#348 - Defeating Depression In 4 Moves

Welcome to the Hannah Keeley Podcast. I'm Hannah Keeley. Today we are talking about the joyful, wonderful topic of depression. I hope you noted the sarcasm there, but depression is real. We're not gonna pretend it doesn't exist. And here's the deal. Sometimes when you're struggling with depression, especially if you're a Christian, you're faith filled, you're a believer, there's so much condemnation, you're thinking, what is wrong with me? I shouldn't be this way. Depression this, I should be happy, I should be joyful. I must not be living in faith. Can we just like let all of those ideas just, let's just put em on the shelf for a little bit just so we can talk about this because we need to have an open conversation about depression. And I'm gonna show you actually in today's podcast how you can defeat depression. And four moves, okay? Four moves to get out of depression. And let's, as we go into this place, I just want you to allow so much mercy, so much grace with yourself, give yourself all the space to feel bad and not have condemnation on that. Like nothing's wrong with you, you're not broken, you're not stuck in this forever and you're not operating in a way that's horribly destructive. It's just what your mind is believing. And I'm going to show you how to get out of that. And here's the deal. Let's go ahead and assume the belief as we move forward into this space, we're going to assume the belief that if God truly wants us to live an abundant life and he wants you to have joy, that he's not going to make it hard. One of the worst things we can do when we're struggling with depression is we think it's impossible or is really, really hard to get out of. And what we're going to do today is we're just going to operate in the belief that no, it's going to be simple, it's going to be easy because God's working for me and he's going to allow a way for this to not be a part of my life. And it's not here to stay, is here to go. So let me walk through these four moves because I think this is really going to bless you today. If you've ever struggled with depression, you know how debilitating it is. Depression is that place that it just feels dark, it feels so heavy and nothing in you has any desire to change it, right? Like if you have a headache You. You're like, okay, I don't want to have this headache anymore. Let me go take some, you know, Motrin or something. But. But then if you're like, oh, depression now, it becomes who I am now. I don't even want to get out of it. I can't even move forward. Everything is heavy, everything's wrong, everything's debilitating. Just let me stay in this funk. Totally understandable. But I'm going to meet you right there where you have the desire to be out of it. Now, if you've never struggled with depression, you may not realize what this is like. But I bet you know someone in your life, maybe there's someone in your family who has or is struggling with depression, and this could really help you understand them better and also give you skills to help them get out of that. So the first move, okay, move number one, we're going to decide. We're done. Nothing will change in your life, especially when you are struggling with any type of emotional issue. Nothing will change until you make a conscious, intentional decision. You're done with it. Like we. When it comes to depression, we just take ownership of it. We're like, I have depression. Think about that. Just the. Just the ownership of it. I have it now. We possess it now. God wants you free, free of depression. He wants you to live with joy. He wants you to live with freedom. But he is not going to step over your freedom to decide your own life. So although he wants us to live with joy, if we assume ownership of depression, that becomes our title and that becomes who we are, and that's our identity. He's not going to interfere with that. He will give us every opportunity to get rid of that identity. Like that maybe why you're, you know, listening to this podcast right now, and he wants to interrupt that. But he will never take away our freedom to make our own choices. So if we're like, no, I'm just depressed. I have depression, then he'll be like, okay, like, according to your words, right? The Bible talks so much about the power of our words, the power of taking ownership. In fact, Joel 3:10, it says, let the weak say, I am strong. Now, logically, that makes no sense, right? Because if you're weak, you should just accept your weakness and say, no, I'm weak. Why would the weak say they're strong? Because when you assume ownership, when you make that your identity and you decide it and you start speaking it, all of a sudden, it starts the creative process. So the first thing we can do when we decide we're done is get rid of the label. Like, watch your words. If you're saying I have depression or I am depressed, there's no two more powerful words in the English language than I am. What follows I am is who you are. So if you want to stay depressed, if you want to live in depression, then continue to stay, continue to say I am depressed or I have depression, and