It’s important to reach out and check in. When we’re close to someone, we’re often best suited to notice when they might be feeling more down than normal. Ensuring you have enough leisure time compared to your time working.Getting enough sleep, water, and healthy food.Checking in with your physical and emotional needs including:.Giving it time – time can sometimes be enough to alleviate sadness being patient, allowing the feelings to arise and come out through crying, journaling, taking quiet time to be in nature or with yourself, and/or talking to others, and simply accepting where you are can make a big difference.Educating yourself about mental health and wellness: JED has lots of resources to help.

Crying – while some people resist crying, crying can be profoundly cathartic and beneficial not only can crying be a satisfying expression of sadness, it can bring greater clarity about the cause of that sadness.

Journaling with pen and paper, voice recording, or in an e-journal (journaling with paper and pen has benefits that e-journaling doesn’t have, but all forms of journaling are helpful).

Doing things that you enjoy like playing with your pets, or creating something, like art, music, crafts, gardening, mosaics - anything that engages you and results in something you find satisfying.

Moving your body like walking or running, working out, dancing, or playing sports.

Giving to others or getting involved with your community through volunteering.

Connecting with others or talking to a friend or loved one.

Touching a favorite blanket, stuffed animal, or other textured object.

Listening to or making music that expresses how you feel.

Eating a favorite snack or candy that you see as a treat.

Watching a favorite movie/show or looking at art, a sunset, etc.

Doing activities that engage multiple senses like:.

However, both often respond to lifestyle changes and better self-care habits. Situational sadness and mild depression can be challenging to differentiate. And while there are varying degrees of depression, there are things you can do to cope with sadness and depressive feelings. The main difference between experiencing sadness versus depression is that sadness is universal depression is not. While it can be linked to a particular trigger at first, depression will often persist even when the triggering situation is resolved. Depression isn’t easily relieved, and can span from mild symptoms to clinically severe symptoms that need to be attended to by a doctor (such as suicidal thoughts).

Depression can also be accompanied by outbursts of anger or irritability, fatigue/lethargy, and a disinterest in activities you usually enjoy. Sadness can happen on its own, but is usually relieved by the passage of time, self-care activities, or doing something you enjoy to cheer yourself up.ĭepression, on the other hand, is characterized by an unusually low mood, sometimes with no real cause or trigger, for two or more weeks. Sadness is characterized by a low mood or feeling down, often in response to something that was disappointing or discouraging, or caused other negative feelings. What’s the difference between sadness and depression?

Sad emotion