Is depression cowardice? I believe in some cases it is. It can also be used as a way to avoid or escape, just like alcohol and drug use.
It takes courage to face the truth. And if your circumstances are dire and created by you, then the courage needed to face them and move forward is much greater.
I understand that there are physical reasons for depression, but I believe these are rare and short-term. Pharmaceutical companies have taught us through their advertising to think otherwise.
If you’re withdrawing from pain medication, alcohol, drugs, nicotine, or caffeine, it is part of the natural process to feel depressed while your body adjusts. If you’ve lost something you love, like a spouse, parent, sibling, friend, pet, job, or home, it is normal to feel depressed for a while. But if you hang on to these sad feelings and remind yourself of your loss regularly, this is unhealthy and pointless. Your thoughts will take your body and spirit into a depression.
How does depression come about? It occurs when you continually focus all your energy on thinking about a particular problem or set of problems. Then the chemistry of your body responds accordingly and makes you feel depressed physically and psychologically. What happens once you have gotten yourself severely depressed? You might… Stop. Do nothing. Give up. Sulk. Feel sorry for yourself. Go to bed. Withdraw. Hide. Get paranoid. Lose your courage.
The act of thinking about your problems has no end. It’s like setting a depressing song on a music player to a “Repeat to Infinity” mode. Thinking and talking about how bad your situation is will never lead to a solution. Thinking about possible solutions without taking action is also useless.
The solution to depression is counterintuitive. The solution is to withdraw your attention from what depresses you and put it on what makes you feel good. In most cases, this is the life that you want — and not the one you’re living. Once you’ve got into the habit of doing this, you’ll begin to have the energy and creativity to work on ways to fix your problems.
This happens in part because your body is responding to your positive thoughts. And most importantly you’ll attract the outcome you want rather than the one you don’t. Then, “after” you start working on your plan to change what you’re unhappy about, your courage will return. And soon you will be stronger than ever.