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Help For Your Depression - Help For Your Depression

Balancing Act

July 14th 2010 18:56

recovery substance abuse
home-work-co-workers-play-hobbies-meetings-family-relationships

A friend of mine that I have known for many years was kind enough to tell me that as long as he has known me; my life has been out of balance. He commented that it seemed I was always "Chasing" after something.

Now this came from a good guy, I always value his suggestions, and there is in fact a great deal of truth to what he said.
Balance. If you are "in the rooms" you will sometimes hear this as a topic for discussion. And if you have been around long enough you probably have been given some unsolicited advice from someone that can see your life clearly, yet is still very blind to their own lives. Typical recovering drunk telling you what’s wrong with your life while his has been way outta control for quite sometime. Oh well. Enough about that rant.
Balance is something that is constantly elusive even for those folks that do not have depression and or substance abuse issues.
Our lives are always out of control in some areas. I know that when I was drinking and drugging, I paid no mind to balance in my life. I suppose I drank enough booze to balance out the cocaine that I snorted and the pot that I smoked.
The thing about balance is this: there will never come a time where everything in your life is in balance. There are always areas in our lives that need our attention. When things are good at work, things may be dysfunctional at home. You get the idea.


If you drank and drugged or had severe depression or bipolar, or for those of us that are most fortunate to have both, we cared little about balance. Now that we are getting sober, we realize that life can get very messy sometimes. But that is just the way life is. We often tried to escape this fact by doing what we do best! Drink it down to wash it all away!
That’s something that you don't hear very often in the rooms. Life gets very
messy and there aint nuthin y'all can do about it except accept it! If you aint gettin down and dirty, you aint livin life!
So my dear friend was right. I am always chasing something. However, I am right where I am supposed to be. I did not want to tell him that from my perspective, his life was waaaaaay outta control. It is funny how we are able to see our own faults very clearly through others. That is just the nature of the beast.

That’s all for now...........Keep the faith



139
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Balancing Act

July 14th 2010 18:53
A friend of mine that I have known for many years was kind enough to tell me that as long as he has known me, my life has been out of balance. He commented that it seemed I was always "Chasing" after something.
Now this came from a good guy, I always value his suggestions, and there is in fact a great deal of truth to what he said.
Balance. If you are "in the rooms" you will sometimes hear this as a topic for discussion. And if you have been around long enough you probably have been given some unsolicted advise from someone that can see your life clearly, yet is still very blind to their own lives. Typical recovering drunk telling you whats wrong with your life while his has been way outta control for quite sometime. Oh well. Enough about that rant.
Balance is something that is constantly elusive even for those folks that do not have depression and or substance abuse issues.
Our lives are always out of control in some areas. I know that when I was drinking and drugging, I paid no mind to balance in my life. I suppose I drank enough booze to balance out the cocaine that I snorted and the pot that I smoked.
The thing about balance is this: there will never come a time where everything in your life is in balance. There are always areas in our lives that need our attention. When things are good at work, things may be disfunctional at home. You get the idea.
If you drank and drugged or had severe depression or bipolar, or for those of us that are most fortunate to have both, we cared little about balance. Now that we are getting sober, we realize that life can get very messy sometimes. But that is just the way life is. We often tried to escape this fact by doing what we do best!
Thats something that you don't hear that often in the rooms. Life gets very messy and there aint nuthin y'all can do about it except accept it! If you aint gettin down and dirty, you aint livin life!
So my dear friend was right. I am always chasing something. However, I am right where I am supposed to be. I did not want to tell him that from my perspective, his life was waaaaaay outta control. It is funny how we are able to see our own faults very clearly through others. That is just the nature of the beast.

