Being in a depressive episode can turn you into a completely different person than you once were. You stop enjoying the same things, you begin finding everyday tasks impossible to complete, and you don’t take care good care of yourself. Once you begin to come out of this depression, you finally begin to go back to your old self through both big and small changes.
It can be hard to tell that the changes in your behavior are due to recovery. To help you figure it out, here are 10 things you start doing without even realizing when you begin to move on from a depressive episode.
1. Your Emotions Become Overwhelming
Being in a state of depression can leave you feeling apathetic and numb. Once you begin to recover, your heightened emotional state can feel overwhelming. The best thing you can do in this case is to let yourself feel these emotions as you adapt to your new state of mind.
2. You Start Wanting to Socialize More
Although you’ve been closing yourself off from everyone recently, you begin to find yourself wanting to see friends and family more often. The idea of going for lunch with a peer doesn’t seem as daunting as it used to but now seems like a fun activity.
3. Your Sleep Schedule is Constantly Changing
Sleeping trouble is often at the core of a depressive episode. When you begin to come out of it, your serotonin levels begin to level out, as well as your circadian rhythm adjusting. This can cause you to sleep for hours on end or to not sleep at all, but soon your body will find a stable sleeping pattern.
4. You Become Quick to Anger
Up until now, getting angry took too much energy to do. Now that you’re beginning to feel more alert and active, you find yourself becoming more irritable than you previously would have been. To help yourself stay calm in moments of anger, take a step back from the situation you’re in before acting out.
5. Your Eating Habits Have Changed
During your depressive episode, you may have eaten constantly to comfort yourself or you may have had no appetite at all. You’re now starting to eat differently as your body decides how much food it really needs to be healthy.
6. You Begin to Look for New Projects to Start
Finding a new hobby or learning a new skill is now a fun challenge for you. You begin to make up for all the passions that you lost during your depression and either pick them back up again or find something new to do with your time.
7. You Start Letting the Little Things Go
You’re not as anxious and worried as you were before. Although you may have felt like the world was ending during every small inconvenience, you now have the ability to move on from these things more easily.
8. You May Feel Worse
Moving on from a depressive episode is a huge adjustment for your mind and body and can cause a surge of negative emotions. Give yourself time to allow your feelings to settle down and remember that you’ll soon feel so much happier than you did before.
As you adjust to life outside of depression, you may experience all of these 10 things or none at all. Every person experiences recovery differently and the important thing is to know that your mental health is improving.
Go ahead and share this article, it could help someone you know make sense of their behavioral changes.
