I remember reading a quote somewhere attributed to a person who survived jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Paraphrased, they said that at the moment they jumped, they suddenly realized that every single problem in their life was fixable except the fact that they had just jumped off a f*ing bridge.
Adrenaline can do that to you. Unfortunately, it passes.
I try very hard to not make big, life-changing decisions when I'm happy and energetic, because it's usually jumping (if you'll excuse the pun) feet first into commitments that I'm not going to be able to keep when I go back to normal, level attitude--or even worse--my low periods, when failing at my commitments is not only a foregone conclusion, but I know it, and it makes me feel worse.
I can't tell you how many times I've resolved "this time, I'm going to ride my bike every day" or "this time, I'm going to work a normal schedule and not procrastinate". Yes, it's about willpower, but willpower is a function of energy. No energy, no willpower.
That's one of the insidious things about depression as a disease: it works to keep itself in place. Depression (saps|is-caused-by-a-sap-of) energy. It's like a lead blanket, holding you down in the chair, keeping you from the exercise and healthful food and water and sunlight you need to get out of it. I know it's not an animate object, but it helps me to think of it as so. I won't let "it" consume me, "it" win.
There is modern research into willpower and afaik the essence is: try to not use your willpower. Rearrange your life so that you don't need willpower (like sell your car and burn your public transport subscription, so that you have to go by bicycle).
Beating oneself up about lack of willpower is really sad (I do it myself, but it's wrong).
I recommend "The Willpower Instinct" by Kelly McGonigal. There are also YouTube videos of her speaking.
Yeah, that's largely what I do, especially for things like budgeting. That's one of the reasons I don't have automatic depositing setup with my bank. By forcing myself to have to go to the bank to deposit checks, I am always short on cash, and I know it, so it helps me curb my spending.
I actually recall reading somewhere that a good many of the survivors had a complete recovery and no longer suffered from depression (I think it may have been in a discussion about the documentary mentioned below), but I can't find any hard data on the matter.
There was a rather good, if not morose, documentary about those who jumped off the GG Bridge, called "The Bridge"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_(2006_documentary_fi...
It was well made, but the whole spy-cam footage thing got some pretty negative reception iirc.