you will stay in that identity. So if you decide you're done with it, then let that label go. You can now this not pretending like it's not there. Like kinda like when you're sick and like, no, I'm great, I'm great. And everything in your subconscious, like, literally you're about to puke your guts out. You're not, you're not good. But it's when we're saying I have joy, I am free, I live a fulfilling life, I live an abundant life, I am happy. Like when we're saying that, but we feel depressed and our subconscious is going to like bump up against that, right? It's going to give you some kickback. But we will initially have that kickback. It may not be, you can say I'm joyful. When you're really, really depressed. It may not be, you can say that, but you can stop saying I am depressed or I have depression. You can say I'm currently struggling with, I'm currently feeling challenged in this area. I'm coming out of depression. Like, think about just if you. Those little nuances it may seem, but according to God's word, there is power in what you say. What you say becomes who you are. So we're gonna ditch the label. It's not you anymore. Okay? And, and also look at what the payoff is. See, now I'm not saying there's any payoff in your depression, but I've been coaching people for long enough to know that we will not continue a behavior unless there is some payoff. Now think about it. Usually it meets one of the four deficiency needs that a human has. Whether it's safety, variety, significance, connection, sometimes just holding onto depression. But you have to be really like, you have to put on your, put on your magnifying glasses. You know, like, you really have to look very carefully at this. If you're willing to look deep enough inside of yourself, then you may find. Wait a minute. Actually, depression has been something that's helped me feel more connected with people, is helped meet a need of significance because it makes me feel different or special or, or it gives me some type of Title. Maybe people treat me differently. Maybe I have a, maybe I have an opt out. Like, if I don't want to engage, I can just use depression as a crutch. You really have to look carefully at, am I, Is there any payoff here? Because if there's a payoff, if it's helping you stay connected with people, if it's helping you feel significant, if it's giving you enough safety in your life, where it's like, I know what every, oh, I know what to expect every day. If it gives you a place, like an option where you don't have to like, plug into things you don't want to plug into, be a part of communities you don't want to be a part of, then you will continue to hold on to that. Depression does have some payoffs. So look carefully and see, am I willing to let this payoff go? Am I willing to let the, like, ditch the excuse and say, you know what? I'm not going to use depression as my crutch anymore. I can move forward. I can move forward into scary areas. I can do the scary thing. I can walk into unfamiliar territory because I'm willing to let this depression go. So we're going to decide, we're done. That's our first thing. Nothing will happen effectively unless you first do that step. Unless you first make a conscious, intentional decision, I'm done with depression. Now the second move, and this is a move you need to get up, depression. If you think about it like if I say, hey, how does a depressed person stand? How do they hold their body? How do they talk? You would immediately slump your shoulders over. You would get down like you would like sit down or lay down. Your head would hang down and you would develop that body state of a depressed person. Now, In Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 1, it says this. Arise from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you. Rise to a new life. Shine. Be radiant with the glory of the Lord. For your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. The glory of the Lord cannot rise upon you until you first do what is the only thing you can do is get up. You have to arise, you have to lift yourself out of that. You have to rise up to a new life. Now that literally means get up. There is a thing called anchoring when we talk about psychology and coaching where you have to have a physical move in your body to anchor a new belief in your mind. And that move could simply be, nothing in me wants to get up. Everything in me wants to sit here, lay here, be small, below, be heavy. Everything in me wants to do that. However, it will continue until I break that cycle. So you have to break the pattern of the low energy, of the heaviness. You have to break the pattern. And only you can do this. You have to get up, just get up, just move out. It could be, I'm going to move out and just, just get outside. You know, there's this thing called 75 hard. And you might be familiar with it, but it's like for 75 straight days you have to do a set of protocol. Now one of those things is you have to exercise twice a day for 45 minutes and one must be outside. So I don't care what the weather is. If it's rainy, if it's snowy, if it's blue skies, if it's gray skies, does it