Depression is like a roller-coaster ride
Depression is like a roller-coaster ride. It has its share of up and down. It’s a ride you can’t wait to get off.
Table of Contents
(I like this old post of mine because it shows how far I’ve come. It’s one of my very first posts.)
Good days and Bad days
Moods are unstable
Moods, in general, are unstable. It’s a rare person whose moods remain consistently even. And generally, it’s a matter of personality and background, not successful coping skills. There are some people who are just naturally more of the “even-keel” type of personality. My husband is one of these.
He’s the most stable person I’ve ever met. But he, too, has suffered depression. It’s easy to assume that certain personalities, suffer more mood disorders than other people. That’s simply not true. Many people are walking around acting and behaving as though nothing is wrong. They are functioning as normal. It’s called “smiling” depression.
Not everyone is incapicitated
Many people think that people who struggle with depression are totally incapacitated. Some are. But many go about their lives hiding their pain. They live their lives feeling the weight that crushes their spirit, feeling hopeless, and helpless and yet having to go on. They’re on the roller-coaster just like everyone else but manage to hide it. I would say this describes most people.
Just off the top of my head, I could personally name ten people who have suffered depression and their personalities couldn’t be more different. Two or three are total extroverts, a few are introverts and the rest are somewhere in between. By the way, they also have very diverse income and education levels. There is just no typical personality type that struggles with depression.
Personal circumstances can be good
I think one of the concepts that was the hardest for me to accept was the fact that while my personal circumstances were good, I still suffered bouts of depression. Anyone, no matter how clever, talented, rich, intelligent, or educated can suffer depression. Some of the most famous and loved celebrities openly share their struggles, their own roller-coaster ride.
Either sex, too, can experience depression although women experience depression twice as much as men. No need to elaborate here as every woman reading this knows why-hormonal fluctuations.
So no matter where you are in your recovery, take heart by knowing that the roller coaster ride you’re on doesn’t mean you’re recovery is in jeopardy. If you’re working on your depression, you are going to get better. It’s just the nature of the illness. If you’ve ever had surgery, you know that you start to feel really better, and out of the blue, it seems you suffer a setback. You really haven’t. It’s just the nature of recovery.
Up and down days are discouraging
When we’re having an up and down kind of day, it’s discouraging. On these kinds of days, it pays to look over our day and try to see some cause and effect. And there always is a cause. Your moods aren’t all over the place for no reason. Just don’t give up. A bad day is only a bad day and as Scarlett O’Hara famously said, (I paraphrase) “There’s always tomorrow.”
So let me ask you, how has your day been? Has it been up and down? Do you feel you’ve been on a roller-coaster ride? Can you pinpoint any causes? Take some time to think through your day and I’ll bet you’ll find some triggers.
(I love that I wrote here. I remember those terribly frustrating days and can hardly believe I am where I am now).
(FYI. I’m doing the best I can with what is a HUGE job—-learning how to develop a blog. (Talk about a roller-coaster ride.) I’ve got two big books I’m reading but it’s slow going. Bear with me. I’m trying to figure out how to “link”, use widgets, set up my page, download pictures, etc. This is a frustrating project, especially so for someone prone to anxiety. But I am determined. Please hang in there with me.
Also, I’m hoping that by September I’ll be to the point when I will start to give you some very practical tips about how to defeat depression. (I have hundreds of tips now.) I just don’t want to take a chance that I might lose it all or that I won’t be able to respond to comments. Thanks for your understanding.
God bless and have a good day.
