoughts you had. Write down the things you want to get done tomorrow in the same journal and cross them off if you accomplish them. This way every day of your life will have significance. Even if the day was dreary, mundane, sad, or even horrible, recording the memory records the significance because you lived it. Journaling didn't cure me of depressio…

+1 to this. I've found this is incredibly helpful in other facets of life - for me, I like to know what I was thinking roughly last january

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#52

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Jugurtha wrote: post #49
steven777400 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hits me almost every time I think of something. Recently someone suggested to me a game of "snake" (like the old QB game) that used the tilt sensor in the phone to direct the snake. Should be pretty simple. A few searches later and I'm looking at super-realisticly rendered WebGL demos of mobile 3D pinball examples and thinking "there's no way I could ever implement something like this". Anything I can think of a…

I've had this thing where I'll think about all the things I'll never do.. At 17, I'd go "I'll never be as good as Gauss". At 19, "Jesus, Lagrange taught at college at age 19". At 20, "Galois died at 20..Damn.." The only thing that I have going for me is that I have dissociated my emotional/psychological state and my intellectual pursuit to become smarter than I was the day before. I can work on stuff when I'm happy,…

Mozart died at 35 ... of strep.

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#53

Post by zimpenfish »

AlexeyBrin wrote: post #41
steven777400 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hits me almost every time I think of something. Recently someone suggested to me a game of "snake" (like the old QB game) that used the tilt sensor in the phone to direct the snake. Should be pretty simple. A few searches later and I'm looking at super-realisticly rendered WebGL demos of mobile 3D pinball examples and thinking "there's no way I could ever implement something like this". Anything I can think of a…

Think at this as an exercise in programming. You don't write a game of Snake to make THE game of Snake. You write it to learn something and hone your skills (same way as someone taking a Math course solves simple and typical exercises).

Getting over this hump in thinking is hard though - I was crippled for years by "CREATION MUST BE PERFECT". It's only recently I've managed to adjust to thinking "all of this is good practice" and dumping almost everything I make out to the public.

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#54

Post by drzaiusapelord »

rangibaby wrote: post #3

The first half of the article has a lot of wisdom. The second half reminds me of well meaning people who make things worse by trying to help. "Just (go jogging, do something creative drink vegetable shakes)" I would if I could damn it! lol

I really wish these advice givers would understand the difference between being down because things are not going well and having depression, which is a disease.

Things are good for me from an objective perspective (money, career, family, health), but I'm miserable and not in a good place. My brain is broken and only certain treatments help. A DJ class isn't fixing me.

I really think these people are confusing burn-out with depression. These are actually two very different things that require different solutions. I wish we were more open talking about burn-out and dissatisfaction instead of just ramping everything up to "I suffer from depression! Halp!" You don't. Once shit gets good for you again, you'll be Mr. Happy. I won't be.

I feel like there's a stigma against discussing burn-out because it really can be seen as a personal failure. You worked too hard for stupid reasons, you believe your dishonest boss or work culture or coworkers, you had unrealistic expectations, you tried too hard for something that was impossible, or you simply failed and its entirely your fault, etc. It seems more ego-pleasing to just jump to talking about depression and kinda sorta equating your situation with people who suffer from major depression, which ultimately is ego-pleasing but the wrong way to go about things. If a DJ class 'fixed' your depression, you didn't have depression, you had burn-out/situational depression, which has nothing in common with clinical depression.

That said, I don't want to trivialize situation depression/burn-out. Why do we only see post-burn-out articles but rarely see burn-out prevention articles? I spend about 20% of my work day considering whether that path I'm taking on this project or interaction violates my own anti-burnout strategies (do the least work possible from a reasonable perspective, do not create drama, let foolish things slide unless they personally affect me, very carefully pick battles, mentally clock out at 5, realize its just a job and that I work to live not the other way around, etc).

Also the above is written from someone with a depressed perspective, so take that as you will.

