The term ‘anhedonia’, if you are not already familiar with it, is used to describe someone who is unable to feel pleasure and on a wider level, is simply unable to enjoy the things that they used to before.
Anhedonia is a common sign and symptom low mood and depression and if you, or even someone you know, appears to be living with this feeling, then continue reading to learn three top ways to boost your emotional wellbeing and escape anhedonia.
1. Throw A Party
As is usually the case when experiencing a period low mood, your natural instinct is to hide yourself away and isolate yourself from your friends, family and even your partner and one way to combat feelings of anhedonia is to grab the bull by its proverbial horns. There are better ways to deal with this than taking antidepressants, considering the withdrawal symptoms of antidepressants.
If you have a circle of friends who, even though you have not seen and/or communicated with recently, then throwing a party either at your private home or else renting a small room in a restaurant or other venue is a brilliant way to celebrate life as well as reconnect with your friends.
What is more, you could even look to established and professional singers, magicians and performers at alivenetwork.com to put on an entertainment evening within your venue, or even your home, so the pressure is off from entertaining your friends yourself.
2. Adopt An Animal
If you have a job which requires you to spend a considerable amount of time working from home, or else your career means you are always working from your home office, then this can certainly increase your feelings of social isolation.
One fantastic and truly multi-faceted way of combating this is to consider adopting an animal, the species of which entirely depends on your personal preference, as well as your personal circumstances and other responsibilities.
A pair of already-bonded bunny rabbits provide constant entertainment, especially if you have them free roaming the room and indeed your home and will mean you’re interacting and socializing each and every day (just not with another human!).
3. Take Baby Steps Back To Socialization
Finally, the third most proven-to-be effective way of remembering how good it feels to share a meal with your partner in a well-loved restaurant, watch a movie with one of your oldest friends and spend the evening dancing away at a party is to take baby steps.
If you are have been living with anhedonia (especially if you have been doing so for a long time), it would be entirely unrealistic and very difficult to go from pure isolation one week to a jam-packed diary on the second.
Instead, make contact with one of your closest friends, ideally through text message, on social media or by e-mail and ask them how they are, slowly reintroducing yourself into the forefront of their mind. Texting is considerably better for people with anhedonia, as phone calls require more of an instantaneous reaction and there may well be a temptation to ‘hype up’ how you feel.
