Depression, and the many layers of...

Sometimes just cleaning up can help your mood...having things neat, clean and in order...

A bright environment can sometimes help brighten your mood..
And sometimes all you need is that 'spark'...

After all, it's only one little spark that puts a big engine into motion...



And once the engine is fired up, your attitude, which in this case are the gears, can help propel you forward and away from the muck...

Sometimes someone just saying 'hello' or showing concern, or just listening, can also ignite that spark...

When some ones down, never underestimate how the smallest of kind gestures can really help boost moral and or change their mood for the better...

Also...sad thing is, is when you're lonely, as in actually alone, with no one to comfort you...you tend to eat like a goldfish...



It's quite sad actually...

For some, eating, smoking, drinking, and sometimes even drug abuse, is all substitutions for the love they, we, us, anyone who has suffered from depression, is not getting.

So you eat and eat and eat some more, until finally you fall asleep, where at least in your dreams, your together and happy...

Depression will pull you further and further within yourself

Depression will make you not want to do anything, or commit to anything.

Depression and lack of hope are totally related, for when you loose hope, depression often follows.

And when you loose hope that anything will ever actually work out, you stop even wanting to try and get the 'oh gee why even bother' syndrome.

Examples:

'Oh gee, I'm $20,000 in debt, house will probably get reposed, so why should I even bother going out to coffee this morning since I'm doomed anyways'...

Or

'Oh gee, how can I have fun today, when I know next week will be terrible and full of uncertainty'...

When we feel, or construct life in such a way where doom and gloom seem to be the final verdict, than it's hard to find enjoyment doing the little things in between, and instead just want to sulk, inside, all alone and dwell on the doom and gloom scenerios.

And being alone is the worse way to handle depression.

Love and communication with others is the best way to over come depression.

But not everyone has love, or is able to communicate with others.

Even a good book helps, reading helps take mind off of self, which is the cause of depression, so any activity which takes mind off of self, will help alleviate depression.

And reading sometimes helps, cause your imagination has to consentrate on other characters, their problems and their issues, thus giving you relief from your own.




Sometimes by stepping into the world of others, our own world doesn't seem so bad...find a good book to read.

Another reason for depression is when one starts feeling, believing, that their circumstance is larger than ones ability to change them.

Being stuck in 1 place for to long, when the river stops flowing, when you look ahead and don't see no way out.

Movement is an important part of happiness.

From K-12 all we do is 'move'...there's always movement to higher grade, reward, change, things are always flowing.

But once out of the schooling system, college, sometimes that movement can stop.

Jobs, careers, that offer movement, advancement, usually have the happiest most productive employees.

Also, often times that movement shifts from self to family, if one starts own family than the movement starts all over again through watching them grow and adjust to the world.

But if one has no family, or family is grown and out the door, that sense of movement, getting ahead, being stalled, can come set in and trigger depression.

Movement is important in order to stay happy and hopeful.

Depression is loosing the will to fight, to stand.

Depression is feeling like with each passing day you're fading from relevance, fading back into nothing, gone tomorrow as if never here.

Depression is not having anyone to cheer or root you on.

Depression is coming to the realization that the people, the things, the community, that could, would, make you happy only exist in your mind.

Depression is realizing there's only so many rounds in the ring you can take getting knocked out and seeing your will to stand back up weaken with each blow.

Depression is realize not all dreams do come true, in fact most for many simply do not.

Sometimes the cure to depression can be turning around and going backwards.

To be continued.

Most with families don't really have time to be depressed, cause they're to busy being strong for others, to busy being in the 'moment'.

People engaged with others are less prone to depression simply cause thoughts aren't allowed to linger as long within self.

It does happen though, many who are married, have families of their own, still do get depressed.

But being isolated from anyone who has your best interest in mind does not help depression at all.

Being in an environment where not a single soul cares about your survival, can have an accumilitive effect on ones outlook.

Outside of family, not really sure who is suppose to care about your well being.

And it's even worse when your family doesn't care about your well being either, or if you've been cut off from them.

There's so many layers to emotional health and well being.

Even worshiping God in a vacuum can feel empty, in that the worshipping of God has more meaning when around others, at a church, or leading prayer with family...it's more like an exercise, like going to a concert.

