So i still have depression and im constantly bored, i feel like a loser who cant do anything right. I want to let my creativeness out, make something i can share with the world or family, but im probably dreaming too big. I cant stand being depressed and bored, it stinks, everyone tells me to work out but i lack the motivation to do so.
i usually just watch youtube all day while complaining to family members that have no idea what to do about me.
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To add to this, if you’re not too coordinated and are struggling with the smaller skateboard and doing tricks… try longboarding! It’s like skating, but without the stigma of being capable of doing tricks.
Plus they’re INFINITELY more comfortable to cruise around on. They even made drop through decks that are designed for long distance cruising
Bonus points for getting into downhill longboarding. Just make sure you’re ready for it/have the proper gear.
It’s like self harm but you look sick as hell doing it.
Above age 25 it’s more like assisted suicide rather than self harm lol.
You have lots of good answers posted but here is the trick…You have to START.
You don’t need to sign up at the gym today and build a schedule to work out. That’s way too much commitment. Instead just go outside.
That’s it. Just put down the phone and go outside. Spend 5 or 10 mins out there. You didn’t run a marathon, but you’ve done something today. Maybe later today you can go outside again. Tomorrow so the same thing. Put the phone down and go outside for a short time.
You gotta start somewhere, so make it easy and start small. Eventually you’ll spend more time outside and less time doing nothing. Maybe you see cool plants and start getting into gardening. Maybe you find that walking isn’t so bad and you find a park with a nice trail and work into jogging? Maybe the kid down the street wrecks his minibike in front of your house while you’re outside and you stop to help and think the tiny motorcycle is cool and get inspired to start riding.
tldr- Don’t just pick someone else’s hobby. Put down the phone and go experience life outside your home. The hobby will likely find you when you start paying attention instead of distracting yourself.
When I felt severe depression, I struggled so much with feeling good about what I did. I thought it had to be significant to be worthy of enjoying.
It took me a very long time to start celebrating any tiny thing that I did. Sometimes it was doing something frivolous and feeling good about it for its own sake. Sometimes it was doing some productive and feeling good about achievement. They had one thing in common: I gave myself permission to feel satisfied with even tiny steps.
First and foremost I want to second anyone who brought up cooking. Learning to cook a meal perfectly to your tasted is both accomplishing and sharable.
For the geekier stuff, I have taken up Gundam model kits in the last year. You can start off with simply building them straight from the box. There are also a ton of ways to customize them such as repainting, adding decals, create “weathering” effects and “kit bashing” (mixing models together to make your own new model). It has been a very nice outlet whenever I want to be crafty.
I second Gunpla, it’s incredibly mindful to just crank some tunes and clip runners, sand nubs, and slowly watch something come together that seemed impossible from flat plastic. Then you see the articulation and and even more blown away by the engineering of it all.
I’m going to need you to elaborate on the Gundam model kits. Sounds cool as hell. Any good resources for getting started? Any recommended kits for beginners? Is it an expensive hobby?
Knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cross stitch, etc. The work is meditative, and you get in a groove waiting to see what the next row or stitches will look like. Producing an object feels productive, and gives a feeling of accomplishment.
Choose bright colors and fun patterns, and it’s a lot of fun. There are patterns for all interests, so don’t think this is the realm of only little old ladies. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
There are also a lot of kits that include most of what you’ll need (especially for cross stitch). It can be a really convenient way to start and most kits come with really good instructions on how to cross stitch too.
Hiking. It costs nothing and you can create your own meaning from it. You can do the same trail over and over and know the place intimately, or you can make it a goal to do as many as possible and keep track of them all with souvenirs or art or whatever you want. The benchmark for success is what you define. And it’s got a bonus of being good for your body.
I’d also suggest traditional music, but maybe keep it simple and cheap… ukulele, didgeridoo, or tin whistle. It’s a low bar for entry and it’s inherently social, all about jamming and being inclusive. Didgeridoo is more solitary, if that’s what you prefer. These instruments have almost no ongoing costs and are great for learning the basics of music.
Instruments arr both humbling and also affirming. You can make noticeable progress and, again, define your own success. All my best friendships came through playing music. It’s an endless source of joy for me. I generally tend toward depression but music keeps The Big Sad at bay
Making food, either baking or cooking. They focus you on the here and now and you eat well to boot.
A hobby that has helped me a lot is knitting. It’s simple to learn and it’s another truly mindful thing to do for you.
I second cooking!
Yes! I struggle to motivate myself to stick with hobbies. I love photography, making art, writing - but often the motivation is just lacking. But cooking? I’m biologically motivated to cook (most days) so it’s easy to keep up with. All I have to do is save recipes and plan ahead just a little
Photography.
