So, let's say one day things are finally looking up, the feeling of hope reactivates. Only to be faced with a huge disappointment. I'd been holding my head just above water, but this event grabs me by the feet and drags me to the bottom real fast. And it's not a puerile issue, it's something grave or an accumulation that makes me feel like everything is hopeless.

I'm (now) vaguely aware of the influence of my actual mood on how I view the issue, but I feel I just can't change that part yet because the issue is very real and I can't just see things positively. So I take a dive.

Now how I handle this is: since the feeling of doom and dread is so strong and overwhelming, I stop trying for a given period. I try to forget. To distract myself from this feeling, until it slowly fades. Usually by playing games or taking substances or even just trying to force sleep.

Once it's faded enough, I try to do constructive things slowly or give the thoughts a nudge occasionally. And at some point, maybe through an external influence, my mind is reminded that things can, in fact go well. I hang onto this and now my mood is good and hopeful. I use this energy to make things better... until the next dive.

I'm sure you all are familiar with the mood dive that comes from things going wrong. Aside from not mentally letting things reach that point (since life eventually does go very wrong so that strategy is limited) is there a better way to deal with the sinking mood than the forget-then-lift method?