matter? You have to for 75 days straight, y'. All. That's why it's called 75 hard. For 75 days straight, you have to move outside and do 45 minutes of exercise. Now people who have gone through 75 hard usually report if they have gone into it with any type of depression or anxiety, they report a decrease in depression and anxiety. And you could say it's for a lot of factors. It's because they're finally exercising or maybe they're eating right, or maybe they're, you know, they're reading enough in their self help books to help them, encourage them. All of these factors come into play. But I think one of the most effective factors is one that we really don't take into account is kind of like under the radar. And it's getting outside because depression closes you in. If you get up and move out where there's no ceiling and there are no walls, your mind can start to heal out of that depression. So only you can do that. You have to get up. And that ties in with the third move is to lift your head. Now it says in Psalm 3, 3, 5. But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. With my voice I cry to the Lord, and he hears and answers me out of his holy hill. Selah. Pause and calmly think of that. I lay down and slept. I wakened again, for the Lord sustains me. So here we go. It says that God is our shield and he is the lifter of my head. So in order for God to lift your head, we have to be partnered with Him. Dig into that Word of God. Dig into what he says about you. Understand? Like if we can just put it into motion, if we can just get up, then God can now sustain us and lift our head. But we have to understand that he is more than willing to lift our head. But we have to participate in the process. So what would it look like if you just rolled your shoulders back, if you lifted up your head, if you took some deep breaths again? You have to anchor in your body what you want to change in your mind. And so get up, get out, roll your shoulders back, lift up your head and inhale that goodness of God. Deep breaths all through your body. Now, I know I'm talking a lot about the physiology of getting out of depression, but in the only reason I'm doing this is because it is a pattern break. Depression is just a pattern. So we have to do something very, very different. And we do that with our bodies. That's the easiest way because you can't. Like, depression is like when you're trying to battle depression just in your mind. It's like trying to battle a thought with a thought and that can easily just turn into like this thought vortex and you're not making any headway at all. That's why we have to break the pattern with something physical. Like I often tell people, like, put on a loud, loud song. Put on something that's like a high energy song. Get up. Even if not, nothing in you, every fiber in your body is saying, lay here. Be low energy, be heavy. Things are never going to change. This is just you. You are the only one that can break that pattern. Get up, get out. And then lift your head. God wants you to have energy. He wants you to have joy. He wants you to feel freedom. He wants you to shake that depression off because it has shackled you long enough. But he's not going to do it without your participation. So get up, get out. Lift your head. Deep breaths. Roll your shoulders back. Align your body. Get in that power pose. You've probably read about the power pose. Like, there is actually a shift in the neurotransmitters in your body that, like, your brain changes when you develop that posturing of power. With your feet shoulder width apart, fists on your hips, head up, chin up, shoulders back. Your brain changes. So let's develop that posture of a powerful, free person. And then the fourth move is you have to set up protocol. Now, I like to call it protocol because it's something we don't negotiate with. You don't negotiate with protocol. It's just something you do every single day, whether you feel like it or not. You don't negotiate with protocol. It's just your daily go to. It's like your safety. This is like what I can stand on. This is how I eat. This is how I live. It's my protocol. This is what I do every morning. You have to develop some protocol around your body, around your mind, around your spirit. So I'm going to show you what that is, and we're going to talk about the mind. First, you have to develop mind protocol. And the first thing to do with depression is every day, you know what depression feels like. No one needs to tell you you know what it feels like. So when the depression hits, you're going to do some mind work. Okay? First of all, you're going to shake it off with changing your body, but then you're going to do some mind work. Every single day, you're going to do mind work. And that mind work looks like this. Taking a thought captive. So in 2nd Corinthians 10:5, it says this. Inasmuch as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God, that we may lead every thought and purpose away captive, into the obedience of Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Now think about when you take something captive, that's usually a fight. Like you're capturing