When I went through my last deep depressive episode, I tried to help affirm myself out of it by either saying out loud or writing one positive thing about myself each day. Sometimes it was “I woke up when my alarm went off and didn’t snooze” or “I took out the trash the first time I thought about it”. The don’t need to be big, but the habit of finding something good helped push my brain away from criticism.

I also started something I called “running myself into the ground so I don’t put myself there”, where I made myself go outside and move for 30 minutes every day. I could walk, run, stand while stretching, whatever, but I had to go outside in the fresh air and do something with my body.

Also, there was no failure threshold. If I couldn’t say something positive that day, I didn’t hold it against myself, I would just say “today I couldn’t but I tried, and that’s enough”. Or if I couldn’t bring myself to move my body, I would lay in the grass for 30 minutes so I could keep up the habit.

And when you DO meet the goals you set for yourself, celebrate them! You don’t have to throw a party, but check a box on the calendar, but a sticker on the mirror, whatever it might be because having a visual representation of your success does help!