The Secret of My Success (as a Failure)
For those of us ordinary folks who are not part of any privileged elite, the secret of maintaining sanity in the modern world is really fairly simple. It is a matter of balance. Equilibrium.
You have to balance the depression against the stress. The key to survival is to use them as mutual antidotes. You want to avoid getting so completely depressed that you are unable to function. Stress is the answer. Stress will keep you moving. On the other hand, you want to avoid getting so stressed out that you explode and do someone some serious damage. That is where depression can be a lifesaver.
I have found in my investigations that as long as one does not allow either one of these devils to get the upper hand, a single organism can carry almost infinite amounts of both stress and depression without ever completely yielding. I find in particular that the stress of having an out of control 11-year-old autistic child and the depression of being unable to find work complement each other in a most agreeable manner, thus enabling the particular organism under consideration to achieve a level of sustained and maximized futility that I can only describe (and yes, I am patting myself on the back a little here) as a marvel of the modern world.
Two solutions to stress and depression are Rocky and Bullwinkle, so check out the Bestofme Symphony 16 now up at Practical Penumbra.