Free Get It Done When You're Depressed by Julie A. Fast

from their well self is more likely to helpful.

The Advice from the Well You Is the Best Advice
    Encouragement and a reality check from the well you in your own words is much more helpful than a well-meaning but unrealistic outside voice offering the same support. A note you’ve written to yourself when you’re well and on a day when you were able to work normally can help remind you that depression is often the cause of your productivity problems, not a failing in yourself.
    Here are some other thoughts to consider:
    • Work hard to overcome the feeling that this—writing a letter to yourself—is a silly idea you don’t think will work.
    • Write this letter only when you’re well. That’s when you’re the most reasonable.
    • If it’s still too hard to write, ask someone who knows you well to write a letter to you about how you are when you’re not depressed.
    Remember: We often listen to ourselves more than we listen to others. Let your well self communicate with your ill self through a letter. It’s like a message in a bottle you find when you really feel isolated. It could be just the message you need on a tough day.

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    Break Through the Depression Barrier
    Some days, depression can feel like a heavy barrier over your head that’s so oppressive it’s hard to function. Not only can this be very frustrating, it can also be downright scary. It’s hard enough to deal with the negative thoughts caused by depression without having to deal with this physical feeling as well.
    Think of how your body feels when you’re depressed. There’s a good chance that along with the negative thoughts, you also feel a sense of oppression as though you’re surrounded by an unseen force that’s zapping your energy and making it difficult for you to function the way you’d like.

You Can Break Through
    When you feel so physically helpless, acknowledge it as a sign that you’re being confined by depression. Recognizing the feeling before it literally keeps you from moving is a positive step in learning more about how depression can affect and limit your life. Just as some workers feel they are held back by a glass ceiling, when you’re depressed, you might feel a dark ceiling over your head that you can’t break through to get things done the way you want to.
    These are the days when you have to think like a superhero and imagine yourself breaking through the barrier in order to move forward with the strategies in this book. When you do manage to lift the physically oppressed feeling, it can be as though the world goes from dark to light and your entire body feels like it has been set free.
    Are you being squashed by the depression barrier?
    • Does your body feel uncomfortable and squeezed?
    • Do you feel like you’re in a box of misery?
    • Do colors around you feel dark?
    • Are you isolated in your own mind?
    • Do you feel physically limited?
    The depression barrier may be one of the first things you notice when you’re depressed. Use this recognition as a motivation for expanding your body and saying no to the feeling of physical limitation.
Robin’s Story
    When I am particularly depressed, I feel like I’m enclosed in a black box. I sometimes feel this way mentally, as though there’s a dark fog around me, but the box feeling is like something is physically encircling me and making me miserable. It prevents me from functioning the way I want to.
    These are the days when I’m particularly depressed, but I do know that I can deal with this box! I usually wake up with the feeling and have a plan ready. I say to myself, This is not real. I’m not being pressured or oppressed. My brain is having some kind of odd physical feeling reaction, but there’s nothing really there. I have a saying at my desk: Work anyway, Robin. Work anyway. I then move my body and stretch it as big as I can to remind me that I control my physical space.
    I have no idea what’s going on in my brain when this happens or why my