Welcome to Mental Health Moment (MHM) #7! This post is all about fun (and mostly free) things you can do to combat your depression and anxiety or even keep them at bay.

I’ve seen lots of lists of ways to keep yourself busy and distracted, but for the most part, they lack an important ingredient – fun! So I thought I would make up my own list of things you can do fairly easily when you feel depression or anxiety coming on. Trust me, I know how hard it is to do anything other than get out of bed – but maybe one of these will speak to you. Or better yet, do these things when you’re feeling good to stave off the negative shit.

Here we go!

FUN DEPRESSION- AND ANXIETY-BUSTERS

1. Go to your local dollar store or drug store and buy yourself some happy helium balloons. You know, smiley faces, hearts, congratulations (you’re alive!), etc. Actually, if you really want to feel better about yourself, give them away to people you love. Or stand outside the door of the store and hand them to people who are leaving, with a friendly smile and a kind word. You’ll make their day!
2. Play a sport. That’s right, I’m talking about getting your body moving. But don’t think of it as an “oh, I need to exercise” thing or else it will lose some of its appeal. For instance, I can’t get my ass off the couch to go to a gym, but tell me you want to play tennis and I’ll be right there! Sometimes, I go to the courts alone and hit against the backboard or practice my serve. I already have the equipment, so it’s essentially free. What do you like to do? Practice batting? Lift weights? Jog? Do yoga? Challenge yourself to go do it, especially when you’re feeling slightly down. It will lift you up.
3. Bake someone a cake/cupcakes/cookies/whatever. Look in your pantry (if you’re lucky enough to have one). Do you have a stray cake mix that’s been sitting around? Cupcake mix? The ingredients for chocolate chip cookies? Go ahead and make them! You can share with others (which will make their mouths and their tummies happy, especially for kids) or eat them all yourself – I won’t tell!
4. What’s your favorite hobby? Maybe it’s going to parks and practicing nature photography; maybe it’s swimming; or perhaps you just like to drive around. Whatever it is, go do it! It will get your endorphins going and help you feel better.
5. People-watch. Yup, I’m talking good, old-fashioned people-watching. You can do it almost anywhere, in almost any weather, and it’s free. Some places to consider are: The food court in your local mall, your favorite bookstore, Target, Walmart, a park, your favorite high school’s sporting events, your local community center, really just about anywhere. If you’re the creative type, bring a notepad with you and write down interesting things and people you see – maybe you can use them as a basis for a story or a painting or a poem or something.
6. Want to be really helpful? Check out what activities are going on at your local senior citizen’s center. Trust me, they like it when new people come around and get involved. You can join a group that’s playing cards, you can play checkers (!) or chess (if you’re one of those people who can play chess) with someone, or perhaps best of all – play Bingo! Some centers have activities like these scheduled into their days, others have lots of different things going on at the same time. Go ahead and Google “[your city] senior center” and find out!
7. I really like this idea: Buy yourself a funny card, slap a stamp on it, and send it to yourself through the mail. If you’re anything like me, memory retention is difficult. You’ll forget all about it until it arrives, at which time it will put a smile on your face and remind you how clever you were to do this in the first place. It’s a win-win!
8. If you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket, go to Goodwill or another thrift store and buy yourself something. It can be whatever you want, as long as you can afford it. Pro Tip: Try to pay cash if you can. Buy yourself a stuffed animal or a puzzle or a game, something that will bring you joy, comfort, and distraction. Or, what the hell, buy some wall art or something small for the kitchen or something cute you can get lost in and enjoy.
9. Have a picnic. Whether it’s with yourself, with your dog, or with friends, it doesn’t really matter. Spending time outdoors is a beautiful thing. Make (or buy) lunch or a snack, grab a blanket and something to drink, and you’re good to go. All you need to do is find a place to park it. Another Pro Tip: This might also be an opportune time to practice #4 (doing your favorite hobby) and #5 (people-watching). If you have enough energy, you could also do #1 (buy yourself some happy helium balloons – and don’t forget those decorative little weights that come with) and bring the balloons with you. It will make people wonder.   😉
10. Go play at a trampoline park! Okay, okay, this one’s NOT free. But if this doesn’t bring out the kid in you, maybe you were never a kid. (I can totally relate to that.) It can be difficult to turn on the silly factor for some of us (*raises hand*), but maybe that’s exactly what you need. A way to have fun, let go, relax, enjoy, and be in the moment. Oh, and laugh your ass off, too.
11. Read for pleasure. Too often, I find myself reading about writing, business (meh), or politics (double-ugh). While that’s all fine and dandy, it’s not the same as reading for pleasure. Pick up one of the books from your extensive bookshelf and start reading (even if you’ve read it before). It could be a memoir (although those can get pretty heavy), a joke book, a crime novel, a young adult novel (you can buy mine here!), erotica (there’s nothing wrong with that), or almost whatever else you can think of. Go ahead, get lost in some other world for a while. A good book is a vessel that transports you to the moment you’re reading about on the page. Get out of your head!
12. On the flip side of that, you do the writing. Do the drawing, the doodling, the illustrating, the world-building, the confessions, the what-ifs, the memoir, the novel, the short story, the reasons you hate life, the reasons you love life, the poem, the greeting card, the movie script – whatever you want. What you write or draw is just for you – no one else need ever see or even know about it (unless you want to share with them). Now, you may be like I used to be, thinking, “I don’t have enough creativity in me to fill up the tip of my pinky!” Turns out I was wrong, and I’m willing to bet that you are, too. We all have skills and talents – why not use them to help us feel better? The thing I love most about writing is that there really are no rules. You can write whatever the fuck you want, and it will be right. It will be your truth in some way.

So what do you think? Feel like giving one (or several) of these a try? Do me a favor and leave me a comment if you try one of my suggestions or have some of your own. I guarantee that every one of them has the potential to give you the warm fuzzies. (Just imagine if you did more than one on the same day!) Even if you find that you’re not all that into it in the very beginning, I bet if you forge on, you’ll realize you just found a great way to beat back depression and anxiety, at least for a little while. Distractions, self-confidence, and hope are what we need the most (or they’re what I need the most. Anyone with me?). Any of the ideas listed here will feed your soul – maybe for an hour, maybe all day.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Thanks for reading! Let’s Keep it Real out there, kids.

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