thats all for now...........Keep the faith


101
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Keepin it real

August 3rd 2009 04:51

Fake it til you make it is a term that is used frequently. Some folks use it when they are struggling with a belief in a higher power. It is more like a blind faith that they place their belief in. I could never get the hang of faking it. It was either there or it wasn’t so I guess I can not relate to those that fake it. I didn’t need to fake it because every time I came to the turning point, I was brought to my knees, this time I was flat on my back. Everyone has their own turning point but the result is always a belief in a power greater than us.
It is a paradox. Going through some extreme pain to come to the realization that we can not do it alone. We give into the higher power that has been carrying us all along. It comes as a great relief that we do not have to face our lives all alone. After the realization, we get a sense of hope and faith that we are safe. A sense that everything is going to be alright. Looking back we can see that we were always o.k. We just never gave it a chance. Free will is a hard thing to control. Free will can make us arrogant and it can give us a feeling that we are in control when in fact we have very little control over things and even if we did have control, we would probably louse everything up. I am not very good at just letting things be. I am too impatient in just letting them unfold. I can look back at many instances in my life where I jumped the gun. Hind sight is 20/20.
For me, it is not just developing a belief and a faith that everything is going to turn out the way that I want it to, it is a feeling that no matter what happens, I will be o.k. That is my faith. When I am able to get into this mindset, I can see how things just fall into place without me getting in the way. I couldn’t plan it any better. Fear does get in the way of everything. But the only thing that can cast out fear is love. Love has the power to get rid of fear because love is unconditional. Love is an acceptance of the way things are. Love is allowing a person to be who they are and what they are. Love has no boundaries. If anybody has told you that they love you, you can tell if they really mean it by seeing how they are when you are at your worst. Are they still right there beside you, or do they run for the hills? Many people use the term loosely, or they have developed their own definition of love based upon their own values and morals. That type of love is cheap and superficial and it doesn’t do anyone any good. It just causes more pain.
So if you are struggling with the concept of a power greater than yourself and are getting tired of faking it, just get honest with yourself and ask what it really means to you.

Keep the faith
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Battle For Peace

July 31st 2009 04:35
Lord don't let there be
A battle for peace
Inside of me

[ Click here to read more ]
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Letting go

July 26th 2009 00:51

How are you supposed to let go? After all this time and effort there comes a time when you must let go. Maybe it is just a process of going through everything to get to a certain place where you can no longer afford to hang on, to let go and let the current take you where it needs to. That’s where we are supposed to be. Right here, right now is where we are supposed to be. The resistance is what causes all the pain.

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You Are Not Alone

July 14th 2009 21:47


So, how does it feel to know that there are millions of other people that are probably feeling the same way you are right now? Somewhere along God’s green earth there is another human being, animal, or let me just say sentient being that is feeling sadness, and depression. It might comfort you to think that perhaps not too far away there is another person feeling anger and rage, jealousy and bone chilling fear, or perhaps the overwhelming feeling of grief you are feeling at this very moment is being felt all over the world by people that are grieving over the loss of a pet or a loved one. Whatever the pain you experience, do you look to connect to all that may be suffering as a way of coming to terms with your own pain?
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Sad? I dont know

March 24th 2009 06:04
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the recovery path

February 28th 2009 06:58
There are times when depression has a way of seeping into every area of life. First it just affects us personally, causing a change in moods and then a change in outlook on life. It can start to cripple by depleting any energy to do the things that need we need to do in order to get through every day. It continues to get bigger as the depression escalates into anger and our actions begin to tear down the lives we had worked so hard to build. Not getting to work on time can cause trouble at work and we may get verbal warnings. This does not help self esteem and we begin to sink further by calling out of work, to eventually losing the job by walking out or being fired. Our relationships with others start to get strained and nobody seems to be on our side. We begin to feel there is nowhere to turn so the only thing left to do is to turn to the old friends booze and drugs.
After a few bad episodes of drinking, one might find themselves in the emergency room after a rough night of heavy drinking, locked in the drunk tank for hours and sometimes days on end waiting to see a psychiatrist or someone that resembles a psychiatrist. Social workers are the ones that sometimes step in and get us into a rehab if we have insurance.
We go through a detox and decide to go to AA meetings again, even though we have not been able stay sober for any period of time.

