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Some of the things that I’ve been doing for ages just don’t work. Little things that are now irritating; “systems” in my life that I don’t like.

My computer screen is so busy. I often have multiple programmes open, the screen bright and distracting. I find it really irritating, so I make a change. I find this software programme that keeps my screen black and I can only see the programme I’m working on. Sorry, it’s Mac only. My toolbar is blacked out as well. Nothing but the program I’m using now. My thoughts slow to a reasonable speed. My little system is great.

Sometimes it’s just little things that we do routinely that we need to change. It doesn’t have to be major upheaval to make a big impact on your well-being. Think about the routine things that make you groan. Can you do these in a different way? I don’t read Lifehack, but plenty of people gather ideas there.

Anna hates unpacking the shopping. She has no problem spending 2 hours getting the things but hates the 15 minutes of transfer. She now brings bags in one at a time, and unpacks each one before she gets another from the car. It never becomes overwhelming. (We all have our peculiarities).

Our latest, greatest little system change has been forcing the kids to tidy their rooms before they can watch the computer or TV. Every day. Wow. We live in a different house.

Feel free to share your little systems below.

Simplifying is about streamlining your life; removing the distractions that aren’t important to you. By freeing up time, money, and energy, you can give more attention to staying well and to your highest priorities. If there is complexity in your life, then it will affect your ability to cope with depression. A good tonic is to simplify.

If you want to rationalize then the place to start is your goals and values. What is really important to you? How are you going to spend your allotted time on earth?

In my view “simplifying” is synonomous with “removing clutter”, and there are 3 kinds that I take to.

1. Physical clutter

When I buy something it owns me, not the other way around. My time, energy and effort goes into looking after it. What can I throw out instead? If this is you, then ask yourself what something will do for you every time you’re about to buy. Will it add to your life somehow? Or will it quickly become obsolete and a burden?

2. Lifestyle clutter

Are you committed to so many activities that you rush from one to the next, often running late and feeling stressed? Do you work back each night, bearing more and more of the workload? Do you find it hard to say no to new committments? Busyness is the new disease of the western world, but we, especially we, need to wake up and smell the roses. The stress of a rushed life is much harder for us mentally ill people to bear. We need to straighten our priorities, learn to say no, set reasonable schedules and not feel guilty about it.

Over the last few years I’ve learned the beauty and power of the word “No”. It’s OK to say no, and I’ve found that it actually garners respect. Everyone has to set boundaries on their life, but boundaries are only respected if you hold firmly to them. We need to focus on the most important things in our lives, like key relationships or spiritual growth.

3. Mental Clutter

I often have lots of things buzzing around in my head, but nothing gets my full attention, and nothing gets finished. (No doubt my love of strong, locally grown coffee is partly to blame.) When I start to feel overwhelmed I ask my wife to help me gain perspective. We work out the things that I actually need to do, not just things I’ve compulsively collected in a real or imagined to-do list over the previous fortnight. Some of the things are so menial, but they get put on a list and find a corner of my cluttered mind in a weak or manic moment. All of these have to go, so I can feel in control again. This has a wider application, as many depressed people have the same feeling of loss of control. I know that my very worst depressive episodes have been accompanied by this. Putting my mind into some kind of order, or decluttering, is a great help.

More reading:
http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/peaceful-simplicity-how-to-live-a-life-of-contentment/
http://zenhabits.net/2007/09/simple-living-simplified-10-things-you-can-do-today-to-simplify-your-life/
http://www.slowdownnow.org/

My sister spoils our children with presents. She is very generous and kind, and on one birthday she gave my daughter Maddie a 70 piece toy makeup set. Maddie loved it and promptly plastered it all over her face. The result was awful. Within an hour she was a feral animal - hitting, scratching, screaming and crying. It lasted for 7 hours. She’s no longer allowed to wear makeup.

Chemicals in food can cause major problems, which I wrote about in a recent post. However, chemicals in the environment can be just as bad. Your skin is your largest organ and it can absorb enormous amounts of chemicals, not just from makeup. Chemicals also enter your body through your nose. Aromatherapy is an example where your mood can be altered through your sense of smell.

Can the chemicals in your environment make your mood worse or even make you sick? Absolutely.

Gas cookers increase the carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels in the house. Moulds give off toxic fumes. You should make sure that your house is well ventilated and clean.

Think about the personal care products that you use. Makeup is a big culprit. Look at the ingredients - I can’t pronounce most of them. Liquid soap normally contains a chemical called sodium laureth sulfate which is a detergent and known skin irritant. It is also found in shampoos and toothpaste. But the list of chemicals is long and so are their potential effects for people who are sensitive. They are in deodorants, moisturizers, sunscreens.

If you’re concerned about the chemicals in your life then it would be a good idea to research the products you are using and potential substitutes, either online or somewhere like your local health food shop. There are many alternative products that are safe, work well, and don’t use harsh chemicals. For example cleaning with a mixture of vinegar and bicarbonate soda is an excellent substitute for detergents on many surfaces in the home.

Sensitivity to chemicals can cause real problems for some people, including changes to their moods. But once you adjust the products that you use in the house it is fairly easy to keep going. An allergy specialist can also do tests that hone in on each class of chemicals. That is what we ended up doing for Maddie.

Searching for health information is the third most popular internet activity. We find so much information online. And there is so much of it out there, that we’re in danger of missing the good stuff amongst the garbage. Some health information is great, but most is ordinary or even dodgy. And much of it is purely product marketing dressed up as something more.

Most people head for a search engine to look for information, which is the first obstacle in finding what you need. Search engines are generally good at giving relevant results, but there is always rubbish in there as well. Search engines aren’t perfect.

Google is the most popular engine by far, because its results are normally good and it’s fast. In ranking websites Google places emphasis on links between same or similar industry websites. A blog about depression that has been linked to by large, reputable mental illness organzations will outrank a similar blog that is popular with large gambling sites. This makes sense for ranking sites by credibility.

I’ll write about Google here because it has such a large share of the market, but the same issues apply to other search engines.

When you type the search term “depression” into Google, you receive a lot of results for reliable sources. The first 10, 20 or 50 appear mostly good. But what about the other 120 million results? Click a few pages forward and the odd website looks a bit dubious, and it goes slowly downhill from there.

But the biggest roadblocks to finding reliable information are at the tops and sides of Google pages. In these positions there are 10 or so results under the subtle gray titles “Sponsored Links”. These are paid advertisements. If you look at the sponsored listings you can see that they are generally sales based. On the front page of my search one of the results is “Depression Free in 3 Minutes”. (LOL). For such a high rank this site will be paying at least $2 a click. It wouldn’t be advertising if it wasn’t making more than $2 per visitor for whatever it is selling.

Call me a fool but it took me years to realize that “Sponsored Links” can be anything, with no implication about reputation or credibility. There will be many others, especially new users, who like me lack this same knowledge. They click and find themselves on a site looking for the promised information, while the seller is taking them by the arm and guiding them towards the transaction tunnel.

Ads like these are now everywhere. They are on newspaper sites, blogs, portals, health sites, anywhere that the site owner wants to make a bit of extra money delivering Google ads to his or her visitors. Web designers blend them into their websites, so the distinction between content and advertising is blurred, even with the subtle “Sponsored Links” displayed somewhere close by. Blah!

Thanks to Dawn at the Experience Project for providing the idea and much of the information for this post.