I have clinical depression. This means, for me, it is genetic and VERY chronic. I am 34 and was only diagnosed 13 years ago, but based on my experience and information I believe I have had it since I was a child. I have been aware of my depression, like I said for 13 years, trying to manage it and struggling with it and not feeling very successful at my attempts. Luckily, my husband has been beyond supportive and is fabulous at analyzing data and can read people and situations so well that most of what I have learned has been from his observations and us discussing it, acting on our conclusions and, finally, seeing results.
Honestly, when we figure out ‘boosts’ (tips/tricks/helps), I sometimes get so irritated because I think, ‘why did it take so long to see this? Why did we not put this together years ago? And I’ve only recently been able to realize and come to the conclusion that I/we needed years of data, years of trial and error, years of discussion, for us to work through the nitty gritty and narrow down the specifics. And narrow them down in such a way as to be able to share them with others with proof from experiences.
It really has been exciting, after so many years, to finally put some of these pieces together. I had resigned myself to a life of misery, I had all but completely given up hope of EVER finding relief. If you have ever been depressed and more than once, I imagine you too have begged and pleaded like you never have before to have even a smidgen of relief. A sign that there was even a reason to still hope. A voice, a feeling that God was even still there, whether He even cared. I have read an untold amount of books, talks by General Authorities, and posts, listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos, Ev.Ry.Thing. and I have never learned about the things I have learned in my 13 years of KNOWING and experiencing depression. I do feel I have suffered and hurt and felt this indescribable misery so that we (my husband and I) could figure out not only how to help me which helps our family, but my siblings, my friends, others, whom I love. When I hear you are suffering it physically hurts because I KNOW! I could not have figured all this out any other way…annoyingly.
There is so much about depression I think is unfair. When I’m ‘normal’ I feel like I understand it, it’s a trial, it’s life, it’s not that bad. But when I’m depressed those answers don’t make ANY sense, I don’t feel that, I can’t see that AND I can’t just GET OUT of an ‘episode’. (Episode-stuck in a downward spiral that takes days to weeks to months to get out of).
Having depression SUCKS. It’s the suckiest thing I can think of and NO ONE should have to feel that way but as it turns out, A LOT of people do and I would LOVE to change that… no idea if I can but I have to try. I’m tired of wanting to help and not doing anything about it.
This is the first post in a series that I’d like to do about how to overcome depression or manage it, or just give you an extra boost when it seems like nothing is working. Now, even though I could tell you what depression looks like and probably tell you if you have it or not, I am not a doctor. I am not diagnosing anyone. I actually feel like my information is geared more towards those who have already been diagnosed and are treating their depression and for one reason or another the meds aren’t enough or aren’t working as well as you would have hoped they would. I also, certainly, am NOT telling anyone to go off meds. Actually, the opposite, I am a FIRM believer in medication as a help for depression.
O.K. No more chit chat! I’m ready to share the first boost!
