Today the emotion that prevails over all is happiness, removing any hint of sadness from your life. And the concept itself sounds good, the problem arises when we are pressured because everyone knows how happy we are.
We become puppets, worried about "we are how they see us" without realizing that what we are unleashing is that the happiness we seek so much has an owner and we are not ourselves.
Hurry up, answer all those messages, hang up your best photos, run to work, pick up the kids from school, change cars, don't let your mobile go out of style, pay your bills and remember those who see you by social networks that you are well and that sadness does not fit in your life.
The speed at which we are going does not allow us to see ourselves as we are, for this you have to stop to reflect. Something that scares many people, since the dreaded sadness can appear and that is not accepted.
"What are they going to think if suddenly we don't shine as before?" Questions like these create an uncertainty that takes hold of us and you need quick answers.
"When pursuing happiness sometimes it pays to stop and just be happy" Confucius.
We live in the society of promptness, everything is just a "click" away. Will I have depression? Is it going to go away quickly? The answers to these questions can be other questions, do we know the function of sadness? It will be there for something, what will it be for?
Even so, time is short and we go to the doctor to cure this sadness or at least put a patch on it and thus continue running in this chaotic life, sometimes without knowing where. The latter is the worst of the solutions.
What is sadness?
It is very likely that many of you identify with what is described above, to a greater or lesser extent it happens to all of us. Sadness could be defined as something unpleasant, bad and to be avoided at all costs.
Well, sadness is a basic emotion with which we come as standard, it is inherent to the human being and therefore has a function, like the rest of the basic emotions: anger, fear, joy…
So what is sadness for?
It serves to stop us to reflect and evaluate what surrounds us, to consider changes, to unburden ourselves, to learn from our own capacities, it increases our self-knowledge, it makes us appreciate more what we have and learn what our priorities in life are, it helps us to grow, to develop, etc. As you can see, everything is not so negative.
What is depression?
As Sapolsky said, Depression is "the worst illness you could suffer from." It is a devastating disease that affects about 350 million people in the world and attacks people without making any distinction on grounds such as age, race, gender or genetics.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is the fourth cause of disability in the world and it is expected that between 2020 and 2025 it will become the second.
What are the differences between sadness and depression?
Sadness is a temporary state that can occur for various reasons; a couple breakup, job loss, the death of a family member, stress at work, low self-esteem, or simply because I want to be alone and listen to sad music, etc.
In turn, we call depression a state of sadness, hopelessness and decay that lasts over time, at least 6 months. Therefore, it stops fulfilling its vital functions and affects our social, work and family functioning.
"All the problems of humanity arise from the inability of man to sit in a room and do nothing" Blaise Pascal
It does not always have a clear trigger and they are usually a set of circumstances. It can have a biological component (there are people who may have a predisposition) and an environmental component (being subjected to constant stress).
Thus, sadness is a situation that causes you to rethink your life and thus learn from the adventure of living, while depression is a disorder that prevents you from doing anything, creating in you a negative being that only glimpses a future black and no solution.
It is important to note that labels such as "he is a depressed person" should be avoided. We all have our own identity, formed by concrete experiences at certain moments in our life.
If you feel identified with any of these phenomena, ask for a consultation with a psychologist and, if you do suffer from depression or sadness, do not succumb and face it. These disorders have a solution and are in your hand.
Below we list a series of articles where we have compiled treatments and tips to combat sadness and depression.
- How to overcome depression: 6 vital tips.
- I feel sad - why and solutions.
- 10 tips to overcome a depression for love.
- 50 phrases for difficult moments.
- 8 foods against depression.
- 14 poems of happiness.
- How to treat depression in adolescence.
- 10 ways to recover the illusion in a bad stage.
- How to be happy: learn 10 steps.
- Antidepressants, the solution for depression?
- 11 ways to improve your mood naturally