NOTE ...And I offer a whole list of personally created "Therapies" to help you.

Roller Coaster of Life

Roller Coaster of Life
Life's Ups and Downs
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Monday, March 31, 2008

OF COURSE I will feel better if I get my proper sleep regularly!!!


Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z


With my computer addiction, I have had trouble getting myself to bed at night when I should. There for quite awhile, it would be 3, 4 or even 5am before I would finally shut the computer down and head for bed.

Reading up on circadian rhythm... http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/922567322.html .... in regards to our sleep/wake patterns....it is important that I not allow my body to get more artificial light and activity beyond a certain time at night, than my body is programmed for. If I do, I throw my body out of whack. (anyway that is the gist of it according to my understanding).

The older I am getting and the more I abuse my sleep patterns, the worse I was beginning to feel. I would try to go to bed earlier but it never lasted more than 2 or 3 nights and then I would be back into my old habit of staying up until 5am again.

I knew I was headed for big serious health problems if I didn’t do something to change that habit for good. Now I am striving to go to bed at a decent time and it has taken me about 2 or 3 weeks for my sleep patterns to regulate them self again. I can’t believe how much better I feel and how much more energy I have again. I don’t feel groggy all day and my brain is not in a fog. The more night hours (natural darkness) I sleep, the better I feel.

Bad sleep habits certainly do not help depression one bit. Better, longer sleep and plenty of sunshine and fresh air can work a miracle for our down days.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Let's try something.....

An experiment = results = a way to help yourself = a happier you

Depression causes us to turn everything inward, to our self. Let’s try an experiment to help that a little bit. Then, when our days are dark and blue, we can use the results of the experiment to help our self feel better.

1. Get an 8 x 11 size sheet of lined paper and a pencil with an eraser.

2. Go to your favorite place in your house or yard.

3. Sit in a comfortable chair, and have a glass of your favorite beverage by your side.

4. Now....take the pencil in hand, and number your paper from 1 to 25, double spacing.

5 Begin...think about all the things that give meaning to your life and of which you are deeply grateful for. List each one briefly on the paper and keep going until you have 25 different things listed.

6. Using a magnet, put your paper on the front of your refrigerator and when you have your down days, take that paper, read it and remind yourself of all the things you have to be grateful for in your life. Give thanks, put a smile on your face, and then go do something nice for someone.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Today is the first day of Spring!


First day of Spring!......now we don’t have any excuse to feel down in the dumps today, people. Right? The Winter drearys are gone. Get up and go outside, do some deep breathing exercises, and rejoice and give thanks.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sunshine, fresh air, and doing what we love to do



Sun therapy...being outdoors soaking up Mr. Sun and Vitamin D...both of which are important in the defense against depression.

I feel that there is something refreshing and magical with being out in the sun and breathing in the fresh air....especially if there is a little soft breeze and the scenery is lovely. I love to take slow, deep breaths and enjoy the moment. And now that spring is about here, I can truly say that I have “spring fever”, because I can’t get enough of the outdoors. Seems that the more I can just relax out in the sun and fresh air....the less severe my depression bouts seem.

Another thing that helps me, is doing the things that gives me the most enjoyment. One of those things is my writings. I write about my feelings and thoughts on a multitude of various topics of life and things. Doing the things we love to do....and doing them with all our heart and to the best of our ability, is what brings us joy and lifts us out of our down periods. And if the things we love to do can also help other people, then how wonderful is that.

Monday, March 10, 2008

My "mental closet"



A friend and I share with each other our ups and downs of depression. We compare notes and analyze; we try to help lift each other; and we certainly try to be there for each other and be supportive and encouraging.

We have both come to the conclusion that when we have our down depression times that we apparently go off to our own mind place for awhile to work things out. We get mentally away from what is troubling us and causing our depression at the time. We even, upon necessity, get away (sort of) from people for a short while, also. After a while we are able to realize that things are not as bad as they seem at the time. At that point we can handle our self and those troublesome problems.

We have lovingly called this mental away place....our “mental closet”. Here in our mental closet we take the time necessary to sort out and work out the things that have sent us into our depression. It could be family problems, it could be high expectations we place on our self, it could be disappointments, fears, frustrations, and overwhelmed about something.

Our mental closet is a time-out place (a room in our home, a nice quiet park, a drive in our car, etc) where we can digest and comprehend and learn about and express our self. It is a place to fully get a hold of our emotions, and a time to gather our self and define our thoughts.

I am NOT talking about deserting our families. But with their love, compassion, understanding and support, they will allow us the short time we need to work through our difficult times and then come back refreshed, being our old selves, and feeling like we can handle things again
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Monday, March 3, 2008

Some days the roller coaster of life gets too scary



I expressed some of the following words to a friend earlier today, then decided to use them on this blog to maybe help others who feel the same way. When we know we are not alone in our feelings, it somehow helps.


Many times when something rocks my emotional and depression levels.....I can’t function like normal for awhile. I can't take care of what needs to be done...and I can't think clearly or even FEEL like doing the normal (whatever that is, anymore) stuff.



Any changes mentally and emotionally is a scary thing for me. It is like I can't get a handle on it. When anything happens....I go into slow motion mode and try very hard to get a grip on things. By relaxing myself and getting away for awhile from the "thing" that rocked my stable levels, I am slowly but surely able to get back into my somewhat norm again. And if we end up landing back on our feet once more, isn't that a good thing?