Technique 1.191                 Handling Sadness

Introduction
Sadness is a part of depression; it
"...Tells us that we have lost or never had something we fundamentally need, such as love, safety, connection or purpose. sadness takes away our motivation and so it can be hard to overcome......Sadness does not drive us to do anything, rather it takes away our drive.......sadness is a message that we need to stop, reflect, grieve and gather ourselves - rather than 'do'......a natural response to devastating circumstantial and that sometimes we need to give ourselves time to stop and feel the sadness..."
Indige, 2024
We need to be careful that we that we don't get lost in sadness rather than reflect on and learn from it.
There is a western social expectation that we should always be happy and positive despite all the negative things happening in the world like war, droughts, starvation, disease, flooding, disasters, etc.
Like with grief, with sadness we need to reflect, ie
"...who and what we have lost and the value it had to our lives..."
Indige, 2024
Remember, positivity and optimism are good things, they are not always appropriate.
Need to be careful that sadness does not become overwhelming and out of perspective so that is hard to escape from.
"...we must push against a lack of motivation and force our way back into the world, into social situations, into activities that interest us..."
Indige, 2024
Some helpful responses to sadness
- reflect on what you are missing or lost
- find long lost dreams or create new ones; take tiny steps towards these dreams
- share your dreams with others who can motivate you
- try not to dwell too much on the past
- make plans for your future
- socialise with other people
- set small challenges
- seek positive feedback and reinforcement
- read and watch inspiring stories (include humorous ones)
- show emotions when appropriate
- be kind of others
Some questions to help handle sadness
1. Describe how sadness affect your life


2. Describe how would you like it to be different?


3. What has happened in your life to contribute to you feeling sad?
(for example: Who or what have you lost? What important things for people are missing from your life?)


4. If you do start again, who would you like to be? (give a brief description around your choice, including what you would do to achieve your dream life)


5. What small steps would you take to raise your energy and who would you ask to help you stay motivated?


6. Describe how can you bring more laughter into your life?


7. Described what do you find beautiful or inspiring and how can you get more of this in your life?


(source: Indige, 2024)