[throwaway66523]

During a depressive episode after the suicide of a friend I compiled a check list of very basic things that I noticed had helped in everyday life. I wrote it down when I noticed that I couldn't remember the items reliably (or when it didn't occur to me to think of them). I carried it in my pocket for some while.

It contained very basic things, like questions if I had eaten enough, slept enough, whether I spent time outdoors (fresh air/sun), had met friends recently or exercised recently and corrective actions for each item (and yes, "eat something" was on it). Some items were accompanied by comments like "exercise will only help for the next day or two, do not skip for longer than that".

Another thing that helped surprisingly well was having a shower, shaving and dressing up. Basically the opposite of letting oneself go.

And in really bad moments, jamming/DoS-ing my brain by some sort of meaningless meditation (sitting, breathing and counting so that no other thoughts appeared anymore) helped as well.

The best thing is that I haven't had to use the list in a long time now and hopefully never will have to again.

[RankingMember]

Your list of things reminds me of this: http://philome.la/jace_harr/you-feel-like-shit-an-interactiv...

Otherwise, your mention of the mood implications of dressing up reminded me of the many times I've noticed that, after waking up in the morning feeling depressed and shitty, sometimes just pushing through and eating breakfast/getting showered/dressed makes me feel significantly better. Something about getting that last shoe on and standing up and suddenly my brain flips a 180.

[dorchadas]

I agree with the dressing up. A lot of times, I've found my depression helped simply by dressing nicely and going out, even if it's just to eat. It's a confidence boost and you do get some human interaction which can really help.