Depression, Anxiety & Burnout - 50 Tips to Help Overcome These Feelings

I have compiled these tips and ideas for people facing depression, anxiety and burnout, but...is it just me or do we all get a little low, worried or burnt out at times? These same ideas and concepts are useful to anyone on a path of personal growth and development. If you have any concepts or ideas that you would like to contribute to making this resource as holistic as possible, we would love to hear from you. Please email us any great ideas.

Chapter 1: Tips 1 - 10

1. Spend Time in the Sunshine

This is so easy to do – and it’s free - yet so many people get stuck indoors all day. Make the conscious effort and commitment to spend at least 5 minutes every day receiving the energy and vitality of the sun. There is so much fear associated with the sun but in regular small doses the sun is vital for our health and well being.  Many studies suggest that vitamin D plays a strong role in combating depression and managing moods – and our bodies produce vitamin D in reaction to sunlight.  Research also points to the sun affecting the levels of serotonin (feel good chemicals) in the brain. So head outdoors and go for a walk in the sun.

2. Focus on Your Breathing

Stress and anxiety build up and get stuck in the body and as they do, people tend to shallow breathe (only filling their chest and not their full lung capacity),  making tension and frustration worse. Make the conscious effort to to breathe deeply. Say this statement while you do: “I breathe fully and deeply under all levels of stress”. The in-breath picks up any tension in the body and the out-breath lets it all go. Focusing on the breath is also a great way to pull attention away from your thoughts and the misery in your mind.

3. Get Regular Exercise

Notice that as you move toward stress, anxiety, depression or burnout you move away from sport and exercise. The mind and body need to be in balance, so do something to get out of the mind and back into the body. The first step would be to go for small walks (in the sun!) and stretch regularly. When you exercise to the point where you are sweating your body produces chemicals that make you feel good, so let your first goal be to get the heart pumping and feel a little sweaty.

4. Have a "Start Again" Attitude

I would love a dollar for every time someone has said that they have tried everything and nothing works etc. There is a story where a man tried to break a rock by hitting it repeatedly. It didn’t break for the first 50 blows. He hit it once more and it broke. It wasn’t the fifty-first blow - it was all the blows in succession that finally caused the rock to break. In today’s society it seems everyone quits on things - from diet programs to giving up cigarettes or alcohol, to new projects and learning new things. But don’t give up, start again! Even if you fail fifty more times it may be the next attempt where you get a big breakthrough. Every day is a new day – start again. If conversations end in confrontation, leave this one, calm down, come back – start again! Especially when learning to meditate, everyone has anguished thoughts and frustration that comes up, but everyday you just start again and see what happens. It is the ‘start again’ attitude that is the key.

5. Stay out of other people's business

There are only 3 kinds of business - my business; other people’s business and Gods business. The idea is to stay out of other people’s business as much as possible and if you can’t take action and help God do his, then stay out of his business and let him do his own work. So much energy is lost to rescuing others and fighting others’ battles when really you are getting in the way of them learning how to solve their own problems…and you often make matters worse. More often than not this all happens within the mind, so watch your thoughts and see how often you are thinking about other people and what they should or shouldn’t be doing. Know what your business is and stick to that. If it is your business to discipline staff and give them direction then do that - but if it’s not then don’t. If another staff member is annoying you and distracting you from your work, then tell him/her about your problem. You don’t have to tell them what to do or judge them to politely ask them to stop a behaviour that is triggering you off.

6. get enough sleep

So many people are so over-tired and stressed that they find it difficult to sleep - and when they do it is poor quality and not long or deep enough. To get a good night’s sleep;

• Do not drink more than one coffee per day and have it first thing in the morning. Tea is a quantum leap away from coffee and herbal teas are another massive jump. Drink a relaxing tea before bed.

• Resist day naps at all costs, but you can cheat! Get a hypnosis CD on relaxation and self esteem and listen to that instead of napping during the day. Mostly you will drift off and wake up feeling very happy and refreshed. Look at it as meditation rather than sleep.

