I think sanitizing your space is one of the first steps to preventing depression. People do go through a lot, while some have that innate strength to come out of whatever they are going through without external support, some need external support either from family friends, or counsellors to deal with what they are going through. Imagine being around people that do not care or would rather blame a victim for whatever it is they are dealing with. Such negative statements can plunge an already weak person into a bad place. So, be careful of the people you let into your space, they can either make or mar you. You won’t know the strength or weakness of your circle until you are faced with hard times. Make it a point of duty to only relate with people that share the same value system with you. Trust me you will know this when life hits. (You can see the video version of this here- https://youtu.be/dJ93i0Buj54 )
Another point to note is that often times comparisons and feeling unecessarily pressured to do what others are doing can do a lot to your mental health. What comparisons does is to make you feel less valuable. In one moment, you disparage your achievements and struggles making them seem irrelevant simply because you feel that what the other person has is better than what you have. Comparisons strips you of your happiness, it makes you ignore yourself and efforts you need to make to become what you want. When that happens your dreams are on hold, your work, ideas and everything that can birth the change you want becomes inactive, the result of course will be more tears because you have stopped working on your garden and no longer have a harvest to hope for. This will literally take you years backward.
Choose to sanitize your space, steer clear of people that are not adding value to you, steer clear of habits that will plunge you into depression, learn to be thankful of where you are and what you have, by this you will be in the right mental state to continue to push your dreams.
Have a blessed week