Depression is hard enough in this world of confusion and endless choice, however when our freedom and choices are rapidly and critically restricted even those people not normally affected by depression can, and have done, fall into the world of depression.

For each of us this historical period, unlike any other we have experienced, is beyond our control. In short it is not our fault. More importantly it is NOT your fault. From this base we can remove guilt and the feelings of responsibility however strange this may be to consider.

The typical progression flows from acceptance then onto frustration. Then to anger and finally depression. For one person during this period, the impacts may be simply the removal of our freedom to see friends and family or it may be the financial loss due to business impacts or loss of income. The trick is to separate the different influences that are swirling around in your mind so that you can tackle each one as a unique challenge. As we have discussed before, ‘This world of restrictions has been forced on you’, so fighting it head on will only make matters worse. Accept it and put it behind you. Then time, you now have lots of empty time on your hands. Instead of succumbing to boredom think of all those things you have not had time for such as art, learning a language, music or meditation. Whichever, change how you look at time as not a curse but finally time to get fit or learn something new. Remember how you used to complain that you never had enough time, well now you do.

The hard thing here is to ‘Stop’ even if you have nothing going on, your mind is dwelling on all the negatives, so stop it. The second is to take responsibility, this is your reality no matter how bad you think it is. Once you have taken responsibility, you can then make changes and fill this time with positives.

Remember, a person can transform their bodies through a new and intense fitness regime. In four weeks, you can learn beyond the basics of a language or a musical instrument.

In closing, consider the quote from the famous authoress Virginia Woolf; “Lock up the libraries if you like, but there is no gate, no lock no bolt, that you can set upon the freedom of my mind!”