There will come a phase in everyone’s life where they persistently feel lonely and empty inside. So empty that they start to have trouble sleeping or concentrating, lose their interest in everything they once loved, or worse, submitting themselves to their feelings of worthlessness.
As a result, death will seem to be the only solution for these feelings to go away.
Do these emotions sound familiar to you? If yes, it only means that there was one point in your life that you’ve experienced depression, or maybe, you’re still now.
Depression is everyone’s worst enemy. It may be a common mood disorder at first that is usually caused by a combination of influences including environmental and psychological. But, it can turn into a serious mental disorder if not treated immediately.
When people hear the word treatment, they assume that it means being treated professionally. It’s doesn’t! Depression’s treatment comes in many forms, and one of the most recommended is photography.
Photography, as some people think of it, is a simple hobby that can turn into a serious money-making profession. But not everyone is aware that photography has a positive influence on one’s life.
You’re probably wondering how taking photos can boost your mental health. Here are 5 reasons why photography can improve your mental health and life as a whole.
1. It gives you an opportunity to connect with others
One effect of depression on people is lowering of self-esteem. As a result, they will go into isolation because they believe that what they feel or think isn’t important.
This is the reason photography becomes an ideal hobby or profession because it gives you an opportunity to connect with others. As a hobbyist, whenever you’re travelling, you will meet different people with the same passion as yours. You will able to share experiences and maybe learn some new techniques from them.
As a professional photographer, talking and meeting with different people will become a regular routine. This will be your way of getting new clients.
2. It gives you a sense of purpose
When you’re depressed, you can lose everything… including your sanity. But this can be avoided if you keep your mind busy on other things. Learning a new skill is always a good way to keep your mind busy and sharp.
Plus, continuously improving one’s skill has been proven as an effective method to give oneself a new sense of purpose and satisfaction in life. So, it’s like hitting two birds with one stone.
This is where photography becomes helpful. Photography has a lot of techniques to learn for you to produce much greater photos – conventional and depending on how playful your creativity is. So upon starting in photography, your mind will immediately be occupied with knowledge, continuous practice and on creating your own style.
3. It acts as non-verbal communication to deal with anxiety
When it comes to photographs, people usually will say, “A photo is worth a thousand words”. For people dealing with anxiety, this is exactly what they need because they believe that no words can ever describe what they are currently experiencing.
This is the reason they find photography as an effective form of therapy. It gives them an opportunity to freely express themselves in a creative and yet, realistic way.
4. Photography helps to establish social bonds
Building friendship or any form of relationship is difficult when dealing with depression. But in photography, it isn’t that difficult because it will help you to establish social bonds, either with other people or your family and friends.
Establishing social bonds with other people can start by showcasing your work on your blog, social media or photography-related forums. This way, many hobbyists and professional photographers will see your work and can give you feedback. Positive feedback from others is good to boost your self-esteem.
As for establishing social bonds with your family and friends, you can start it by involving them in your photo shoot. The outcome will be more satisfying because the beauty you’ve captured is from the people you love the most.
5. Motivation to get outside and connect with nature
In photography, every day is an adventure! You will never know where you will end up or who you meet. You just have to go with the flow and go wherever your inspiration leads you to.
This is good for people dealing with depression as they will be motivated to get out of their comfort zone and get creative.
A little tip, any place that will connect you with nature is one of the most recommended because it’s peaceful and, at the same time, has picture-perfect scenery.
Overcoming depression will never be easy. There might times that you think you’re getting close to recovery, but something will come up unexpectedly to ruin it and lead you back to square one.
It requires a lot of work and patience to recover. And if you’reexperiencing it right now, I hope you will find peace and hope through photography or any other hobby that you find interesting.
And if you don’t know where to start, David from Cameraseals.com can help you with the most basic thing: choosing an affordable camera to begin your photography journey.
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with your friends and family. After all, sharing is caring!
Author: George Minton
Hi, I’m George. I have been a camera enthusiast from 2008. Cameraseals is my personal blog where I share most of my interests and experiences from using cameras. You will find helpful topics even if you’re a beginner or long-time user.
