“Depression is the inability to construct a future.”

Rollo May (1909–1994)

Where across the course of your day today, could you consider where it might be that you move your body, show up for someone, finish one small thing, and give your nervous system proof that effort still matters?

Depression in young men often doesn’t announce itself as sadness.

It shows up as flatness.

You might notice disengagement, irritability, endless scrolling, sleeping all day or never switching off.

You might even hear expressions like “what’s the point?” rather than “I feel low.”

For men aged 18 to 25, the antidote is rarely found in thinking harder.
It’s found in living differently.

Here are 8 activities that consistently help ward off depression at this age, not as treatment, but as prevention and regulation.

1. Hard physical effort
   Strength training, combat sports, sprinting, and rucking.
   Effort teaches the nervous system that energy creates momentum. Action restores agency.

2. Belonging through shared activity
   Team sports, group training, emergency services, and crews. Men bond side by side. Belonging doesn’t require talking about feelings. It requires showing up.

3. Skill-building with visible progress
   Learning a trade, martial arts, music, coding, and craft. Progress you can see gives the future shape. Mastery quiets the mind.

4. Time in nature with movement
   Sunlight, water, dirt, wind. Add movement, and nature stops being a backdrop and becomes medicine. Perspective returns.

5. Purpose through responsibility
   Coaching, mentoring, caring for others, meaningful work. Responsibility shifts attention outward and gives effort meaning.

6. Reducing numbing behaviours
   Excess gaming, porn, drugs, irregular sleep, endless dopamine hits. These flatten motivation and mute emotional range. Less numbing brings life back online.

7. Emotion through motion
   Breathwork after training. Journaling tied to goals. Coaching framed around performance. Feelings follow action more reliably than analysis.

8. Structure and daily non-negotiables
   Fixed wake times. Morning movement. One task completed. One connection made. Structure isn’t control. It’s stability.

None of these requires motivation first; they create it.

For young men especially, depression often grows in the absence of direction, challenge, belonging, and agency. These eight restore all four.

I was contacted today by a man named Simon, one of the NSW facilitators with the Waves of Wellness (WOW) Foundation, a surf therapy charity that uses surfing and group connection to support mental health.

The program is designed for men aged 18–25 and combines facilitated mental health discussions with beginner-friendly surf sessions. Surf ability isn’t important; they work with everyone from complete beginners through to experienced surfers. The focus is on connection, wellbeing, and creating a safe space for young men to talk and support one another.

Program Details:
Program: Men’s Surf Therapy Program (18–25 years)
Location: Manly Beach
Start Date: Wednesday 4th February
Time: 6:45am – 8:45am (weekly on Wednesdays)
Duration: 8 weeks
Cost: Free for participants

If you know anyone who may be interested, they can express their interest here:
WOW Surf therapy expression of interest.

What struck me about the program is that surfing and this initiative tick all 8 boxes of the activities that consistently help ward off depression at this age, not as treatment, but as prevention and regulation.

While you’re thinking about that, think about this and have a Gr8 day!

Be well,
DL

“Depression is not just sadness. It is the absence of vitality.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980)