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#55

Post by vertex-four »

syphilis2 wrote: post #16
kris-s wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My strategy in those situations is to get out my phone, set a timer and say: "I'm going to work on x for five minutes, if I still feel crappy after five minutes I'll stop." That mental bargaining is bizarre in that I know its irrational but it always works, five minutes is enough for me to get enough 'creative inertia'. Making things isn't a panacea for me, when I'm done working I'll still sometimes feel less than gr…

I've had a similar experience in that getting started is a large barrier. I'd like to see an article that bridges the gap between saying, "just do it," and the understanding that someone who is depressed does not want to do anything. I respond best to very specific instructions that don't require choices on my behalf. For example, "do something active," won't move me. Instead I need, "put on running shoes, go outside…

I can fully understand that - I occasionally wind up asking other people to tell me to do specific small things and it can help a lot with just getting through the day.

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#56

Post by thr0waway1239 »

paulpauper wrote: post #14

The problem with trying to create something is once you begin to work hard at it, you realize that you're not very good and others have done it far better than you. I have notice this a lot with math.I will work on a problem and then a Google search later reveals that the problem is not only completely solved but in a way that is far better than I could have ever conceived. Another problem is when you run out of idea…

Perhaps a bit out of the left field, but one suggestion would be to make sketchnotes [1] of some useful idea that you would like to share. For example, a summary of a book or article you read. Do it on paper, snap a picture and post it online. That way you create something which is meaningful to you, but you can also share it and it might help others too. Also, this is the kind of creation where you usually do not have to compare with others.

The obvious con of course is that it can be really time consuming.

[1] http://rohdesign.com/sketchnotes/

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#57

Post by regularfry »

paulpauper wrote: post #14

The problem with trying to create something is once you begin to work hard at it, you realize that you're not very good and others have done it far better than you. I have notice this a lot with math.I will work on a problem and then a Google search later reveals that the problem is not only completely solved but in a way that is far better than I could have ever conceived. Another problem is when you run out of idea…

If you steer towards areas that don't have a "right" answer it might be easier. I used making a set of shelves out of planks of wood last weekend to manage my mood. They're not going to be the best shelves in the world; there's no "right way" to build shelves. They're not even going to be the best shelves I can make. In fact, as a physical artefact, they're kinda shoddy.

It really doesn't matter: making them got me into a flow state, I got a ton of carpentry practice out of them, and as a handy side-effect I NOW HAVE A NEW SET OF SHELVES. Woo.

(Also I need to buy a finishing saw. Oh no, more tools, whatever shall I do.)

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#58

Post by payamb »

Bring nature to your own place, Thats what helps me. I do gardening to help myself.

Just seeing them growing everyday, Give me some kinda of hope and makes me feel i'm not alone.

Its so easy to start with and so rewarding, Just get some pots and soil and start planting your own vegetable or flowers! I promise you'll be happiest person on earth when your chilli fruits!

You can try to make your own coffee/tobacco or medicinal herb if you have enough space!

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#59

Post by [deleted] »

coldtea wrote: post #45
paulpauper wrote: post #14

The problem with trying to create something is once you begin to work hard at it, you realize that you're not very good and others have done it far better than you. I have notice this a lot with math.I will work on a problem and then a Google search later reveals that the problem is not only completely solved but in a way that is far better than I could have ever conceived. Another problem is when you run out of idea…

Plus the web rubs in our faces the output of all of 8 billion people on the planet, of which tons are bound to be far better at what we want to do, while simultaneously depreciating the value of both local talent (since now you compete internationally for attention), and global talent (since the channels are saturated and people have 2000000 outlets to care much for any particular one).

[deleted]

Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something

#60

Post by charlieflowers »

treehau5 wrote: post #30
paulpauper wrote: post #14

The problem with trying to create something is once you begin to work hard at it, you realize that you're not very good and others have done it far better than you. I have notice this a lot with math.I will work on a problem and then a Google search later reveals that the problem is not only completely solved but in a way that is far better than I could have ever conceived. Another problem is when you run out of idea…

The problem comes with how you define success. Do you define it as how your answer or creation measures up to everyone else, or do you define it as you made significant progress in a field you had very little prior experience with. In my math escapades, it's linear algebra, for you it may be differential calculus, etc. Basically if you always measure success in comparisons to others, you are always going to be disapp…

Good point. Also, much of the value in creativity is due to the fact that you do it your way. If you write a poem or a song, it says what you want to say, the way you want to say it. No one else can do that.
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