I like just living my life. Content in the knowledge I have friends to hold my hand, a husband to hold my heart, and children who hold my future. I like that a very great deal.

But every so often, depression comes around. Depression is a bitch who likes to stir up trouble and create drama. When I’m smart, I realize that she’s visiting and ignore her stupid commentary and life goes on much like before. Sometimes, I am fooled by her voice (it sounds so much like my own) and I end up stirring up trouble and real-life issues that could have been avoided if I had only been wise to her ways.

The best way I’ve found to keep the depression at bay is my self-care checklist. These are the tried and true things for me (along with my prescription for a daily dose of Prozac). Most days I don’t do all of them, but if I’m in an unusually gray place I try to, and when I’m “maintaining” I try to get at least half of them in daily.

 

I’m sure I could probably remember to do these things without the list, but checking things off it gives me a sense of accomplishment and that helps fight depression as well. Because I find this useful, I made it into a pdf that I’ve laminated and put in my planner. I think everyone can get some value out of a routine, exercise, and good eating even if you don’t suffer from depression, so I created a link for the printable if you’d like to use it.

Eventually I’d like to add this checklist to a “daily sheet” with meal planning, to-do’s, water consumption, and the like (similar to this) but for now, this works.