Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. More women are affected by depression than men. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide.

Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people affected.

Depression is different from the usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Suicide results in an estimated one million deaths every year.

“Depression has been called the world’s number one public health problem. In fact, depression is so widespread it is considered the common cold of psychiatric disturbances. But there is a grim difference between depression and a cold. Depression can kill you.” — David D. Burns

The gruesome statistics above, emphasises the reason why the topic I am addressing today is so important for our generation. HOW TO CONSTANTLY STAY MOTIVATED is a needed topic by any standard, especially in our generation of depressed people. Constant motivation could be a lifeline for a generation that is prone to chronic depression.

If we could learn how to simply stay motivated, we could reduce the rate of depression to the tune of 50% in our nations. If we could only teach people how to get themselves motivated, we would have saved the budget of our countries billions and billions of US dollars.

Depression in America costs that society $210 billion per year, according to the newest data available, yet only 40 percent of this sum is associated with depression itself. In fact, for every dollar spent treating depression, an additional $4.70 is spent on direct and indirect costs of related illnesses, and another $1.90 is spent on a combination of reduced workplace productivity and the economic costs associated with suicide, directly linked to depression.

“Depression isn’t just being a bit sad. It’s feeling nothing, it’s nothing wanting to be alive anymore. — J. k Rowling

Teaching people to be motivated would not only save our economies from wasting a much needed financial budget. It would go beyond that. It would save millions of our citizens from diseases and other emotional and psychological torments, people in depression go through.

Self-motivation could become a major cure to the problem of mood swings. It would save people from cognitive disorder. It would save people from low energy levels. It would save people from loss of appetite and it would save people from sleeping disorders. Self-motivation would also help raise self-esteem.

As simple as the act of self-motivation is, it could actually reduce sufferings in a lot of people. If we could teach people how to keep themselves motivated, it would increase the quality of life of our people. Self-motivation would also increase the social skills of people.

Teaching people to be self-motivated would definitely have a positive effect on their professions and make them to be more productive in their work places which, on the other hand, would have a direct effect on the general economy, because when people are happy they work better and it would increase the income of the country. Depression is estimated to cause 200 million lost workdays each year, at a cost to employers of $17 to $44 billion.

Another area self-motivation could help a country is, when citizens are happy, it would improve their health and it would reduce medical overhead cost in the nation. Because people who are depressed are always on medication, keeping people self-motivated would slash off all that.

“Motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running.” ― ZigZiglar

Friends, any how you look at it, there are more positives in learning to keep yourself and others motivated than we could imagine. This is one of the reasons why in nations where there is freedom of religion, people are always better off emotionally, mentally and psychologically than in nations where freedom of religion is prohibited.

Religious practices constitute a very strong form of motivation to devout believers. In most cases, believers tend to put their trust and burden on God, thereby hoping for some form of solace from above. That in itself reduces the burden individuals carry on their shoulders. Psychologically, this could go a long way to saving people from depression, especially if they experience some form of reliefs, miracle or answer to their prayers. It is much more different than when someone has to shoulder his or her responsibilities all by himself.

“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” — Charles Swindoll

However, besides religion, we must be able to teach people at work places how to keep workers motivated. One other way of helping our society get better is keeping people motivated through the media. I think we should intentionally apply the mass media in the area of helping nations reduce the burden of depression. If every media house, TV station, newspaper, and radio station would commit to an hour programme a week talking about how to systematically keep people motivated, we would save our nation billions of dollars in depression treatments. Research has shown that a high level of depression is costing England almost £11bn a year in lost earnings, in demands on the health service and in prescribing drugs to tackle the problem.

In short, one of the most important needs of our modern life is how to keep people inspired. If we could teach people not just to be insured but to be self-inspired and motivated, we would have gone a long way in improving people’s life in our age. It seems as if with every passing day, more people simply lose the motivation to live. People don’t just have the motivation to live anymore. People are losing passion for life by the hour. As we have stated above, this loss of interest in life leads to depression, mental sickness, anger, frustration, hatred, jealousy – the list goes on and on.

•Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, Transformation Strategist, Pastor and innovator who lives in Kieve Ukraine. He can be contacted at sundayadelajablog@gmail.com

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