During our recent Audacy Check In with Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins frontman shared a "life hack" that he has found to be quite helpful when dealing with depression.
LISTEN NOW: Billy Corgan on the value of inspiration
“I've been through some serious mental health struggles. I almost killed myself multiple times, I'm so grateful I didn't,” Billy reveals. In order to find some kind of path through, he believes in the importance of finding something that is "bigger than yourself.”
“If that for you is God, if that for you as family, if that for you is community… heck, even if it's an artist that you really, really like, use that inspiration to bring the best out of yourself,” The Smashing Pumpkins frontman implores. “When I was super depressed somewhere in the 2000s, I remember talking to a therapist and I was like, ‘Look, I'm going crazy here. Something bad's gonna happen.’ And they suggested I do charity work.”
Admittedly the idea of helping someone else “seemed completely crazy” to him at the time, questioning how he could possibly attempt to help others when he was unable to get out of bed himself. “But something about the act of charity, or compassion, or giving of another seems to sort of dispel the cloud,” he says. “One of the greatest things that ever happened to me when I was a youth and going through all this abuse at home and everything was, I started volunteering at the old folks home. I would go there once or twice a week, and all they wanted me to do was sit with the aged who'd been abandoned by their family and would cry because their daughter didn't call them anymore. All they wanted to do was have someone sit, hold their hand, and listen to their story.”
Those acts of selflessness, he says, helped him through the hardest years of his childhood. “I was like, ‘Wow, there's this whole other world out here, and I'm not the only one going through stuff.' If you can find it in yourself to do something nice for someone else -- even if you just pick up the phone and call someone that you love and say ‘I love you, I appreciate you, you're such a light in my life,’ It will make you feel better even though it doesn't have anything to do with you. It's crazy how it works. Trust me on this... It's like a life hack thing.”
Related
Audacy's I’m Listening initiative aims to encourage those who are dealing with mental health issues to understand they are not alone. If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, know that someone is always there. Additionally, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 988. Find a full list of additional resources here.