I am still pinching myself how well I have been off of antidepressants after having been on them for so long (20 years). I reached my goal of being off them before my adult brain matures at 25.
What has helped me:
- Self love and compassion
- spirtuality (healing my chakras, practicing being present and staying grounded in my body, mediation, practicing detachment from the thoughts, emotions, outcomes and desires which create suffering and choosing letting go and acceptance)
- using natural therapies
- practising self disapline (in a compassionate way. I.e making myself get out of bed, eat healthy, budget my money because I know its for my highest good)
- Shadow work and inner child work (accepting the parts of me I ignored and rejected growing up and integrating them into my life to become whole so my subconscious doesn't control my emotions and actions. Listening to parts and giving compassion to the parts of me which felt hurt, unheard, abandoned and uncared for)
- Balancing the masculine/Yang part of me which needs to feel in control, constantly busy, taking action, achieving, giving, producing etc and learning to balance it with my feminine/Ying allowing me to go with the flow, enjoy the still, rest and recover, recieve, nuture etc.
- healthy diet
- exercise
- keeping creative and practicing self expression through my creativity
- choosing myself over conforming or rejecting myself to blend into the crowd (finding and embodying my authenitc/higher self)
- sitting with and processing my emotions allowing myself to feel them then release them.
When I allow myself to feel and cry I literally feel brand new afterwards. Its the resistance to feeling which creates prolonged suffering and can cause further consequences when your emotions aren't chanelled in healthy ways, they control you instead of you controlling them. You have to feel it to heal it.
I have realised from meditation alone how much fear and being too hard on yourself causes depression. I am able to catch my thoughts now when im avoiding doing something that will benefit me but fear is stopping me. I accept that its ok to take baby steps and forgive myself for not feeling able to do said things. And guess what happens. After letting go of the resistance and the voice that beats me up with the 'shoulds'. I find it so easy to get up and do the action I was afraid to do. I carry out the action from a place of compassion instead of beating myself up for feeling incapable.
So thats what I have been doing with my time 😅
Disclaimer:
To those who are on antidepressants and/or suffer depression. I have had a long hard road to hell and back so by no means is this post meant to make it sounds like it was easy. The first time I came off them it wasn't a success because I had not fully learnt how to utilize these important practices. I'm still learning and practicing, there are still days I slip up.
