Looking at Despair

[APeacefulWarrior]

The big problem with plumbing the depths of a dark emotion is that it's easy to get trapped in its depths. Despair can be a vile, tentacled thing, able to grab on and not let go. It can also easily lead to nihilism and solipsism, and the combination of those create a mental trap that few ever seem to break out of.

My own solution when I get into darker moods is usually to look for something -anything- I can improve a bit. Random acts of creation or improvement help remind me not of a phantom hoped-for future, but of my own ability to make things better... even just a little. That simple "magic" of being able to take what's around us and recombine it into new forms is the very essence of hope, because without changeability, hope would be meaningless. And that power to (re)create the world is within all of us.

So I find that exercising that power of change, even in small ways, can be a good ward for preventing negativity from getting grabby.