I've had depression for my entire adult life. It comes and goes, at times so severe I cannot function but mostly it sits in the background, a near-constant dull ache. I have numerous mechanisms for coping that have been developed from years of counseling and normally they work so well I don't end up in the depths anymore. I don't know whether my weight is a result of my depression, a cause or totally unrelated. But I do know that my depression has an impact on my weight loss. On the other hand, weight loss (more specifically the increased healthiness of my diet and increased exercise) has an excellent impact on my depression as it is less likely to rear its ugly head if I am feeling well and healthy.
I'm feeling a bit down today so I just thought I'd put some words here about it. Since moving from Townsville to Brisbane everything seems to be so hard - even little things are just the biggest dramas in the world to sort out. I feel like banging my head against the wall. My lovely friend reminded me today that there have been many awesome things happen in Brisbane as well, but at the moment I feel bogged down in the difficult and painful. I kind of want to just give up and curl in a ball and hide. I'm being melodramatic, everything that is important in my life is wonderful - I have a roof over my head, I have a good job, I have an awesome partner and my family and friends are all well and healthy. Focus on the positives. I might go spend some positive time with positive people tonight I think.
Sarah, I totally understand what you are saying. I have suffered depression on and off all of my adult life (& if we are being honest, probably most of my teenage years as well). I honestly think that mine has a lot to do with diet. When I eat bad, I feel bad. Problem is, it is a vicious cycle, when I feel bad I eat bad so it gets worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteBut then there are those times when you think that everything is great and you still don't feel that "happy" feeling you think you should.
I guess I am not really the best person to give advice, but I say be good to yourself. If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here :o)
Good luck
Hi Sarah
ReplyDeleteI also suffer from depression and this year has been particular hard - I was where you are - my anxiety was through the roof - if the slightest did not go to plan then I would start to fall apart - my problem is that I do this silently - my way of coping is to eat and spend which is how I ended up 142kg. I finally got some counselling and have started to turned things around (hopefully for good this time). I am now taking a much calmer approach to food (well everything) and working on keeping everything in perspective.
Anyway my point is you are not alone and as you probably know the more you talk about how you are feeling then better things get.
I agree with Cassie - be good to you and don't let the negative voices in your head win!!
Thankyou Cassie, thankyou Jody! It really is awesome knowing you're not alone! The best thing I ever did was get help for my depression. I haven't been in the depths for a while now but I still have down days and I don't often talk about it because for the most part people just want to tell you to get over it and cheer up. They don't understand that it just doesn't work that way.
ReplyDeleteMy partner has been awesome. I slumped in January after my grandmother passed away and just wanted to sit at home and be alone and not talk to anyone. He'd call me up, I'd tell him I want to be at home alone, and he'd tell me that was cool but he was coming over to be alone with me. Just being there and being awesome helped me so much and whereas in the past I'd have been down for months, I was back to being mostly myself within a couple of weeks! He is brilliant. He's also brilliant with my weight watchers journey.
Anyway, not sure what I'm getting at, just thankyou for understanding! And I hope you are both well and if you need support I understand and I am here!
Sarah