You can set up a little studio area in your house and start with still life pictures. Search for Danish Still Life Paintings for some ideas - I’m sure there’s plenty of YouTube rabbit holes for more ideas. Or, just take up painting!
Photography is also a great excuse to get out of the house and walk around. Whether it’s street photography or landscape or close up nature photography, there’s always something to take pictures of. Give yourself little assignments - just circles today, just signs, just shadows, etc.
Either way, this is a creative outlet that you can share with others as you progress and get better. Who knows, you might start printing your images and have a gallery showing at a cafe!
Running!
I was clinically depressed from 2002 to 2017. In 2017 I lost coverage and was forced to stop taking my medication.
The medication was wellbutrin. It really helped. I hated that I couldn’t get access to it, but I had to face life without it.
After having ramped down off the stuff, I was okay for a couple of weeks then the darkness started to come in.
In my research I found that exercise does the same thing as my medication (it increases hippocampal volume). So I switched from running about 1 mile per week to about 25 miles per week.
And my depression was gone. The medication managed it, allowed me to live my life. The running destroyed my depression.
IMO depression is caused by brain atrophy, which is caused by lack of moving one’s body. We evolved to be moving so much more, and just like your muscles will atrophy if you’re bedridden, your brain will atrophy if you don’t exert your body. Shrinking brain means life sucks hard.
I’m glad running has worked for you, but the perspective that depression is a caused by a lack of movement seems dangerous. It implies fit and active people can’t be depressed because they are active. That’s just not true.
Activity can help lift someone out of depression, but it’s not a cure all barrier between you and the world of mental health.
Okay, fair enough. That’s a good point to bring up. I think that’s one stable path to depression and I think that if a person has never been in good shape that should be their first thing to try after they’re stabilized from any acute danger. (Meaning if the shit’s bad enough just take meds to get out of the hole and be able to operate).
Maybe their brains are atrophied, maybe those regions are losing processing power, or for some other reason signaling freeze-inducing threat.
I think the most proximal cause of my depression, at least, is a feeling of overwhelm and hopelessness, that’s so chronic it just suppressed me across the board. And for me, that overwhelm came from normal life, being fed through a hippocampus without enough processing power to plot a path through it all. I couldn’t be sure, so I slowed down across the board, ie became avoidant and unmotivated.
So what I tell myself is that the growth of the hippocampus allowed me to just handle more complexity before it sent the overwhelm signal to the rest of my brain and caused a shutdown. Instead I got to operate more freely with more confidence that I was on solid ground, because I could see better.
But the prediction and seeing wasn’t the most proximal cause. Being able to see better made me more confident, lowered my stress response, lowered my physiological alert level.
But for someone else it could be their hippocampus shrank for some other reason. Or it’s inflammation cause by a food, and that cuts the processing power down. Or unconscious or conscious mental conflict, sapping processing power.
And it doesn’t even have to be the hippocampus. That’s just one input into the emotional system. Presence of abuse or enemies, presence of hopeless circumstances, straight up cell malfunction with neurotransmitters, all sorts of shit can go wrong.
I do think hippocampal atrophy is one of many possible paths to developing depression, and I don’t want to give the impression that what I said was a totally complete model.
It’s my model of how it happened to me, and I think it applies to a large fraction, possibly even half, of the root of people’s depression.
And I’m basing it on three things:
- How completely and utterly it worked. Better, more complete eradication than the meds had ever accomplished. (though I’m thankful for the years they helped me and the first moments they lifted me from the muck)
- How totally ignorant I, and apparently all my practitioners too, had been of that effect
- How drastically little activity I was doing, as a result of exerting myself in exercise maybe once every couple of weeks. I’d do it as a quick pick me up from time to time, not as an ongoing habit.
Model railway…
Build your own buildings…
This one, i made myself. https://japix.schuerz.at/p/jakob/402735537014407232
Did not know before, that i can do this… 😊
Made me really happy and proud.
The details look great!
Thank you! :)
Nice job, those look really good.
thanks :)
Go exploring. On whatever mode of transportation you prefer, in whatever area you like. Set small goals for each trip (this is important to keep you from just wandering completely aimlessly). Maybe try to find a new restaurant of a cuisine you’ve never tried. Maybe find a street or alleyway you’ve never visited and see what’s there. Maybe go find the biggest tree in the park. Basically just go see what’s out there.
If you struggle coming up with your own fun goals, try geocaching instead.
I used to ride my bike a lot when I was young to the point where it became my automatic thing to do whenever I was feeling stressed/anxious/depressed. The adventures I went on, while also being outside in nature and in the sun (or moonlight) would always pick me right back up.
