When You Can’t Just Beat the Blues

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How many articles have you seen about natural stress relief, how to get out of a funk, etc? It all seems pretty easy, right? Eat well, go for walks, meditate, practice gratitude, get enough sleep. That’s all you need to “beat the blues.”

But what if that’s not enough? What if you do all of that, but as soon as your walk is over, you feel crummy again? What if the thought of meditating or doing yoga pains you and it becomes more like a frustrating chore than a relaxing feel good? What if you eat perfectly, but you don’t feel better and the deprivation is harming your mental health? What if you eat what you want, while still focusing on nutrition, and that helps a lot, but you still are fatigued and unmotivated?

Then maybe there is something else going on.

Don’t feel guilty that you aren’t trying hard enough on the stress relief (stressing out over stress relief practices…that’ll work). Don’t stress yourself out about food and nutrition. Don’t feel guilty when you can’t bring yourself to do anything. Those feelings are unproductive, and they just compound the yuck you are already feeling. You don’t need that.

Now, when you’re feeling crummy and trying to beat the blues, I know as well as anyone that telling yourself not to feel guilty or worry isn’t exactly productive either. So don’t stress about not stressing about stressing. Head spinning yet?

For a lot of people, these simple life changes are all they need to feel better. Good nutrition transforms them into happy and energetic people. Meditation and yoga mellows them out and makes them feel alive, energized, and relaxed. And that is so awesome, and something I advocate everyone to try. For these sorts of tips on “beating the blues,” check out these articles.

But for me, and many other people, lifestyle changes just aren’t enough. And this is when it becomes time to dig deeper.

So how do you “Beat the Blues”?

Unfortunately, I can’t answer this question. Chances are, if you are reading this post, no other blog post has help. Including my Natural Depression Remedies post. Which means that this likely goes deeper that just a few lifestyle changes.

What steps can you take? There are a few options you can take to get your life back.

One is to take the basic “beat the blues” suggestions a step further. For example, while it was not a cure-all, undergoing GAPS Intro healed my body in a way that I had only hoped it would. I didn’t expect it to work so well to heal my gut and my mind. I was happier and able to work better that I had in a long time.

There was more than that. I still struggled with depression and anxiety despite GAPS. Eventually the stress of the deprivation and the acknowledgement of my eating disorder got to me. But thankfully GAPS and other natural remedies got my body to a point where following the standard “beat the blues” tips could get me the rest of the way there.

Other options involve other healing protocols or elimination diets. A holistic practitioner is probably your best bet. With a practitioner, you can work with your specific concerns. You can run tests to look for any deficiencies and the practitioner can look at the whole picture to address the root cause.

Have you found a solution that worked for you? What did you do?

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