It’s very difficult, and in the end, it comes down to finding things that work for you, but in my experience, doing it “on my own” is virtually impossible. Humans need social interaction and often help, especially when battling with mental illness. That being said, there are some things that help most people.

1. Exercise - you don’t need to run a marathon or lift free weights, but any kind of exercise, including walking, can have a big boost on mental health. If you can, working up a sweat can help release more endorphins (and also helps motivate me to take a shower when I’m struggling with hygiene).

2. Sleep - prioritize getting good sleep. This has a huge effect on your mental health, and lack of sleep makes intrusive thoughts more difficult to ignore. If you suffer from suicidal ideation, this can be very beneficial. It can also help set up a routine for exercise, hygiene, etc. if you have more consistent bed and awake times.

3. Eating healthy- this is hard, because often when depressed we go for unhealthy foods, which make us feel bad, so we eat more of them and it perpetuates the cycle. If you really struggle with this start by making small changes - find a fruit or vegetable you genuinely enjoy and start incorporating more into your diet. Learning some basic cooking skills can also make healthy eating more enjoyable.

4. reduce drug and alcohol use (if any) - these can be excellent short term solutions, but will often make you feel worse in the long run

5. find someone to talk to - online resources help, but there’s no substitute for genuine in person (or over the phone) interaction. This can be harder said than done if you’re older or in an area where it’s hard to meet people. Support groups are also excellent- there’s something very empowering about being surrounded by folks experiencing the same challenges you do every day.

6. practice gratitude- take some time every day to thing of things you are genuinely thankful for. Supposedly, the brain can’t think or negative things while you are thinking of positive ones. Even if that’s not true, taking time to appreciate the good things in your life (even if it’s something small like your morning coffee) can help redirect your thought process.

Lastly, understand you can do all the “right” things to battle depression and still be depressed. No amount of exercise or vegetables will suddenly make you better - you will likely still have bad days. That’s why, for me, it’s important to have people I know I can call and talk to (my brother being a big one right now). We don’t even really talk, I just call him and cry talk for a bit and eventually it doesn’t hit so hard.

Give yourself some credit for all the bad days you’ve been through- if you weren’t strong, you wouldn’t have made it this far. Good luck! I’m rooting for you!

My recommendation is either The Grand Budapest Hotel or Moonrise Kingdom. Both by Wes Anderson, and probably his two best films. Excellent director with a very distinct visual style.

I’m thinking about killing myself constantly. I can’t imagine I’ll ever long for this.

Maybe if I’m dead? But then I won’t be longing for anything…

I use the term Atheistic Christian, which essentially means I believe in a lot of the teachings of Jesus, but I don’t believe he was any kind of divinity.

To my knowledge, proteins can start to denature at 104F, depending on the protein and other factors like pH. Around 106F, proteins in the brain will start to denature, regardless of other factors.

Also, at a high enough level (104 F), the proteins in your brain start to denature, which leads to death.

My cat is a tabby and does this exact thing with his paw. Feels like love.

The Amazon series is fan fiction. This is part of the background story Tolkien wrote.

I’m not really interested in either, as they are both soulless capitalist cash grabs, but I think this has the possibility of being a decent (although completely unnecessary) film .

Just heard Plaineclothes Man for the first time last week. I love it when I find new music that really speaks to me, there’s so much good stuff out there right now.

Lol me neither

It’s not as punk, but the last three albums by Metric are brilliant in how they discuss the current state of the world.

I do, the longer it’s been the shorter they are (almost 10 years now). My trigger is seeing someone, usually in a TV or movie, take that long, exaggerated drag.

Rowsdower!

I’m working to set up connections to folks in Canada that will be willing to relocate LGBTQ folks across the border.

America - where you can get any kind of fast food you want, as long as it’s a hamburger.

-Neil Gaimen

As long as they aren’t getting medical advice from you, I’m good with it.

No, like my initial comment said, number and types of partners are important, as are your partners’ partners.

If you actually read my comment, you can see I’m trying to get people to look past the stigma and actually determine what kinds of risks they have and make safer sex decisions accordingly.

PrEP can have some uncomfortable side effects, and not everyone is able to tolerate it. There are very, very few things in healthcare that we can say “everyone” in a certain cohort should do, and PrEP is no exception.

Your response, which characterizes my post as misinformation, is inaccurate, as I have shown, but I do appreciate the chance to talk about sex and try to normalize it as part of the healthcare discussion 😊

I literally posted a link to an article from Stanford that shows what I’m talking about.

I’m not anti gay, I was an STI nurse for a few years. Anal sex for ANYONE carries a higher risk per interaction, regardless of whether you are the receptive or insetive partner.

My point was not to label all people having unprotected sex as needing PrEP, or only gay people as needing PrEP. My point was to look at the types of sex you have, with the number and types of partners you have, and take a realistic look at what kinds of risks for STI transmission any of those have.

For instance, if you have lots of unprotected oral sex with strangers, you aren’t going to get HIV. You might get another STI, but HIV is virtually un-transmissable via oral sex. But someone reading the comment might get scared and think they need to take PrEP.

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/sexual-and-reproductive-health/hiv-aids/causes/risk-of-exposure.html#:~:text=Therefore%2C unprotected sex with an,exposures)%20for%20receptive%20anal%20sex.

That’s not entirely true. Receptive vaginal sex is much less likely to transmit the virus than anal sex (about 17x less). Insertive anal sex is more likely to transmit than vaginal sex, too, so the type of sex you have matters too.

Number of partners, and their sexual habits really matter, too. It’s important to help people really understand their STI risk if we want people to make healthier decisions regarding sex.