When you are depressed, it might feel like a waste of time, money, and energy to go on a vacation. You are probably going to be depressed wherever you go because traveling is not going to cure you of depression. And in case you can't or don't want to travel, relaxing at home is unlikely to make your depression go away either. This begs the question: should you even take time off from work in the first place?

Here is an unpopular opinion: not everyone can turn their passion into a career and that's okay. In fact, not everyone should even try to do that in the first place. But here's the thing: doing meaningful work is indispensable if one wants to keep depression at bay. Even though you are not your job, the work you do does impact the quality of your life. When you do work that matters to you, life with depression becomes easier. This is a personal observation. When I was training to be a software tester, I was miserable. And when I became a writer, I finally felt a sense of satisfaction.

Most of us are well aware of the importance of a strong work ethic to succeed in one's professional life, but the idea of a healthy rest ethic isn't well known. In fact, thanks to today's hustle culture which demands that we work as much as possible, we are acutely overworked across generations. Irrespective of what certain people in positions of power want us to believe, overworking, also known as hustling, is bad for the mind and body.

People with bipolar or depression often slow productivity at work when the symptoms of depression increase.  We are told the more you accomplish, the more the reward you will receive. Sometimes the reward is a financial gain, sometimes a job status gain and maybe both types of gain will occur. The more productive we are in a given set of time, whether it is a work day or an assignment, might lead to more free time or less overtime, giving us more time in our personal and family life. Let's try a few productivity habits for bipolar or depression (you don't have to try all of them at once, but utilizing multiple techniques may lead you to success more quickly).

You may feel like the world and, especially work, is a difficult place for you and you’re oversensitive to “normal life.” This happens to many people because their depression and bipolar symptoms are triggered by outside events. Triggers for depression include: poor diet, lack of exercise, relationship issues, staying at home all day, lack of contact with people, a lack of purpose and unusual as it sounds, vacations can trigger depression.