The article Depression & diabetes showed up in my Facebook newsfeed awhile ago. I honestly wish it showed up back in February when I felt my world had blown up (again). (For those that missed the drama; I'd just bought a house & was told I was going to be unemployed. Considering the last time I was unemployed nearly killed me - not an exaggeration - I was not my usual happy jolly self.)
Everything about this article is right on point.... except for one thing (and I'll get to that in a minute). Going to the movies (not sitting at home watching a movie - physically going & buying a ticket, popcorn and a drink) helped me. Once I even asked someone to go with me, and even though it didn't help as much as I would have liked, the act of asking, going, STAYING helped considerably. Reading also helped. Not the five or ten minutes mentioned in the article...but a page. Honestly I read a page, (sometimes two on a good day) for about three weeks. For whatever reason, it was all I could manage at the time. ...and apples.... apples smothered in peanut butter helped. I will never understand why or how - but to this day when I'm down a Granny Smith apple & reduced fat Jif works almost as well as chocolate does for some women.
The one thing this article stresses is talking to friends and family. That's not exactly an option for me - with Mom & Dad both gone I've been joking about being an orphan for so long it's turned out to be the way I feel. I don't have any close friends (physically close; within 20 minute drive) that I could call just to hang out on the couch with me. I've never been the kind of person that would call up my emotionally close friends & cry on their shoulders. I save all that "crap" for my journals or for this. ... and yes I call it crap - I've always felt depression was a weakness in me; something I should be able to 'get over' or 'snap out of'. Ironically I'm the first one to tell others to go seek help - yes I know how hypocritical that sounds.
Lately a co-worker and I have been discussing the idea of going to our doctors & asking "for something" to help us out of these 'moods' we've been in. I have noticed that I'm quicker to loose my patience with 'stupidity' (or as my company is so found of saying - I lack empathy for the members that call in for my help), the fact that I'm back on the phones in a call center despite everything I've done to do anything else, or I'm having a hard time finding a way to deal with (essentially what turns out to be just) life. I haven't made the call yet (mostly because I don't have the money for the visit) but I am seriously considering it. I'm just now sure how to go in admitting I not able to deal with everyday issues anymore.
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