Have you ever gone through a series of drama in your life?

Well, we all certainly have. Whether is a small roller coaster ride or a huge roller coaster ride with 4 loops that scares you out, we all must have gone through it. Depressed, sad, and any other unwanted feelings are always ready to come to us whenever we fail or experience a tragedy. The question is, how would you react with these kind of situation?

I have this one theory, that actually work for me to overcome depression and sadness. I was really depressed once. Everything just gone wrong, my plans are ruined and I was really sad and depressed. As the time flies, which is two years time, I finally gain back the confidence and the spirit to move on and continue life as it is. In short, I accept what has happened to me. Is it easy? trust me it's not easy. If it's easy, it won't took me two years to completely heal and move on.

There are three stages in depression or sadness that you have to go through.

First, BE SAD. It is totally okay for you to feel sad after a set of tragedies. As a human being, feeling sad is really normal. That part of emotion is always here inside us. Call someone a liar if they say they haven't felt sad. Even as a child we cried a lot. Go, be sad! mourn your life, cry! take it all out from you. But, you have to make sure that this stage doesn't take you long. Because life has to go on. After you finished mourning your life, let's go to the second stage.

Second, ACCEPT it. After locking yourself in your room for a week or two, you have to accept it. You have all the time in the world when you lock yourself in your room. Take that time to reflect as well. What has happened, how it affects your life and how and when you want to move on. Try to see positives sides behind it. Slowly open up and talk to other people about your problem. Again, you have all  the time you need for this accepting stage. It won't be easy. Sometimes you will feel like you're going back to stage one. Sadness and pain will haunt you down, but be strong. Look up to the positive things that you found. And find a way to escape those feelings, to cheer yourself up. Be it a slice of cake, good cup of coffee, or a talk over a bowl of Pho with your friend.

Last stage is MOVING ON. This is the point, where you are tired of being sad and you accepted everything as part of life. You will feel like you can breath again, that the sky is always bright and you are ready to face new challenges. You will be more energized as ever. At this stage, as you flash back to the past stages, you will smile and feel grateful that you finally did it. You finally escape the sadness.

It may takes months or even a couple of year. It's alright. Just enjoy the process. Have you ever be in the same situation again, you will go through these stages faster than before. Because you were there once, and now you know how to deal with it.

And always remember,

If you can see the positive sides of everything, you will be able to live a much richer life.

 -Celestine Chua