Not just a river in Egypt

[northlighthero]

This is an expansion of a comment I posted a little while ago on a friend's blog. I kept wanting to say, Great! Glad to see you're taking steps to lift your depression! Glad to see you bouncing back! Rah, rah! I kept noticing myself saying, Glad to see you getting out -- I'm getting out, but it isn't helping. Finally I noticed.

Seven days from now I

Comments

[bellamagic]

[northlighthero]

Thanks for this. Monday was just slightly better, Tuesday was awesome. I noticed that one aspect of Tuesday that made a huge difference was music.

Because one of my 'chores before traveling' was acquiring and filling an ipod for the trip, I found myself listening to a couple dozen song clips during an hour of computer play/learning/frustration. Not only did I get to use my brain for decoding and accomplishing something (rather than passively receiving other people's work, no matter how good), but also ... surprise ... music actually lifted my spirits.

Pause, reflect. Since deciding that a random collection of song lyrics on the radio was toxic to my mental health, have I allowed music to disappear from my everyday life? Well, yeah. What a huge mistake!

So last night I listened to 'I dig rock n roll music' (Peter Paul & Mary), 'the heart of rock n roll is still beating' (Huey Lewis and the News) ... and felt instantly better.

Packing today, laundry and cleanup tomorrow ... depression lifting on runway 4L, we're told.

[skywind8]

In my life, sometimes the waiting is a hard part. Especially if what's coming up will be utterly consuming, I find the subconscious anxiety about "can I do it?" to consume my emotional energy for days ahead of time.

Definitely, interactions with friends and sunlight and food and baths all help ground me into a stronger focus on reality instead of on what's in my head.

Perhaps you could read a book in a busy park or otherwise combine 'getting out' with 'getting sunlight' and 'finding people'. Take the time to wave to parents with children and make light conversation if it seems right; whatever.

I'm facing the difficulty of getting out when I'm in a work-from-home job and I was also sick for a couple months. Now that I'm (finally!) healthy, I'm having to rediscover my social side and figure out where that energy comes from... I'm way too likely to hermit.

[northlighthero]

Amazing how that impulse to hermitage seems always present. I love individual people, but in the abstract I often find them (us?) too much work. As with food or warmth, there seems to be a fairly narrow window of 'enough, but not too much'. Goldilocks was right.

[firedancer_ny]

Sending as much Love & Light as you can absorb (& then a bit more for when you're ready to take in that extra bit). Also just appreciating your You-ness. And that you still post here.

[northlighthero]

Thanks, Dear One, it's lovely to be seen. I appreciate that you still post here, too. Somehow Twitter is too short and Facebook too flighty, but LJ seems to be just right.