What do you do when life gets you down

[Edwardo Piet]

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Sadness can be awesome too.

[SkepticalMoron]

Have a good wank

[The Grand Nudger]

Pop off a couple rounds, beat my wife, terrorize my children, abuse illicit substances, engage in criminal activities, and blaspheme.

There we go...right as rain.

(I also like to mix colors with whites...and set the washer to hot/hot)

[Whateverist]

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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."


Answering your question of "what to do when life gets you down":

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Don't feed the evil wolf who's responsible for negative thoughts. Choose not to be down about life.

I like this story. But I don't know that feeling or emotion is anything we can choose. If you notice you're down and you try to choose otherwise but can't, that can just drive you nuts. What we can do is choose to meet each day on its own terms. If the favorite parts of your psyche are hibernating or ill or just unresponsive you can be patient and savor whatever psyche makes available for you. We are none of us as much in charge as we'd like to think, but is easy to think so until what we take for granted is withdrawn.

[JosephBowie]

I was much more aggressive 2 or 3 years ago. You should have seen me back then. I used to punch stuff, scream like hell, be a total prick to everyone, hurt myself. I bought a drum set just to have something to violently hit whenever I got mad. I never actually took lessons, mind you. All my knowledge of how to play drums comes from rage-driven skin-smashing.

I'm chilled out a bit since then, though. And my attention span isn't exactly amazing. Nowadays, I can easily take my mind off of whatever's getting me down using any form of entertainment at all. Really. TV, video games, internet, music, books. Anything at all. As long as it doesn't explicitly remind me of the depression-causer, I'll cheer up in a pretty short time.

Oh, this song helps a lot too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

[JohnDG]

I usually just go for a long walk to the outskirts of town find a tree or bush to sit under for shade and just get high for hours. I don't think the getting high part helps much but I just need to escape the pressures of society and disappearing helps allot. I've been out for up to seven hours, maybe that's not allot.

[Angrboda]

Oh, forgot one. I lose myself in ideas and learning.

I found my way to the forums that way, more or less. I was going through a rough patch, and in order to cheer me up, I reread the collection at TalkOrigins, part to see bad thinking mercilessly skewered, part because biological evolution, the science and philosophy of it, is just way cool. And it really doesn't matter what it is. I'm just as happy studying ontological arguments as I am the latest speculations on brane theory or the development of the craft movement in America. One afternoon many moons ago, my roommates came home to find me transfixed by a documentary about the New York water and water treatment system. I was thereafter teased as being someone who liked watching "the sewer channel." Feynman said that anything is interesting if you explore it deeply enough, and I agree. I can get off learning anything so long as its substantial, and not just fluff.

[Ben Davis]

I get depressed and don't go anywhere. I become a hermit. What about you?

Dancing. I love Jungle so brocking out all night long is a physically exhausting, emotionally cleansing and sweaty experience. I thoroughly recommend it.