Depressed is no longer the benign word it used to be, meaning down or sad. It is now a DSM label that can get you a mental health file, one that can stand in the way of promotions, or so I am told.
The Europeans have a better, more humane approach. No one is taken seriously unless they have been depressed, at least once in life. Depression can be expected at transition times and times when one questions anything ... identity, purpose, politics. Question is the operative word there. So? One can only wonder who would want to put the kabash on questioning. Still, considering the political climate in which we have been living, since the Code-Red/Yellow/Oranges, the vote recounts trying to flush out Diebold and Tri-Star vote-flippers, and recent Crisis Managers in Michigan, where people's votes don't have to figure-in at all, questioning isn't something generally encouraged. After all, we don't want anyone getting depressed. So. Pulling my tongue out of my cheek, now, and speaking in earnest, I think people ARE questioning, just the same. I do l o v e that independent spirit that leads people to do what comes so naturally. Somehow, in fact, just thinking about people doing what comes naturally warms my heart, lightens my own mood! We can trust ourselves, imperfect as we are, to be human, can't we! And I don't think we need anyone else's permission for that. It's Easter / Spring / and, oddly, the biggest suicide time of the year .. statistically. Second? is Christmas / Chanukah! What a paradox.
I don't know about you. To me, that was a surprise. After all, the darkest time of year is coming to a close. Days are longer; weather is better ... than winter anyway. (Today, there's a windstorm!) Some would say all this describes depression? I don't think so. Today, I was thinking about the Pagan 'hatching egg', the Christian 'death-&-rebirth', and other symbols of leaving one form and entering another. An 'Unkown' other. Good metaphors. In this light, the stats made more sense.: change, and leaving what's familiar to us __ whether what's coming is better or worse, creates a mood. The fact is, the unfamiliar isn't what we are used to. On a feelings level, "different", "unfamiliar" or 'foreign' may not be what we want; and when we do, we generally llike to pick when! Parenthetically, I heard someone point out once that fear and excitement are the same body experience, chemically! And I'm thinking sadness might be the same chemically as coming out of hibernation when you aren't quite ready. Slow has been good; and then ... it's like when Mom used to say, "Get up, it's time for school," slow was even better. So to those of you who feel sad right now, or are just coming out of hibernation mode, know you are not unusual and not alone in it, for what comfort that is. Just waiting, you will find something else is stirring in you; and though we don't consciously pick the time, Life will be moving us forward all by itself. To me, that is a comfort. |
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