How to overcome Depression and Emotional Breakdown

When we achieve something new, build a new house, get a promotion from our place of work, get a new partner or even get a new pet; the ambience always look good and we often feel joyous.

How about when the opposite happens? Are we still able to handle the situation the same way we can embrace our achievements when things go right?

When it comes to the way we think and behave, most times it can be fascinating. One moment we are happy and the following moment, boom! Something goes wrong, then we are sad.

In my previous article, I explained how the brain reacts to most of these emotions (you will understand this very article better if you look it up first before reading the following sections). 

Let us look at 3 ways you teach your brain to be more logical when faced with both difficult and happy moments. 

 

1. Understand the source of your feelings.

The best way to prevent an emotional hijack is to understand the exact things that trigger the reaction. 

To better put this in a very strong context; amygdala hijack happens to us often at a time when we are not ready for it. 

God is so awesome, and because everything he does is perfect, he embedded in us a system capable of fighting and defending anything capable of causing us harm. 

You need to always remind yourself of this fact! Your brain has all it takes to deal with all situations that come your way. 

All you need to do is acknowledge your win and the things you've lost. The greatest mistake you will indulge in is if you lie to yourself or try to put yourself under pressure because of other peoples achievements. 

This is not being complacent, this is being responsible for the occurrences in your life.

Pay attention to where you are overacting, check areas you are acting slow, if possible, write them down.

Imagine things that get you upset easily, conversations your friends brings to you that doesn't help you mentally; meditate on all these things critical parts. 

These are the opening steps of a practice called mindfulness. Mindfulness helps you be more current and committed in your reactions and choices.

 

2. Next: Deal with it or avoid it.

Always pay attention to patterns and occurrences in your life. If someone broke your heart in the past (or vice versa), pay attention to what led to the occurrence and how you were able to navigate through it.

The funny thing is that these things don't happen once. Nature has its ways of tossing them at us again and again. 

If we can develop our brains to deal with these situations, then it will be easier for us to think rationally and make good decisions. 

Let us digress a bit; if you are a music or sound engineering person, you will find this interesting. 

There are so many things that make-up music building blocks, we often split the music down into five fundamental elements: form, melody, t rhythm, texture, and harmony.

The guys responsible for ensuring that all these elements synchronise are the sound engineers; they make sure their system can act on their behalf even when they are not there to take immediate action. 

For all of the musical elements to work together symmetrically, the vocalists and the entire instrumentalist must work together. 

What happens when one of the crew members behave funny if one of the vocalists decided to shout very loud?

Does that mean all the speakers will get damaged? 

Luckily, the speakers won't pull off. Do you know why? Because there is a compressor on the audio mixing amp responsible for compressing such pressure. 

That's exactly what our brains try to do for us through the amygdala and frontal lobes. 

Like sound engineers will customise their systems to act on incoming attacks, we also can train our brains to deal with these unforeseen circumstances. 

Logically look at areas you can fix and avoid aspects that are capable of hindering you from making good decisions.

 

3. Give yourself time.

I leave a portion for the last because I want you to always remember this no matter what. Healing takes time! Overcoming your natural reactions takes time. Don't expect it to happen overnight. 

You don't have to feel bad when things move slowly. Especially when you make the same mistakes over and over again. You need time to gain perfection. 

Whenever you find yourself in a difficult situation that seems impossible, the medication you need is time. Give yourself a break and rationally think of a possible way through. You can gain authority over your brain’s illogical emotional reactions.

Finally, you can do this by delaying your actions, taking deep breaths, and refocusing your thoughts. These actions allow your brain’s frontal lobes to subdue your irrational amygdala. 

By the time you are able to perform these steps repeatedly, you will have control over your reactions, and you won’t be left feeling embarrassed or regretful about your behaviour.