Thursday, November 19, 2009

Keep On Keeping On

This week, for whatever reason, has been really difficult for me.  It started out on Sunday evening, which is definitely part of a pattern that is appearing over the last several weeks. I'm fine Sunday day, then as the evening approaches, my mood starts to slide down into depression. By Monday, I'm typically into a deep depression.  Tuesday the depression starts to lift and by the end of the week I'm on my way, at least, to stable.

This week, Tuesday was as bad as Sunday and Monday. I'm curious, does anyone else have a cycle of depression/moods that follow a pattern over the course of a week.

Some of the thoughts on why I'm experiencing this are two-fold. First, my major depressive period that I'm in recovery from started out in the same pattern: Sunday evening then deep into depression on Monday. Of course, it didn't start lifting until I started getting some help and working on getting better.  So every week on Sunday as the work week begins to edge closer, I'm heading into depression.

The second thing that may be causing my depressive cycle this week is that I suggested to a co-worker, who is filling in for me while I'm out, that we have lunch this week. In retrospect, that may not have been such a good idea. It's not him but rather the situation that is the problem. (Of course, he is constantly asking when I will be back to work which does drive me a little crazy.)

I'm afraid I have effectively canceled the lunch appointment this week by ignoring the suggestion I made last week. I hate to not honor my commitments (really, I do!), but recovering from my illness at this point takes precedence. I guess the honorable thing to do would be to tell him.


When I'm feeling down, like I have been, I often feel that I just want it to end. Not suicidal thoughts necessarily just that I want to get past this. Sometimes this illness seems interminable.

I found two articles on psychcentral.com that give ideas for how to combat the blues:
  1. Six Ideas for Beating Winter Blahs
  2. 12 Winter Depression Busters
These are definitely not comprehensive lists.  For me, I'm finding that at this time of year that I'm grateful that my yard has been covered with leaves.  The repetitive and mindless motion of raking leaves allows me the escape where I can just be without having to think or plan or talk to anyone. The task is defined and I can complete it at my pace.  Having my children helping can make it even better.

What do you do when you're feeling down to keep on keeping on?

No comments:

Post a Comment