17

If You Don’t Remember This Fact You Will Stay Depressed

Topics Discussed:
0:46 – Traveling Abroad While Depressed
1:30 – Depression Forces You to Be Healthy
1:52 – Not “Believing” We Have to Take Care of Ourselves
2:30 – Trusting Yourself VS Other People’s Opinions
3:01 – Summary of the Truth

I land in my layover in Beijing China.  I have a whole bag full of supplements.

I’m serious.  NOTHING but supplements.  And pretty much every single one is brand new.

There’s quite a bit of money invested in those supplements, and some of these aren’t the easiest to find in other countries.

From my hometown security to finally making it over to China, for some reason I haven’t been stopped and questioned about all my supplements.  But each time, security gives me anxiety.

A lot of the critical supplements, like magnesium, I need for my depression.  A lot of the other ones are brand new so that I can try them out and report back my findings to this site.  To lose the bag of supplements would pretty much be a disaster for my entire trip.

So far so good.  Except this time in the security checkout in Beijing the lady stops me.  She points at my bag and goes, “Uh, lots of pills!”

Uh oh, what now.  There is a language barrier so I act confused (not knowing the language lets you get away with a lot). I look at her like I don’t understand her.

She repeats herself, “Lots of pills!” and starts to get up and walk towards me.

I just say, “I have depression.  Need pills!” and give her the thumbs up as I grab my bag and start walking away.

No one follows me or stops me, so I’m in the clear.

Overcoming Depression Means Taking Better Care of Yourself

You don’t have to carry random experimental supplements with you when you travel to other countries like myself.

But if you have depression, sometimes it is a pain to have to take extra care of yourself.

Everyone else is staying up late, eating garbage, getting hardly any sleep, and working 10 hours the next day and feeling positive.

With depression you eat a couple crappy meals, miss out on your sleep for a day, and you find yourself drifting back into the depths of despair.

Even worse, people around you will give you resistance to taking better care of yourself or commenting on your habits.

If you’re young, you will hear, “You should have energy all the time at that age!”

Keeping Up Your Health Habits is a Must

Over and over again I will start to believe that I am just like everyone else and can let things slide.  Over and over again, that leads me to another depressive cycle.

You have to accept that you are more prone to negative states than other people.  You have to accept that taking care of yourself, taking your vitamins,  and eating healthy food is ESSENTIAL to keeping you where you need to be.

I used to be known as the “lentil guy” at my work.  While people were eating hamburgers and french fries, I was the guy that was eating lentils, vegetables, and protein shakes.

People would make fun of me, but I knew from the many relapses of depression that this is the way I must live.

Does this suck?  Is it bad to have to be making healthy food for yourself all the time?

The Benefits of Depression

I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, eat sugar, or stay up all night.  I eat huge salads full of vegetables and healthy protein, drink lots of water, exercise almost everyday, and get plenty of sleep.  Not to mention I take vitamins and minerals and have even gotten a blood test to make sure all my levels are aligned.

This makes it so I’m not depressed.

But this also makes one of the healthiest people around.

When my coworkers were tired and ready to end the work day, I was still booming with energy.

When other people are getting fat or complaining about their health, my body is in good shape.

When other people are wasting their lives away drinking Bud Light every night, I’m having a good time and waking up feeling awesome the next day.

I have learned so much about living life and how to be healthy from my depression.  I would have never given myself that education if I didn’t feel like killing myself without it.

Ignore Everything Else and Realize that Depression Is Real

I wish I would have just accepted that I had depression and that it was real many years ago.  Instead I kept listening to all the crap from other people thinking it was all in my head, that I could just think positive and it would go away, and that I could eat whatever I wanted and feel fine at my young age.

Depression is real and that means you gotta take better care of yourself then other people.

After a while of being the “lentil guy” people stop bugging you once they see you are firm in your decision and don’t feel the need to have to explain anything.

The good thing is after a few months of getting your body and brain back into balance, you actually can go out and get drunk and eat McDonalds and feel fine the next day.  There are also a few supplements you can take that will ease things and make it so you don’t have to be so bulletproof.

But when you are recovering from depression and getting everything back into order, you have to take much better care of yourself than anybody else.  This might suck, but once you get rolling with being super healthy all the time you will never look back.

Remember, depression is real.  Don’t let the media or anything else convince you otherwise, and keep rocking those vegetables, exercise, and sleep!