When you're alone, you have no one to instantly confide in, to help make you feel like you made right decision.

When alone there's no one in your corner, it would be like a boxer returning to corner after round, and having no one there to bandage their wounds, or give them tips, advice, boost moral for next round.



You just get beat up physically and emotionally, and at end of round have to return to corner alone, with no one to boost moral for next round.

It'll do one of to things for you, either break you, or make you extremely resilient.

Living such a life, where no ones there, will make you emotionally independent of others.

But in the end, even Mike Tyson, as hard as he appeared to be on the surface, needed consistant love in his life in order to feel whole and is why he is now married, and happier than ever. (at least that's the narrative).

Every great fighter has someone, or many, in their corner.

Even Jesus had apostles.

Very hard to find a successful person with no team of others surrounding them.

If there is a devil, isolating a person with a ton of potential would have to be amongst one of his best strategies.

While building up fools by surrounding them with endless resources.

If you're a fool, you probably stand a better chance in this world than if your brilliant, and have a heart.

As title of this section reads, Depression has many different layers and levels.

I kind of break depression down in a few category's.

1. Situational Depression

When someone is depressed do to a temporary situation or environment that they know will end soon, like school, class, a math test, visiting people you don't want to, a long road trip, visit to dentist, ect.

You can be unhappy about situation, but never blows up into full grown depression cause you already know the situation will end.

2. Long term outlook depression

In that you're in a situation where you can't see the end, the light, and there's no cure in sight for what ails you and your spirit.
You can daily hope that things get better, but there's no garuntee that they will.

3. Hormonal Depression

When do to bodies chemical in balance one finds self depressed for no apparent reason, feeling sad, gloomy, even when on surface like looks well.
One can have a new car, be rich, have accomplished many things, yet suffer from hormonal depression.

4. Drug and alcohol induced Depression

It's kind of two fold here in that one can lead to the other.
{4} can lead to {2} in that drinking and drugs can make one ruin life in such a way that they destroy own path to success, get criminal record, have no job, no family, no friends, and when sober feels of little value to anyone.


Then there's {2} to the extreme when someone looses all sense of hope and begins feeling eternally doomed, referring to how the rest of their life will be lived out.

This can be do to age, lack of money, health going bad, and slowly realizing the reality of it all.

When hope is absent, not much is left.

Hopelessness and isolation are a toxic mix.



Cause when you're alone, and feel hopeless, as if fate of a failed life has been sealed, then one can begin rationalizing things they normally wouldn't if they weren't alone; heck even a pet dog or cat can snap one out of that phase.

In fact, when you add loneliness and isolation to any of the above it just compounds the misery one will feel.

Solution?

The solution is as follows.

Make sure no one in your life, of sound mind, is alone.

People who are depressed rarely admit it cause in many cultures it's just not 'cool' to do so.

The poster image of a depressed person is always some blonde haired teenager sitting on window seal of Apartment looking sad cause they didn't get asked to the Prom.

But in reality most people who are depressed are elderly, or younger males, or fat folks, or those who are dealing with long term illness or long term poverty.

The person who's depressed won't, and rarely looks 'pretty', like on TV commercials.

I mean according to TV commercials and posters, only cute white upper middle class young people get depressed.



Not that one can't be upper middle class, spoiled, of privileged class, and not get depressed, but again it's usually do to reason #1, temporary sadness do to not getting 'my way'.

Also, sadly, depression has been 'soxualized' in that all depressed people in adds always have a certain 'sox' appeal to them.

And that's very unfortunate that depression has to be depicted in that manner, as if you're not worth caring for, being concerned about, unless someone finds you soxy.

People who look cute and soxy always have people that want to be in their lives, and most never experience true isolation like 'ugly' folks do.

Try being ugly, unattractive and depressed, and feeling like most want you to 'die' anyways.

NO one ever thinks about people in hospitals as being depressed, or those in wheelchairs.

Depression rarely has a 'cute' face to it.

I'll continue this on next thread and show how the 'Eternal life' religious message helps take that feeling of 'doom' away from many.

Doom meaning the feeling of running out of useful time to accomplish ones ambitions in life.