[dasil003]

I've suffered from depression in the past, mostly during my late teenage years and early adulthood. The first thing I will say is that depression and motivation are different for everyone, so you can take this with a huge grain of salt, but here is what helped me:

* Get sunlight — I grew up in Minnesota where if it's sunny in the winter that usually means its too cold for exposed skin outside. When I moved to Santa Fe (300+ sunny days at 7000' elevation) the first winter I was amazed at how much better I felt.

* Get exercise — Find some physical activity you enjoy (preferably outdoors) and do it. This is maybe harder for some than others, but I can't emphasize how important this is to me. I sit 10-12 hours per day in front of a computer, without outdoor activity on a regular basis I would wither.

* Check your diet — Okay, last but most certainly not least, there is more evidence coming out all the time about much diet and gut health can impact mood and psychology. One of the prominent books in this area is The GAPS Diet (http://www.gapsdiet.com), but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. In short, if you live in America and you just eat what's easy you're probably eating a lot of processed grains that could be altering your health dramatically.

I hope those don't appear as facile answers, but the truth is those things have made a huge difference in my life. It wasn't an overnight thing, I had to grow up a bit, move away from my family, and establish my own life before I really started to feel happy. Best of luck.

[agumonkey]

I'm currently doing this, and it's having very tangible effects. One other thing I've noticed is that a little of mandatory yet unrewarding activity [1] profoundly affected my feelings, behavior and motivation. I became speedy, and time passed a lot slower [2] as opposed to when I have no obligations and everything starts to melt away.

[1] I had to work part time as a clerk at a store, it was insufferably dumb, but I left thanking them

[2] in the good kind of way, ability to be focused and do more and yet it has only been 5 minutes.

[hcarvalhoalves]

I can't stress enough how important sunlight and exercise (any exercise, even walking) is. It's ridiculous how many doctors don't prescribe this before drugs.