How to stay motivated when depression hits you hard?

How you doing my man?
Trying to stay mentally afloat is one of the hardest things to do. No joke and I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Trying to train the mind to overcome any obstacle is tough challenge. However if you have a goal to discipline your mind over your body you realise you are capable of so much more.

A story of mine which happened recently was that I had been dumped over a month ago. And in retrospect I didn't think I was able to get out of the situation because it was mentally draining. And not just that, I was having problems at my workplace because of her, I distanced myself from my family for unknown reasons, not concentrating on my education, losing touch with my best friends but the worst of it all was I lost a whole lot of me. So when I was dumped I basically lost nearly everything that defined me. Or so I thought.

So I decided to go back to the gym and train my mind, not my body. What I aimed for was not the physical aspect of training but the mental aspect, however it wasn't enough. I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I wasn't going to the gym or exercising so I could feel better. No, I was going to the gym so I could forget the problem for a couple of hours and be in the zone. However it was hard to forget because when the session finished, I would start crying thinking about my ex. I would always ask what was wrong with me? Why me? I thought we were perfect? Why did she have to leave me? All these negative nancy questions. And I had stayed away from the gym for the whole healing process because it didn't give me the feeling I was after.

But I still needed to bring back my mind. If I didn't bring back my mental state I was going to deteriorate and eventually tie the noose. But I didn't go back down that route. I had been through it before and I didn't want to go through it all over again. So I became stubborn. Very stubborn. So this one time I disciplined my mind. How?I began listening to motivational speeches by Les Brown, Denzel Washington, Arnold Schwarznegger amongst others. Eventually from listening to those speeches I wrote down on a piece of paper what I felt like I was missing and what I found was I was missing the things that define me. Friends, family, education, my future career and things that made me happy. So I balanced these aspects out and found peace with all of them. Once I had made my peace with all them I was much happier. And when I did, that's when I found my mental state coming back. that's when I finally decided to go back to exercise. And now, I can exercise without thinking of my past or forgetting about it for a brief moment but to exercise to be able to build myself physically because I have already disciplined my mind.

Basically what I'm trying to say is don't think your limited on options when it comes to battling your temptations. When people go to war they don't have one tactic. They have a variety of tactics they believe will help the previous tactic should it fail. We all have a plan, so our plan should have a variety of tactics to ensure victory. Try and adding more activities or adopt new habits to be able to combat your temptations. Have exercise of course, exercise is a great way to relieve stress but also do other things as well. Like read books, go for walks, watch seminars, learn new things. Expand your mind and temple your body. Don't ever limit yourself. You are a walking embodiment of hidden potential and there is so much more you are capable of if you put your mind to it. The only person who ever places limits on you is You. You are your greatest challenge, so overcome yourself. And continue to do this until you are satisfied. You have everything you need, to become everything you want.

Don't let yourself give in to the negativity of your own thoughts. You are powerful beyond measure.
Expand your mind, temple your body.

I hope this helps. Keep strong, my friend.

 

You are strong my friend to be go through all of that and still be standing. I salute you sir for looking life in the eyes even when it tried to beat you down and you still wouldn't take defeat as a means of escape. Sometimes we just need to unwind in order to go further. What I always tell my work colleagues is when they are fatigued from working too hard is sometimes we need to take to a rest in order to go even harder than before. I have always believed and will continue to do so.
I'm glad that you are willing to take a step back to go running even further.

Once you take the step back to go further, I guarantee you that you will come back a different person. You definitely have persistence and no one will ever take that away from you. Keep with you always!
I will be here if you want to talk and will be here to see your progress.
Be strong my man. Develop a strong mind to have a strong life!

 

Close to 2 decades of pmo won't be a joke to reboot along w/ withdrawals and PAWS. Aside getting hit by a car, the symptoms you're experiencing are pmo withdrawals. During 6 of 9 months of monk mode, I couldn't even go jogging let alone socializing. A lot of the symptoms lessen considerably and sometimes I stay inside, experience anhedonia.

 

Fenix, I just want to tell you that I understand your feelings as I have to deal with childhood trauma as well and I am trying to get over a better of 20 years of PMO myself. I thought the first five months went by so quick that one year would be no problem. The sixth month turned out to be the hardest one for me as I began looking at porn here and there but never MO. This went on for a week or two every other day. I finally reached the end of the month but this is definitely harder than I excepted. I am looking up at Sox more months and though I am feeling much better there is still anxiety and ruminating thoughts.

To stay on path of recovery is too keep yourself busy at all times. I’m doing so much I don’t even make time for myself at all which is not good. If you have family close by to visit that would be great. Short road trip to see them. There is always reading, maybe bicycling if your leg is not too bad and could help you heal it faster. Get outside as much as possible in nature and that will actually help your symptoms a lot more.

You will do fine Felix! Hang in there and don’t hesitate to ask me for anything..