Picking yourself up after a "loss"

One of the interesting things I find about motivation and procrastination is how do you pick yourself up after a loss, or when you are feeling down? How do you keep on going, when you really don't feel up to the mark?
 
It's easy for those people who have never experienced "depression" to say "get over it" in reality it's not quite that easy as you may know first hand. However, there are some things that you can do.
 
First of all - remember your long term plans, goals, dreams and ambitions. If you are experiencing a bump in the road, know that it is only temporary and you will "get over it" - the bump that is. Yes it may feel like it is taking forever, but you can either sit down and just let life pass you by or you can remember why you were on the road in the first place and accept that somedays are going to be worse than others. But if you can see the "thing" in your minds eye then humps and bumps in the road are just minor inconveniences not major obstacles.
 
Find out who has been there before you - and ask them for a hand. If you are a member of a professional organisation and you just don't know which road to take next - ask the question, you may be surprised at the suggestions you receive. If you don't feel that anyone has ever been in the same place as you (and yes we all have unique situations) but someone, somewhere will have a similar experience to you - so find out - but a word of caution - don't use the time to whinge about how bad your life is at the moment - because you will not feel better by whingeing. Focussing on the bad - makes you feel worse.
 
Get busy - it doesn't matter what you do, clean the house, read a book, watch a stupid movie, go for a walk - but do not wallow in your self pity, believe me it doesn't get you anywhere. I have an aunt who delights in her illnesses. She doesn't do what it takes to make herself well - because if she did, she would have nothing to talk about. So if you are like my aunt and delight in telling people how bad things are, I would suggest that you need to evaluate what you want out of life.
 
Write it down - use big black marker pens, scribble, scrawl your pain and anger onto the page. Then I want you to screw up the paper and throw it away. Now you have that out of your system I need you to write down all the good things that have happened to you today - it may only be that the pimple on your nose has gone away, or you went for a walk at lunchtime. Focussing on the good things will bring more good things to you. And if you don't believe me, well try it for yourself anyway, you may be pleasantly surprised. Remember you cannot be "half open minded" you either are "open minded" or you are not. There is no half-way house on this one.
 
And finally for today - watch your thoughts. As we have said before - your thoughts do create your reality. So be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.