something. You chase it down. Like, think about if you capture a wild animal, okay, you have to chase it down. There's going to be a fight. You have to be cunning. You have to be very stealthy. You have to be almost like very, very sneaky in doing this. If you're going to capture something and your thoughts are like wild animals, they will tear you up, they will slaughter you, they will devour you. They are dangerous things. Your thoughts are way more dangerous than any potential threat in this natural realm. The thoughts in your head. So you have to learn how to take that captive. And what that looks like is asking this question. Hold the thought, like, really, really think about what you're thinking about. It's called metacognition. Thinking about what you're thinking about. And it could be something very simple, like, I'm just sad. I don't feel loved. I don't feel wanted. I'm overwhelmed. Nothing works out for me. Like, you already know the thoughts. You know the internal dialogue. I don't have to tell you these thoughts. If you've ever struggled with depression, you know the thoughts that are dancing around in your head, they're not even dancing around. They're doing, like, A funeral march around in your head, so you already know these thoughts. So I really want you to think about that thought. If you can, like, imagine pulling it out of your head and just looking at it under your mental microscope. And you're going to look at that thought and you're going to ask yourself this question, is this 100% true? Like, really ask yourself this thought right now. Nothing works out for me. Okay, that's just an example. Nothing ever works out for me. Is that really 100% true? Like, nothing in your life, like, 100% of the things in your life have never worked out for you. You will often find the answer to that is no. It's not really 100% true. God is true. His word is truth. So this is where we take out the thought and we hold it under the light of what God says about us. And we're like, is this really true? You'll probably come up with the answer to no. But we have to do that every single day. Every day. Make it your protocol. Like, in the morning, I drink a cup of coffee and I do a thought download. Like, it's just going to be that simple. I mean, if you're. If you're serious about getting out of depression. If you're not, then just stay in your thoughts. Let them go ahead and do their funeral march. And you can even play, like, you know, background music with it. Or if you want to get out of it, make it your protocol to do a thought download every single day. Think about what you're thinking about. You gotta work with the mind, but you also have to work with the body. Okay? You have to do, like, your behavior has to change. That's why I remember that one of the first moves was you just gotta get up. So what else are we gonna do behaviorally, we know we're gonna do mentally, we're gonna do a thought download every day. But what are we going to do behaviorally with our body, our physical behavior? And one of those things is you have to reduce your screen time. Think about how much time you spend on social media, TikTok, Instagram, whatever. You know your favorite flavor of social media is? It could be that has been there for you during depression to buffer yourself against thinking about what you're thinking about. So when I talk about buffering, it's a behavior that prevents us from facing real issues. So some of that buffering behavior, if you're struggling with depression, is, let me whip up my phone and let me start scrolling. You know it as well as I do. You Know what you scroll on and you know how it makes you feel, it makes you feel even more depressed. There is a high correlation between screen time and depression. Why is that? I'll tell you why. Because what you're scrolling on, you're not only using it as a distraction from facing real issues and getting out of real issues, but you're also comparing. Now we know that comparison is the thief of joy. Think about it, because everything you're looking at is bringing up thoughts in your head. Well, see, here's all the evidence that I'm not pretty enough and I'm not good enough and I'm not smart enough and I'm not successful enough and I'm not rich enough. Like all of the things are just going to dig that depression deeper into your soul. So reducing screen time is going to help you get rid of that comparison mentality. You need to find out who you are in God's word and not in social media apps. Because social media will tell you what you're not, God will tell you what you are. And if you're spending more time in the consuming worldly media than God's word, then your depression is self inflicted. Ooh, ouch. I'm going to say it again. If you're spending more time in worldly media instead of God's word, your depression is self inflicted. Now how do we stop it? We stop the screen time. I promise you there is a high correlation. So use it. Now another thing we have to do behaviorally, we're going to be moving our body. We're going to be doing that every day. Doesn't matter. Just put on, find one playlist, find one song you can get up