We all go through rough patches in life. Sometimes things gto wrong and we feel miserable. Death of a loved one, heartbreak or even hard circumstances in life may make us feel like it’s the end of the world. At such times, depressing thoughts crowd ones’ mind and life may even seem to be not worth living. However, if we think about it rationally, there are ways in which we can cope with grief or depression and come out of it becoming a stronger person.

First of all, we have to realize that nothing in this life is permanent and so, sadness also does not last forever. Happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin, thus, we have to learn to take whatever life brings our way. When we think about it reasonably, we will realize that everybody has to go through pain and sorrow in life; it is inevitable, we cannot avoid it. There are some circumstances in life that we have no control over, but what we do have control over is our actions and our emotions. One of the lessons that I have learnt in life is, don’t let your emotions control you; instead you should control your emotions. When we are feeling overwhelmed with emotions, it is easy to make wrong decisions and end up making big mistakes that cannot be undone. At such times, we should use our minds to think rationally and not let our hearts take control.

Another important factor to overcoming grief is, surrounding yourself with good friends and family. Even though you want to be left alone and don’t feel like doing anything while feeling depressed, it is not a good idea to stay cooped up all alone in your room as it is more likely that negative thoughts will crowd your mind when you are feeling sad and lonely. Instead, just keep your mind occupied and every time a negative thought or feeling pops up, make a conscious effort to divert your mind to more positive things. Indulge in hobbies or passions. If you’re a religious or a spiritual person even praying, meditating or reading uplifting and meaningful books can help you cope with grief. The mantra to snap out of sorrow is to make yourself feel good, so all you have to do it spend time doing whatever makes you feel relaxed and calm. There may be places you’ve always wanted to visit, books you’ve wanted to read, movies you’ve wanted to see; just go ahead and do what you love doing. For the time being, try to block your mind from anything that makes you worried or tensed or gives bad vibes. Practice positive affirmations whereby, you consciously think of positive things that you want to happen in your life. When you wake up in the morning, first of all think of all the good things in life. Soon it will become a habit, and positive thoughts will lead to positive actions thereby bringing positive outcomes in your life.

At times dreams shatter, hope seems to falter and nothing goes your way but it doesn’t mean you need to give up. Take each day as it comes. Make a strong resolve to let the grief and pain of the past remain in the past. What’s gone will never come back; however, you have it in your power to make the present and the future better. So what if one dream shattered? If you take the decision to change your life for the better, you can do it. It is not up to another person to make you happy or sad. Only you hold the key to your emotions and it all depends upon your state of mind. If you want to be happy, you will be happy but if you want to be sad, you will be sad. When you indulge in your passions and interests, you are bound to meet new people along the way who share similar interests in life. Make new friends, Dream, discover, explore, go on a journey of self discovery and you will feel satisfied and happy from within. When you keep your heart and mind open to change, you will make room for new things in your life.

Another important factor while coping with depression or sadness is to love yourself. Often in life, we focus so much on our loved ones that we don’t realize we’ve neglected ourselves. This is especially true when we are feeling down and we just don’t feel like making an effort to do anything else other than wallowing in self-pity. If you make a little effort to take good care of yourself, it can actually benefit you a lot. Sleep on time, eat healthy and exercise. When you are physically fit, you feel good about yourself and when you feel good about yourself, you give out positive vibes to the people around you and that attracts positive energy. Besides, everybody enjoys the company of a cheerful, jolly person. If you are whiny and cranky all the time, people will start getting irritated at some point and may even start avoiding you. After all, we are social beings and we cannot live alone so it is better not to do anything that will drive people away from you.

Last but not the least, don’t forget that you live life only once and you just have one chance to make it right. I really love this quote by Mae West, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Sure, things go wrong at times and we make mistakes, but don’t let that bring you down. Take it as a lesson learnt, make up your mind never to make the same mistake again and move on ahead to uncover the surprises that life has to offer. After all, it is suffering and sadness which makes us appreciate and makes us realize the worth of happiness. Additionally, time is the best healer. It may take weeks, months or years but eventually the pain will subside. So just be positive and love your life with the good and the bad that it has to offer. Spread love, happiness and cheer to the people around you so that at the end of it all, you can look back and have no regrets because you know you lived life to the fullest.