Depressions don’t make you depressed

March 11, 2012 by Joshua
in Blog, Freedom, Tips

A lot of people equate a depressed economy with emotional depression. The two uses of “depress” have nothing to do with each other.

They can, if you connect them, but they don’t have to. If feel connected to you, they do because you connected them. But you can just as well make yourself happy or unhappy when business is growing or shrinking.

Economic depressions don’t make you depressed. Nor do problems in business. They’re just part of your environments. You make yourself depressed.

Economic or business growth don’t make you happy. They’re just part of your environments too. You make yourself happy.

Saying parts of your environment cause your emotions is blaming something else for your emotions. It may make you feel better for absolving yourself of responsibility, but it abdicates your power to do anything about it.

Remember, your emotions motivate you. If you abdicate your ability to manage your emotions, you lose your ability to change your life. It makes unhappiness permanent, or at best subject to random changes in your environment.

Taking responsibility for your emotions enables you to do something about it, which enables you to change your life. When you do you stop blaming others or your environment. Then things in your environment, other people, and other things outside your control lose their ability to influence you when you don’t want them to (when you do want them to, like they’ll make you happy, you can let them. Why not?).

You become resilient and develop your abilities to build and grow emotions you want. This is some of the foundation to “don’t look for blame but take responsibility for making things better to the extent you can.”

Read my weekly newsletter

On initiative, leadership, the environment, and burpees

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Leave a Reply

Sign up for my weekly newsletter