A Matter of Perspective

I have a confession to make...

Last week was a very hard week for me. I struggle with depression as some of you know. I don’t talk about it much because of the stigma that is still attached to the word.

Last week was bad. Last week I had days where I just did not care. Well, most of the days were like that. Most of them I didn’t even bother to get dressed. I stayed in my pajamas all day.

When I start to feel like this I can’t just “grab my bootstraps and pull myself up.” I can’t just put on a smile. I can’t pretend that everything is okay.

I know that I am not alone. I get frustrated. I get scared.

There are things that I cannot do. There are things you can do, as well.

I have been learning more and more about gratitude. Gratitude can be a rule-breaker and a mood-changer.

I can’t say that I used it last week, though. Last week, I did little to help myself.

I sat and fretted and slept the days away and then got mad at myself for being so unproductive!

Depressive cycles can be like that. I am glad I decided to go visit with a friend on Thursday. We didn’t talk about depression or what was making me feel sad. (I couldn’t talk about that anyway because the reason is unknown.) We just talked and laughed and drank our coffee. We solved some of the world’s problems and made our plans for next week’s coffee meeting!

That evening the family and I went out to do our shopping for the week. I stayed in the car despite the extreme cold. It was enough just to be out of the house and to “feel” something even if it was cold!

Winter is hard on many of us anyway.

There are several ways to “snap” out of a depression. (Those of us who suffer from depression know there is no “snapping” out of it, but for the sake of this short editorial we’ll go with it.)

These are some of the things I do to help myself to feel better when I am in the depths. Maybe some will work for you, too. Or maybe you have other things that you do to help yourself. I would love to hear them. Send your ideas to me at karin@inhnews.com.

1. I read my Bible and I pray. It is something that I do regularly anyway, but when I am in the dark layers of despair, there is a special comfort in talking to my Father in heaven about the things in my heart.

2. I write. I write in my journal. I write on my blog. I write things that are usually just for me. This makes it somewhat difficult for my job because when I am in those dark places that come with depression, I have a very hard time focusing on work. I have to use a lot of concentration to focus on writing and writing for the newspaper requires concentration. If you suffer from depression you know that the ability to concentrate is fairly non-existent.

3. I listen to uplifting music. Sometimes it can be spiritual or gospel music or any sort of uplifting songs. I don’t recommend heavy metal, but if that uplifts you—go for it! One of my favorite songs is “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.

4. Talk to a friend. Going out on Thursday helped a lot. Usually, with depression, we don’t feel like being around others. Well, I forced myself and I am all the better for it. Thanks, Barb!

There are a lot of other things we can do to help ourselves. I think I told you about the gratitude course I took. Well, I will be writing a bit more about that in a later article.