An Opposing Force > Generational Depression

Babies are DNA-coded blank slates at life. They are rapidly growing data points in a reality video game (called Life), and what they experience will shape their lives. Some will be crack babies who lose their fathers to the system, eventually ending in foster care where they experience the cruelties of life that no person should experience. As a result, they become hardened individuals. Other babies will be born into family units with an abundance of love and stability. These babies will have a better chance at living productive lives. Oftentimes both these babies will grow into and perpetuate a generational lifecycle of either positivity or negativity.

Some people are wired by genetics to be anxious 🥶

In many research papers, there is no conclusive evidence to conclude that anxiety and depression are heritable. But it could be true that some people are genetically nervous or have neurotic tendencies. Then, life experiences can either shape those tendencies in a good or bad way.

Imagine if you are in the market to buy a puppy for your home. You start to research different dog breeds and you see a list of dogs that are generally perceived to have an anxious temperament or are not receptive to training. You use this as a guide to filter out the dog breeds you do not want in favor of the better personality types. But sometimes this is a cognitive bias because many times it also has to do with the upbringing since birth which also shapes personality. There are many dogs that should have anxious temperaments (on paper) but have been well-behaved since birth.

Depression has a compounding effect 📉

There are only 2 directions that your life can go: Up or Down. Unfortunately for many of you, depression has largely had a downward effect. Due to consistent negative self-talk and micro-actions that validate its existence, the depression snowballs into something larger over the years. This leads to increased levels of inaction and poor decision-making that compound over the years: As you age, so does the depression — and your goals get harder to reach.

How to get Motion 🏃‍♀️💨

The first Law of Motion is that when an object is in motion, it tends to stay in motion until an opposing force acts upon it. The Law of Motion was created by Mathematician and Scientist: Sir Isaac Newton. He created these laws when he observed the math behind how objects move when forces act upon them. But they also apply to a personal development framework.

The Greater the Depression, the Greater the Weight

Newton had an epiphany one fateful day where, as the story goes, he was nodding off to sleep under a large apple tree, when an apple fell off its branches and bonked him on the head. He woke up to a shocking epiphany that the greater the mass, the greater the force; But also: larger forces pull smaller forces into it with gravity.

Depression works the same way because its negative gravity pulls your life in a downward spiral. Sometimes it can be a force that, through the inception of your mind, impedes your decisions. i.e., in a weak moment of feeling sorry for yourself, you decide to go on a binge-eating weekend that compounds into other bad decisions; Slowly those decisions become calcified and create deeper roots of depression.

Becoming Bigger Than Your Depression

If your career, personal, or dating life is at a standstill because of depression; then you need to read this. Sometimes, when your life gets so low to where it cannot go lower anymore, it is in inertia. Newton's Law of Inertia states that objects tend to stay at rest or in a fixed motion unless an opposing force interferes. So if your personal life is at a standstill and not going anywhere, it requires a greater opposing force to interfere. Likewise, if your career is stuck in a rut, and has been going in the same direction for years or decades, it requires a greater depth of personal work to change its speed and trajectory.

You need to create small decisions and chance opportunities wherever they lie, and use those to positively spark change. Before the big monster of depression can crush you, these opportunities must be seized.

Imagine if monsters were real and there was one living in your brain's city. It has taken control of your brain for decades and it has gotten powerful. But because it has gotten so big, it isn't able to micromanage every aspect of your life. While the monster isn't looking, you must be able to quickly gather little resources and build up your assets to eventually take back control of the brain with a coup d'é·tat. These are MicroDecisions that slowly compound to improve your life steadily; Things like giving 2 compliments to yourself for every 1 negative feedback or starting the 7x7x7 workout plan.

When you become an opposing force powerful enough to subdue your depression, you will start to win.