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51
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1 Plus 2 Equilibrium

October 4th 2008 05:24
Standing at the counter in Staples, watching people making copies, walking through the aisles, buying office supplies. A very anxious looking middle aged guy was losing his patience with an older gentleman before him at the copy machine. Mr. anxious was zooming about, walking very fast as if he had more to do than anyone else. As I watched him zoom out the door like a duck that just snorted crystal meth, I turned to see a kind looking gentleman walking in. He was hurried, yet he had a calmness about him. As I watched him walk by, he said hello to the girl behind the counter, it was obvious he had been there numerous times. Gotta stop by Staples and get a few things done, say hi to Maria, Same time everyday, you know the drill. He had a leather organizer that was impeccably organized: I guess that’s why they call them organizers. A place for everything, and everything in its place. He was neat as a pin. I looked down at the two pages I had faxed and the ball point pen that I got from, uh, where did I get that pen? Oh yeah! It just turned up in my car and I’ve been using it for the past six months. It’s my car pen. It cannot leave the car. Damn, am I organized or what? I looked back at the calm gentleman. Now there’s a guy that you can call a gentleman. Cuz he’s gentle. I thought about how he came to be who he was. Obviously a lot of work.

a day in the life

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Which Way To Sanity

October 3rd 2008 04:00
A dear friend of mine just released a CD. The song "Which way to sanity" is my favorite. It is a great song that he recorded years ago, yet it is just coming out now .I guess there is a time and a place for everything. We have been talking the past week and it is scary how our lives cross paths. We come in and out. Usually when things are bad, he calls. It is always good to hear from a great friend, especially when I can get to his sense of humor that brings out my sense of humor and we end up rolling on the floor laughing.
Like most of us, he has been through the emotional ringer. These days, I have been asking the same thing. Which way to sanity?
I am not going to get into my own tales of woe, but: WOE!

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Death, Grief, & Heartache

July 31st 2008 18:49


When my father died, it was almost a spiritual experience. I felt a sense of strength even though it was a great loss. I had some regrets of the past when we went almost two years without any contact. However, I was there for him at the end, taking him to his doctor appointments. I knew deep down that he was near death and it was a painful experience that for some reason I had a great deal of acceptance.

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62
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Obsession

July 29th 2008 17:15
obsession

Obsession can rule your life. It is probably among the top five behaviors, along with resentment, anger, fear, and pride that can be devastating. These emotions can be the primary cause of obsessive thoughts. Trying to chase a thought out that keeps playing over in your mind can be exhaustive. There are many ways to deal with obsession, but the only way these work is by constant vigilance.
There are those that claim that keeping busy, even with the most mundane tasks can help get your mind off the obsession. My experience has been both negative and positive with keeping busy. Work is a four letter word for me. I truly wish I was obsessed with some sort of “career”. I can’t relate to those that are workaholics. They are fortunate that they have found something to be passionate about, but it can also be a way of not dealing with painful feelings. The obsessions that I get are always very unhealthy and dangerous to my recovery. I was doing landscaping during a difficult time in my life, and one day my job was to weed a huge garden. Not only was it extremely hot that day, but it was the kind of mindless work that is great for letting those thoughts get way out of control. I felt as though I was in a prison of my own deep dark thoughts with no way out. I even experienced a few mild panic attacks and the only way I could deal with it was to take a break and go get a drink of water. I thought that taking a break would help clear my thoughts, but I realized that those thoughts followed me wherever I went. It’s the old saying that “No matter where you go, there you are“. There is no escape and everything you try seems to fail. Alcohol, cocaine, and weed were once old friends that I could count on to pull me through, but there came a point where even they let me down, in fact they made it worse by magnifying the thoughts 10 fold.

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The cart before the horse

July 20th 2008 06:11


When somebody says something that is hurtful, it is very easy to lash out at them and try to make them feel the same way they made you feel. It is as if the pain is so bad, there is no end, and there is no relief from lashing out. It seems like there is no where to go, but to feel the anger and resentment.
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He aint heavy, he's my brother

July 14th 2008 19:55
my brother died


I lost my brother last week. The cause of death has yet to be determined. We may never know how he died. It was sudden and it came as a shock. A day later, my brother-in law died of a heart attack.

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