Bouldering is awesome for a million reasons, and is incredibly easy to try out/get started with.<p>Seriously, if you have ever given climbing a passing thought or even just saw a picture once and thought it looked cool, try it out. Find a gym near you, call them up, confirm that they have a bouldering area - not just roped - and ask them how much a day pass with shoe rental is. Put on something comfortable and get yourself there and you'll be climbing the walls within 5 minutes. You can go by yourself - you don't need a partner or spotter - but it's a great social activity, so take your partner/friends/kids if you want.<p>Bouldering is climbing low to the ground over pads, so there are no harnesses or ropes and no required safety training (beyond whatever your gym might require - facility tour, short video, etc.). Most gyms have plenty of problems catering to beginners. It's a novelty-seeking, flow-encouraging activity that will keep you busy physically and mentally.<p>Be ready - your arms are going to be <i>tired</i>.
That's amazing that rock climbing helps! I had been suffering from depression. It was caused by chronic stress in
an abusive marriage. I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting better after leaving. So my doc put me on antidepresssants ( <a href="http://antidepressivemedicines.com/" rel="nofollow">http://antidepressivemedicines.com/</a> ). Now I am off antidepressants and feel happy again:)
I really agree anything that takes your total concentration is great for helping to snap out of depression. Depression I view mostly as a cyclone of shittiness in mental feelings, which seems to feed back on itself (as does happiness).<p>Other things that I find get me out of whatever I was thinking before:
Driving (especially fast, or fun roads), shooting a gun, Starcraft / RTS games (at least if you want to win).<p>I think there's also something for repetitive actions, such as jogging or running, which kind of slowly lull you out of your current thinking.
This mirrors my own experiences.<p>When climbing it's like a nagging part of my brain shuts off. I imagine this is what other people experience during meditation. For me this works better than drugs.<p>I have a partner who's suicidally depressed. Climbing is the only thing that gets them out of bed.<p>The dark side of this is that high cliffs provide easy access to self-harm.