ugh

Mar. 26th, 2011 03:37 pm
grinninfoole: (Default)
[personal profile] grinninfoole
I think the time has come to admit to myself that I have a problem with depression. The idea breached the outer perimeter of my denial last weekend, when I finally asked myself the question seriously and spontaneously. Since then, it’s becoming increasingly evident.

I don’t know if someone has come up with a sliding scale to quantify depression (which, really, is a stupid idea best left to mathematical monks in the thirteenth century, but never mind that now), but I know that I’m in the water along the continental shelf, not the abyssal plains of the oceanic plates. I’m not like this poor woman here (though I can’t stop looking at her picture, intruding on her grief), or like my friends who have hospitalized themselves, or filthyassistant back in the 90s when she couldn’t tell what color the sky was.

I can get out of bed, I just don’t want to. I can exercise, I just don’t feel like it. I can make up and deal with a to do list, it just, in some intangible fashion, hurts to do so. It’s an effort to go to a little girl’s birthday party, or to organize a D&D game with friends. Other people have it tough. I don’t. I don’t have any real problems or impediments in my life (this is how I can tell there’s something wrong with me for feeling so sad, so troubled.)

I feel better today for having gotten more rest, but I’m still not sleeping well. It’s like I used to live, back in my 20s, when I was alone. I find myself, more and more, thinking about dying alone, or finding some justification for my life by sacrificing it for people who have been given so much less than I, yet have done so much more.

I just read Amanda Palmer’s account on her website of making her solo album, and it sounds like a marvelous fun, challenging, soul-troubling solo endeavor. She had a lot of help, and met a bunch of really cool people, but she flung herself into something purely because she thought it was worth doing, and made something fabulous. I know that I have that kind of gift inside me, too, but I just can’t imagine what I have to offer that’s actually going to motivate me to do that, to shove the stone in my chest up to the top of the damn hill, ignoring how it will roll down the other side when I’m done.

I'm going to get myself evaluated and maybe try some anti-depressants. I wish I could get myself to exercise more easily. That does seem to help. (I bet dropping back under 200 pounds would help, too.) At least now I can understand why I'm watching so much TV lately.
(deleted comment)

Date: 2011-03-27 04:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grinninfoole.livejournal.com
Well, I'm glad that if I overcome my ambivalence about messing with my brain chemistry, it will probably work.

I have a new appreciation for heft of your cross. I know you feel you are weak, but I more and more come to understand that you are not.

Date: 2011-03-26 08:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vizsludraugas.livejournal.com
I'm sorry you're suffering through this, but I am glad you are looking into options to deal with it. *hugs*

Date: 2011-03-27 04:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grinninfoole.livejournal.com
Thank you. It could be worse, too. I mean, the prospect of new visits from the Doctor starting April 23 actually cheer me. :)

Oh, say, are you still at the address you sent me December of '09?

Date: 2011-03-27 04:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vizsludraugas.livejournal.com
If that address is in Maryland, then yes. If not, I can send it to you via email.

Date: 2011-03-26 09:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anagramofbrat.livejournal.com
Not much constructive other than "I completely and honestly get it."

*hugs* lunch soon?

Date: 2011-03-27 04:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grinninfoole.livejournal.com
Yes, I know. Too many of my friends do. I hope I have been helpful to them.

Lunch would be lovely.

Date: 2011-03-26 09:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sundart.livejournal.com
I'm so glad that you have the wit to seek treatment on the heels of discovering a problem - so many people get bogged down before taking that critical step. (I sympathize with your desire to exercise more.) Hugs and best wishes!

Date: 2011-03-27 04:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grinninfoole.livejournal.com
Well, arguably I have been avoiding treatment for this for, oh, 25 years now. But, now that I have determined that the ringing in my ears was, in fact, a clue phone, and I have picked it up, I'm not going to ignore it. Though I'm pissed the frakker called collect.

Date: 2011-03-27 01:13 pm (UTC)

Date: 2011-03-26 10:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daybreak777.livejournal.com
I am sorry to hear that you are feeling so low. As others have said, I think it's great that you are seeking treatment as soon as you are.

I hope things do get better for you soon.

*hugs*

Date: 2011-03-27 04:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grinninfoole.livejournal.com
Thanks. And good news: hearing from friends can still cheer me up! :)

Oh, and F sends her warmest regards.

Date: 2011-03-28 06:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fridge-buzz-now.livejournal.com
It's really hard to take that first step. Kudos to you for figuring it out and doing something about it!

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