Depression

Dear Readers,

I’ve written about keeping a positive look on life, always looking forward, taking it one day at a time and so on. So what do you do when you have one or more of those days where you simply can’t and when life just seems to be against you in every way possible?

We all have those days whether you want to admit it or not. Take me for instance; I am not afraid to admit that the past few weeks have been exceedingly hard for me. I haven’t heard any news on a new job. My car seems to be falling apart. I am still living away from my pregnant wife. I am unable to sell my house. I am unable to complete my renovations due to my medical condition. Hey! I have a medical condition! Ya, I guess I would agree that my head has been in a dark place.

Of course I try to follow my own advice and I try to keep looking forward and to take one day at a time but it just doesn’t cut it sometimes and I suspect there are many people out there in exactly the same boat as me.

So what does one do? For starters, I definitely turn to my list of motivational and inspirational quotes. (Yes I have a list). I try to remember that there are people out in the world that have it far worse than I do.

When that doesn’t work, I turn to a favorite pass time of mine, photography. I am not a professional photographer, far from it, but going out into nature, snapping a picture of that majestic butterfly or capturing the melodic river is just soothing to me.  I like being outside with nature.

[Photo taken by myself in 2011]

I go for walks, bike rides, play music loudly, hang with friends (if friends are nearby which as it turns out are not right now…), play video games. I do ANYTHING to keep my mind off my problems for a little while. No I don’t want to forget my problems as I don’t think that is a healthy way of handling that, but getting my mind off of my problems for a little while can definitely be a good thing.

It is amazing what your subconscious can do you know? Your mind works in mysterious ways and while you are out running, fishing, partying it up, shooting your camera off etc. your subconscious is being a busy beaver and dealing with things for you. Before you know it, you have gotten over whatever problem you were trying to deal with without you even knowing it.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about severe depression here. I do know people struggle with depression all their lives and I couldn’t imagine having to go through that. I am talking about those little things that some people think are indications that it’s the end of the world but really aren’t that bad.

How do you deal with stress, pain or (for lack of a better term) minor depression? I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Thanks for reading.  I hope I bring at least some comfort to someone out there 🙂

I’d like to end with a quote as usual. Joseph Campbell once said “Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” You are absolutely right Joseph. Absolutely right.