by Lorne Yacuk

Created on: July 29, 2007   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

If you believe that beating the "daily Blues" is a matter of will power, then apply this vaunted "will power" the next time you have diarrhea! "Daily blues" is a euphemism for the painful and tragic disease of Chronic Depression! The first and foremost step is to recognize the condition as a disease. You are not at "ease", but are in a constant state of "dis-ease".

If you heard that someone had diabetes, your first reaction would be that there are medications and behaviors that must be addressed to deal with the illness. So give yourself a break and adopt the attitude that your "daily blues" situation is abnormal and TREATABLE!

(I) Visit a doctor as soon as possible. There is likely a chemical imbalance in your brain for which there are good antidepressants available (not tranquilizers which just mask the problem). You might also discover as I did that some severe conditions relate to a dietary deficiency. In my case it was a simple matter of taking vitamin B 12 to make me feel a whole lot better.

(II) Set you goal to "plateau". Daily blues involve a downward spiral. Things just seem to get worse and worse. There is no quick fix. After all, it took you time to reach this condition. So your first goal should be a modest one of just stopping feeling worse every day. You may want to start recovering quickly, but a more effect and achievable goal is to reach the point where you can say, "well, I still have the blues but I don't feel worse than yesterday". Stopping the plunge is key to the eventual climb back up to normal.

(II) Walk at least 30 minutes a day. Don't use a walking machine; get out there and explore. You want to give your body a chance to create the natural chemicals to fight your "blues". At first, for me, this activity was boring and even negative as it gave me too much time to think about PLOM (poor little old me). Then I decided that if I was giving my body a chance to exercise, why not pick topics that would give my brain a chance to practice being happy. For example, I imagined I just won a million dollars - how would I spend it? I'm realistic enough to know my chances of winning such money are low, but the whole point is to exercise happy thoughts.

(III) Develop your diet. When you depressed, your appetite is usually bad. You don't have to go through a massive dietary change, but try to eat some new items to see if you like them. As your depression lifts, you will be able to more effectively select a healthy diet.

(IV) Concentrate on your personal

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