Alan Fadling: Notes from my Unhurried Journey

I found a list of twenty practical suggestions to help with depression in a book of spiritual direction from the last century. It would have been given before the popularity of therapeutic approaches to the problem of depression would have become widely known. Here they are in my own words (and I’ve included the original version below in case you’re curious). Do one or two especially stand out as helpful to you?

1. Don’t be afraid to do something special for yourself.
2. A light, cool shower can be stimulating and invigorating.
3. Read a book you want to read (and don’t have to read).
4. Live in the moment. Don’t think about tomorrow, or the tomorrow after that.
5. When you’re tempted to be immobilized by depression, do something good that lies at hand.
6. Spend time with people who fill your cup rather than draining it.
7. Spend time with people you enjoy and who make you laugh.
8. Don’t grovel in your depression, but don’t hide it from your friends either. Depression left in the dark only grows.
9. Be careful about artificial stimulants like coffee. What goes up often comes down harder.
10. Reflect on those whose lot in life is far harder than yours.
11. Don’t expect a solution for depression “out there.” Realize that life really is hard at times and accept it.
12. Be careful about books, television programs, movies (or people) who will only reinforce your down view of life.
13. By faith, do good things for the people in your life.
14. Don’t hide away in your house. Spend time outside in the fresh air.
15. Do something to your room to brighten it up and make it more inviting to you.
16. Don’t let laziness amplify your depression. (This is the flip side of “do the good thing that lies at hand.”)
17. Don’t be harsh or impatient with yourself. Treat yourself with kindness.
18. Enjoy a good hot fire in the winter.
19. Be consistent in good reading, good study and good thinking (to overcome the untrue thinking that underlies much depression).
20. Trust your spiritual mentors when they say “this, too, shall pass.”

Here’s the original:

“Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have done–so I feel for you. 1st. Live as well as you dare. 2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold. 3rd. Amusing books. 4th. Short views of human life–not further than dinner or tea. 5th. Be as busy as you can. 6th. See as much of those friends who respect and like you. 7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you. 8th. Make no secret of low spirits to your friends but talk of them freely–they are always worse for dignified concealment. 9th. Attend to the effect tea and coffee produce upon you. 10th. Compare your lot with that of other people. 11th. Don’t expect too much from human life–a sorry business at the best. 12th. Avoid serious novels, melancholy, sentimental people, and everything likely to excite feeling or emotion not ending in active benevolence. 13th. Do good, and endeavour to please everybody of every degree. 14th. Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue. 15th. Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant. 16th. Struggle by little and little against idleness. 17th. Don’t be too severe upon yourself or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice. 18th. Keep good blazing fires. 19th. Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion. 20th. Believe me, dear Lady Georgina. Very truly yours, Sydney Smith.” (Peter Ball. Anglican Spiritual Direction. Boston: Cowley Publications, 1998, pp. 137-38.)