The mind and body are completely interconnected. If something is wrong in the body, the mind may be the first place to show it. Irritability can be caused by tiredness or feeling cold. Headaches and mental tension can often be cured by hydration. Heightened anxiety levels can be significantly reduced by eating. The symptoms of depression are very similar to those of overtraining.

The mind and body are completely interconnected. If something is wrong in the body, the mind may be the first place to show it. Irritability can be caused by tiredness or feeling cold. Headaches and mental tension can often be cured by hydration. Heightened anxiety levels can be significantly reduced by eating. The symptoms of depression are very similar to those of overtraining.

Typically the advice to ‘Sleep On It’ it is given when somebody is working themselves up over a decision. The suggestion is offered in the hopes that it will cause the person to take a breath, detach from the situation and approach finalising the decision from a calmer place.

I wish that I had seen the light on this one long ago. It would have saved me countless days of emotional suffering. A review of my past decision making process has taught me that I need to take a step back, calm down and detach prior to taking action.

If I am in a bad place mentally, any problem, challenge or complication has the potential to derail me completely.

I become overwhelmed with the onslaught coming from my mental afflictions combined with the stress of completing the new task. My self-talk becomes negative, directed at my inability to handle the problem, and then at me as a whole for once again ‘losing it’ over something so insignificant.

Imagine waking up on a Monday morning excited to be going to work? Or lamenting the fact that it is Friday and you won’t be working for the next few days? If you loved your work, this would be a reality.

This isn’t to say that your dream has to be financial of course, but considering how much time we all spend working, it would be ideal if our work was somewhat in line with our passion as opposed to the drudgery that many people complain of.

For all the hassle that anxiety causes us, it is actually an evolutionary must have. Of all of our potential ancestors, only the anxious survived. The ones who were concerned for their future enough to stockpile supplies for the winter, lived. The ones who took an extra wide berth to avoid that snake looking stick over there, lived. The ones who were concerned about the social cohesion of their tribe, lived.

To this day, anxiety stops us from making fools of ourselves by proposing the question, ‘what if it goes wrong?’

Working correctly, anxiety is the little voice on our shoulder that keeps us safe from harm. It is our imagination harnessed for the purposes of self-preservation.

The desire to ‘make it perfect’ makes complete sense. You want every aspect as good as possible, because having it that way would ensure that the business will run optimally. You want to take pride in your work, and to know that you put in 100% effort, that you worked and worked and worked until the vision in your mind was turned into reality. Unfortunately, this approach simply won’t work.

Perfection doesn’t exist. The closer you come, the harder each incremental step becomes.

“When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.” – Paulo Coelho

Say no to requests that don’t align with your goals and values. This will free up your time and energy to focus on what matters most to you.

“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living and truth loving.” – James E Faust

Unless you are completely honest with yourself, your actions will be out of line with your true purpose. By ‘true purpose’ I am not referring to anything religious or spiritual. I am referring to what you as an individual, given your unique set of genetics and environmental influences, is best set up to do.

Weekends don’t exist, at least not for those who want to make a change in the world or for those with a dream.

If you have a passion project, a business that you are building up, or a dream that you want to follow, you need all the time you can possibly get your hands on.

“There is suffering in this world. To live is to suffer.” – Buddha

There is no avoiding the fact that this chapter may come across as harsh to some readers. It will contain some suggestions that if taken on face value may seem offensive, insulting or uninformed. If you feel this way, please do continue reading to the end as I will hopefully clarify my position adequately, as well as potentially give you another tool to combat depression.

There is a real risk that we will come across a line of reasoning or a thought process that makes us question our own existence, makes us doubt the point of living, or otherwise traps us into a downward spiral of mental affliction as we ruminate over the consequences of our newfound knowledge – a ‘Philosophical Trap’.

 “Good things are coming down the road. Just don’t stop walking.”  – Robert Warren Painter Jr

Keep persisting towards your goals. Recognise that it is only through years of experience, work, and overcoming failure and setbacks that you will be successful. If you quit, you guarantee your failure.

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“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill

Recognise that it will never feel like the right time to take action, and that there will always be a reason not to follow your dreams. Do it regardless. Taking action is the only way to achieve success.

Daily meditation will help you to reduce the severity and duration of distressing thoughts, emotions, moods and mind-frames by getting you out of your head and into the present moment.

It will give you some space between you and your mental phenomena, allowing you to observe what is happening without falling into it completely.

You can’t be as good a parent, sibling, friend, employee, boss, or anything else if you are emotionally drained, compromised, or suffering from a mental affliction.

The better you are, the better you can help others.

“You have heard the saying ‘Analysis creates paralysis.’ You can’t be 100% sure of anything.” – Mark Burnett

The less decisions that you have to make, the more mental space you can devote to what actually matters. Slowly eliminate as many decisions as possible.

“As you live by your values, your sense of identity, integrity, control and inner-directedness will infuse you with both exhilaration and peace. You will define yourself from within, rather than by other people’s opinions or by comparison to others.” – Stephen Covey

Think of the last time that you accomplished a goal. How long did your happiness last for? How long did it take before you came down from the high, and began focusing on the next challenge? I’m going to guess that it wasn’t long.

“Your Attention Please: No one is coming to save you. This life of yours is 100% your responsibility.” - Anonymous

What can you do right now to change your life? This chapter will get you started.

It is time to take stock of what screen time is actually costing you, not just in terms of time, but also sanity.

Advertisements work. Social conditioning (judging yourself against your perceptions of others) impacts your mental health. The 24/7 news cycle is depressing.