What do you do at times like this?

[Yasashii_Kaze]

Drawing or painting. Really, any artistic endeavor lifts my spirits.

 

[SirVPL]

Depressed?

I will either play Fable III, Final Fantasy XIII or Dragon Age II.
Watch an Abbot & Costello movie. Preferrably Abbot & Costello Meets Frankenstein
Eat some Tortilla chips with My special Refried Bean dip. Yummy

Im a sucker for Role Playin Games.

 

[LallyH]

I often get strange looks from my guy friends, when I tell them I love musicals. I also like some Barry Manilow songs. And it's not just that I'm a musician, because I have male musician friends who don't like musicals and turn their nose up at Manilow. I guess it all comes down to taste, no matter what you are talking about.

Sure, he's had some strange looks over the years. His windshield glasses, big hair, flashy clothes, but I've always looked past that crap. So, I'm coming out a little bit here, to add another song that brings me out of the slumps. Barry Manilow and Marty Panzer wrote a song called "All The Time" that really says it for me. And I think it might fit into some other people's lives here, too.

Oh, I know there are some people here who will wonder what has happened to me, but I haven't changed. I've always enjoyed a good song, be it the chords, the orchestration, the lyrics, or a combination of it all. If I like it, it doesn't matter to me if it makes me appear more feminine. Good is good. And trust me, my masculinity is safe.

I missed this thread when it started, but I have to stand tall and proud next to DVS and announce that I respect Barry Manilow as well! Many years ago I saw him on a programme with a popular boy band of the time whose name escapes me. The boys started singing one of Barry's songs and then he joined in halfway through and wiped the floor with them, musically. His voice was so much stronger, more emotive and technically perfect that their singing looked weak and ineffectual next to him. My preferred musical style is loud obnoxious obscure punk/rock, but there you go - I'm outed.

And like others, when I'm having a bad day, I get in the car, put on some very loud horrible music and drive rather too fast singing tunelessly at the top of my voice

 

[LWulf]

I see two divergent threads in this, one applies to the other, kinda sorta, ...whatever.

What do you do?: tough answer for me because I change the answer each time for myself. I guess, maybe the way to answer this is by saying:
When I am feeling blue, I try something new.
It could be listening to a song that I haven't heard in a long time.
It could be getting in a car and driving to someplace new
It could be going into the seediest rough and tumble bar (I like meeting new people in low places (where the whiskey rounds and the beer chases...)
It could be that I just sit down and try to create something new.
I guess you could say, I simply try to change something literally from negative, into something positive.

Dealing with stereotypes I've liked disco, boy-bands and Manilow, I never really liked musicals, two that come to mind that I could say yes I did ("Sound of Music" and "Once More with Feeling"). While it is not an appreciation, I can at least say I have an understanding, of sorts, of women's interests in shoes. I like the way a crew cut/flat top looks and have gotten one..
Accordingly I should be a neo-nazi, homoerotic, cross-dressing fool.
...Okay, so fool applies.
I look at women's shoes from a construction point of view. It's a key high-stress area that, if it fails could mean harm to the lady. the crew-cut/flat-top is just a haircut. Just because a bunch of guys don't play their own musical instruments, does that mean they are any less a musical group? The rest is just a matter of taste.
I stopped caring what other people think of me loooooong ago.

 

[bridgeburner]

I had a major bout of depression in the 90's and Dave Matthews' "Under the Table and Dreaming" quite literally saved my life. I'd put the album on repeat and dance in my kitchen until I was too exhausted to stand.

I'm not much of a DMB fan these days, but I will always credit that album with getting me through that particular patch.

There are a few songs that I can play over and over again that are near instantaneous mood boosters:

It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing --- Ella Fitz w/Dizzie Gillespie & Sir Duke rendition
Apres Moi le Deluge -- Regina Spektor
Underdog -- Spoon
Golden Years -- Bowie
Naive -- Kooks
Playboy Mommy -- Tori Amos
Seven Bridges Road -- The Eagles
Stand and Deliver -- Adam and the Ants
Fire in the Hole -- Steely Dan
The Widow -- The Mars Volta



Non-musical boosters ---
playing with dogs
taking a walk
reading ---- I have to be careful with this one since I'm a pretty compulsive reader and sometimes when I'm down I get hermit-y and have to force myself to put down the book and get out of my cave

And right-fuckin' on to lovecraft## for bringing up Roadhouse - a film that I will stop and watch from whatever point I encounter it until the very end.

When I get really frantic, it's more about what I have to stop doing than anything else.

I quit listening to, watching, and/or reading the news
I avoid all talk about the larger world of education, politics, and social justice
I avoid the internet where I might encounter any of those things

I've found that I am most depressed when I feel powerless and there's nothing like dwelling on the shitty aspects of the world about which I can do nothing to make me feel powerless.

Which is why cleaning house also goes on the list of things that can make me feel better --- I can at least take control of my own damn apartment.

 

[Felonious1]

I write for mental clarity purposes. Some things in life cannot be acted upon or said to others. Writing purges the soul.

http://personalexcellence.co/blog/increase-your-mental-clarity-in-just-15-minutes/