I only realized this recently as I’ve had a huge urge to buy a bike again but didn’t know exactly why.
Frisbee golf. It’s cheap, fun but challenging, and outdoors. Worst case scenario, you go on a long walk and bump into some interesting people. If you’re in a medium sized city or larger, there is probably a course and league near you.
The culture is generally very polite and fun to be around. Lots of harmless stoners and 30yo bearded people with beers in hand. In the south there is starting to be some influence from megachurches using it as an enticement, so I’m not sure if it’s “cleaned up” a little more down there.
Very solid answer. Just make sure to watch a couple YouTube videos tutorials on how to throw correctly so you can quickly make.progress toward being good enough such that you don’t just lose your discs every time you throw them. It’s a lot more fun when that annoyance is less frequent.
Adding to all of the other comments, I have to add to the music suggestions: You DO NOT even have to learn an instrument. Learn how to make electronic music (you don’t have to make techno or other such electronic electronic music. Just lay down a drum track and add a little sound here and another there. YouTube is full of tutorials for full blown DAW’s/workstations and the simplest apps. Get Koala Sampler or some other app for your phone or better yet, tablet.
Even simpler, try an app called Keylimba, the default sound is a soothing thumb piano/marimba, and for just a couple euros/bucks you can get a range of instruments, but the marimba is very well enough for a long ass time. With it you can just have the thing loop whatever base you put in and just, pluck a sound here and there. I’m a half-pro musician and I still often find myself just relaxing with it. Making a simple chord structure and just chilljamming away. Music isn’t hard and difficult, people/society just approaches it in a really backwards way. Anyone can do music. Sequencers and loopers are such an underrated tool for learning and creativity. You don’t have to mind any theory at all, just do what feels good.
I also have to add - meditation. Get a calm album or find one on YouTube that has music you enjoy, or even look up a guided meditation on YouTube, there’s tons. Meditation is great if you can find even a moment to focus/unfocus on it.
Learning how to DJ is another good way to get into the world of music. The first time you get two songs to smoothly blend together feels like magic.
Then when the time comes to buy turntables, learning to scratch is even more rewarding. But don’t go spending any money just yet. Start off with a free copy of Virtual DJ, and learn the basics with a mouse and keyboard. The hardware comes later when you decide that you’d actually like to pursue this hobby. At that point you’ll have to decide if you want to go with Seraro, Traktor, or Rekordbox. They all have their niche uses depending on what kind of DJ you want to be. But start off with VDJ first.
Yep, in my highschool/college depression days, making YouTube videos on music production helped me keep my head up.
I see a lot of physical activities around here, and I strongly agree. Find something that gets you outside and makes you move around. Hiking, biking, running, team sports, climbing - all great. Find whatever suits you and is within your area.
I recently got into disc golf. It’s something i look forward to play, and it makes me go outside often and I meet a lot of new people while playing.
Working out. Either biking, walking, lifting weights, doing martial arts, etc. It doesn’t matter. In some of my lowest points if my life I started working out and it helped. It didn’t fix it but it really helped my mood improve. It also raises your self-esteem. I did a couple of years of BJJ and it really made me feel better about myself. Now I go to the gym and lift weights. Looking better and seeing the weights I can lift become heavier do a lot of me.
Music. Pick up a guitar. Thomann sells really cheap guitars that are great for beginners. Learn some songs you love and play along with them. Just look up tabs online and go from there. Eventually, you’ll realize that you can use the instrument as a constructive channel to your emotions.
Both (or even most) suggestions you’re going to hear about this topic take discipline. There is a reason for that. These things are rewarding proportional to the effort you put in. Seeing yourself improve at whatever you choose ultimately will only happen when you make the time and put in the effort. Do not be discouraged. The first few weeks are always hard but you can build good habits in a short time.
Start playing a musical instrument. Works for me
i second this and recommend Piano/Keyboard.
A cheap Keyboard is probably found for 40-50 bucks online and it is a good starting point to also get into the music theory.
Still the skill ceiling is practically endless.
Keyboard is good. I personally would recommend bass guitar if you like rock music. If you can save up $200-300 and buy a used Squire Precision or Squire Jazz bass, it will literally last you years as long as you change the strings regularly and learn how to do an at-home setup.
You can pick up the basics and start jamming with people really fast, but the skill ceiling is deceptively high. Bassists are the hardest to find in any band.
The instrument is fun as hell too.
100%
You’ll feel great teaching yourself an instrument. Dive right into it. Look up simple things at first, and practice it. Then look up another thing that you don’t how to do and practice it. The time goes by fast and before you know it you realize you understand it.It’s an amazing feeling.
