So, yesterday I was on another person’s blog, and this person was talking about struggling with depression and anxiety (which I also have). I left some comments that I hoped would be helpful — suggestions about things that helped me and things that had tripped me up in the past. I pointed him to one of my articles about healing music and wished that I had gotten around to writing an article about a book that’s helped me called Eat Your Way To Happiness. I briefly explained how the book had given me some great tips about useful supplements for depression, but there’s only so much you can say in a comment field.
This morning, I couldn’t help wondering why I’d never gotten around to writing that article about the link between depression and food — even though I’d planned to write it roughly a year ago. I’ve certainly found time to write about other things (mostly board games, I suppose). I guess part of the problem is that I still struggle with my depression; most of the time I’m okay, but there are still moments or even days when I feel like I just can’t function, and who wants advice about depression from someone who still has it?
On the other hand, maybe that makes me the perfect person to write about it, since I almost certainly know what the reader is going through.
I suppose the other issue is that it’s just plain hard to write about your problems, particularly when it’s something like depression that you can never solve or cure; it may go into remission, so to speak, but the potential for it to return is always, always there.
Anyway… maybe this post is an important first step to facing my fears and reaching out to others. I hope so. And if you’re suffering too, I hope there was something here that helped.
(Photo used under license from iStock.)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an article that mentioned someone being depressed and then never having to deal with it again EVER. I’m a firm believer that fighting depression is not a one-and-done skirmish, it’s a long, drawn out war. There are long truces, and there are battles where you are deep in the trenches for weeks on end. It’s a constant back-and-forth battle.
I’ve been dealing with my own nasties in my mind recently, so having someone else’s perspective on the situation would be a great help to me. So I say write about it, if you are comfortable with it. I hope your battles are short and with minimal casualities. 🙂
Aw, thanks, Karen. 🙂 I think I’ve been feeling low the past week or so because I’m not getting enough rest. There are always so many things I want to do that I can never seem to get as much done as I’d like. But I’m realizing that I need to let a few things go and set better priorities and more realistic timetables. (I’ll add “write article about depression” to my priority list.)