Covid-19 has been with us since March, and it has caused many negative effects on the world. For example, many businesses have had to shut down. Moreover, Covid-19 has had a negative effect on people, the biggest effect being depression.
Depression is a mental health issue that causes a mood disorder and a persistent feeling of sadness. It changes the way we feel, think and behave, it makes people have emotional and physical problems.
According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, depression for Canadians has increased by 31.2% since July because of Covid-19. People are worried and concerned about their personal health, their family’s health, their jobs and finances, and social isolation. Thus, this has become one of the biggest issues in Canada today.
Because of this situation, I have experienced depression as well. Similar to other individuals, I worry and fear for my personal health and my family’s health when I have seen so people die from the disease. I worry about my career and my financial situation. This is a big reason that causes me depression because I have many goals that I want to achieve in 2020, but I can’t do it because of Covid-19. I can’t have a good student life because I can’t go to school and study. Furthermore, I wasn’t able to find a job in the summer because many companies were closed and reduced their workforce. I also worry about social isolation because I can’t see the people I love and travel around the city.
This is one of the toughest moments in my life and it’s been very difficult to overcome all of these situations effecting my depression. However, because of my family’s support and much encouragement from the people I love, I have tried to overcome my depression by finding solutions to stop it. After attempting many solutions, the following have helped me to overcome my depression, so…
Here are some of the solutions that have helped me to overcome depression during the Covid-19 pandemic
“Exercise”
Even though this solution seems so simple, it really helped me to overcome my depression. When feeling depressed, I couldn’t sleep at night because I always think about the many bad situations that I face. However, after doing the exercises, I have a good sleep again. I have done many exercises, but one exercise that really helps me to overcome my depression and have a good sleep is running. Running is a very good exercise because it improves every system in the body such as your muscles, skeleton, blood, and respiratory system. Besides, running also creates a good chemical in the brain, so it can reduce depression. Because of the many benefits of running. I have tried to run when I have free time. I run 5 kilometres per day and try to up the speed in order to develop my body strength. After I have been running for a while, I can feel that my physical health is better and fresher. Moreover, I have a very good sleep because I am tired from the running, so I overcame my depression, and have strong mental health again.
“Doing something that I love”
Many people always say if you do something that you love, you can forget your pain. I think it’s true because when I have done something that I love, it helps me to forget some bad things in my life and overcome my depression. In my life, there are several things that I love to do, and during the pandemic, I have done 3 things that I love and It really helps me to overcome my depression. First, it’s watching sports. Even though many sports have been postponed for almost 3 months since March, when they were back, I can’t stop watching them. I love watching many kinds of sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis, and badminton. When I watch sports, I feel like I get my problems off my chest. Every time that my favorite teams or favorite athletes win a game, I feel very joyful, so watching sports really helped me overcome my depression. Second, it’s playing the guitar. Happily, I decided to buy a guitar before the pandemic, so I can play it during this difficult time. I have been playing guitar for many years, and every time I play it, it helps me to vent my emotions. I always play a song that I like when I have bad feelings, and it really helps me to overcome my depression. Third, it’s watching a movie. During this pandemic, I have seen a lot of movies and series on Netflix, and all of them make me feel good in different ways. For example, The Last Dance is a documentary about Michael Jordan and the 98’Bulls, it motivates me because of Michael Jordan’s winning mentality. As a result, I have more motivation to fight my depression, and to overcome it.
“Talking with people who I love”
Because everyone around the world has to do social isolation in order to stop this virus, it is very challenging for me to have face-to-face communication with people who I love such as my family, friends, and teachers, Luckily, there are many applications such as Zoom, FaceTime, Line which provides me the ability to meet, chat and see them virtually. Therefore, I always use these technologies to talk with them. It has been very valuable to talk to them during this time because I receive a lot of good energy while talking to them. We always share good moments and bad moments, and it encourages me to get better and overcome my depression.
Covid-19 still remains with us today, so I believe many of you might still have depression for many reasons. I encourage you to overcome your depression by trying to find your own solutions. However, if you can’t think of your own solutions, you can try to do some of mine. Hopefully, my solutions can help you to get better. For those of you who love my solutions and have other interesting solutions to overcome depression, you can leave your thought in a comment section below.