• Don’t watch television before you go to sleep, especially action, suspense and drama shows. Television shows are made to get you addicted to them by leaving you anxious and in suspense – and this is exactly how you don’t want to feel! Maybe try doing the dishes and tidying up – while being in the moment, breathing deeply and thinking relaxing thoughts-  in the last hour before bed.

• Meditate or listen to relaxation music before bed. To start meditating simply sit before you lie, take a few deep breaths and focus on your breath cycle while saying relax, ‘re’ on the in-breath and ‘lax’ on the out-breath. If you get lots of anguished thoughts come up then change it to ‘let’ on the in-breath, and ‘go’ on the out-breath. Even 5 minutes will make a great difference in just a few weeks.

• Try stretching in bed before and after sleep.

7. overcome your addictions

The strength you need to give up addictions such as cigarettes and alcohol is the same breakthrough energy you need to achieve all success goals in life. Most people pick up an addiction to feel a sense of calm and relaxation but unfortunately the addictions very quickly have the reverse effect. It is a delusion to think that smoking and drinking calms you down. It is not true! These habits lead to low self esteem and withdrawal anxiety which gets worse and worse. Short term gratification is so small compared to the long term effects which may seem more subtle yet are more significant. I have seen many people spring out of depression and anxiety through giving up addictions. Get addicted to giving up addictions! Start by bringing awareness to how many you have. Write a list and conquer the easy ones first like coffee, sugar, getting involved in drama conversations, rescuing people, sleeping, talking too much, attention seeking, sex, reading or watching too much television etc. Anything in excess could qualify as an addiction.

8. practise decisiveness

Inner confusion and not being solid or ‘straight up’ about choices and decisions is a major contributor to anxiety and depression. You may not know it but you make hundreds of choices and decisions every day - like going to bed, eating etc. The problem may arise as to what to eat or what you feel like. Be on a mission to be more decisive and make decisions quickly. The longer you put off decisions the more depressed and anxious you will get. It’s like putting off a conversation because you fear it will end badly -  so often it doesn’t turn out as bad as you thought. So watch out for procrastination about making choices and decisions. You don’t often know if it is a good decision until you express your choices, so get to know yourself better by taking risks to do with choices. Don’t beat your self up because a choice did not turn out. Rather make another better choice based on your growth and learning from the previous choices. We learn from failures and poor choices, so the more choices you make consciously, the quicker you will get to success. Watch out for choices that you make out of obligation or to avoid upsetting someone, or because someone else expects you to make that choice. And be mindful of the times where you influence other people’s choices and decisions. Instead empower them to be an individual and have choices that may be different to those around them.

9. relax

Remind yourself to relax in all situations: relax around the opposite sex; relax with the kids; relax about cooking; relax about driving; relax about having to wait; relax while you are in the shower; relax if other people are stressed around you; relax when being intimate; relax about the future; relax and don’t make a big deal about the past; relax when doing exercise; relax when someone touches you or gives you a hug; relax about the phone ringing; relax about people wanting to talk to you; relax when you know people like you and relax when you fear they don’t; relax about your body; relax about the pain; relax about getting sick and relax about being happy and healthy; relax about money and not having enough; relax about asking for help and advice; relax when you’re having fun; relax when you’re entertaining and socialising; relax when you’re sitting down; relax your butt muscles when you clean your teeth! See how many more you can come up with.

10. touch someone's heart

The best thing to do to make yourself happy is to make someone else happy. Write an e-mail or tell someone how much you appreciate them. Thank people and show your appreciation with a hug or a small gift or by doing something nice for them. It’s the small things that people often notice the most and you can always tell when someone is genuinely grateful. Notice and acknowledge when others are reaching out to you and trying to help you feel good about yourself - even if it comes out as criticism you can validate them for the intention. Be open to receive being touched yourself, because many people only know how to give. Remember that love is all about the heart and the heart needs to receive to be able to give. Many people are burnt-out giving because they are not open to receive. The general rule is that we should not give that which we are not open to receive.

Click here to go to Chapter 2: Tips 11-20

home | newsletter sign-up | contact us | site map

Copyright 2009. Web Design: Kym O'Gorman