Focus on one thing during a depressive episode

I thought I’d take a moment to talk about mental health. My family has a family history of mental illness (depression, schizophrenia, etc). I myself have had Bipolar 2 since puberty. Thanks puberty! 👍

Sometimes depressive episodes can be so crippling. And when I find myself in one, sometimes I commit to looking at my to-do list and choosing one thing. One thing for the whole day. One thing that makes me perk up when I read it. Something that gets me excited. The other items I ignore.

Why?

Because I’m the kind of person who will beat myself up if I’m not getting things done. So I commit to the one thing while I’m depressed that day. And I do it. And it helps. It helps because I wanted to do it and because I got it done. And because it wasn’t easy to do during an episode.

I remind myself that it’s an episode that will pass. So tomorrow — one more thing. But for today, I won.

Do you have any similar techniques you use when depression is full throttle?