We all have days when we wake up sad or blue or just feeling “blah.”  It can be as minor as  lack of energy or as serious as being so depressed that you just want to pull the covers up and stay in bed forever, which can be one of the signs of clinical depression. You may or may not know why you are blue. One thing is certain, you have to get up and fight these feelings. You need to “jar the ground” with your determination to move forward and overcome morning depression. Here is a possible way to overcome depression without medication.

First, if something in particular is bothering you do your best to stop thinking about it and think about a physical activity you can do. This activity does not have to be intense exercise, just something physical you are capable of doing that will raise your heart rate a little, get you sweating and help you focus on something neutral.

Second you have to really force yourself (and this can be the hardest part for many people) to just get up. Get up no matter how bad you feel, no matter if it hurts a little (unless your doctor has told you not to move when you hurt in a certain way.) It is as easy AND as hard at just that. Getting out of bed. It helps if you bound out of bed and hit the floor with determination. Sometimes I turn that sadness into a little anger at the situation and that helps me to kick start the process.

Finally you need to get dressed (if need be) and do that activity. Do it mindlessly, just concentrating on each step on the treadmill or each pump of the bicycle peddle. If you have to think of something, imagine your sweat as the sadness streaming away or the thump of your feet on the treadmill jarring your tension, breaking it up so you can relax.

Why bother? Because first, you will be out of bed and starting your day. Second, the body releases endorphins (happy hormones) when we do physical exercise and this helps to combat sadness.

I know this won’t be easy for many of you. Sometimes it is very hard for me. Just a few days ago I woke up feeling down about something and sleepy. It took every ounce of determination I could muster to sit up, swing my feet to the floor with a bang, and head to the pool to do 20 laps. It was hard at first to just focus on the bubbles I made in the water, but I imagined those bubbles were my weakness and weight of sadness streaming off me and floating away. After my workout I was able to continue with my day a step at a time.

Try this next time you wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I know the first step will be the hardest, but I promise you each step after will get easier.

I welcome readers to share their methods for jarring the ground to get past the morning blues.