Radical acceptance means looking at yourself and the situation and seeing it as it really is. My goal with acknowledging depression is to not let it boss me around anymore. I am working on learning coping skills and avoiding unhelpful thinking styles. In the past few weeks, I have had small challenges that depression has…
Tag: despair
Why am I still obsessing over this?
It’s done, I did not take the job. But I’m still rolling the decision over and over in my head. Am I sure I thought about it in the right way? Isn’t it possible it could have been good for me? Maybe it was running towards the future, not running away from the present. I…
Am I going too fast?
Several people now have mentioned I should be slowing down. Is this what recovering from depression is about? Taking it easy? Making sure I have lots of self-care built into my day? Being aware of my automatic thoughts and slowing down my thinking so I do not make impulsive decisions? That seems like a lot…
You won’t believe where I have been
I took my time and read all 37 of my blog posts, back to day one when I came home from the hospital. What a journey already. I sound so bad, so sad, so out of it, on day one. And then I look at my recent writings and see how far I have come….
10 self-care things I am doing to reduce stress
Let me tell you what I’ve learned. Up until six weeks ago, I never paid much attention to how I was taking care of myself. I didn’t understand the value of making time for me. It seemed so selfish and “about me.” It turns out that is exactly what self-care is all about. And I…
Depression is sneakier than I thought
With the benefit of almost 40 years of perspective, I can see the damage that depression has wreaked on my life and those I love. My question today is, why did it take so long for me to see it? I am smart, I am a thinker. I offer great solutions to problems and take…
You won’t believe what I wrote to myself
“I am writing because you are enough.” This is the first line of the card I wrote to myself when I was in the hospital. I wrote this to myself over a month ago. The pastor who provided the cards mailed it four weeks later. I waited four days after getting the card before opening…
Did you know I have guns?
Well, right now I don’t. What I have is an indentation in the carpet in my closet where the gun safe was. I have an empty space on my shelf in the closet where the canvas bag of ammo was. All thats left is a cloth bag with a turkey call in it and a…
How do I tell people I have depression? Or should I?
I have been struggling with how to share what my life has been like for the past four weeks. There are friends, relatives, and business associates that I want to tell. My dilemma is how to tell them, how much to tell them when to tell them. Is my need to tell them a way…
I’m afraid to tell you this
People should be able to have Depression without adding the fear of being labeled. Depression creates unhelpful thinking patterns that feed into our culture’s stigma about mental health issues. Feeling the need to be guarded about our condition only gives depression a stronger grip. I know, I have spent most of my life denying I…
