What can I do to make me feel better about me?

This is a question from Yahoo! Answers that I answered and was voted Best Answer by the person who asked the question…

As the week keeps going, I’m feeling more and more depressed. I feel like pretty soon something is going to happen to me because of my bad decisions. What can I do to make me feel better about myself? And to not feel so depressed? I’ve been feeling depressed for about 2 weeks. Could this be something serious? Should I go to a doctor? Please, just give me some advice on how I can put off stress, and just get a little self-confidence.

Here’s my answer:

There are three suggestions I can make, having experienced depression twice in my life before.

Firstl,y do all the things for yourselfthat you wish other people would do. So, for example, if you wish someone would buy you a gift, go and buy one for yourself. If you wis,h someone would take you out to a nice dinner or show. Do it for yourself.

Secondly, help those less fortunate. This is maybe the most important because you will soon start to see that there’s always someone else in a worse position. And when you do things to help others, you will experience gratitude which opens your heart. Gratitude is the key to changing the way you feel because you start to feel like you are making a difference in other people’s lives.

Lastly, watch some comedy shows, stand-up comedy or funny movies. Go back to the classics like Charlie Chaplin or get the earlier Jim Carrey movies like Ace Ventura or The Mask, those really physical comedies with few words. Depression is a myth that’s in your head. You minimise yourself compared to other people. When you laugh, you feel more like yourself, meaning that you are not putting yourself down or patting yourself on the back. Youare just in equilibrium.

Source(s): www.drdemartini.com