The Mental Emotional Health Blog

If asked, people tend to identify themselves as more intellectual or more emotional, or a balance of the two. For those of you that are balanced, well done.

For the rest of us, the favoring of intellect or emotions sometimes can lead us to worry that the other one is a weakness. This is a “mental vs emotional” approach. Consider using a “mental and emotional” approach.

People who are deep thinkers, or just thinkers, might see emotions as getting in the way of rational thinking. That can be true. When someone is overwhelmed it is certainly difficult to maintain clear, rational thinking. On the other hand, emotions are a part of us as humans and serve as a source for enjoyment, meaning, and can also be a type of warning system. People who tend to be more emotional might frown on not being able to feel their emotions if they are mentally focused on something.

The key is to allow both mental and emotional functioning to exist together. To do this, it may as simple as giving yourself time for each. If you wake up tomorrow morning and your emotions are already in high gear, allow them to be intense for a few minutes and then acknowledge that you can step back mentally and add some rational thought to the emotions. If you have spent the day concentrating on work or other tasks but haven’t taken the time to acknowledge your emotions, slow down for a few minutes and let them in.

It is okay to feel and it is okay to think. Try to find your own balance with both.

There are days when it’s tough to walk out the door after work without carrying some “emotional baggage” with you.

1. After you arrive at work and just before you start your day, close your eyes, picture yourself in a good frame of mind for the day, and take 2 deep, cleansing breaths.
2. Make your smiles simple and sincere.
3. Send a short, supportive or complimenting email to a co-worker you enjoy working with. 
4. Avoid listening to and spreading gossip. 
5. Right before you leave work, or just after you get outside, mentally review the day you just had in your mind (take about 30 seconds to 1 minute). Consider the emotion you felt most often that day (whether you think it was positive or negative), and then reflect on something positive outside of work. This provides a nice transition from your work life to your personal life.

Depression, depending on how severe it affects a person, can make just about everything tough. Simple or routine activities may seem huge or impossible. That’s one way depression nails a person’s motivation. Fatigue is often at play too.

Depressive symptoms rarely go away quickly; it is almost always gradual. During the low times, it is tough to want to get outside, go for walks, or be active physically. Some obviously still work at their jobs, but I am talking about healthy activities outside of work. Since depression typically involves a gradual recovery, the benefits of being active are delayed. That means if you go for a 20 minute walk every day for a week, you may not feel any increased motivation or benefit to your moods for maybe another week or two.

This delayed benefit is one of the main reasons why it is so important to actively maintain your health when you don’t feel like it. Depressive thoughts will tell you things like, “Even though I walked yesterday, it didn’t help“, or even “Nothing is helping, so there’s no use trying“. Try to remember that your thought-patterns themselves are infected by depression as much as the rest of you.

Keep these points in mind:

• You will feel tired and unmotivated, and you will think it will continue that way. Remember your brain is affected by depressive symptoms too.
• Regular, healthy nutrition is like medicine that can give your body and mind the strength needed to fight the depression directly, and allow you to have enough energy to stay somewhat active.
• Drink an appropriate amount of water daily. Dehydration is never good, but during a depressive time it’ll rob you of even more energy.
• Avoid alcohol. Alcoholic beverages will probably affect your mood for a short time, maybe even positively. But they will also keep you in a depressive state for days afterward, or make your depression more severe. While you are under the influence of alcohol and other substances your judgment is affected, and if you have had any suicidal thoughts or urges you are risking your life.
• Talk to a health provider, whether it’s a doctor, therapist, psychiatrist, nurse, physician’s assistant, chiropractor, school counselor, psychologist, or social worker. These people can remind you that you can get through depressive states, and help you to monitor yourself. They may also prescribe a medication that might help your system fight depression (anti-depressant).
• Maintain your hygiene daily; it helps.
• Limit your caffeine intake, since caffeine can negatively affect your ability to sleep and your quality of sleep.
• Your depression is not you. Depression is a condition that is affecting you on a deep personal level.

 Don’t give up hope. Even if you feel unmotivated, do something healthy every day. 

Distractions are bad when they prevent you from concentrating on or doing what you need to.

Distractions are good when they help you manage or decrease anger, worry, or feeling down.

When you feel like you have to prove yourself to someone, or in general, do the opposite of what isn’t working.

• If you are more upset with the feeling itself but then you don’t actually work to prove yourself, go ahead and try to prove yourself. Give yourself credit for trying.
• If you spend most of your time actively trying to prove yourself, stop trying so hard. Tell yourself you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone.
• If you don’t know why you feel the need to prove yourself, apply some thought and identify some factors that lead to this feeling.