“So never mind the darkness We still can find a way 'Cause nothin' lasts forever even cold November rain.” I wonder there is anyone who does not feel miserable at least once or twice in a while. At some points of our lives we all feel down in the dumps; we all experience episodes of stress and unhappiness. There are hundreads and thousands reasons for feeling depressed-real and imagined. When we suffer from some kind of personal or public tragedy, when we lose a dear one or we lose job/opportunity or when we have hard time in personal relationships or friendships or we experience failure in professional relationships, it’s no wonder we feel dejected. There are times we are not happy, because we do not get what we want or we just do not want what we get. Some times ‘the unbearable heaviness of being’ feels real heavy and the ‘little philosopher’ in us do not find any meaning in anything anymore. Life thus leaves us standing bare and naked often and at times we feel useless and suffocated. I can tell you something about my own share of stress and anxiety bouts. Since my father passed away last year and things around me changed in a very strange way, I have been having fits of depression and crying spells every now and then. But the good thing out of this mess is through these mood swings and hard times I have learnt a very crucial lesson of life. When we feel bad or sad, we think that this feeling is going to last forever and the fear of having the blues forever makes our situation worse. But the truth about ‘forever’ is -it really does not exist! We easily forget that our ‘forever’ might end in a week or in a month; even in an hour! For some it takes years though to come to terms with themselves, but that is such a waste of time. And for them I want to share some of the secrets to fight depression successfully. Let me ask you some questions first. Are you feeling melancholic most of the time? Do you feel like shouting, cursing, screaming, crying or even slapping someone hard? Have you started believing you are not normal? If the answers are ‘yes’, you obviously are messed up. But wait! You are a human being, not a robot. Please keep in mind that it is perfectly alright not to feel alright sometimes. Close your eyes and try to remember the saddest things that have happened to you. Did they last forever? No!!! Bingo! So this period of sadness will pass too. Give time some time and see what happens. Then try to remember the sweetest things that have ever happened to you, you will feel you are smiling. Now think of those long lost friends and dear ones you once loved and lost. Think of those who broke your heart into thousand pieces and left it bleeding and you thought it would never heal. What do you see now? You have survived those blows, haven’t you? May be you haven’t noticed how those wounds had a miraculous self-healing process. Now it’s high time you started believing in miracles again. Are you feeling down because your super busy digitalized life style has complicated your life even more in a more complex way? Are you too tired from the corporate fatigue having run the rat race all the time? Take a break, no matter what your circumstances are. Do whatever makes you feel good. Catch up with old friends, go on a tour or give yourself a treat. Go to a beauty salon, have a herbal whatever (facial/ pedicure/manicure etc), give yourself a new look( make sure there is no hidden camrera around!). Go to a movie with your best buddies, play some silly games, sing some silly songs, have some pep talk, cook something special for friends or family (if you love cooking), do some more face booking (if you like it), read something (newspaper, novel, poems, whatever it is), spend more time with your beloved/loved ones, say your prayers or do some contemplation (it might make you feel better), do something constructive, be busy or be lazy. Do anything (of course something that doesn’t harm or hurt others) whatever suits you or soothes you. If you still feel like shouting or screaming sometimes, scream. Just be a bit careful that no one’s around! If you are mad at someone, shout, have a fight (a verbal one, of course), then let it go. If you are hurt, try to get over it. It is not easy, but holding onto grudges for long is not healthy either. If you feel like crying, allow yourself to cry; cry your heart out, you will be fine. If you sometimes feel like doing nothing, let yourself relax! Enjoy the luxury for a time being. Don't think too much about what could have been. Also stop thinking about the people who have hurt you for they don’t deserve to be remembered that much. Stop complaining and thinking about what you don’t have. Start counting the blessings you have and see what happens. And delete the word ‘forever’ from your dictionary forever; you will see how life changes for better for sure!