and just move to. I don't care if you just stand up and swing your hips back and forth. You've got to get your blood moving as a bodily anchor to shake off depression. Imagine depression is like this, this cloak that you're wearing, okay? And nothing will get that cloak off of you except shaking it off. You've got to move your body, you've got to be intentional about this. You got to shake it off and you have to develop bodily protocol. So what does that mean? It means like think about it. If a doctor said, hey, you're allergic to tomatoes, what would you do? You would avoid tomatoes, right? It's like doctor's orders mentality. Oh, I'm allergic to that. So let me avoid it. That means I'm not putting pizza sauce on my pizza, I'm not having spaghetti and, and you know, in a tomato Based sauce. I'm not having tomato soup. I'm pulling the tomato slices out of my sandwich. Like, you're going to be careful about that because you know it has an adverse effect in your body. The same thing with the mentality and the protocol of how to treat your body when you're struggling with depression. Go for fuel. Not just for food, not just for cravings, not just for sugar. That helps you feel a momentary break, Right? Sugar can be so toxic for your body, especially when you're struggling with depression, because it'll give you a slight high, but then a deeper low. So start eating in a way that's going to fuel your body and fuel your mind as you do your thought downloads. Remember, we have to do all three to get out of depression for good. It has to be the mind, body, and spirit all working together. So your body's got to move and fuel your body. Drink your water, get your sleep, do those things that you know. I don't have to lay it out. You know exactly what to do to your body. And now it won't happen immediately, but if you really want to shake this off, you're going to develop physical protocol, behavioral protocol, every single day. Mental, I do a thought download. Physical. I wake up in the morning. I don't sleep in. I wake up, I get out. I move my body, I fuel my body, I hydrate my body, I get my sleep. So you have to develop that protocol. But the most important thing, I mean, all three work together. But it all goes back to the spiritual. So we have to have a spiritual transformation. We have to go into God's word. We have to find out who we are. Because depression is a lie. It's just a temporary thing that you're dealing with and you can get out of it. It is not your life. It is a lie. And we can shake it off. But what I have found to be true with most cases of depression, I have found that there is a root in there of condemnation. Now, when I say condemnation, condemnation is that thought in your mind that I'm flawed, I screwed up, I did things wrong, I'm not worthy, I'm not valuable, I mess up things. It's like that critical spirit that tells you everything that's wrong about you. But I want to share something with you. This is Romans 8, verse 1. It says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation. Someone needs to say that right now. There is no condemnation over me. Whoo. Hallelujah. There is now no condemnation, no adjudging guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. So understand this. When you are hidden in Christ, condemnation is gone. One of the greatest things you can do, one of the most powerful beliefs that you can hold in order to move out of this depression is I am loved by God. Not because I do things right and not because I'm worthy and not because I'm valuable, but in spite of my failings, in spite of screwing up, in spite of doing wrong, God still loves me. I can do no wrong because of his love. Now, sometimes we think, well, if I have this idea that God's going to bop me over the head if I screw up, it's going to help me stay in line, which is never working because what we resist persists. So instead of thinking, I screw up. And I'm not sure God loves me because I messed up here. God's not remembering that sin. God's got. That sin is gone. What God wants you to know right now, today, is my child, I love you. I've never stopped loving you. I loved you before you even knew me. I loved you in your sin and I loved you in your righteousness. I love you so much. When we know that we know that we know that we are loved, that shifts everything. If you want the greatest cognitive shift you can ever have in your life, get you out of depression, get you out of anxiety, get you out of overwhelm, it's sitting and basking in the belief that you are loved by God. The root of depression is condemnation. Dig out the root and you're going to create different fruit. So if you want the fruit of joy, freedom, energy, happiness, laughter, then let's dig out that root of condemnation. You can do no wrong. In his eyes, you are loved. Know that. You know that. You know right now that he loved you before you even knew him. And nothing can change that love. There's nothing you can do to make him love you more, to make him love you less. Because he loves you with an eternal, inexhaustible, overwhelming love. Know that in your heart and watch that change everything in your life.